Very shocked to hear that DLS have gone out of bussines but I`m not supprised considering the reception I recieved at times. Lets hope that other dealers in the area can benefit and get their customers.

don't wish this on anyone .... and DLS had some good people there .... I feel for them, I really do ..... but Marcellos no ones mug, he'll be back with something new, although we haven't always seen eye to eye, I wish him well for whatever is next for him and the team .......

They never got a penny of my dosh. Been in the shop once when they opened. . Said then they would close.

That is a surprise. I have to say I've only been to DLS for the odd part, but I've always had a good experience.

I just hope Pro Twins in Godstone keep going otherwise where am I gonna get my parts?!!

Ade.

Really sorry to hear this and especially sorry for the people who worked there like Martin who's a good bloke. Best of luck to them all but perhaps opening DLC was a step too far in a poor market!

It is indeed a shame if they have closed their doors for good, not that I had ever been to any of their stores, but I certainly visited their stand at the Ally Pally show the last couple of years.

I feel sorry for the 2 lads racing this year, who now cant use/access their bikes, to complete the season at Cadwell next week:(

Never been to these stores, but I think the whole biking market is spiralling downwards and has been for a few years, couple of people I know who had bike/accessory shops got out while they could a year or two ago because the market was already shrinking.

It won't be the first Ducati store to close, I can imagine a few more will, but some will survive probably as henners has said purely on servicing alone until spring next year when sales might pick up.

I think Ducati have to take some of the blame to a degree and their marketing though, look back to last year and at Laguna WSB they launched the 05 bikes, and suddenly no one wanted an 04 999/749 and dealers had to discount bikes heavily to shift what was effectively old stock then.

True. That must've been a big shock to the dealer system, having bikes on your showroom floor that nobody wants unless you give them away.

I think it's sad whenever a small business closes it's doors, having been involved in this sort of thing myself I would say that all small businessmen are acutely aware of their customer needs. Like all other walks of life though some people are better catering to the customer than others.

You actually need much more than good customer skills. It's easy to make all your customers happy by giving them huge discounts and bending over backwards to chuck in little sweeteners, but to stay in business your first duty is to make a profit. Any idiot could make customers deleriously happy for a while by giving the shop away, but they wouldn't last long.

Another thing about customer satisfaction is that it's hugely variable. Some people are satisfied by going into the shop and paying the ticket price if they know that they're going to get a hassle free deal, other people would be ****ed off if they paid more than cost. We all know that some people are too easily satisfied and there are others who will never, ever be happy regardless of what you do for them.

The other reason that some dealers may be less willing to do deals is what their cost base is DLS and DLC, by definition have LONDON in their titles and we all know that you have to pay premium prices for London premises. If you're obliged to run a big glossy solus type showroom as well your costs are much, much higher than the small independant who tend to be in cheaper premises or where they might own the freehold of a family business that was bought and paid for long ago, by definition, there's less fat in every deal for you to give away.

The main reason is linked to the "Is the UK in recession" thread that BDG started. Perhaps not exactly, but nearly everyone I know has surfed the credit boom driven by cheap remortgages and loans and now finds they're nearly maxed out. Buying big ticket items like bikes is not on everyones shopping list right now, we're the lucky few and have you noticed from the market place forum that even we're not buying bikes as quickly as we did a few years back?

its one of the problems of the way information gets out to public.

4 years ago we could do a trade show at eurobike ( the mtb big trade show), the jounos come over, check it out, take photos go back home, develop photos, write copy, goes to mag, gets printed and hey 2 months later the end user reads about it. Now I get press on the booth who ask if we have wireless connection so they can upload the images to a website then and there, 5 minutes later the whole world can see our new stuff and any dealer with stock is screwed, it must be the same for the motorbike companies.