Dealer Service!
 

I booked my Multistrada in a few weeks ago for the 6000 mile service. On phoning the dealers I also mentioned it would be a good time for them to do the oil line recall as I am a 2 hour round trip from them.

The bike was booked in for the service on Tuesday 19th April, the dealer rang me a few days later to ask if they could change the date to Wednesday 20th April, This was no problem at all as he said I could still bring the bike on the Tuesday and pick it up on Thursday. So I dropped the bike as arranged and waited for the call on Thursday which did not come, again no call on Friday so I waited till Saturday to ring them as I wanted to collect the bike so I could use it today (Sunday) I was told the mechanic was servicing the bike as we spoke.

They explained that they would not know if the bike would be finished until about 4pm on Saturaday and I could ring back then! This was little use to me as even if the bike was finished I would not have enough time to get to the dealers and collect it before they closed. I told them that if I did not phone that day I would call on Sunday to sort out collection.

When I arrived home from Hospital (thats another story) at 5.30 on Saturday there was a message on my machine which went like this 'Your bike is ready if you want to take it this afternoon, but its gonna have to come back again next week because its outstanding some parts that need fitting to finish it off completely. A couple of little jobs need doing and your fuel injection needs to be set up correctly'

Now I may be being oversensitive but I am not happy at all that a bike that has been booked in for a service for weeks and delivered to the dealer the day before the service date (so they could start the service first thing in the morning) is still not ready for me 4 days later. If I had a message that the service was done but they were waiting for the recall parts (oil lines) and could I pop back at a later date to have them done hopefully while I waited, I would not be too bothered. They did not actually say that it was the oil lines they were waiting for. What else could it be? Oil filter? Oil?

So I phones the dealers today (Sunday) and of course there is nobody there from the service department only Sales. So my bike is sat there half serviced while everybody and their dog are out on their bikes this weekend!

As you may be able to tell I am not very happy at all with this situation! It is a joke that a bike can be booked in for a routine service and the dealers not have the parts for doing the job. I am particular annoyed that I made such an effort to get my bike there as arranged as I had a very traumatic day on Monday (I will mention that on another post perhaps) and really the last thing I should have been thinking about was getting my bike serviced but I did not want to let the dealers down as my bike was booked in.

Rubbish service, they really should be doing something to try and make it up to you!

Dear oh dear!

Go on - give us a clue..

A clue?

For Sure!

Full Service?

Flipping Shoddy?

How about Fylde Superbikes?

Suggest you write them a letter or email and give them a chance to explain. If the answer is not satisfactory then write them another letter with a copy to Ducati UK.

SAJ

FS, now thats dosen't surpise me since they own DM, looks like we'll all be shopping elsewhere in the future

Lack of focus on the part of the dealer -

seems to be diversifying into the restaurant and car business - hopefully not at the expense of the bike business

Saj288, I will off course give them a chance to explain! And if its a plausible reason I will be straight back on here saying what it is. If its something like 'we noticed one of your pistons had melted and have ordered you another one' then fair enough.

However I do think it is more likely to be because they have booked more bikes in for a service than they can handle! The fact is even though my service was booked for Wednesday it was not started until sometime on Saturday. When I spoke to the dealers on Saturday they said they hoped it would be done by 4pm but that the mechanic had to keep breaking off to 'sort other bikes out' He went on to say the mechanic had said my bike would be done if they just left him alone to do it without interrupting him!

I don't think a service in two parts is good enough! Should I have to keep taking the bike back until all the service is done? Oil and filter one week, Belts the next, and bring it back next month sir and we will sort your fuelling out for you.

I don't think so!

I did find it unusual that when I phoned in the first place to book it in for the service that I only had a wait of a couple of weeks when other people on this site were talking of much longer waits at other dealers.

I am in the service industry myself, I supply Gaming and Amusement machines to pubs and clubs and I know that to retain business you have to give them the service you promise them and the service they pay for.

'If you don't look after your customers someone else will' is a phrase that springs to mind at the moment.

Im sad to say this is not the first time ive heard of stories like this.

Ive a mate who, for the past 2 yrs has taken his 998s to a dealer in the Bucks area, on a monday (when it was booked in for the weekend to do them a favour) and every time, its been there for over 2 weeks coz theyve forgotten to order parts or some other feeble excuse.

Its just not good enough is it really ? Im sad to say I cant wait till my S4R has done its 2 years 'offfcial' 2 years servicing/warranty thing so I can get it serviced at Lougi Moto for half the price, and get ten times the quality of service like I do with my other duke..

Cheers
Nat

I have just got off the phone with the dealers now for the third time in 20 minutes.

I phoned them to ask when my bike will be ready and what the parts are they are waiting for. I was told they were waiting for a gasket on the exhaust as it had to come off for some of the service work? So I asked when my bike would be ready for me to collect and was told 'The mechanic is not in this week (he is in the Manchester branch) so it will be some time next week' As you can imagine my reply was unprintable on this site. The bloke I spoke to said he would ring the mechanic at Manchester and see what could be done and phone me back, he also said that perhaps they could get the work finished by an outside contractor (his words) so I could have the bike for weekend.

Well true to his word he phone me back 10 mins later and told me that he had spoken to the mechanic and my bike was finished and ready for collection.

Now bear in mind that I had a message on my machine just before they closed on Saturday saying parts were needed and the fuelling needed to be set up. And that I had phoned them on Sunday to be told that there was nobody there from the service department, And that they are closed all day on Monday and Today the mechanic was in Manchester. So exactly when was the service completed on my bike? I asked this question and was told 'he must have come on yesterday just to finish your bike'

It gets better! 'I will come for the bike tomorrow, How much do I owe you?' Asks I The reply? Are you ready for this??

£621 !?

At this stage I hit the roof, I informed them they had quoted me £325 max for this service as had a couple of other dealers. He recited the works sheet to me and said that was the price, I said that was not the price and on it went like this until I had to say that I would phone him back shortly as I could feel myself about to become very very abusive. I checked on this site and Multistrada.net to see what everybody else had paid for the 6000 mile service and sure enough £300 to £325 was the norm. I phoned a couple of dealers and was quoted £300 ish + vat. I was about to phone them back and go absolutley ballistic when they rang me to say 'sorry sir we have mixed your job sheet up with someone else and you bill is actually £311 all in' Right I will collect the bike tomorrow.

To calm myself down I took my dogs out for a walk for 15 minutes and when I came back there was another message on my machine from someone else at the dealers saying 'There appears to have been a bit of a communications breakdown at our end and the price we quoted you of £621 is definitley not right we can do it for £325 all in' WTF!

I rings them straight back and asks what the price actually is £621? £311? £325? any other figure they can think off?

So my bike is ready, but is it just me or would anyone else be really confident that the bike has been serviced correctly? I am not too confident, supposing the valve clearances have been checked and one or more required reshimming, Will it have been done or will it be a case of they will be ok for another 6000 miles/1 year? Will the fuelling have been set up?

As you can imagine I now have zero confidence in this dealer and they will not get any further custom from me. I took the bike and my previous 996s to them for all servicing because I had bought them there and I had been very happy both times with the financial aspects of the deals. I felt a sort of loyalty to them because of this (somewhat foolishly!)

I would be very interested in all your thoughts on this

Thanks

Martin

i say vote with your feet

go where you feel you get value for money.

if you give good service people will openly recommend you as per lots of businesses on this site.

i felt ripped off on a service on my 748 last year by an official dealer close to manchester.not been back since.

:flame:

Martin, that is awful.

As dsered says, John and the team at Ducati Leeds do appear on the ball and you get good service, vote with your feet as it appears lots of people now avoid Flyde/Ducati Manchester because of issues.

I don't know wether to lagh or cry, you couldn't make it up.:puzzled:

this sort of thing is all too common the only thing to do is, as other say, vote with your feet. i now take my bikes over 2 hours away to jhp because i know they wil do a good job and trust them implicitly.

i really think we should have an EBAY style feedback sytem somewhere on the board, that way people can see others comments and make their own minds up.

positive feedback
neutral
and negative

along with comments

that way we all get a better deal and hopefully some of the not so good outfits in this business will buck their ideas up.

Great idea Dickie - has this been raised before..??


Nat

In the members section there is the dealers vote, but it seems a bit out of date old fashioned.

i quite agree but if we give people the opportunity to credit good service as well then i cant see a problem with it. if someone complains about all the negative comments, we can simply tell them to get their act together like........so and so who have a massive positive rating.

we have a fair amount of clout on this site lets use it .

i will put it to the MT as i, and i think a great many others are getting fed up with rubbish service.

as you say you will be able to put the details in the comments section such as "service carried out superbly, picked up, cleaned bike, finished early etc"

or

"didnt do what they said they would, overcharged agreed price, didnt return calls etc"

cant really see any problems with that.

i have a few comments waiting already!

Martin, not sure where you live in the North West but Woods in Abergele in North Wales are very good. I have 2 official franchised dealers closer to me but i happily drive further to Woods, and they always sort out a courtesy bike so i can get home.

Their number is 01745 822922 and its an esay journey down the A55.

Hey, don't be cheeky now, its kebabs not pies on top of dunes.
I'm off on a hairdressing tour of French salons next, just had the Dainese haircut done this afternoon for the tour:lol:

I have thought of using Woods the next time, I actually phoned them today to check the service price with them. I felt a bit guilty inquiring about the service as it already been done at FS. I dont like messing people about but I was that wound up by what was going on! I had a think about it and decided the next time I would book it in there get the girlfriend to follow me down in the car and have a night or two at Portmeirion and gain some brownie points of her!

I would have used Ducati Leeds but the wait was too long, which was partly my fault as I had got a quite early service date of them but then mentioned the dash unit needed replacing, they ordered the dash before easter but due to the extended holidays they take over there (Italy not Yorkshire) they realised it would not have arrived in time and bumped my service date right back another month or so. I would not have minded if the bike had been serviced with the faulty dash and then taken back for the new unit fitting whenever. But the girl phoned me to tell me what was going on and it was too late I had lost my slot! I am not really blaming them but if they had let me know I would have insisted on having the bike serviced on the original date.

The whole thing with Fylde Superbikes has been farcial! I dont normally get wound up by such things but I have had a pretty traumatic week with other much much more important matters (I will post about that later) because of this I probably will not be using the bike that much in the next few weeks anyway. I had dropped my car off for a service on Monday morning in Barton near Preston which is about half the way between where I live and Blackpool. On returning home by dinnertime Monday everything went mad and I really needed my car back and the easiest way was to take my bike in to blackpool for the service and get a taxi to Barton to collect my car as I really needed it back. Actually getting my bike serviced was really the last thing on my mind early last week. Sorry if this does not make sense but it will on reading my next post.

Cheers everybody

Martin

Martin,

Sorry to learn of your ordeal. I too would not feel confident with that type of service both personally and mechanically, that is absolutely outrageous.
This is exactly my reason for my post regarding .‘Servicing and repair recommendations’ - In my opinion it is far better to use a highly recommended company rather than use an unknown company and subsequently have regrets.‘ to avoid unprofessional dealers who charge exorbitant fees for shoddy work.

I also agree with dickieducati and other members that an eBay style ‘Feedback’ system would be a very good idea for all concerned. Perhaps even a league table for dealers and agents, maybe with some sort of visible graph ?

I know two bikers who have both used the same Ducati/Jap bike dealership and both have received bad service. The pair don’t know each other and they both own Jap bikes but to say that they are unhappy is a total understatement. I have used this dealer prior to being made aware of their plight but only for clothing and parts, Now I would never consider them for servicing my motorcycle. They are a friendly and chatty group, however when one parts with several hundred pounds for a service it is not personalities that count it is the professionalism, attention to detail and exceptional workmanship that matters most.

Best wishes and good luck with your future endeavours.

Servicing issue
 

I was interested to read the feelings and feedback on the forum today especially by Martin H reference his Multistrada.

I consider it unfair at this stage to talk about Martins comments behind his back and state our side of the story until we have discussed this incident together when he collects his bike today.

As Aftersales Manager at Fylde Superbikes for the last two and a half years, I feel that we do our utmost to ensure that customers are happy at all times.

In most cases a lack of communication due to busy times or waiting of parts accounts for 80% of any problems that ourselves or any other dealer will experience.

Sharing of information on forums such as these is essential to both promote good business practice and allow members to share their feelings.

However surely it makes more sense to address the problem first with the dealer (ourselves or any other) and once the issue has been resolved to its best, then and only then, is it fair to post the issue onto forums.

I will agree with the members here that a feedback system is a good idea, and we have already started making steps to include our own forum to offer advice and allow feedback from customers to be shared with others. This way Ducati owners will be able to see all the good we do as a dealer rather than the isolated incidents where things go wrong.

We have offered free diagnostics, telephone advice, free mail order, 10% owners club discounts and much more for a few years now and take over 100 calls a day from Ducati owners who value our service. Unfortunately these people do not share their praise onto forums as they are too busy enjoying their bikes!

Why not put this to the test and give myself or one of our fully trained Ducati technicians a call for free advice or to order parts for your Ducati and judge for yourself if we are as really as incompetent as this minority of people are making out.

Then please feel free to share your GOOD comments, as I am sure your opinions will change overnight.

Robbie Macdonald
Aftersales Manager
Fylde Superbikes
01253 298833

Nice to hear a reply from the horses mouth.

Good on ya matey!:D

Bit after the horse has bolted though...

Where do you live Martin? I live 10 minutes away from D/Mcr and pass the place twice a day, great for the odd spare, but I stick my bike in a van and take it to the only Ducati Dealer I trust - JHP, if that doesn't say anything nothing will.

Robbie what's your stance on DCR's 03 bike being sold to him as an 04 model then? from your very establishment :flame:

Next time you type something, deselect condescending mode first!
Either that or get to know what this forum is about.
Check out the existing dealer ratings on the site maybe?
I think you'll find that praise is given on here when and where it's due.
The flip side of that is thatwe also warn our mates about problems in order that a potential customer makes an informed decision where to take a bike.
There are a number of Ducati dealer and service outlets who only seem to get positive comments, I wonder why that is?
Effective customer service maybe?
There are constructive ways to enter a dialogue with people.
As a supposed customer service champion within your organisation, I'd expect that to be a basic tenet of your job description.

I only have experience of FS / DM on the phone and it wasn't good.

Rang DM for a part, messed about on hold to be eventually told can't help computer down ring Flyde etc.

Rang Flyde spoke to a nice enough guy who after lots of checking couldn't help. Had a right laugh on the phone with him had to otherwise I would have cried, in the back ground the whole time was the mother of all arguments with lots of swearing and threats being banged around. Sort of thing that would put you off for life. Guy on the phone didn't even seem embarrased in that he was talking to a customer on the phone whilst people obviously very close as you could hear every word decided to start WW3.

I could do with DCR's details - bike model, reg number or name etc to find out the full story - which I will happily reply to.

Normally this will happen when a customer buys a bike in '03 and wishes it to be registered in '04. This, as you can imagine, is pretty common as you can (1) save money by buying at the right time of year and (2) still get an '04 bike - obviously the bike will still be a '03 model tho.

As I say, get me details or could DCR privately email me and I'll help where poss (aftersales@fyldesuperbikes.co.uk) and I'll post the reply...

Thanks...

Amen to that my brother!!

If I was aftersales manager of a ducati dealership I wouldn't come onto the most active ducati forum in the country and say what you've just said! Sheesh!

03/04?
 

Yep, aftersales@fyldesuperbikes.co.uk comes directly to me.

Hi Robbie, Thanks for taking the time to reply to this post.

I have no problems at all with you replying to what I have said on here. It would only be fair to allow you to have your say regarding the matters I have raised in this post. It would be a little undemocratic of myself and the other people here that have raised concerns about the level of service we receive if we did not allow you the opportunity to reply.

If there is anything you dispute in my post I would love to hear it, I am sure anyone else following this would too.

I do realise that busy times and waiting for parts etc do account for many of your problems, I am as I said in the service industry myself and face these problems myself. However if one of my customers finds themselves with a machine out of order for more than an hour or two I find myself either losing the customer for good or having to give him a period of free rent etc to retain their custom. If you find dealing with motorcyclists demanding you should try keeping the committees of working mens clubs happy!

I am glad you think that the sharing of opinions of dealer service is a good idea on this site, as there certainly seems to be plenty of people ready to say what they feel.

As for voicing my opinions before the issue was resolved with yourselves, The reason I had done so was because I wanted peoples thoughts and advice on what was an ongoing situation! The service I was receiving was certainly not what I expected form a main dealer, and I wanted to know if I was alone in my expectations.

I had read a number of negative discussions regarding the level of service you had given other people here. But as I had not had a reason to complain myself over the past 3 years with my 996s and my previous service on the multistrada I decided that there should be no problem.

In fact if you decide to look through my past posts I have actually recommended your company! The following is taken from a post in April 2004

'I also recommend anyone to deal with Dave Paterson at Ducati/Preston/Manchester/Fylde Superbikes etc. Both times I have purchased a bike from him he has done me a deal I have been more than happy with'

I also put a similar reply on a thread on Multistrada.net round about the same time.

So I hope you do not think I have it in for your company in any way because I havent!

Could you really say you would have been happy with the service I received had you been in my shoes?

Regarding collecting my bike, I will have to come for it on Thursday now as I am finding it very hard at the moment to be able to arrange a lift over at a time that suits myself and the person bringing me. I had provisionaly arranged transport on both Friday and Saturday last. However that was not to be.

Thanks

Martin

Also, I don't know how to a 'quote' thingy but as for the comment about being too busy out enjoying their bikes,

I WOULD LOVE TO BE OUT ENJOYING MINE!

BDG and JPM, I live in Nelson Lancs just next to Burnley. My nearest dealer is Ducati Leeds about 20 miles away. I never seem to hear a bad word said about them. Likewise with Woods but they are quite a trek for me.

Hi all, nice to see Martin has calmed down a bit now.... :rolleye: and I will sit down with him and explain where things appear to have gone wrong... One thing I forget to mention - at least I didn't lie at any time about what was happening. I am sure we can make it up to you Martin ;)

I believe that Dseered has indeed spoken to Dave and his mind is at rest. I expect he will let everyone know if this is or isn't the case, but I hope all is OK. I didn't get chance to speak to DWH as he left b4 me last night and flies to Spain today.

Anyway another busy day today, so must crack on...

If I can help any of you guys in any way, drop me a line on 01253 298833 or email me at aftersales@fyldesuperbikes.co.uk (checked 9am everyday). Don't forget mention the site and I will happily give you 10% off and free P+P where I can.

bye4now

Robbie.

Hi DCR.

Having spoken to Ducati, your bike wasn't delivered to FSB until July 2003, so clearly the PDI date is definately a mistake (as it is months before we even got it). As per my email reply, I would like to replace your warranty book and correct the dates. It was dated 03 by accident as we were only just at the start of 04.

Robbie

Robbie,
are you still keeping an eye on this site? I hope so as I am still awaiting your call re the 2005 seats that you said you would price up for me! I was hoping you would actually contact me with a price that would maybe as you put it "make it up to me" Still waiting!?



Also I have been wanting to ask you a couple of things about my bike that have puzzled me since I collected it after its service.

Firstly, the exhaust is blowing like feck from the front cylinder pipe! Is this the gasket/seal you were waiting for which you since told me was fitted? The bike is popping and crackling on the overun and the sheer force of gas escaping is nearly enough to blow the bike over on its already precarious sidestand.

Secondly, what on earth was my bike cleaned with at your place? Whatever was used has removed most of the bronze coloured coating on the exhaust pipes that the MS have. There are bits of the coating left on in inaccesible places where whoever did it could not spray the acid or whatever they used! My bike was parked next to another Multistrada the other day and its owner asked me why I had removed the coating.

Also whatever was used has been splashed on a number of other parts of the bike and discoloured/damaged them. for example the timing belt covers have a multitude of cloudy white patches on them that will not wash or polish off. The cap on the rear brake reservoir is now white instead of black! Likewise the breather from the crankcase. The substance used has also left the black plastic wheel/tyre valve screw on caps white.

A mate of mine reckons that it looks like a very fierce alloy wheel cleaning solution as been used. This would certainly seem to be the case as I remember many years ago wrecking an alloy wheel on a car by leaving a similiar product on the wheel for too long.

Please please do not try to insinuate that I may caused this myself as I only use soap and water on the bike and wd40 etc for the wheels.

I will post some picture so you can see what I mean.

Hi again, I thought I would remove the exhaust from the forward cylinder to see if there was anything that I could do to stop the excessive blowing from the short pipe from the cylinder to the pipe that runs down the side of the engine.

As I am due out on the bike at 7am I needed to do something even if it was a temporary fix. If you recall I was told that the delay in servicing my bike was due to the fact that this section of pipe needed 2 new o ring seals as they had disintegrated when the pipe had to be removed as part of the service. I was told by Robbie that the seals had been fitted and was duly charged for them £2.90 + vat.

I enclose a picture of the o ring which looks more like a u ring! Can anybody please comment on whether it is usual for a "brand new" o ring to be in this condition 2 weeks or so after fitting. Or does anyone think like I do that the original was put back in as a bodge to enable the bike to be returned quickly to a customer that was already irate.

Sorry bout picture quality but I can assure you the o ring is fecked.