I took my bike to Grantham Honda for its 4000 service but heard nothing in two days so I turned up today to collect it, however they told me there was a problem and took me through to show me where they had dropped something and chipped my side panel, ok so you are replacing the panel I said, no it only needs the Repsol decal replacing and we have ordered one they say. Ok but don't forget the 3m venture shield that will also need to be replaced I said, oh yes where do we get that from they said? I should have been told that the bike has been damaged and a new panel is on the way with a new venture shield, oh and half the service cost for your inconvenience, ya right? There all the same!
They're taking the piss. An honest company would have phoned you straight away apologising and telling you what has happened and what they are going to do to rectify their mistake. It sounds like they have tried to cover up in the hope that you wouldn't notice. I wouldn't be using them again.
I've got to book mine in for it's 4k service for next week you've got me worried now! And yes they should have told you that it had been damaged. I'd be tempted to haggle for a free service, remind them how underhand they have been. Hope you get it sorted Ozz
Haven't you had bad experiences with them before with a never ending oil leak? Crap service that is Grantham Honda have had a lot of business of some of us guys. Who dealt with it? Email there head office Vertu Group and tell them the story they are big on customer retention sure they will do something for you.
Similar experience with my 16k service and valve clearance check 1 - the cracked my pannel and put a big blob of black grease over it to cover it up! 2 - they never checked the clerence as I recently found out at Arthur's place when we realised that the bolts have never had a spanner on in its life! Luckily Arthur isn't too far away and it's a lovely ride up there, I get a drink a good convo and an education. The one and only person I now trust with my pride and joy. I do seem to loose a whole day every time I go up there though, my mrs prob thinks it takes 8 hours too do simple jobs like tyre changes etc lol
Well I'll be avoiding them then. Does anyone have anywhere with good experiences in and around the midlands?
Sorry to hear about this Carl, especially as plenty on here recommend Grantham Honda - I chose them over the Wheels even though Wheels now have the Marshall technicians working there, and paid a bit more for the service! but on the plus side the ride to Grantham is twice as far as P'boro! I will say they completely cocked my invoice up with the wrong details and my service hadn't been added to the Honda intranet - a couple of phone calls and few days later all the paperwork and details were sorted. The guy I was chatting to ( I mentioned you to try and make sure I got looked after! ) said your bike is always mint! Shame they didn't remember that when they damaged your bike?
Gutted for all involved, inc the poor bloke who did the deed, accidents do happen maybe they were going to call but forgot....one of the scary things about working on peoples pride and joy!
I got me bike from Sutton Honda Tamworth, on the old A5 just off jct 10 M42 When i had the 1st service done n the racefit growler fitted, the mechanic let me stand in the garage bit, about 4 feet away from him, whilst watching him do the work n have a right old natter with him, even showed me how to tighten me chain but i forgot now doh!! Where as the yamaha dealer in cannock where i spent a fair bit of my hard earned dosh refused to let me into the garage citing elf n safety!! N there was always summt not tightened up or missing, def wont b going to cmc cannock ( yamaha ) again!!
True, but it doesn't sound like an isolated incident, and I especially don't like the bit about being chrged for valve clearances and it not being done. That is just dishonest. I am seriously worried now. I haven't heard a good thing about a Honda Service centre since being on here. I had no trouble finding a decent and reliable Ducati centre and to be honest, I thought Honda would be as good if not better
I have a saying, if you went to a restaurant and they wouldn't let you in the kitchen would you still eat the food!? As for valves I like to photo the bike with cover off etc to remove any doubt it was done! Still I hope all involved get it sorted.
I think the best thing wud be to speak to the mechanic direct about ur worries n views, they after all r human n will understand that you r paying out a considerable amount of money n want a proper job done the first time round, n wud prob allow u to watch them work. If u can view ur mot being done why cant u view ur service being done? I appreciate not everyone has the luxury of time, but im happy to take a flexi day off work or do it on a sat knowing i can stand n watch or pop into the garage every few minutes between cups of tea n food, to make sure the mechanic is doing what he is being paid to do.
I wouldn't let it put you off as such to be honest, look up any company on google and I bet you will find bad reviews on them all even the best company's make mistakes the problem is you are more likely to leave a bad review after a poor experience than you are a good one with a really positive experience. Its the way we just seem to be, take trip advisor for example. If I believed half of that I would never go away again! If you have a really good holiday we tend to tell friends and family how fantastic it was. If you have a bad experience you seem to go into rage and plaster all the bad parts on every review site you can think of and seem to forget the good parts
I don't like the idea of waiting for the customer to come along after 2 days to then tell them then that their bike has been damaged, they should have been straight on the phone which would probably have held them in better stead. You're right though Martin, bad reviews are all over which is a shame when there are some bloody good companies out there.
Personally I would go to somewhere on the back of a recommendation. I have heard enough about these that I wouldn't trust my bike or my credit card with them. As I stated, the damage to the fairing can be rectified, but charging someone for a valve clearance job which plainly hasn't been done is pure banditry. I usually like to do service work myself, but on the blade where everything is packed in tighter than workers in a mumbai hoseiry factory, I'd like to farm out some of the bigger jobs and be sure they are being done. Call me cynical, but I wouldn't call in a builder to work on my house unless they come recommended and I'll not take a gamble giving them my bike knowing they have stiffed someone before
Its these sort of posts that worry me regarding dealer servicing! I studied the service schedule then swotted up on the service manual and decided that right or wrong that I was capable of doing the 4000 and 8000 mile service. I know Ill take care and buy the quality parts. I took pictures with date stamps on as I went to reassure buyers if i need to sell in future. I am aware that I have probably screwed my warranty but Im hoping it was a gamble worth taking. Im not stupid and know that Im not competent enough for the 12000 mile so will be seeking a dealer or MORE LIKELY giving our resident wizard ArthurBikeMad a call along with a B&B booking!
That is awful mate. BSD is nearby in Eye just North of Peterboro and they do a cracking job and also having a rolling road. My brother is taking his R1 there for servicing shortly and they gave me a great price to supply and fit my Pirelli DRC's
BSD are just around the corner from me, when marshall Honda told me they were closing they were the first place I rang about servicing, they mapped my bike on their dyno and its fantastic cant fault them. luckily my best mate is a Honda mechanic who is now employed by wheels, despite wheels reputation I know I can trust him, (godfather to my daughter) so ill be taking it there and stipulating that its only him to work on it. I was sceptical when Honda moved their but both stu and trev from marshalls are now employed by them and as Honda stipulate only Honda trained technicians can work on their bikes its only them two doing it.
