Bike Damaged by one of GTAM's Sponsored Dealers.

The last time I had my bike in to GP for service (Dec-Jan), I dropped it off filthy and it came back looking like new again. As has been said, I think there's good and bad everywhere. Personally, I've had a really great experience buying and getting service from GP.

Hopefully all of this will no longer be an issue when they finish the new service department expansion.
 
Just for future reference, anyone looking to get their bike serviced around GTA should try frekeyguy. I have been going to be him for all my bike stuff and I love the fact that he takes pictures of every little thing on the bike and puts them on fb/im for you to see! If the dealers were documenting every little thing they did in form of pictures, this sort of stuff wouldn't happen.
 
john117 said:
Just for future reference, anyone looking to get their bike serviced around GTA should try frekeyguy. I have been going to be him for all my bike stuff and I love the fact that he takes pictures of every little thing on the bike and puts them on fb/im for you to see! If the dealers were documenting every little thing they did in form of pictures, this sort of stuff wouldn't happen.
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I agree Frekeguy is the way to go. Not sure I want techs wasting their time taking pictures and sending them out. All that takes time and effort for someone to do. Rates are already sky high at most shops without adding another $50 "for photos." At dealerships time is money, so if you want extra, your going to pay for it.
 
hedo2002 said:
I agree Frekeguy is the way to go. Not sure I want techs wasting their time taking pictures and sending them out. All that takes time and effort for someone to do. Rates are already sky high at most shops without adding another $50 "for photos." At dealerships time is money, so if you want extra, your going to pay for it.
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Normally I agree about techs wasting time. But it's not like Frekeyguy charges extra studio "sitting" fee. In his case, it costs no more or less.

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Time spent taking pics can save your bacon. My work is not motorcycle repair related but still ... every job gets photos taken of it and some situations get videos taken. This has paid off from time to time.

It isn't necessary to take pics of every step, but pictures of pre-existing damage taken at the time of taking a job in can protect a shop against false accusations "I brought you a perfect bike and you broke it", and a couple of general overview pictures showing "good" condition can protect the owner in the event of the shop actually doing damage to it.

In the case of a vehicle, it's in the shop's interest to do a general inspection of the vehicle and itemize anything found wrong - even if that wasn't what the vehicle was brought in for. It helps avoid the "you broke it" accusations later on.

And it's in YOUR interest to do an inspection of a vehicle that has been at a shop before you take delivery of it. I had a car at a collision shop 3 or 4 years ago and knowing that they had replaced the headlight assembly, I checked it before driving off the lot and noted that they forgot to install a running-light bulb (Insurance pays for replacing the headlight housing but not for new bulbs, so they have to swap everything over). Now, normally, replacing a bulb is something trivial that I wouldn't worry about, except that getting to that bulb requires taking the bumper cover off, so I let them eat the hour it took to fix that!
 
Frekeyguy has always been great and super convenient...On top of that he keeps you updated and is super helpful in answering any questions. Unless you're looking for something specific or want to use a particular place because they specialize in something Frekeyguy is the man for any general maintenance.
 
Iceman said:
Normally I agree about techs wasting time. But it's not like Frekeyguy charges extra studio "sitting" fee. In his case, it costs no more or less.

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Yes with an independent , there is likely to be no charge. at a stealership, you can bet they would add a charge to your bill. Just like an airline charges you for luggage, "should" be part of the service, but if they can make a few bucks they will..lol.

I also agree with Brian don't take ANY vehicle off the lot until you have inspected it. I had my bike at the dealership last year. loaded it on my trailer went to close gate and noted a mark on rear fender. I first thought it was dirt, ran my finger over it, realized my bike was either backed into something or something into it. The adviser said it was there before I brought the bike in due to dirt "being under the paint" I said I just wiped the dirt off that accumulated while riding it from rear area onto trailer. I also reminded him it was a brand new fender from the end of previous season, (I had just picked bike up from MY storage locker and took it right to dealer for service). In the end when service manager returned form vacation he agreed that I keep my bike immaculate so they would look after it.

Had I drove bike off without looking it over that would have been all on me. But things "can" happen at any dealerhip it doesn't make that a bad dealership, just means humans work there..lol
 
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On another website that I'm on, there was a war going on between another member and a shop that he had a tire change done at. The rims came back scratched up (deeply) and they ain't cheap. The dealer of course said they "were like that" ... except the tires that were being taken off were the OEM tires which means no one before had touched those rims except for cleaning, and cleaning doesn't gouge paint off and get into the aluminum underneath. Evidently a special tool (which costs $10!) is needed for taking the OEM clip-on wheel weights off, and they just pried them off with a screwdriver.

There "was" a war going on ... there is now legal action going on, because the shop refused to fess up to their mistake and make it right.

Not a bad idea to clean your rims before a tire change and take pictures of them (damage-free) at the shop ...
 
I'm the type of a person who would not trust himself with maintenance on a bike and when you crunch up the numbers dealers charge pretty mad rates for their work, I got a Yoshimura fender kit installed by BPS on my 2013 CBR250R and it was close to $150 for 2h of work + $170 for the fender kit. So ones my bike started making odd noises (loose chain) I was recommended Frekeguy by some of the more older forum members on here, the guy is awesome. He contacted me back the same day and I think it was the same day or maybe the next that I took my bike to him, result? He tightened my chain and also installed Hotbodies flush mounts which I was planning to get installed, saving me a lot of money, I paid for chain adjustment + mounts installation (wiring tinkering included) $50 bucks, nothing beats that.

No so long ago Frekeguy serviced my bike, replaced front + rear brake pads, front + rear sprockets, new chain and new brake fluid and that was like $200 for all of the labour + pickup/drop off. The dealer would have costed way more then that. Some people find pictures a waste of time, but come on. Pictures are a great way to show your work, protect yourself from faulty claims and its always interesting as an owner to see the progress on your bike, and it's not like he is taking selfies, he is taking pictures of his work and showcasing it which I find fair, dealers and variety of other companies do this as well as pictures show work quality and other stuff. So Frekeguy spending like 5 min tops with all pictures is nothing, compared to the $$$ he saves on labour.

As said by many people on here Frekeguy is the way to go, the guy offers reasonable rates, does work in timely fashion, you get to see updates in pic or vid format and its fun taking with him about bikes, when I usually drop by for maintenance we talk on and on about bikes, which is freaking cool and fun.
 
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