Motorcycle dealerships?

I am fortunate enough that I rarely have to visit any of my local dealers for too much of anything. I have been involved in the "Industry" since I was old enough to eat out of a Gerbers jar. My family owned a distributorship in the South West. If you rode a KTM, Penton, or wore Hi-Point/Alpinestar boots back in the early 80's, chances are greater than zero, that the product came from us. I have quite literally been around motorcycles my entire life. I manage to get parts and clothing out of the left coast directly, without much hassle.

Therefore it astounishes me everytime I venture into a new dealership. Now sure, I do have a local dealer here that I buy my chemicals, air filters and the like from, but never a great amount of product. On occasion, just for giggles, I'll stop buy a new dealer just to see what they have in stock, and what may or may not be selling. It never fails, there is always some punk asshole kid standing behind the counter, not out racing, that thinks he is the new authority on all things moto. He won't ask you, "hey how's it goin today, need some help with anything?" No, the standard "nod" is about par for course. Then they stand there on the phone, talking about last nights beer bong session- you have all heard the same conversation- and about the girlies they took home. It's mostly b.s. of course, except for the beer part. Anyway, if you ask them if they have a certain part, or product, the get mad because they have to look, or they tell you," man that thing is a p.o.s whattda..ya..want that fer?" I didn't recall asking anyones opinion. These hourly soilders believe that since they are working at a dealer, they must in fact be professional racers. It is amazing that the dealers can sell anything to anyone. It is zero customer service, and that seems to be the norm. I wonder how many people have left their cold hard green in their pockets simply because of the jackass that works the counter. No wonder everyone orders out of magazines and off the internet these days. Not to mention that some dealers are now adding an extra 10 to 15% on top of m.s.r.p. I asked one dealer why they were doing that, and he said, "for shipping and handling charges". He even said it with a straight face.

I swore I wasn't going to write about anything moto related. After saying that, I realized that my life is moto related and at times, I may need to write about it. I hate to slam all dealerships and employees of said dealers, but I am sure that you must know what I am talking about. Next time you visit your local dealer, see if you don't notice the "dealer attitude" that could be in place. I am not sure it would do any good to point the attitude out to anyone in charge. I think when people finally do all of their shopping out of the magazines and internet ( and just as soon as you can order a new bike, delivered to your house) the dealers may decide to put some of their "pro racers" through customer service school.

Here's to great riding, great friends, the 75 minute Sopranos season finale, and Happy Holidays!

-WadeMC