Columbus Ohio Dealership Motohio-not recommended

[rettrodoll]

The Ducati dealership in Columbus Ohio still is not providing adequate service . I took my bike in there for an issue and they said it would be looked at on the 14th, so I called the 21st and they still hadn't touched it. I received some lame excuse about two other motorcycles being worked on, and that their engines were tore apart and in the way of my bike getting serviced. That's great, but that's not my problem. I feel that there sincerity and eagerness to work on an individuals bike as if it were there only form of transportation is not there. Yeah I am not going to ride a bike anywhere when it's 26 degrees out, but what if I did want to? There are a few people that ride all year no matter what. I feel at this point if somebody were to ask me where to buy a Ducati I would tell them Motohio, if however they asked me where they could get service done I would not recommend Motohio. Any work on a motorcycle can be done in one day unless parts need to be ordered or certain things need to be sent out for milling. There is absolutely no reason not to be able to provide prompt service to an individual.   
   
This is just an update on the service being received from the Ducati dealership in town. I would like to inform you guys that I received service in a timely and prompt manner, but that is not the case.

[SP3]

How many dealers are in the area nowadays?

[Porsche Monkey]

I would be hesitant to slander a dealership publicly like this.

[rettrodoll]

There is only one in the Columbus area, and if your hesitant about free speech then you should go live in China or maybe the UK I think they still don't have free speech, but I might be wrong.

[The Don]

Free speech, check out Top Gear, or any of the motorcycle mags I think free speech is alive and well in the UK
Don
And no im not a Pom, I live in Oz

[Smitch]

Dealer's find out about who slanders them on the internet or in club magazines.  It doesn't help your situation! 

I feel like I've been defending dealers a lot lately, I'm probably too close to the situation as an employee of one.  But I completely understand your point of view, as I used to be a customer first.  Now that I work there, I see the other side of the story.  I can't speak for all of them, but they don't generally put off customers with no reason.  I know our service depart has things come up and things get delayed.  They don't mean to do it, it just happens, especially in smaller shops.

My advice is to kill them with kindness, and I mean KILL.  Bring in a 12 pack and just try to be a cool customer.  That will go MUCH further for you.  The bike still might take awhile, but they'll go above and beyond for you.  Dealer employees got in the game because they share your passion for motorcycles.  Constantly getting beat down by upset people doesn't make them go above and beyond, it makes them do the bare minimum.

Soapbox just broke...

[kopfjäger]

^^^^^
The Mechs. at my shop always get a bottle of Scotch and the shop Mgr (female) always gets a bottle of wine when I visit. I am always treated like a friend when I go there. I am invited to all of the shop functions etc. I wouldn't want it any other way.

[CapnCrunch]

is it too much to expect prompt service without having to grease the wheels?

[rettrodoll]

I would love to bring them a case or a pie, but it would be like giving a kid video game time when they haven't got their homework done.

[NAKID]

I wouldn't exactly call that slander. OP seemed to have a very concise, well thought out post about his experience with that dealer. He didn't call them names and didn't say he wouldn't do business with them, just that he wouldn't recommend them for service.

This is really no different than people posting about a good experience with a shop. People need to hear both good and bad about a shop they may patronize...

[CMDRDAVE]

I wouldn't exactly call that slander. OP seemed to have a very concise, well thought out post about his experience with that dealer. He didn't call them names and didn't say he wouldn't do business with them, just that he wouldn't recommend them for service.

This is really no different than people posting about a good experience with a shop. People need to hear both good and bad about a shop they may patronize...

+1, my experiences with good and bad shops have been posted hear.  As long as the posts are factual and leave the pure emotion out of it, posts about poor service are good contribution to the board.  I chose to place mine in the local forum since those are the people most likely to use that shop.

[metallimonster]

Being a former Audi tech I know that a lot of things can happen and things can change, so I usually am very patient and try to be as nice as possible whenever I have any kind of service done.  No matter if it is on my bike or whatever. 

That being said, Motohio has just about the worst customer service I have ever came across.  You can't even go in for a damn oil filter without getting looks from the parts guy like you are bothering him.  I mean do your freaking job dude.  This place really is ridiculous!  I work about 1 mile from the place and will NEVER go back there again.  I will take my bike 1.5 hours away to Akron for Crooked River to work on it.  My suggestion is to go there because they are super nice and super helpful.

[Dave R]

have you talked to the store manager or svc manager ?  Were they not able to make you feel better ?  How many days after they told you it would be ready did it take to complete ?

[swampduc]

Always surprising to me when I hear about all these bad dealer experiences. I've worked with dealers in 3 cities: Austin was pretty good, Houston good, and New Orleans fantastic. In all cases better than anything I've experienced with Suzuki or Yamaha dealers. I guess I figured it was due to Ducati being a premium brand.
Now, I understand that you don't feel you should have to "grease the wheels," but a personal relationship with people at the dealer really helps, and if you haven't already, +1 on moving up the chain of command letting them know what's going on before you give up on a place. Good Luck.

[muskrat]

The Ducati dealership in Columbus Ohio still is not providing adequate service . I took my bike in there for an issue and they said it would be looked at on the 14th, so I called the 21st and they still hadn't touched it. I received some lame excuse about two other motorcycles being worked on, and that their engines were tore apart and in the way of my bike getting serviced. That's great, but that's not my problem. I feel that there sincerity and eagerness to work on an individuals bike as if it were there only form of transportation is not there. Yeah I am not going to ride a bike anywhere when it's 26 degrees out, but what if I did want to? There are a few people that ride all year no matter what. I feel at this point if somebody were to ask me where to buy a Ducati I would tell them Motohio, if however they asked me where they could get service done I would not recommend Motohio. Any work on a motorcycle can be done in one day unless parts need to be ordered or certain things need to be sent out for milling. There is absolutely no reason not to be able to provide prompt service to an individual.   
   
This is just an update on the service being received from the Ducati dealership in town. I would like to inform you guys that I received service in a timely and prompt manner, but that is not the case.

I had a similar problem with my previous Duc and after the bike sitting for 30 days they blamed it on the Italians and said they take forever.  Ok then, I thought so 15 days later still nothing.  I was fumming by then with "the Italians" again answer and the stealership coudln't even provide a work order so I figured AHA...gotcha.  Well I went over to Texas Pacific Group, majority shareholder at the time, and placed my complaint.  Withing 24 hours Federico (President of Ducati at the time) sent me an email and the CA office was on it ASAP.  Guess how long it took to fix my bike?  3 days and now it's been there over 40.  Ducati made a dent in my opinion of them with about $2000 in Ducati stuff.  Turns out the stealer works on BMW more, much more and Duc's are the last ones to get attention.  This guy almost had his licensed pulled because I was the second to last nail in that caufin........if you can prove their service is really bad and have been reasonable give this route a shot.  Duc USA is in Cupertino