Blade Swindon

[Drax]

Hi everyone

Has anyone on here had any experience of buying a bike from this company?

The only reason I'm asking is this (bit of a long story but may be of help to people):

1)Found a bike I wanted.

2)Entered my details for a finance quote - Instant reply" We will contact you Mr Drax."

3)Heard nothing for 4 days so contacted them

4)Got through to dedicated Yamaha salesman-(as its a Yamaha that I desire)

5)After asking some details about the bike I asked for a test ride(at the time this was a £6295 bike)

6)He replied" Unfortunately you cant take a test ride as there is no tax on the bike & you cant go out on trade plates as only Blade employees are insured to do so

7) So you're asking me to buy a bike that I can't test ride
8) Yes
9)What if I don't like it?
10) We have a 100miles return policy (I live 120 miles away)
11)So if I don't like it after 100 miles I can return it?
12)Yes
13) For a full refund?
14) You will be given a credit note to purchase something else from the Blade group

Fast Forward 3months.....

Same bike now up for £5495

1)I submitted a finance quote 2 weeks ago & haven't heard anything since.
2)Called TODAY(@10-30) & that I was interested in the bike - unfortunately the Yamaha sales guy was with another customer & would get back to me at the earliest opportunity. I also said that I was at work & would only be there till 13-30.
3)Called Blade Swindon @15-30
4)Got through to the guy who said I was next on his list to contact after the one in front of me. Grrr!
5)After similar conversation about the bike.. I asked about the test ride
6)"Yes no problem except there will be trade plates on it &...someone has a test ride booked for tomorrow! First person that puts a deposit on the bike gets it!"

I know it used to be George Whites, & if this is the sort of service that it got...then no wonder it went under.

If you are still here....Thank you for reading this ranting post.

[Derivative]

Sounds like they don't want to sell you it.

I'm sure there are plenty of 5 grand bikes about.

[-Matt-]

I'd start questioning if you want to be dealing with a bike from somewhere that doesn't even seem bothered to sell it to you - if they're like that now, how are they going to be if you have to return it/go in because of problems with it.

I'd steer clear personally - whats the bike and year out of interest, have you thought of buying private with a general loan if finance is still an issue

[Drax]

https://www.bladegrouproyalenfield.co.uk/pages/used/used-bikes/2009-09-YAMAHA-FZ1%20FAZER-1000cc/50a259d224c66a508.htm?YEAR=2009®LETTER=09&MAKE=YAMAHA&MODEL=FZ1%20FAZER&ENGINECC=1000

010 FZ1 Fazer.

Gonna have to let this go. My dream bike in my dream paint scheme. Boo Hoo!

As you say, I'm gonna steer clear due to the contradiction of information.

Don't make it easy to buy a bike from Blade Group (Yamaha) Swindon does it!!?

[-Matt-]

I'd look at private sellers personally, very little to be gained from buying from dealers unless you want a brand new bike really - warranties are often next to useless in real terms and nearly always costs are much much higher than private - there is some more 'risk' buying private as most reputable dealers obviously do basic checks on the bike, but even that doesn't mean its guaranteed to be trouble free.

And the majority of those checks you can research and do yourself, i've always bought private and yet to have any problems myself, and saved an absolute fortune compared to dealership prices - in the thousands easily

[XanderZZR]

Hi,

Made an account just to respond to this, been lurking on the forum for years.

Blade have been excellent with me, just bought a new zzr14 and had the best experience I have ever had in a dealer. The salesman was knowledgable and not pushy and gave a good deal for my bking.

After sales service has been efficient and friendly.

[Sako]

Didn't you just pick this bike up on the 26th of July though?

So maybe haven't had any after sales issues yet?

[XanderZZR]

27th July was the pick up day, had a couple of issues quickly resolved. Also had my bikes serviced at blade and was pleased with the work undertaken.

Had bikes from George whites, fowlers, fw marks, Phoenix, good mix of the south west and am genuinely very happy with the service provided.

Sounds like the op was unhappy about the test ride situation... Most private sellers don't like test plots; as for the call back they seem pretty small and busy, would rather that than the George white revolving door style.

Can only speak from my own experience and I did buy from the Kawasaki shop, maybe the yam bit isn't as good.

- edit: also received a courtesy call today to see how the bike was going, i haven't had that service in a long time.

[-Matt-]

Maybe a 'bad week' in terms of free staff or something in OP's case then perhaps.

I still aren't majorly in favour of dealers, test rides in my mind are more to get the feel of the bike rather than test the one in question you're buying, as it can run fine for a pre-prepped test ride then conk out a week later - not to say its likely but i just don't really consider it much peace of mind. And you can get a test ride for bike-feel purposes anywhere really.

How did you find fowlers out of interest, they were uttrely abysmal when i used them for servicing and parts orders on a few occasions a couple of years ago Struggled to find many people with a good word to say about them locally in bristol

[drzsta]

I bought my CBR from blade group honda in Abingdon and the salesman was knowledgeable and friendly. I would highly recommend them. [/code]

[XanderZZR]

I wouldn't ever go to fowlers again, had a pushy salesman and was charged for a premium service but received shocking aftercare; first service (and last for that matter) was silly money and the pivot points didn't seem to be lubed.

Phoenix were the worst, charged for spark plug change, threaded one plug and didn't change the other in my twin (good old nail polish).

Fw marks were good if you go in with the mindset of them being an Aprilia dealer (70 quid for a brake leaver thank you very much!)

George white gave what I paid for, cold service, quick in and out with a fine margin on the trade in - probably explains why they went under, didn't even check the bike I traded in.

Heard good things about onyerbike but haven't bought a bike from them yet.

I agree with you on the test rides, I'd never ridden a bking and bloody hated the thing! Lesson learnt.

I guess I always go with my gut, if you aren't made to feel special then they don't deserve your cash, regardless of recommendations.

[-Matt-]

Yeah similar issues to what i've heard with fowlers - i was TWICE in succession ordered the incorrect part - service was delayed by nearly half a week due to some cock and bull story about how they had to service some bikes on recall that i could find no information relating to the recall what so ever. Then when i did get it back i had scratched fairing - minimal and hard to argue it had been done in their possession but it was most definately not there when it went in as i'd kept the bike spotless until then.

Don't even like the shop minus the cafe, get stalked by staff and cold shouldered if you say you're just browsing...

I just personally [perhaps biased from past experiences] but see little benefit in dealers, and i've [again maybe luckily and a bit biased] but picked up cracking bargains from private sellers and never had any problem related to buying private to date so far - and even if i had a major one now to be honest the money i've saved to date vs dealers would still cover it and then some i'd imagine.

[smob67]

I bought a new cbr600f from blade reading but wanted the deal that blade Swindon had promised me, regards 0% apr and freebies, although same dealer network the reading branch seemed more than happy to take the business, maybe if you approached another Blade franchise and said " I want that bike at that price and I want it through you" they may be able to switch the stock around, maybe approach close to the end of the month when they are looking to meet quotas, just a thought.

Regards Blade Reading, I've had nothing but good service.... So far !

[recman]

I'll not go to another Blade dealer after my experience with Blade Abingdon.
They gave me a trade in price for my XT over the phone which was what I wanted but when I rode the 56 miles to do the deal, the dealer reduced the price, by quite a lot.
I had a spin on a new Hornet and buggered off.

[Faldo]

Why didn't you click the "Book a test ride"button on the website?
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[Drax]