My experience buying a new bike

[Barnacle Potato]

This is my review originally posted on my blog page but I decided to also
post this on North West Honda Wigan's Facebook page and all that was said is "it is what it is" They didn't even offer the money back from my licence that they wrongfully took.

So, my Honda Horror Story begins on my search to find my first brand new bike, as you guys know I look at all reviews and every positive and negative on something before I buy. I decided on the Honda CBR 650F after extensive research between other brands and models I knew this was the right choice for me. I chose Blackpool Honda as the dealership to go to being the closest to my home town. During my visit I was immediately discouraged from buying from them after listing the extras I wanted with my bike and being told they cannot be done for example, powder coated rims. Also the salesman I was speaking to told me a didn't know the price of an exhaust I was interested in, he said that there was a £600 difference from the website and just told me I'm wrong.
So after being rudely spoken to in Blackpool I decided maybe Wigan isn't much further so I thought I’d see if they would sort out my added extras with decent salesmanship. As I pulled up to Honda late one night there were two people locking up and bringing the last bike inside. They came up to me and said we are free to come in and look around which was a great first impression knowing that they'd wait behind for me, a potential buying customer to give great service. I sat down with the salesman, told him everything I wanted and was told YES! It can be done. Thrilled by the service given at that point I put down my deposit there and then. From there my experience went downhill...
I put my license in with the finance just for the ease of everything being done in one place, this is the start of my nightmare with Honda. Going with the riding school with Honda is an absolute joke, now don't get me wrong the instructors themselves are fantastic, great riders, know what they're talking about, answer any questions and do everything for you to help you pass. The problem is getting hold of the instructors of the riding school and bikes available for learning. I rang Honda twice a day to arrange my module 1 because I couldn't wait the 2 month period I decided to book cancellations which they said were fine. Every cancellation that came up I rang twice a day so I wasn't pestering them frequently, but every time I was told no instructor was in the dealership so they would give me a call back. Over the week I was ringing I didn't get one, not even one phone call back. For my module 2 it became ridiculous, I was getting furious at not being able to book my test, I went just over 2 weeks of ringing up on average 3 times a day to speak to an instructor and yet again always told I'd get a call back but never did. In fact I did get a call from an instructor... a week after I passed and had my bike saying they were told to give me a call back. So of about 50 phone calls 1 phone call back somewhat late I'd say not too bad. Now on with the bikes which I was learning on, I had 3 lessons always with another learner. Lesson 1 I was on a 125CC for half of the time, lesson 2 I was on a 125CC for 2 of the 3 hours and on my last I finally got it for a full lesson myself.
Another problem with this whole license included in the finance is that I basically in total had 2 full lessons, which is all that I did. 2 Lessons cost me £600, I paid for all my tests myself and was told I would be given any extra back but 3 months down the line I've heard nothing as well as phoning them up again and the salesman wan't available so still waiting on that phone call.
I received a phone call at work one day by one of the salesman and asked about when I was coming into the dealership to sign the finance agreement. I said that I will be signing the agreement on the 1st of the month so I get paid before the money comes out my bank. Suddenly his tone changes and he shouts down the phone yelling he's worked hard to get me the bike in for when I wanted "you're telling us you want your bike and now you want to put it off? Which is it?" This is what a paying customer gets bearing in mind that the date at this point is only the 29th, just wanted to wait 2 days. After he calmed down a bit he explained that the reason he wanted me to sign it was because I have to sign for the bike before it comes off the delivery truck at Honda. He picked me up from work that day as I had no other transport to get to him he offered to take me there and back. After I signed my finance and got dropped off back at work I found out that I didn't need to sign it first, my friend who purchased a bike with me at the same time signed his a week after they got it and another friend who bought from Blackpool Honda didn't sign his first either. Goes to show how far a Salesman will go for his own commission and now I'm paying on the 29th of each month.
So the bike was officially financed thought I may as well just finish it off, can't get much worse right? The salesman told me that the bike would be ready for when I passed my Module 2 and not surprising it wasn't. From the day I put my deposit down to that day I came to collect my bike I always said I want some parts on my bike before I ride it away. I came in 3 times before my module 1 to tell them what I wanted and after I passed my Module 1 I went back to the dealership and said forget everything all I want is crash protectors. I came back into store roughly 6 times before I came to collect my bike explaining profusely that I need the crash protectors on before I ride it away and even offered to pay there and then every time. All they will say is "we'll sort it" That's what I was told every time I went in and I rang up a couple of days before picking up my bike and was told that they carry them in stock so it doesn't matter.
So the day comes, over the moon I have my license, getting the bike I really wanted and worked hard for and obviously still no crash protectors. I explained to them that I said they needed to be on and I was told not to worry about it, I don't need them it's not like I'm going to drop it. The point is I am a customer who wants to buy something for my bike and they won't let me, also nobody chooses to drop their bike or crash it's merely an unfortunate thing that can happen – and can be very expensive not to have them.
So no crash protectors, had my bike 2 weeks and the inevitable happens. I crashed. I was in a bad way myself, plenty of broken bones but all the damage to the bike was on the side. Roughly £1000 worth of damage which would've easily been avoided by crash protectors and even had my bike booked in at a local bike garage that week to get them fitted.
So that sums up my Honda Horror Story, from my experience I would most likely never buy from Honda again even though a Honda Fireblade is my dream bike. No matter what you buy and where it's from you expect good service so when spending a lot of money you want excellent service which I just wasn't given. I spent a lot of my time searching for cancellations and phoning Honda to try and arrange lessons and seeing if they are available for my test which could've easily been avoided if someone who is always in the dealership has a copy of the instructor's schedule.

[M.C]

tl;dr?

[ThatDippyTwat]

tl;dr:- Noob not used to being fucked around by dealer(s)
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[smegballs]

Hasn't even got full license sorted and shells out top dollar for a new-new CBR650....

They didn't conduct themselves very well, but I question OPs sensibility.

Why did you buy a new bike? Why didn't you assume you were gonna have a few spills as a novice rider and buy a perfectly serviceable mid-00s bike of some description for £1-2k, then when it gets beat up you just patch it up and keep riding?

[Beehive Bedlam]

[Poundshop Dave]

Welcome to the world of biking. I was tucked up like a kipper for the sum of £800 by Kawasaki super-bikes Stirchley way back in 1993. Left £800 as a deposit on the Saturday for a GPX 750 they had, balance to be paid on the next weekend after they PDI'd it. Come Monday the shutters were down, out of business and my £800 with it!
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Proud to be from Birmingham

[Barnacle Potato]

[Barnacle Potato]

[ThatDippyTwat]

[Azoth]

Do you put all this down to bad luck or to poor judgment?

It isn't sensible to buy a unsuitable new bike that you can't afford ('on finance') that you don't have a licence to ride. I'm not saying it would be unsuitable for everyone, but not everyone has the same abilities. The chance of crashing your first bike is high, but you went and bought a new sports bike as your first anyway. What made you so confident you would be able to ride this bike that you bought it before you had a licence? Why did you pay the deposit based on verbal assurances from the dealer that such-and-such would be included rather than a signed list of requirements?

I'm not taking advantage of hindsight here. This series of decisions of yours is completely foreign to me - I would never have conceived them in the first place.
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Safety in numbers

[Barnacle Potato]

[Azoth]

[Gosties]

Unfortunately life's like that you really can't trust anyone.

You should not have taken the bike until all the work requested was done. Sod's law dictated that you were going to have an off in regards to not having the protection of the crash bungs. Whether they would have made a huge difference to the damage is a moot point. You will never know.

I'm looking to get my full licence in a couple of months but am fully aware that dealerships just want your money. I'm also not trusting of private sellers but it's a case of "buying your ticket and taking your chances".

It's been a painful experience in more ways than one for yourself.

In saying that I had a good experience in purchasing my motorcycle from the Honda Franchise in my area. Although I can afford to purchase a brand new bike. My issue is that it's almost inevitable I will drop new motorcycle despite taking care and attention to prevent this. Probably run a good 2nd hand bike for a year or so. Then buy one of the bikes I really want.
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Riding Honda CB 125 F | Previously Lexmoto Street 125|

On the little bike who tries !!!!

[SuperMike]

Ok, so this was basically me 18 months or so ago. I took advantage of the Honda summer saver offer a couple of years back to save £500 off the new cost of a CBR650. I tried to do my DAS through Honda too as they were going to give it to me for half price secondary to buying the bike. The part that I will certainly agree with you on is that the Honda get your license program is horrible. I tried to book on in the dealers, via e-mail and by phone. Each time I was supposed to get a call back it never happened. No missed calls on my mobile, nothing. So, after a week or so of that thought sod it and went through a motorbike school. License all sorted.

The experience from Honda (London dealer) however could not have been better. Bike ordered and finance sorted in August. Picked up early October. They had it all ready for me on the day, parked out the front, took some photos, made me feel warm and fuzzy inside etc etc. The only extras I had on the bike however was a satellite tracker. Were the extras you wanted honda genuine parts or were they aftermarket?

I too got the bike on finance. As for having to sign for it before it is taken off the truck, I don't know. I signed the finance agreement a few weeks before picking up the bike, but they had it in stock anyway - they had a few out back. Maybe if the dealer was specially ordering in your bike they understandably needed a signed document before they dump 5 grand or whatever the wholesale price is out of their bank for you to turn around and say actually I can't afford it anymore. That sounds reasonable to me. Whether they shouted down the phone at you who knows. I'm sure they would paint a different picture.

As for the crash bungs - first thing I did. If you are an experienced biker then why didn't you fit them yourself? They are piss easy - took me about 10 mins to put on my R&G sliders on the engine casing. To my mind trying to blame the dealer for you ditching your new bike up the road is bizarre. If your crash was bad enough for you to break a load of bones in your body, something doesn't stack up to me. You don't have a low speed wobble and do a grands worth of damage to a bike and end up in hospital. Smacks of young lad gets off 125 and onto a big bike, and his ego tried to write a cheque that his handling skills couldn't cash.

As with a lot of rants on here, it just jumps out as a bit I fucked up and want to blame someone else for it - other than the license which I'm totally with you on.

[Barnacle Potato]

[wr6133]

If you're such an experienced ZX10R racer, then why the fuck did you buy the CBR Girl Edition?

[stevo as b4]

Sounds like a crazy story from a crazy guy really!

There's plenty of people out there that say this that and the other about what they want or have asked a dealer to do, but then they buckle under the slightest pushy remark from the sales guy, realise they've been pushed around and fucked over, and then moan and slate afterwards hoping for an unlikely outcome.

Im not saying the dealer hasn't acted like a right cunt here, but you've let them take your trousers down and spank you silly with nothing more than a few phone calls to protest and counter their lack of service.

Im not saying it's right, but I used to work with a bloke at work, who didn't really take any shit, and could be a bit of a nightmare in public places if he thought he was wronged by someone. If after two weeks of waiting to pick his new bike up the crash protectors had not been supplied and fitted, he'd have been in the dealers on a busy Saturday morning and in front of everyone he'd have walked over and got the guy in a head lock over the counter, until he was satisfied he'd get what he'd asked for.

You let shit slide here and now your in a words war with a pissed off dealer who probably doesn't give a shit, as there's plenty more easy to con people out there, and I doubt without legal action you'll get anywhere with the dealership now.

[iooi]

[quote="Barnacle Potato"
So no crash protectors, had my bike 2 weeks and the inevitable happens. I crashed. I was in a bad way myself, plenty of broken bones but all the damage to the bike was on the side. Roughly £1000 worth of damage which would've easily been avoided by crash protectors.[/quote]


Just what are these "crash protectors" ???

Or if you mean bungs, they could quite easily have caused much more £££ damage.
Any thing that sticks out has the potential to flip the bike if it sticks into something, and with all the pot holes these days.... Thats a pretty good chance
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Just because my bike was A DIVVY, does not mean i am......

[Pjay]

The question I am left with is:

Why the fuck didn't you just put some crash bungs on yourself?

[Dave_80]

[Barnacle Potato]

[Rogerborg]

[SuperMike]

[Barnacle Potato]

So what you're saying is you were riding too fast and couldn't see enough road for the speed you were going?
I don't see how crash bungs would help your bike hitting a wall head on,or am I missing something?
Make a new thread titled : I jizzed a load of money on a bike i couldn't handle and now I want to stamp my feet about it.[/quote]

I was doing 36 in a 30... oh well.
Part way round the bend there was mud, can't exactly straighten up right quick whilst turning.
I hit the wall, my bike slid along the floor.
And I'm not stamping my feet about it, fuck the crash it's happened oh well. I'm ranting about shit service that's all.

[SuperMike]