Hacker Yamaha and Honda of Houghton Lake. My service experience.

[Jeff]

I'm getting ready to go up and pick my Honda Rincon up in Houghton Lake.  While Burlkraft and I were up to the cabin last month, it died on me. Just went dead with no juice out on the trail.  Steve and I took the leads off the battery, cleaned them, put them back on, and the bike took off again. WHEW..   PROBLEM.   Now it kept stalling when I would let up on the throttle, and then back fire. Seemed to run fine just going down the trail, but slow up and it would quit.  We got it back to the cabin and took the battery out, cleaned everything up, still, no go. It started acting like maybe the timing was off somehow.  So I loaded it up came home and dropped it off at Hacker's in Houghton lake. The Honda Dealer. I told them what was up, and also said I had a rattle I could not find, please see what you can find on that, call and let me know when you have an idea how much it is going to cost to fix.

1. I dropped the bike off on the Morning of Monday the 26th of April.

2. On Friday, April 30th, I had not heard from them so I called.  They said they had not looked at it at all. They had someone quit, or they fired someone, I cant remember which they said, and they were trying to get another person, and they were short handed, and they should be able to get to it the first of the week...  Okay, I understand. I don't need the bike right yet. Let me know.

3.  Come Thursday the 6th of May, I still have not had one call from them so I call and say who I am, and I talked to "Rick".  Rick tells me that they found the problem, that the key switch was bad. It was getting 12 volts, but not getting 12 volts back in. That it was fixed, but they had not looked for the rattle yet because of the following reason.  He said they had another Rincon in there with the exact same rattle. They had tore it all apart, the engine too, put it back together, and it still has the rattle. He said a factory Rep was coming in on either Tuesday May 10th, or Wednesday May 11th to take a look at that bike, and they wanted to keep my bike there so he could look at it as well.   

Okay, I still didn't need the bike yet, so that sounded like a good idea. Rick I said, about how much to I have into it for the electrical problem. He says "around $150 or so. They never called to tell me first what it would cost, but that sounded good to me, so I said cool on the price lets let the rep look at it for the rattle.

4. Friday, May 14th. Still no call from Hacker's Honda. Not once in Three weeks did they call me.  So I called a little while ago.  A different guy answers, and I say who I am and he says "Hey! You must have been reading my mind, I was just getting ready to call you.  I don't know how big of a hurry you are for your bike, but we have a factory rep coming in next week that can look at that rattle."  I said, I was told he was coming in this week?"  He says, no he didn't make it next week.  I said, well I really am getting to where I need to get the bike, its been 3 weeks and I need to get up north and get my power line sprayed with roundup before it so tall its trouble.  I think I'll come up and get it now"    He starts saying (stammering and saying um, ah, lets see, well,, well, we, ah, ah, had to take all the plastic off, then we found breaks in the wire insulation, then we had to cut wires and solder in new wires, then we had to look it all over, we had a lot of time in it.  $405.28.   I said, that Rick last week told me it was the key switch, and this guy says, "yea, and it was that too."

Last week Rick told me around $150 bucks. That the electrical problem was fixed, they were waiting for the factory rep. to look at the rattle.  This week, the bill is now $405.28 and the factory rep never came.

I try to be logical, but logic with this one points only to one thing in my mind.  I'm going up to get my Bike. I'm not happy, and Tammy is extremely *pithed after budgeting for the 150 or so that we were told last week.

I can understand it costing $405.28 to fix in the beggining with all that was told to me today would have been told to me then, what I can't understand is how it got to be $405.28 after being told it was taken care of last week for $150 or so and the only thing that has changed was the passing of time.

Has telling my Story made me feel $255 dollars better?  NO it hadn't.

I guess I'll go get the thing now. I've got nothing good to say right now, and I suspect nothing good to say when I get back.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Good to know that the place went downhill, my dad and I had them press some bearings and races in a few years ago. We just walked in the guy said no problem and did it while we waited and then didn't even charge us for the work. Sounds like something changed at that shop.

[Jeff]

New owners as of 4 years ago.  Found that out today.   I got the bill knocked down to 350, but I'm still not thrilled. There was some other wireing modification issues from the previous owner of the bike they found, but not to the extent they charged me.

The mechanic flat out lied to me today on one little thing that I know of, that I have postitive proof on. Why he felt the need, I dont know.  He said that he cleaned my air filter, it wasn't bad enough to be replaced he said, but it needed a cleaning.    LIAR!

Steve and I drove to the soo the day the bike quit, as we thought maybe that could be part of it.  I bought a brand new filter up there from the honda dealer, came back to the cabin and changed it. I drove the bike across the lawn up there, and it still quit and backfired.  Thats when we loaded it up and I brought it home.  I never took the bike out of the truck, took it right to Hackers.  That air filter had all of 50 feet on it.

[SwampDonkey]

That's probably worst than my experience getting planer parts from a local armature shop. Said 2 weeks, we'd call. Well, 6 weeks went bye and I had called 3 times over that period. The last time I called the guy he said he seen parts take 10 weeks to get to his shop.  He said the boss man may not have bothered with the order since it wasn't worth it. I said to whom? Said he would look into the where-abouts of my parts and call back in 1 hr, the boss had been away 3 weeks he said. Never heard tell of'm, no return call. If they ever do call here and I'm home, I'm telling them to go fly straight to you know where. Meanwhile, the fact that I called the company that makes these planers and they said they have them, I ordered them, and they are on the way right now, tells me they don't need my business. Fine by me, I shoulda just ordered the parts online to begin with. Not only did they have the parts, but the price included shipping and taxes.  Here's mud in your eye. Also, the nice lady said their technician would help with any installation issues.

[zopi]

Dealers suck. I will not buy another new harley...I will probably build my next one...or buy a krautcycle.

[Ron Scott]

Jeff,

Maybe worth while to tell your Hacker's experience to the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General's Office. It sounds like everyone in their shop was trying to make money off your machine repair.

[Left Coast Chris]

The wire coating problem is a very poor situation.  Its supprising it was built with substandard materials in the first place.   Maybe they need to put the wires in a sheath for protection for wear areas?   If you can't trust a Honda what can you trust?

[Jeff]

The wiring problem didn't stem from Honda, it came from the original owner of the quad who modified the wiring when he added the winch and heated grips. He used those stupid blue clamps that crimp over the wire and cut into the insulation to spice one wire to another.  That's how he hooked up the accessories. He never even taped over them. There was legitimately something there for them to fix as it turned out besides the key switch.  My real beef is that they told me it was done and about how much it was, when it wasn't.  Then when they ran into trouble, then never bothered to call and tell me what was going on, and let me believe for another week I only owed then 150 bucks.

Their real dereliction of duty with me was non-communication and non professional. They are a Honda dealer and service center, they should be good at both of those things.

[Brucer]

Tell Honda.

Had a similar experience several years ago -- work done without authorization from me. I complained to the head office and got a refund (from head office) AND an apology from the local dealer.

[Left Coast Chris]

Yea....... the blue clips are really bad.  Espically for anything that moves.  It is good that it is not a wholesale wiring harnes issue.

One thing I have done in the past is threaten to go the the agency that issues the business license to the business.  That really gets the businesses attention.  For us in Ca it is the Dept of Consumer Affairs.  They have on line complaint forms.   Honda may have on line complaint forms also (maybe).   Hope this somehow has a happy ending at least actually getting it fixed......  

[Raider Bill]

Dealers suck. I will not buy another new harley...I will probably build my next one...or buy a krautcycle.

I have to agree with you on this.

[JohnG28]

Its pretty ridiculous that any repair shop would do any serious repairs like this without authorization.  I would not be happy at all.  Hope that you dont have to deal with that again.

[stonebroke]

They probably don't think that is much money. Only when you get into four digits do they pay attention.

Stonebroke

[Mooseherder]

We have similiar experiences with our Dodge Dealer.
Sad part is they always try to rip us off for minor work.
Foolish me kept giving them chances
I will never go back there.  They are the only Dodge Dealer for 50 miles because of all the Dealerships that have closed.  Because of that, I will never own another Dodge product.

[Reddog]

Should have left it at the Soo.
They seem to be a good dealer.

[Jeff]

Wally, yer probably right. I have half a notion to send them an email telling them they should search google for "Hacker Honda Service"

[Dana]

What is the email add? We can all send one.

[Ed]

I've never got a "warm fuzzy feeling" from ANY atv dealer after the sale....
When I bought my Polaris Ranger from US27 motorsports, I wanted a green one. All they had was a red one.
"No problem" we'll do a dealer trade.
10 days later, they deliver my new Ranger, green, just like I wanted. As time went by, I figured out what they had done.....ordered green plastic and swapped it out on the machine they had in stock. Probably wouldn't have had a problem if they had asked. But they didn't. Tried to slip it past me, at least they could have taken the tag off the keys that said "red Ranger 6x6"". 
I'll go elsewhere next time.

Ed

[SwampDonkey]

Some warantees aren't any good either, no wear parts in the fine print. So basically just the head and tail lamps covered. 

[Brad_bb]

You should write an online review about your experience, Jeff.  So that others can find out.  Google "business reviews" with the name of the business.   Several sites will come up like Yelp or others.  Leave your review.  I try to check reviews online before dealing with a new business or restaurant.

I feel your frustration Jeff.  The only recourse is they don't get your business anymore and your honest review online.  Unfortunately they owner probably never understands why.  These guys you're dealing with don't care.  When an owner doesn't understand the importance of delighting the customer, it becomes a serious impediment to their success.  Not only should you treat the customer as you would want to be treated, you should treat them better then they expect.  Communication and knowing that they value your business is a critical factor.  I can't tell you how many businesses I've dealt with that just don't get it!  Prime recent example is the tree service down the road from me.  I need a cookie for an axe target.  They have a huge pile of chunks and logs.  They cut them for firewood.  To cut a cookie they wanted $80 from me.  I explained what I was doing, and that it was cheaper than making firewood, but he implied that the owner was pretty rigid.  He figured they had to have their guy on the clock with the big chainsaw etc.  Well they are cutting it anyway for firewood with the same guy and saw?  Their pile has overtaken their yard.  I was nice as can be, but based on the amount of wood that was, he was probably trying to charge me 5 times or more of firewood cost, and he wouldn't even have to split it.  I asked the guy if he could ask the owner if he could help me out on this axe target explaining that it was less work than making firewood.  He said he'd call me.  Never heard anything.  They don't get that helping me out can make for a tree service customer in the future and good word of mouth, and it would get rid of a little wood that was overtaking their yard, and pay more than firewood.  I'd say that most new business I've dealt with have poor service.  I tried using a local leather and shoe shop for some tool sheaths.  Over 9 weeks of promises and me having to follow up, they never once called me to let me know the status, 7 weeks after they told me it would be done.  They lost my business and got bad word of mouth.