please dont go to clares cycle in font hill | GTAMotorcycle.com

please dont go to clares cycle in font hill

carboncat

carboncat

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after the better part of 8 years of going to Clares Cycle, with over 9 thousand dollars in service receipts (both my bike and my wifes)
this past service was a nightmare.

booked in my r1 for oil change, new chain/ sprockets, tire change. Dropped off the bike at 8 am, picked it up at 5.
my bike is parked out back, i pay and go start the bike, it starts smoking bad, and dripping oil, they say "ya we spilt some oil on the headers, it will burn off."okay, **** happens

I start riding down the street, I hear wam wam wam wam, pull over, chain is waaaaayyy to loose. oil still dripping.
So i head back.....
bike starts slipping around corners... oil on my back tire....wtf.
I go back into service, never had any problems before so im calm and respectfull. they check the oil filter, it wasnt on tight, top up the oil, and tell me theres no time to clean the oil off the bike today. i ask about the chain, " It must have streched" i laugh out loud in 5 km??!!...."chains need adjustment" ...wow.
Now i look and see a mark on my tail that wasnt there before. they say " our guys wear steal toe boots there hard to get off a bike with"
and the best part.....i look at my rims.....
marks EVERYWHERE. now im mad.

the owner comes in after hearing us. whats the problem here, i tell the same story to him. he sais " not my problem you didnt even buy this bike off me"

WHAT?

" and its only 7or 8 scratches, your just complaning to hear yourself talk"

I leave.

the next day, i call the service department, the owner refuses to give me anything for the damage done.
I call yamaha head office, (took hours to get the number) told them my story, they told me 100% they will take care of it.
30 mins later clares calles me, telling me there giving me my money back (260 bucks) and there sorry, blah blah blah.

the only reason i got anything back is because Yamaha is very loyal to there customers. unlike Clares Cycle.
had they fixed the mistakes and damage , I would not be here typing this and would continue to go back.

so if you want your bike damaged, rims damaged, chain not adjusted, grease on your grips and oil filter not on tight, please call clares cycle in font hill. there rates are 95 dollars per hour, and will damage any part on your bike for FREE!!
 
Boycott bandwagon +1
 
Wow, sorry to hear about your ordeal. But yes, you're right. Yamaha is very loyal to their customers. I needed some back ordered parts for my outboard a couple years back and they rushed them to me when I mentioned that I needed them for a fishing trip with my 6 year old son.
 
Sheesh, what a pisser. I've bought part from them and they've been quite nice, just never for service.
 
Not taking a position either way here but when will shops realise that a bad experience, that's not handled well, when it makes it's way onto the internet is worth a thousand problems and perhaps thousands of dollars in lost revenue? It takes very little effort to either make things right in the first place or correct an error and the customer goes away happy and maybe even writes a glowing review that does just the opposite. Things have changed...people have ready and easy access to information and are savvy enough to put their hard earned cash somewhere where they have less chance of it not being wasted.
 
Sorry about your luck, and thanks for the warning.

I've recently taken my machine to Stunters Inc. in mississauga, and I gotta say those guys are top notch. It's literally just a shop with a tech, no counter BS, waiting rooms, and an "out of sight" area where your bike gets worked on; you can shoot the breeze with Ceasar as he works on your bike :)

Plus, you get to support a growing scene and stunting group in Canada
 
It'd be interesting to hear their side of the story on this as people can tend to exaggerate, but if it happened exactly as you're saying thats completely unbelievable, altho i wouldn't be horribly surprised. I know if i was the shop owner and a bike came back like that i'd be doing everything possible to make it right, not dismissing it as whatever. Thats just so far over the top.
 
Usually I would agree but it rings true as OP stated and any one of the bits are unforgivable...as well Yamaha clearly came down on Clare.

I'd dealt with them decades ago but have no opinion now.
Glad OP got sorted by Yamaha
 
I won't comment on this particular case, because I have no first hand knowledge, and recently I've seen how forums on any past time can quickly generate a lynch mob mentality. However, I agree bad service can really sour a customer and the tale gets told umpteen times. Heck, I'm still p!$$ed at Keswick Canadian Tire and their service manager wronged me in 1996!!! I've only spent $6 there since in an emergency, and it was my closest auto store for 13 years. How many people do you think had to put up with me complaining about them since then? :) BTW, I was new in town and locals said I was a moron to take my car there in the first place - thanks for the neighborly advice, lol.
 
FriendlyFoe said:
It'd be interesting to hear their side of the story on this as people can tend to exaggerate, but if it happened exactly as you're saying thats completely unbelievable, altho i wouldn't be horribly surprised. I know if i was the shop owner and a bike came back like that i'd be doing everything possible to make it right, not dismissing it as whatever. Thats just so far over the top.
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I can't speak to the shop in question, but such things can and do happen. I dealt with the same shop from 1986 through 2000, bought 5 bikes from them in that time, and spent thousands of dollars in service and accessories with them. I had a major engine failure and made no bones whatsoever about paying for the work, but the service manager went out of his way to have Suzuki kick in a set of second over pistons for me, at no cost, despite the fact that my bike had been out of warranty for a year and a half.

Then the mechanic who was working on it stopped showing up for work.

After several weeks of being without the bike during prime riding season, and with a riding vacation fast approaching, I figured I would try to trade in the bike on something new. After all at this point the parts were all paid for, and it was just labour that was needed, which I was willing to take the hit for. I was offered 50% of what the bike was worth, even in that condition. When I balked at that I was then told, by the general manager, to get my bucket of parts out of his shop.

Some people see what's happening now, neither seeing how they got there, nor where they're going. Holding me over a barrel made them a few thousand dollars then but cost them any further accessories sales, service dollars, at least one new bike sale from me, a bike a year from a friend, and likely several other sales from other friends. They don't exist anymore. That's what happens to the short-sighted.
 
This thread reminds me why it's so important to learn to do as much of your own service as possible. You will save money, and if there is a problem with the work you have no one to blame but yourself.
 
also, ive been going there for years and always happy. however what they did to my bike, and to say oh well....not cool.
I would never treat one of my customers this way, if i damaged anyones car while its in my shop, its my responsiblity to fix it.
that being said, sometimes **** happens, thats life, they should have said, yea we messed up, how can we fix it so your happy.?
the owner himself actually said, you didnt buy this bike off me anyway, i dont care if its scratched.
its the owners words that made me upset, ive been in business for almost 5 years now, I would never say " its only 8 scratches on your fender , its not that big of a deal"
the last thing I wanted was to write this review, but with nothing done (from clares) it has to be public.
i saved for 4 years, every penny to buy this bike, its perfect in every way, not a mark or chip on it anywhere, and its an 06.
now i have to paint my rims and my tail fairing. its a joke.
 
Carmen said:
This thread reminds me why it's so important to learn to do as much of your own service as possible. You will save money, and if there is a problem with the work you have no one to blame but yourself.
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i normally take the rims off and bring them there, however i needed the chain done anyway, so its easier this way.
 
carboncat said:
that being said, sometimes **** happens, thats life, they should have said, yea we messed up, how can we fix it so your happy.?
the owner himself actually said, you didnt buy this bike off me anyway, i dont care if its scratched.
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There's not a single thing in your story that i would consider acceptable. To attempt to justify that it's okay for them to have damaged your bike?

Rob's story fits into my category of completely unbelievable, but not all that surprising. I've had a shop turn on me once they had most of my money, motor out and apart, that shops not in business anymore either tho. No idea how a company can think they can run a service oriented business and not give a damn about their customers.

Sorry about your experience carbon. On the plus side it doesn't sound like they did any irreparable damage to the bike, so apart from a major inconvenience hopefully the money you got back will cover most of the damage, and you can forget this ever happened. Well apart from telling anyone you ever hear mention that shop (including passengers in the car when their radio add comes on) what a jerk the service manager is there, because you owe them that ;)
 
oh trust me they will show up LOL I buffed out the scuff on the tail pretty good, the only thing that is left is a rock sized chip, but the mark was orignally 3'' long
 
FriendlyFoe said:
There's not a single thing in your story that i would consider acceptable. To attempt to justify that it's okay for them to have damaged your bike?

Rob's story fits into my category of completely unbelievable, but not all that surprising. I've had a shop turn on me once they had most of my money, motor out and apart, that shops not in business anymore either tho. No idea how a company can think they can run a service oriented business and not give a damn about their customers.

Sorry about your experience carbon. On the plus side it doesn't sound like they did any irreparable damage to the bike, so apart from a major inconvenience hopefully the money you got back will cover most of the damage, and you can forget this ever happened. Well apart from telling anyone you ever hear mention that shop (including passengers in the car when their radio add comes on) what a jerk the service manager is there, because you owe them that ;)
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Again, I can't speak to this particular shop, but many dealerships see doing after sales service as a pain in the butt. They'd be happier if they just sold the widgets (bikes), then never had to deal with them again. I know that in the case I outlined, that was fact.
 
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