A
apogeecustom
Guest
The main Suzuki dealer in town has had a bad reputation for a long time.
Every time I've gone in to maybe find a part or something, the people working there are so disconnected from their job that they don't really even try to help. They ask for the make/model of the bike and then say they have to order the part. We're talking nuts and bolts type stuff here and I know they could help me out if they really had any knowledge about cycles, but that's the new world we live in I guess. Very far from Robert Pirsig's utopia. Anyway, I needed a shim real bad to finish up valve service and I ordered one online, but I just had to see if I could find one locally so I took my chances and went to the dealership. Instead of the usual approach I started the conversation by saying I needed a shim, but I'm not giving you the make and model of my bike, but rather that I need a shim of certain dimension. I followed the service manager back to the shim storage and she started going through all of them looking for my numbers. They were all used shims, which was fine, but I mentioned that and she adamantly said they were not used.
I asked to have the shim she found (Kawasaki) measured and the service department could not find any precision measuring tools. She actually tried to measure the diameter with a carpenters tape measure. 
So I said I would return with my own measuring devices. The whole drive back I was thinking about how they are going to try to charge me $25 for a used shim, because this was their MO. When I returned the shim was at the counter for check out. The measurements all turned out so the clerk was trying to look the part number up and I mentioned that it was used and that the service manger had tried to pawn it off as new. He looked at it for a second, and then handed it to me and told me to have a good day. I thanked him greatly and now have a better outlook on the dealership. Hokey I know, but its amazing how far a small thing like that can go.
Every time I've gone in to maybe find a part or something, the people working there are so disconnected from their job that they don't really even try to help. They ask for the make/model of the bike and then say they have to order the part. We're talking nuts and bolts type stuff here and I know they could help me out if they really had any knowledge about cycles, but that's the new world we live in I guess. Very far from Robert Pirsig's utopia. Anyway, I needed a shim real bad to finish up valve service and I ordered one online, but I just had to see if I could find one locally so I took my chances and went to the dealership. Instead of the usual approach I started the conversation by saying I needed a shim, but I'm not giving you the make and model of my bike, but rather that I need a shim of certain dimension. I followed the service manager back to the shim storage and she started going through all of them looking for my numbers. They were all used shims, which was fine, but I mentioned that and she adamantly said they were not used.
I asked to have the shim she found (Kawasaki) measured and the service department could not find any precision measuring tools. She actually tried to measure the diameter with a carpenters tape measure. So I said I would return with my own measuring devices. The whole drive back I was thinking about how they are going to try to charge me $25 for a used shim, because this was their MO. When I returned the shim was at the counter for check out. The measurements all turned out so the clerk was trying to look the part number up and I mentioned that it was used and that the service manger had tried to pawn it off as new. He looked at it for a second, and then handed it to me and told me to have a good day. I thanked him greatly and now have a better outlook on the dealership. Hokey I know, but its amazing how far a small thing like that can go.
