Triumphrat

HookEmHorns · 10-30-2007

I know this "dealer" has been brought up before (& I use "dealer" loosely as they could care less about truly being a dealer), but I'm so pi$$ed that I can't see straight. I'm going to rant & ramble, so please just give me a minute & then I'll be fine.

First, I'm TRYING to become a member of the RAT pack for the first time & am truly looking forward to purchasing one of these beautiful & unique TRIUMPH machines. I bought my first bike this summer (2007 Hyosung GV650) to 're-wet' my feet so to speak & re-familiar myself with motorcycles in general. I purchased my bike from a local small-town dealer who sells ATV's at about a 10:1 ratio to motorcycles. No biggie, because I researched the bike & knew that it was what I wanted to get. Because my bike is not a name brand ride, I know that trading it in will be more difficult, but it should not open me up for stupidity, rudeness & disregard from any dealer whom I choose to do business with. Which brings us to today.

I decided I was ready to start looking at the Triumphs & contacted the B'Ham dealer via their website. I made it clear that I wanted to talk a possible trade in & exactly what the bike is. The email response was immediate & what I expected: Sure we have one in stock, the price is $10,399 & we'll have to see the bike before we could give you any kind of trade-in value. Okay, no problem. So, that Saturday, I loaded up my 1 1/2 yo baby girl (SHE LOVES the bike!) in the truck, trailered the bike, & took off on the 90+ mile trip to the dealer. When I got there, I had to approach the salesman (same guy from the emails) & initiate the contact. I told him which bike I wanted & that I was ready to deal. We talked for a minute & he said he remembered me, except this time he quoted me a price of $10,499 + tax, title, license & fees (all total $11,600 or so OTD). I didn't balk about the price, as I expected there to be add-ons, but I did notice he tacked on an extra 100 from the start.

I reminded the salesman about my trade-in & he then informed me that he'd spoken to the owner & was told that they did not want to take my bike in on trade. I kindly told him that that piece of information would have been nice to know BEFORE I loaded up my baby girl & bike & drove all the way up there to see them (I mean he had my phone & email information & could have contacted me at any time). The salesman did apologize for not contacting me, but it seemed as shallow as his drive to make contact with a customer on the floor. After this exchange, I said thanks for nothing & started to leave. He immediately said, "Well...let me take a look at it, see how it looks & I'll talk to the owner."

Showed him the bike, which he said was real clean & well cared for. He asked me what I wanted to get out of it, so I told him I'd like to get around $3,500 - $4,000 on trade (New Bikes are $6200, kbb.com lists trade in @ $3,850). I expected them to come back with about $3k which was really what I was looking to get.

He said he would not be able to talk with the owner & get back to me until Tuesday with any sort of answer. I gave him my contact info, AGAIN, & he said he would call me at 2pm on Tuesday with an answer.

Well, today was Tuesday. 2pm passed, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm...still no call. After riding my bike to work I checked my phone only to find he still had not tried to contact me, so I called him. When he answered, he still did not recognize my name (seems to me that after 3 emails, a personal visit, lack of communication to a potential customer & a promise to the same customer to contact them at a set time, that you'd KNOW who they are). He said he had been too busy to call, but that he'd talked with the owner & all they could give me was $2,500. I promptly said, "Well, I guess you can't help me then. Thank you. Goodbye."

I've contacted MANY different Triumph dealers (Chattanooga, Decatur, Atlanta, Pensacola) & they've all been straight with me. Decatur & Pensacola did not have what I wanted in stock; Atlanta doesn't take trade-ins unless they are name-brand popular or a brand they sell new (honesty); Chattanooga doesn't take trade-ins at all & couldn't be of any help (again, honesty). How hard is it to be HONEST with a customer?!?

I know this is long & rambling & probably sounds trivial, but all I ask for when I'm dealing on a car or bike, or anything, is HONESTY & RESPECT. Don't d!@& me around. So I didn't go blow big $$ on a name brand hd-hondasuzaki for my first bike. That doesn't make me any less of a rider or potential future customer. My bike is my TOY, & the wife says my TOYs have to be paid for in cash. I'd call that a SURE SALE for any dealer, too bad B'ham judges you by what you ride (or don't ride) before you come in the door.

Rant over! Thank you for listening.