Dealer Prep

[Wahoo]

Seems to me, failure to check and top off coolant res. is a pretty common problem with our Ducs. Back in Feb. an owner posted a situation with his new 999 indicating hot on his ride home from the dealer - checked coolant and found it low or near empty. Then DL has a similar problem with her new 749. At the 600 mile service on my 05 ST4s it took 1/2 gal. of coolant, fortunately it had not been running hot. Do most dealers demonstrate such poor management by not keeping on top of their new bike prepping. You cannot blame this on the hired help, it is the dealer's responsibility to get decent help and manage their business. If a dealer winds up with a law suit over such things so-be-it. He probably shouldn't be in business - he should be digging ditches. This kind of service sucks. After months or years of studying, looking and dreaming of owning and riding a particular machine he or she lays down a bunch of money for a great product thereby bringing their expectations to fruition. Then some numb-nuts dealer takes their money, delivers a half prepped machine and says here your are - good by and good luck - I hope I don't see you again until you have more money to spend. I think there are a lot of good dealers out there - just not enough of them.

[gunner999]

I think you are right about some dealers. You only hear about the bad so here I will tell everyone in this forum PJ's Triumph Ducati Albuquerque,NM has been there for me and my 999. When I have had problems the guys there have offered to pick up the bike or pick me up to get it back. I was even offered the Demo 999 for the weekend until mine was fixed.

Maybe one of the moderators can compile a list of Ducati Dealers so we the owners can rate them. I would rate PJ's an all around 5 STAR or 10 place to purchase/customer service and maintenance/and hang out to talk about bikes and what not. IMO.

[tarochan]

It seems to me there is a fair bit of buck-passing by owners in these things. If I have a bike starts running hot and the temperature gauge then goes off the scale, it's then MY responsiblity as an owner/user to stop the bike and not use it until the problem is rectified. Inconvenient, yes. The gauge on my bike started reading very hot last year, almost screamed at me to stop, which I did. The engine didn't feel excessivly hot and I checked with the dealers tech, we both agreed that it was probably the gauge or sensor and I took the bike to them the next day. It was the gauge and it was replaced under warranty. Is Ducati 100% at fault if you continue using a bike with some sort of warning sign?

[migz123]

Originally Posted by Wahoo

Seems to me, failure to check and top off coolant res. is a pretty common problem with our Ducs. Back in Feb. an owner posted a situation with his new 999 indicating hot on his ride home from the dealer - checked coolant and found it low or near empty. Then DL has a similar problem with her new 749. At the 600 mile service on my 05 ST4s it took 1/2 gal. of coolant, fortunately it had not been running hot. Do most dealers demonstrate such poor management by not keeping on top of their new bike prepping. You cannot blame this on the hired help, it is the dealer's responsibility to get decent help and manage their business. If a dealer winds up with a law suit over such things so-be-it. He probably shouldn't be in business - he should be digging ditches. This kind of service sucks. After months or years of studying, looking and dreaming of owning and riding a particular machine he or she lays down a bunch of money for a great product thereby bringing their expectations to fruition. Then some numb-nuts dealer takes their money, delivers a half prepped machine and says here your are - good by and good luck - I hope I don't see you again until you have more money to spend. I think there are a lot of good dealers out there - just not enough of them.

That's a big NEGATIVE there, my friend.

Keep in mind that threads on the Internet aren't started and go on for 7 pages about "WOW, MY BIKE IS RUNNING GREAT!" with replies like "Really? Fred posted about the same the other day" or "That's awesome, who was the dealer??"

Needless to say the unfavorable situations we hear about like Dragon Lady's are the exception rather than the rule. In fact, we really don't have complete information on what is the REAL situation with her bike. On the Internet forum on topics like this, it's usually ONE SIDE of the story that's only being presented.

If one were to take statistical samples of the number of times coolant is not provided on a brand new bike, you would be lucky to find even 2% result... which is hardly categorized as "COMMON."

Just a thought, before coming to certain conclusions...

[RotoRooterGuy]

Originally Posted by tarochan

It seems to me there is a fair bit of buck-passing by owners in these things. If I have a bike starts running hot and the temperature gauge then goes off the scale, it's then MY responsibility as an owner/user to stop the bike and not use it until the problem is rectified. Inconvenient, yes. The gauge on my bike started reading very hot last year, almost screamed at me to stop, which I did. The engine didn't feel excessively hot and I checked with the dealers tech, we both agreed that it was probably the gauge or sensor and I took the bike to them the next day. It was the gauge and it was replaced under warranty. Is Ducati 100% at fault if you continue using a bike with some sort of warning sign?

I don't see that the buck is being passed by buyers when the problem was caused by a dealer prep issue.

The issue is not riders failing to mitigate damage, the issue is dealers who negligently fail to prep a $23,000 bike for delivery [a prep which the dealer no doubt charged for and made a profit].

While I agree that riders on new bikes should know to stop the bike, etc., when warning lights go off, blame does not shift, nor should remedies be decreased, due to the buyer not being as competent as you purport to be on handling emergencies. The dealer does not escape responsibility for his gross negligence because a buyer is not proficient at reacting fast enough to an emergency breakdown.

The bottom line, when someone buys a new $23,000 bike, one is reasonable in assuming it will run like a new $23,000 bike.

On a new bike, one should not assume that there will be problems because the dealer failed to prep the bike properly. One should be able to proudly ride off the showroom floor and not have to bone up the night before on emergency procedures for the new bike, simply because the bike may overheat, seize or cause burns to one's legs.

As to dealer prep issues being a common problem, I agree it is not all that common, but with the small percentage of Duc sales that there are, the percentage of people whom are NOT Duc-MS members, and taking into account those people whom have not reported dealer prep problems, the percentage of reports here on Duc-Ms are significant enough to conclude that when buying a new Duc, maybe you better take it to an independent shop to have it checked out or do a complete check of the bike before taking possession.

With all due respect, I suspect that Ducati may share your opinion. There is not dealer service problem. In those few cases were there are complaints about poor or negligent dealer service, Ducati's response is probably: "Hey, it's the riders fault. They are simply passing the buck and they caused all the damage. We are not responsible and there is no problem with our dealers. Send this to our lawyers to handle should the stupid-ass, incompetent buyer try to take us to court."

[bevel450]

Buck passing you say ? Hmmmmm. There are several hundred people that post here that would say that the handbook on Buck Passing was written by Ducati and promoted with evangelical fervor by their dealers on the flaking rocker issue. Both Ducati and dealer insisting that it was abuse by the owners.........Don't tell me you missed out on that one, eh ?

No sympathy pal, from everyone that had a TPG built Desmoquattro, no sympathy ! It is their obligation to manufacture a quality product and the dealers to prep it. And no....people do not post to say how well their OEM rockers are doing. They are entitled to that and should expect nothing else.

Sorry that I took the idea of "buck passing" at a different level than your original point, but when an accusing finger is pointed at mere owners when it is the professional organization is at fault..surely you forgive my sensitivity to the issue.

Originally Posted by tarochan

It seems to me there is a fair bit of buck-passing by owners in these things. If I have a bike starts running hot and the temperature gauge then goes off the scale, it's then MY responsiblity as an owner/user to stop the bike and not use it until the problem is rectified. Inconvenient, yes. The gauge on my bike started reading very hot last year, almost screamed at me to stop, which I did. The engine didn't feel excessivly hot and I checked with the dealers tech, we both agreed that it was probably the gauge or sensor and I took the bike to them the next day. It was the gauge and it was replaced under warranty. Is Ducati 100% at fault if you continue using a bike with some sort of warning sign?

[grinder96]

I had a terible experience with Pro-Italia in glendale ca that included a gas line ruptureing and 12 months to complete my registration and sometimes I wonder if it was my deal, because they have since opened up another store in santa barbara. So if they treated ever one as bad as me woundl't they be out of business and not growing? Or is there just that many suckers out there??


AND whats wrong with digging ditches?!?!!? LOL

Turin Atol General Contractor

[bevel450]

1. ProItalia has a pretty checkered reputation including their now legendary sale of a bike brought in for service. (Yep, it is a true story.) But their move to open a Santa Barbara store was pure, if not obvious, inspiration. I mean, that rich well traveled demographic between LA and San Louis Obispo had no Ducati dealer to spill some money into ? They should do very, very well there.

2. There really does seem to be a nice correlation between the price of the goods and the gullibility of the buyer.(Ask anyone who has made a career of luxury goods sales. ) Go figure.

3. There is no end of (new) buyers for luxury goods in a good economy. And as often as not, the goods don't match the hype. Trying to look at it objectively, I think there is a tremendous amount of, uh....let's just call it "elasticity" in what is acceptable by consumers in almost any area.

Ditch digger, huh ? What will you charge me to put in a 200 meter clay oval flattrack like they have at Supercamp in my backyard ? I know what fun is !

Originally Posted by grinder96

I had a terible experience with Pro-Italia in glendale ca that included a gas line ruptureing and 12 months to complete my registration and sometimes I wonder if it was my deal, because they have since opened up another store in santa barbara. So if they treated ever one as bad as me woundl't they be out of business and not growing? Or is there just that many suckers out there??


AND whats wrong with digging ditches?!?!!? LOL

Turin Atol General Contractor

[grinder96]

Originally Posted by bevel450

..........
Ditch digger, huh ? What will you charge me to put in a 200 meter clay oval flattrack like they have at Supercamp in my backyard ? I know what fun is !

That depends on visitation rights!!

[bevel450]

OK OK, you get to visit, but only if you put a TT jump in it for free.

lol, b.

Originally Posted by grinder96

That depends on visitation rights!!