[Fatz]

Around 8000 in damage.

Bike was put in the shop in late april, but parts weren't ordered until late may. I don't blame the shop for parts not being ordered--that's all me. I wasn't concerned about it because I can't ride it anyway because of my injuries.

The bike is STILL in the shop.

What do you think?

 

[pday]

Don't know the extent or nature of the damage, but 30 days seems reasonable to me for accident repair. More than that seems excessive.

 

[DFinch]

When my ex-wife wrecked hers (similar damage to yours) it took 3 months.

 

[Bumbobee]

I can't believe they aren't just going to give you a new bike. Why go through all the trouble. I'm pretty sure it might exceed 8 k with all the labour etc.

 

[Fatz]

I've obviously made a colossal mistake by having the bike repaired at this place.

7 days have passed, *nothing* from the dealership. I tried calling a few times and I get sent to an answering machine, my emails to the manager have gone unanswered.

I bought my bike at this dealership. The dealer acts as though the collision repair building is a completely separate business and it's run *horribly*. They claim to be the first factory-authorized collision repair center in the country. I haven't heard a peep out of them since last friday. They won't even answer my emails. I would appreciate any help anyone connected with Harley can provide.

So, caveat emptor:

Harley Davidson of Crete, The 1st Harley-Davidson authorized Service Support Center! Visit our certified staff for your collision repair and let us take care of your insurance!

An absolute nightmare experience. I've never regretted buying my V-Rod but that's all changed today. I've never imagined a business behaving like this before. I'm so thoroughly disenchanted with everything Harley right now it sucks. I was just talking to someone a few weeks back that despite everything that's happened, this is the only major purchase I've ever made where I didn't think twice about making the payments. Well, that's over now. The dealership won't even answer my emails.

It's just unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Search around the forum, you'll find where I've sung the praises of this dealership over and over. I feel like a real schmuck for having done so. The real problem here is I don't have any confidence in the repair now because of how they're behaving toward me.

 

[ElrodontheV-Rod]

If it's an insurance company paying the bill,contact them.If not,go to the dealer in person and talk with them.

 

[fastvrod]

if not happy. find yourself a reputable repair shop, they can contact the dealer and have your type towed there for the repairs. check and make sure your insurance has approved the work and sent them the check. that could be the hold up. some insureance companies are really slow. but u can have your bike transferred even if they have started work on it. which i doubt

 

[AZEagle]

Mine took 3 months to repair also. The dealer should have one, maybe two people in the service department who handles collision repairs. Go to the service department and ask who is handling your repair, as it is not going to be the general manager. Most likely your emails are not being routed to the person in charge of your repairs. When you find out who it is, let him/her know that you have been frustrated with communication regarding the progress of the repairs and then ask them if any of your parts are back-ordered. The panted parts always take forever to get and the tech that will rebuild the bike will not start until all the parts have arrived.

 

[Fatz]

The department I'm referring to at Crete Harley is devoted to Harley Collision Repair.

I've been to the shop multiple times while I was off work from the accident. Now that I'm back at work it's not as easy to get there. I've been to the shop, I've called them, emailed them, twitter, everything but carrier pidgeons and the US mail. Hell, I've been shopping there for different things while all this was going on. I've bought shirts, ordered in one of the new Road Ready modular helmets, been to their open house, I'm not--or rather wasn't--a stranger at their dealership. Now that I think about it, I've got a pair of boots on back order there. I bought a pair of "Distortion" boots but they're on backorder from Harley. The people that run the clothing dept are great--they called and let me know what was going on with that and are really helpful. The point is I spend quite a bit of money there, apparently non grata. I mentioned the problems I was having with the Service Support Center (collision repair) to the people running the clothing dept and they said it was run "under it's own set of rules". It's astounding how badly the Harley Collision Repair department is run compared to the rest of the dealer.

The bike has been in various states of repair over the past 3 months. The problem now is the perpetual "we're just waiting on X". Unfortunately that's been going on for weeks and weeks. None of it adds up. I've got a copy of the original estimate and there's not a weeks worth of work to be done.

The emails I'm sending are going to the General Manager's personal address. Zero replies.

All of this was leading to trading the bike being repaired in on a new one because of how severely it was damaged, but I really don't feel comfortable with doing that now.

The only thing I can think of is something went really wrong with the engine repairs and no one wants to come clean with me. They had to pull the engine and do some work on the transmission--it was jammed in the accident. Maybe something happened and they're having to pull the engine again to fix it and don't want to say anything--I really don't know. The mechanic is a v-rod specialist I think and really knows his way around them so I doubt that's the problem.

So here I sit. Not even a voice mail and the collision shop closed at 5PM friday and shut down for the weekend.

 

[hafnutz67]

Harley shops are notorious for taking a long time on repairs and they're always "waiting on parts".
I would stop down and ask for the manager and talk to him/her in person. If you don't get the answers you want, tell them you are going to have another shop pick it up and complete the repairs.

 

[Buzzsaw]

"Waiting for parts", what a crock! I've seem parts sitting on the floor in the parts department and the service manager telling customers they are still waiting for parts, because they don't have enough techs. You need to find out who the owner is and phone him directly. Sh!t flows better from the top down.

 

[harleynurse]

In your case scenario,repairs tend to be handled in 6 to 8 months or till your bones mend.
I've ridden with a broken clavicle,drug free.Thank God I own two motorcycles,or else I would've gone nutz.
HD MOCO shops classify repairs in at least 3 categories....collision is slowest or least priority. I usually tell them I've got a destination traveling cross country and need to be on the road pronto.
In the end,tell the tech you want all your removed /damaged parts. The tech will remove/replace parts not incvolved in wreck. The tech stated,"I was hoping you wouldn't come back for that."

 

[Fatz]

Well, at least three weeks ago I was told the hold up was (I'm serious here..)

...the jiffy stand.

The bike was sitting on the jiffy stand in the shop in the line up with all the other bikes. Anything wrong with it was superficial because it was holding the bike up fine as it sat in their shop. About 4 hours after they told me that on the phone they called me back and said that the jiffy stand came in--that all the parts were in.

I believe it was the next day I received a call saying they found more damage--at least the radiator--when they were re-assembling the bike and had to order parts.

The absolute last thing I heard was the bike "should be ready to go next week barring any more issues found on a test drive and the insurance company reinspecting" and then the cone of silence went on. Every time I called their shop I got an answering machine. I emailed the dealership manager looking for help to get things going but no replies there either.

Does anyone know if the "SSC/Service Support Center" designation means anything? They're advertising it as the first "Factory Authorized Harley Davidson Collision Center in the Country". I'm really getting nervous about all of this. I loved this place. I bought stuff there at sticker rather than hit the internet because of how nice they were. It seems like I feel into a black hole at this place. I'm hoping it's just a bad apple they haven't weeded out yet.

What I'm *really* scared of is critical damage (read: bent frame) that was missed until the bike was reassembled. The silence is truly making me suspicious of what I'm not being told.

 

[Fatz]

Mine took 3 months to repair also. The dealer should have one, maybe two people in the service department who handles collision repairs. Go to the service department and ask who is handling your repair, as it is not going to be the general manager. Most likely your emails are not being routed to the person in charge of your repairs. When you find out who it is, let him/her know that you have been frustrated with communication regarding the progress of the repairs and then ask them if any of your parts are back-ordered. The panted parts always take forever to get and the tech that will rebuild the bike will not start until all the parts have arrived.

This is an entire building at the dealership devoted to collision repair. It's separate from where they do new bike prep and servicing--it's a dedicated repair facility with at least 7 people on staff. Quite large too. Probably bigger than the regular shop. I've talked to everyone, I've been told all the parts are in, etc. My prior post goes into more detail. I appreciate the advice though--thanks.

 

[Fatz]

Good news and bad news and blame where it's warranted.

The problem was GEICO. The claims adjuster let the bike sit for over a week without reinspecting it. I finally talked to a person at the shop who said she left a message with me concerning everything but I never got it--I checked my call log and nothing. I confirmed with the adjuster that he sat and did *nothing* for over a week. Bad form, GEICO. Bad form.

Anyway.

HD Crete delivered the bike to me yesterday. First thing was it blew alot of smoke when I started it up. ALOT. No big deal because they had the engine out and inverted so I was hoping it was residual oil where it shouldn't be. Their was (at least) damage to the transmission and they had to pull the engine to fix it. I was looking things over and found some missed damage on the rear pulley. No biggie. Alot of work was done, easy to miss stuff like this.

I called them today, they first offered to come and pick up the bike (free of charge!) but I told them I would drop by so they can look, confirm and order parts.

This is when things start to get a little sad.

Before I left I looked at the rear of the bike. The rear tire, when compared to the license plate, was displaced about 1/2 to 1 inch to the right. I can't tell if this is normal or not--I'd appreciate someone else checking their bike to confirm for me.

Then I fired up the bike for the second time and poof--another big cloud billowed out of the bike. After about 5 seconds everything was fine.

On the drive down to the dealer the bike felt odd. It didn't seem to track right, I had the impression that I was driving down the road at a slight angle. When I looked closer at the handlebars my right hand was MUCH further forward than the left--I'd say a good 2 inches. I looked a little closer and I could see the forks were twisted--the upper fork stem was also turned about 5 degrees to the left and the gauge cluster was tilted that way.

As I turned to go into the dealer I pulled in the clutch so I was coasting silently and heard a 'harp/plucking' noise coming from the belt as well. I explained the problems to the shop manager and he confirmed the damage pulley and also that they saw the smoke blowing on startup. They also thought it was residual. Well...it's not.

Obviously I'm disappointed but it's difficult for me to be upset with HD Crete because when they found out their was a problem they started helping asap now. They took the bike in the shop right then and had a driver give me a ride home. Luckily I live a few miles from the dealer.

So I'm bikeless again.

 

[AOW]

I got lucky with my accident. While I was in the coma the wife was crawling up one side of the adjuster's ass and down the other. I was in no hurry to get the bike back as I had a good 6 months of rehab ahead of me.
Once out and about the adjuster came out for the second time to look at the bike w/me and the wife, then about 2 days later emailed us his estimate and OK to have taken to a dealer.
Originally dropped it off at AD Farrow of Columbus (the oldest HD dealer in the country), they had it for two weeks and never called us. Finally wife called them and asked WTF and they said they had tried to call us w/the estimate (BS). So they faxed it over and had missed a bunch of crap. Had my pegs and grips down as OE instead of heated diamond plate grips and matching pegs, missed the bars & tail light, had the rear tire on my AW listed as a 180... and the list goes on. Wife corrected it, called and sent back. Another two weeks and nothing. Wife calls them up and they tell us they were waiting for us to pay for the repairs:wtf: How the hell can I pay for repairs without an accurate quote and why would I pay for repairs before they're made?
Went down with trailer and told wife that if the quote is correct then I'll leave it.. Still had the tire listed as 180, still had my pegs and grips listed as stock. Told chick to give me the bike and she decided to explain to me how it was my fault they farked up.
So, still had the traction rods in my arm and jaw wired shut, walk over to their collision building, sign off on the bike, and service manager tells me "I'm not sure you'll be able to ride it onto the trailer 'cause it's stuck in gear and we don't know which gear".
I looked at him, started it up, then replied "it's still stuck in first gear, the same farking gear it was stuck the day of the accident and the same farking gear we told you phuq-tards it was stuck in nearly two months ago"
Then I rode it onto the trailer with my wife standing by. Tech comes over as my wife is securing the bike and asks her if she wants a hand. Without missing a beat she turned, smiled, and said "You had two months to help and couldn't even get the tire size right, what makes you think I trust any of you to touch our bike?"
We then transported it 4 hours away back to Newcastle PA to the dealer I purchased it from and never had another issue.

The jiffystand was scratched to hell and took from July '07 until Feb '08 to come in. SVC mgr told me that as long as they were waiting on parts there wouldn't be a storage fee for them keeping through winter until the spring... NewCastle HD rocks!

 

[harleynurse]

Congratulations, you're a first priority customer. ....3 more months in the HD shop .

 

[Fatz]

An update on how things have progressed.

I received a call from the shop a few days after I brought it back with my complaints about the misaligned fork and damaged pulley.

I went down to the shop to test drive the bike and the front fork was still way out of alignment--at least 1/2 an inch if not more like 1 inch. I'm not sure what they did to it this time but the front fender was skewed off in one direction by at least an inch--I mean not even close. When I got on the bike to take it for a test drive the fork was misaligned exactly the way it was before. I'm not certain what they did to make the fender screw up like that, but the underlying problem was never fixed.

I took the bike for a test drive and took a series of pictures with my iPhone pointed down toward the triple tree to illustrate the point. I got a few pics of the problem and showed it to the shop manager who FINALLY agreed he could see what I was talking about.

The problem was they didn't know how to fix it.

About that time a mechanic came over from across the street and while we were arguing about the complexity of the problem, he quietly took it over to a rack, loosened the forks and fixed the problem in about 2 minutes.

So that looks resolved.

Now the bike is waiting on a rear pulley and a bearing. It has been since I wrote my last post. I called the dealer yesterday to find out how things were going. The person told me they just found out the pulley bearing was on backorder and they were calling around to try and locate one at another dealer. They located one in Wisconsin and are having it shipped down.

As I was typing this post I had to call and find out..it's been two weeks since I brought the bike back for the missed damage..my bike has been in their shop well over three months..did you have the place in Wisconsin overnight the part?

No.

The bike has been in the shop since 4/21/2010.

 

[Fatz]

oh..for posterity's sake...this is the fork problem. No, I've no way of establishing the centerline of the bike with 100% certainty, but even within a wide margin of error the fork is clearly out of alignment.