I took the 848 for a "service t'other day. I had no choice as the word "SERV" was dancing across the screen and the franchise in question doesn't offer a reset. It cost me £200, £156 of which was labour, and this was the reduced winter special price. I mean who's doing the spannering, Randy Mamola? Now I can't really fault the service per se, nice place, polite and they seem a decent crowd but at the end of the day it was essentially 200 quid for an oil change and a general health inspection. All the more galling as I treat my bikes well and they want for nothing, doubly galling as I had changed the oil in late Autumn and not done many miles. But hey ho; lesson learned. Anyway, whilst out and about I gets a call (there's a surprise). "Your pads are worn and your fluid is done, cost to you Sir about another £150". I told them not to bother, if it needs done I will do it myself. I checked them, whilst worn they have plenty of meat left and she stops on a dime. It boils my piss that they go on "fishing expeditions" like that; and in what World does a pad replacement cost the thick end of 150 notes? What are they made of? The quim of an Essex virgin? The final hoof in the nuts was the bike being returned after having been "valeted". It had been power washed, quickly, cos I heard him do it. The next day it was covered in oily finger prints and assorted other shite. If I had given it to them in that state I wouldn't care, but it was spotless, cleaner than ma weans, just like all my bikes. All told a rather lack lustre performance and frankly a rip off. No wonder their predecessor went tits up with that sort of performance. 2 dissatisfied customers out of 5. Must try harder.
Buy the leads https://www.lonelec.com/product/guzzidiag-3pin-interface-cable-kit/ Choose your free software either PC or Android (or paid for TuneECU) and reset the service light yourself.
I paid £260 for a standard service on my 1200R last year ,it comes back pristine (As it is when they get it)I watched it get done last year and they were very thorough,even the disc bobbins were serviced to insure they were floating etc, this was a independent (Louighi Moto)due its next service now so will be getting it booked in again.
Par for the course I’m afraid Bonkers, you think bikes are bad you should take a visit to a Merc dealers! How does £380 quid for a first oil change grab you !! 6 litres of oil and a filter,..now that is taking the piss! When I asked the little girlie service manager to show me the service schedule on her laptop to break down that charge for me, she nearly wet herself, not used to someone challenging her,…tried to tell me that part of that cost was because I as getting a new sump plug???…so I enlightened her that it was just a new copper washer for aforementioned sump plug and that would cost about 2p ! I’ve spent 46 years in engineering, so I’ve learnt a few things along the way,and this little bimbet was talking down to me as though I was a complete mechanical numpty Eventually beat her down to £280 quid for the first service and still felt like I’d been shafted,..grrrr! The best bit was yet to come though, when during the service, one of there experienced 19 year old technicians came in to tell me that I needed two new front tyres and new front discs and pads because they were ….“rusty” ,the car had done less than 8,000 miles at that stage, so naturally I told him to leave it the fek alone ..just about ready to explode by then. Never been back to a Merc dealer since, I found a good independent ex Merc trained garage and he basically charges less than half the cost of the Merc garage half a mile away. The cheeky tw#ts then e mailed me the Mercedes customer service satisfaction questionnaire,..so I didn’t hold back, gave them both barrels about all the crap I’d been fed by spotty teenagers etc, told them their prices were sheer extortion and that Dick Turpin at least had the decency to wear a mask before he robbed people! Gonna have to stop this rant here cos I can feel my blood pressure shooting up grrrr!!…now look what you’ve done Bonkers
Nice one. Like you, I don't have any problem in paying for a good service of any kind. It's when companies don't live up to expectation and I feel I have not received value for money that I have an issue. It begs the question - Do these franchisees not see that the lacklustre service they offer will fall foul of the law of diminishing returns? Is it that they interested in gratuitous profiteering to the detriment of even an average service offered. If you offer a sub standard service your pool of repeat customers will soon evaporate; it's simple business logic and not difficult to get right. In their defence I feel that these kind of policies and behaviours are foisted on them from parent companies who are really only interested in the bottom line. Customer satisfaction and value for money be damned. It's a crying shame. In some respects I almost feel sorry for the staff. Whilst they are all "hail fellow well met" behind the scenes they are probably demoralised and ridden mercilessly by management to cut costs and line owners pockets. Whilst I'm not exactly poor I certainly do not have money to burn, and that's how I feel, burnt. I won't be back. Where about are you? Unfortunately there is only one Ducati dealer in Scotland at the moment so I have/had no alternative.
Ha, a member of my family used to be the GM of Merc dealership in a Glasgow. He told me that 70% of his profits came from service work. He wasn't too chuffed when I quipped that he'd never be short of work as his cars were about as reliable as Boris Jonston. Hey ho, another Crimbo do I won't be invited to.
Yeah, that's another thing. 2 items on my bill: a) Service consumables £5.17; Eh? B) Waste disposal £4.21 - Whats that? I can only figure oil at a quid a litre! WTF!?
a) = Screen wash b) = Bottle the screen wash came in Did you not pay to get your wiper blades changed? Tightwad.
Somerset. A wee bit far for me! Independents? Yeah, perhaps. I did ask around my two regular garages but the problem is that to reset the brain you need Ducati propriety software. Somebody once told me that such a thing costs about £5k so they don't bother, which is fair enough.
But there’s the real pity,..the car is great, love it ,..but it’s the snotty patronising attitude of the dealership coupled with blatantly exorbitant service charges that turns people off from getting another one
Ah, gotya. But doesn't the skoosher get you in the coupon? Or am missing a trick here? Can you get wipers for your helmet? Don't...say....it. Man Size Cleenex (or sports sock)! There did it for ya!
Yes, the attitude. Funnily enough me old man was with me t'other day for Ducatigate. To kill some time we went to the Jag Dealership near by. beautiful palace of chrome and glass, hushed tones, reverential atmosphere, £20 jag mugs; you get the picture. Anyway, both of us are in jeans, oily boots, hoodies etc off duty bike gear so to speak. So we saunters in and the desk guard, a rather over weight, frumpish woman in her forties looks me up and down as if I had just proposed a spit roasting with her as the sucking pig. She asks me the old sneering, supercilious "can I help you..." leading question. But her look was not welcoming. And the accent was well off. "Your'e a Weegie Burd Hen, not the Duchess of Cornwall". Anyhoo. I wanted to do two things: a) remind her that she was the desk wallah and I the potential customer and that I was the one that may be about to drop 60 grand on a motor, something that she would probably be unable to do on the living wage. b) drop that 60 grand just to piss her off! But I didn't, the I pace is noice, but not worth anything like that money. Very small boot, and you need to change the battery pack after 8 years according to the salesman (although I heard 6 elsewhere). He was a decent spud though. When asked the cost of that pack he snorted and said, "we don't know, but its Jaguar, so it won't be cheap!" That stumped me for a second - an honest car salesman! Having been one myself for a few years I know how rare they are.
Ha! If only I had known. I never knew such a gadget existed. I skimmed over that post as I thought it was an advert. Next time I shall be fully briefed moving forward (doesn't that phrase make ya cringe? Good for Bullshit Bingo though). If I don't sell it first!
I paid £750 to have my forks and shock serviced today. WP Pro (top of the range WP suspensio for enduro) Ok, included new springs at £210 and possibly another £100 in parts/oil..but still extremely expensive.
I thought of Ducati servicing yesterday when I was reading about the Right to Repair cases against John Deare, in the States. That impacts independent farmers, but whoever it does it's a scam.
