In my experience, it is not often that BMW “drops the ball”, but in the case of Victory BMW of Phoenix, Arizona, they exhibited the worst case of “butter-fingers” I have yet experienced…!!
On this trip, I have made use of BMW Motorrad’s services in Namibia, Kenya, Gibraltar, Poland, Thailand, twice in Australia, Chile, and Peru, and now in the U.S.A., where I expected a continuation of the high standards that BMW is famous for…
I left my bike at Victory BMW on the 14th of June, advising them that I would return on the 26th of June to collect the Big Fella… I spent a good deal of time discussing what I needed to be done in addition to the 160 000 km service which was due…
Due to the high cost of labour in the USA ($89.50 per hour… That’s R760.00 an hour back home, a rate that brain surgeons wish they could earn…!!) I asked them to do only what was absolutely necessary, and advise me by email if they came across any major problems that required urgent attention…
Apart from a short email to let me know that they had managed to locate the Michelin Anakee tyres I insisted on, I did not hear from them again while I was away…
I arrived at Victory BMW at 8.30 am on the 26th as arranged, and discovered that they had not laid a finger on the bike since I dropped it off…!!
Jesse, gets going with the service which should have been completed the week before…!!
I know for certain now, that I am a very different man from the one that left South Africa all those months ago…!! If this had happened back then, somebody would have had to call for an ambulance, because either I would have burst a blood vessel, or someone at BMW would be scrambling for their medical aid details…!!
When Justin gave me the excuse about one of their technicians calling in sick the previous week, I thought he was pulling my leg…
“You’re kidding…!!” I said half a dozen times, thinking that this was the kind of joke I would pull, and he was getting me back for all the pranks I have pulled on other people in recent times…!! I am a firm believer in the old adage that “What goes around, comes around”…!!
Unfortunately, he was not joking…!!
The Big Fella gets stripped down, but would not be getting as much attention as I had promised…!!
After biting a small chunk out of my cheek to keep myself from using language that I would not be able to print here, I asked when the bike would be ready, and was told that it would be “a couple of hours”… I realised that venting my annoyance would not get the job done any quicker, and kept urging them to “shake the lead out” on the many trips I made to the service counter…
I was not the only displeased customer at Victory BMW yesterday… I met Don Carpenter there, who had ordered a bottom panel for his 1200LT three weeks previously… Not only had the guys at Victory never called him to advise that the panel had arrived, but when Don arrived to have the panel fitted, he discovered that not only was the panel they had ordered, the wrong colour, it was also a left hand panel, and not the right hand one which he had asked for…!!
He was as livid as I was, and voiced his displeasure with the management, and before he left, he also told them that their handling of my service was a very poor show indeed…!!
I hung around at Victory BMW until 2.30 pm before my bike was ready…!! I had wasted so much time, that I did not even allow them time to wash the bike… There were so many things that I had wanted them to check for me, but never got to discuss with them, because I had so much to do and so little time to do it in…
At least this time, I was sure that the valves were being reset properly….
I usually chat to the technician who worked on the bike to get his opinion on the condition of the motor and how the bike was performing now that it had been serviced… Today, I just wanted to pay and get back on the road…
I know that they did not check half the things I wanted them to, and am no wiser as to the state of my rear wheel bearings, which according to the BMW guys back in South Africa, should have been replaced long ago…!! The fuel consumption problems I have experienced, and the problem I believe I have with the fuel pump also remain unresolved, and after this service and my long ride today (the 27th) the Big Fella seems to be even thirstier than ever…!!
I can ony assume that the work they DID do was done properly… The bike certainly has the power it usually has just after a service, and sounds and feels good…
Victory BMW have what seems to be a great sales team, as they have won many awards which are proudly displayed for all to see, but their service department needs a swift kick up the backside by all accounts…!!
“Pure Driving Pleasure” became “Pure Customer Displeasure” today…!!
©GBWT 2012
Nothing worse than giving people time and they still let you down. I am pleased that you did not lose it though – you have come a long way!