damn stealership!!!

[zac949]

i rode over to the local stealership where i purchased my bike to make an appointment for my 1st routine maintenance....which consist of oil change(ive put 3 batches of fresh oil thru her first 600 miles)checking spokes and chassis.everything has been done by me already of course.they want to charge me 120$ ? and i have to do this for my warranty which will never be used(fingers crossed)?

does anyone in socal(orangecounty) Know of a decent shop to go to?

the price seems excessive to me. am i wrong here and just blowin smoke:excuseme:

edit-

when i questioned him on the price he lied and said they check the valves as well

[bajamoon]

120 is not bad, bert's mega mall told me 275 so i did it myself, i think if you do hte oil yourself and keep a log in the back of the manual you will be ok, and keep the receipts for oil and filters and whatever else you buy. i will not go back to the stealership after that.

[Wayward Son]

it has nothing to do with your warranty.

even though not stated by suzuki,we check the valves.

[zac949]

thanx for the reply.ill look around.i should have reciepts from all the oil changes ive done.

[rhansen]

Three years ago, I paid the dealer $100 to check and adjust the valves on my Ninja 250. About a week and 75 miles later, I was looking at a broken rocker arm and ruined exhaust camshaft (about $300 in parts). I can still remember the salesman saying, "Yeah, that Dennis is pretty sneaky, he can get in there and adjust the valves without taking all that extra crap out of the way". I now do all of my own maintenance, with exception of tire changes. Looks like this is the year I'm going to start doing that myself also.

[Bailey28]

I don't trust any dealership to do anything to my bikes.

I had brought my 01 DRZ in for the TSB on the water pump seal issue. I left the stealership with about 1/3rd the total antifreeze capacity in the bike. Glad I checked after I got home... BTW the seal leaked soon after again...

My buddy brought his 20 hour old XR650R to the same stealership to get a routine service done...

He got the bike back only to have it making about 5 horsepower. He took it back and the dealer said he needed a new stator, coil, TPS, (there is no TPS on the bike at all) regulator, carb cleaning and spark plug, and valve adjustment.

My buddy let them do it and paid $830.00 for what they didn't do.? The bike ran the same so he took it back and they knocked it down to $300.00.

I told him to bring it over and I ordered the parts for the wake up kit for him, needle, main, pilot, intake manifold, etc and we spent the morning installing the kit. $45.00 for parts including a new plug (they put in the wrong plug).

When I took apart the carb and finally got the bellcrank apart on the slide, I noticed that the needle clip had come off and was laying inside of the slide.

After the kit was in, I nearly killed myself test riding it, as it made a buttload of power! He is now a believer that DIY is better in most cases.

[421Slicer]

Warranty smorenty! I do my own maintenance, and it doesn't void anything! Maybe its just the d(st)ealer i go through.

[blt]

Stay away from dealers and there so called service department.

The one thing they will do for sure is f up your bike and charge u for it.

Your life depends on having a bike that works.

[rhansen]

Your life depends on having a bike that works.

Amen to that. I once had a shop remove the front wheel to change a tire. A couple of weeks later I was looking over everything, and just happened to grab the front axle locknut. The only thing keeping it on was the freakin' cotter pin! I'd been doing quite a bit of 65-70 mph travel on the interstate, and it's scary to think that a 10 cent cotter pin might have been the only difference between life and death.

[blt]

The fact is you gotta be like a pilot before takeoff, basically checking over everything yourself,,touch it, feel it...fly it like you stole it.

Nothing instills more confidence in your device than actually knowing that youve wrenched on it yourself, the right way.

[Wayward Son]

while i understand that many have had bad experiences in dealers,please understand that they are not all like that.

[CruiseControl]

I hate to burst everyone on this posts bubble but.......there are some (maybe very few but some) good dealers with exceptional service departments out there. There may or may not be more bad ones but the good are there. Some of the newer dealers are no more than glorified car dealerships trying to make a buck and not worried about the aftermath. Many of the older dealerships are still plugging along. There is a reason the older ones have made it.

CC

[ilsrwy27]

Seems like a lot of people think they have to have the dealership perform the first service or it will void the warranty.

That is not true. You can perform the first service yourself, and you will not have any issues as long as you keep the receipts

for your oil/filter and whatever else was needed to perform the service (according to the manufacturer)

The Suzuki web site does not say anything on the subject.

Kawasaki used to clearly spell this it out in their FAQ but they changed their web site design and it seems the info has disappeared...

[blt]

Yeah there are good dealerships out there..of course. Just like there are some company's that do care about the product or service they provide,, understanding they need to build a customer base that keeps coming back and buying from them again...

The Motorsports buisiness is "usually "looking for the quick dollar from the uninformed, impulsive buyer who's looking to get the latest and greatest. Be it a dealer who's been in buisness for thirty years or the one that opened last week, it's the sell sell sell game there playing. The service departments usually follow suit,... it's scary to think that these fools are playing this game with peoples lives.

That's why I love the internet and places like this forum...it's all here for all to see. No bullshit sales tactics can compete with a well placed search from someone who's actually interested in the truth..

[Canuck479]

Although I will agree some times service dept. will miss something or not catch something before it goes out the door, I truley believe this is very small percentage. I noticed in this thread there were several negative storie but no positive ones. Ther must be more good stories than negative other wise our industry would colapse in on itself. Also not all DIY stories have a good ending. Who is more likely to misplace a clip, forget to tighten a bolt or better yet overtighten either breaking or stripping a bolt. The guy in his garage or the professional with proper tools, manuals and experience working on machines everyday. Ther is good and bad in all parts of life don't make generalizations based only on your own experience.

[CruiseControl]

Although I will agree some times service dept. will miss something or not catch something before it goes out the door, I truley believe this is very small percentage. I noticed in this thread there were several negative storie but no positive ones. Ther must be more good stories than negative other wise our industry would colapse in on itself. Also not all DIY stories have a good ending. Who is more likely to misplace a clip, forget to tighten a bolt or better yet overtighten either breaking or stripping a bolt. The guy in his garage or the professional with proper tools, manuals and experience working on machines everyday. Ther is good and bad in all parts of life don't make generalizations based only on your own experience.

?

CC

[ilsrwy27]

Valid points. There are good dealers that employ qualified mechanics and provide great customer service.

There is also a growing number of newer car-like dealers with pushy/ignorant sales people and poor service

departments that give eveyone a bad name because people tend to remember bad experiences more while

good tend ones tend to fade away (and when it's real real bad we just repress them )

Also some people should really stay away from DIY. Everytime I shop for a used bike I get to see the weird

things some people do to their bike and some of it makes me want to cry.

[Wayward Son]

i spend alot of my time fixing messes created by owners DIY.i also spend alot of time fixing things from other shops.

[Bailey28]

For some reason, I could not edit my earlier post.

I want to clarify what I said earlier and say that I don't believe that all shops have careless service personnel. I believe that there are good ones out there. No one is perfect all of the time, and the above posters are correct about the human factor in which it is possible to overlook something. I have overlooked things before when working on a bike. Most of the time, I realize it before the bike leaves my garage. The biggest reason I overlook something is because of a distraction somewhere along the line.

In central Florida, I have had Doug Harvey of DHR do a full suspension revalve on my YZ250. I watched the entire process which I thought was very educational. It showed me that without the right tools, I would have been screwed to try such a job at home. I can change my fork oil, change springs, seals, and even break loose a valve stack and change a shim or two at home. The shock? No way.. the spring at most... and lube the linkage. This is a good service story, and a vote for Doug Harvey, he did a jam up job and the bike handles exactly as I wanted it to. Does someone have a Doug Harvey horror story? Perhaps they do, I don't know.

When I take something to a dealership, I expect that it will be done right. If something goes wrong with the repair they did, I expect them to fix the problem.

With the exception of changing the oil and recharging a rear shock, I can do all of the maintenance tasks at home. I even bought a tire changer to do my own tires.

I'm sure there are good shops out there. And shops that fix other shop's mistakes. I take pride in being able to work on my bikes. I also take my time to make sure it is done safely. I don't have any ASE credentials or MMI school certificates. I am not an expert on bike repair, or engine or suspension theory.

Again, I wish not to offend any service techs here, I wish I could find a reputable shop around here to take my bikes to if there was something I couldn't do at home.

[UncleBob]

while i understand that many have had bad experiences in dealers,please understand that they are not all like that.

Not only are we not all like that, I also like to point out....many people swear that if you want it done right, you should do it yourself. But as we all know, anyone can make mistakes, and when you are unfamiliar with what you are doing, then you can make some REALLY BAD mistakes.

Yah there's bad shops out there, but a good mechanic is worth his weight in gold, not only because he'll do it right, but also he'll catch things you'll never even see because he's done it so many times.

All I'm saying is, some people are humble, they are aware they aren't mechanically inclined enough to "safely" work on their own rides.....or they feel the cost is worth while to make sure its done right. If the shop is decent, it will be done right. Don't poopoo people that actually believe professionals are professionals. We do exist, believe it or not.