[Rock]

Wanted to share an experience that started June 2018 and is still nearing completion; almost one year later in what will hopefully be resolved by the beginning of April… 2019…

I have a 2016 Indian Springfield that I purchased the week said model was released: one of the first off the line. Last June we PCS’d (military move) from Oklahoma to NW Florida. For those who don’t know, military moves have private companies pack/move/unpack your whole house. This past year also happened to be one of the worst PCS seasons for many military families across the country.
After brutal PCS season, thousands sign petition to hold moving companies accountable for loss, damage

You can see where this is going: received my crated bike on its side. It had been packed with a strap across the seat, resting on the kickstand (I know this because the numerical lack of straps in the crate and the fact that my kickstand was down, bend forward to an insane degree… almost as if someone had packed it on its kickstand and driven a thousand miles in a wooden box…).

Preface to the below timeline: Before you start to wonder “WTF why was this guy not more aggressive with the shop??”, I’m active duty and started a new position that require(s/d) a lot of training and I have had to front load a lot of travel/training this past almost year. It’s been tough to keep up, to say the least… Now with the story:

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Two dealers nearby: Pensacola (Adventure Motorsports of NWF) and Panama City. Being new to the area and just figuring larger town, larger shop, more riders all hopefully = more experience… I called Pensacola to start the repair. This is where crap really hit the fan.

At first we thought maybe bike was a total, but on closer inspection appears all parts were replaceable no problems. Cool. So, while working with the moving company via military legal, the bike sat at the shop. A few months into it I finally get the check cut: great. I called the the service manager to see what the status was of the bike. He had not.ordered.any.parts.
They had my bike as collateral as a worst case, but more sensibly - if I’m buying new 21k motorcycles, obviously I’m paying repairs. In fact: just one phone call from the dealership to check in would have been great, but to date I've received zero calls coming from the service dept or any manager/owner.

So, we commence with the second waiting period while parts get ordered: $6k of them. At this point it's approaching Oct 2018. I check in again before the holidays, hoping for some good news. Update is: still waiting on parts, I got the schpeal that, ‘with the holidays coming up it’s been tough to get everything in’. Ok. ETA? Not sure, but ‘hoping to be done soon’. Ok. Well. I’ll wait I guess.

Holidays pass… still nothing. I check in again. Same crap.

Also at this point I should mention that, every time I called the shop they had to ‘see if we had the bike in the shop I was talking about’…(the one with $6k of damage from a mil move… apparently they get boat loads of those?).

Finally I get to a decent break in training pipeline (late Feb/early March) and call the shop.
Same deal- nobody knows about the bike & 'oh yeah- that one, parts aren’t in yet…'. So I call Indian corporate.

I have a nice conversation with a guy who wants to help. I don't want to get into the specifics since this is all still pending finalization but I’ll say he/they seem more than willing to try and make right.
Also, after they reached out to the shop he admitted there is definitely something that needs resolved with this location.

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Mostly, this is to inform the forum about this specific dealership. They still have skin in the game- we'll see what they do in the end (soon, I sure freakn hope).

I feel I’ve been (more than) reasonable with all of this- probably too patient, but we'll see how it shakes out.

rock

 

[harshc]

I fee your pain and frustration . I picked up a brand new Springfield DarkHorse (spent an extra $5k on accessories) last year in April but the fender had a small dent in it.. Dealership assured they would order new one and will get it changed. One year on, still nothing after multiple reminders. The owrts were always stuck at Polaris. A week ago I gave Polaris a call and told them the entire thing. Asked them if this is how they deal with their customers. Got a call from the dealership today that the oart since was backordered arrived in January amd they forgot to tell me about it and that they will call me for a fender change soon sometime this week.

That said mine was still a very small issue as compared to yours. I atleast rode my bike for the entire year.. Hope you can get on yours soon too.


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[Rock]

Thanks for sharing. It's all relative, bad service is still bad service even if it's 'just' a fender. Any bike/customer service issues aren't on the level of a wrong order at McD's, it's a very expensive lifestyle. Hopefully customers staying engaged with corp when dealers slip like this will only help move the needle in a positive direction, otherwise it adds up.
I mean I'm not going to lie- I was at the local Harley dealer looking at Heritages and Road Kings I was so jaded on all this crap.

Thanks again for the feedback and good luck

 

[JayFL459]

3 months for me getting an engine approved for warranty and repaired .. Guess maybe that's not so bad ..

 

[KevIndian]

Sorry to hear. I know nothing about the Pensacola dealer. But I know PC beach Indian dealership is awesome. I know, a little bit late....good luck to finally a good ending

 

[derailed75]

Sorry to hear. I know nothing about the Pensacola dealer. But I know PC beach Indian dealership is awesome. I know, a little bit late....good luck to finally a good ending

I second this. I bought mine from PCB site unseen and they shipped it to Atl where I met there driver and rode it home. Everybody at PCB was great. I know this is to late to help with your bike but dont let a bad dealer ruin you Indian experience. Also from a vet to an active duty, thank you for your service

 

[2263]

I’d be very concerned that the workmanship of the repair would mirror what you’ve already experienced.
I’d try to move the bike to another dealer.
(I’ve had to do it with automotive body shops, I refused to take delivery until another shop repaired their repair. So at this point why wait for them to start)

 

[BC Leather]

I have stopped by the Pensacola dealer a couple of times. Once on my Vic while shopping for an Indian and then on my RM. I actually got a better welcome from them the second stop. I like a couple of others purchased from PCB after visiting multiple dealers in Florida and Georgia. I saw another "not so great" post about Pensacola. Another fantastic dealer in Florida is Red Hills Powersports in Tallahassee - rectifier went out on a road trip near them and they made me a priority, took one off a new bike, and got me back on the road as soon as possible.

Sorry my brother you are having the issues that you are. I hope that they get it all resolved and get you back on the road soon. My son in law is getting transferred to Eglin soon and my wife loves the beach in Destin so I can see more trips to the pan handle in my future.

 

[CAMcycles]

That is total BS sorry to hear about it. The only person that will crate my bike will be me. PERIOD.
Anyone who know anything about shipping and rigging will say the same. It sounds like you didnt have the time to do it yourself, anyway i hope
things turn in your favor and THANK YOU for your service!

 

[Ny Mike]

3 months for me getting an engine approved for warranty and repaired .. Guess maybe that's not so bad ..

3 months just for approval your scaring me now.

 

[17NDNSTL]

When I got stationed in Hawaii from San Diego in 1978, they allowed me to arrange the shipment of my 78 Honda from St Louis to Honolulu.
My brother took it to a local Honda dealer. They broke it down to like it came from the factory and put inside a factory crate. Yellow freight then ground transported to Long Beach where it was put into an ocean container and put on a boat to Honolulu's port.
Took about 6 weeks from St Louis. Borrowed a Base pick up from the motor pool , picked it up, and me a 2 buddys opened the crate in the back of the pickup.
Bike was in perfect shape. Re-installed the parts the dealer had removed. Filled the fluids and off I went.
Hope your issues are resolved soon. Dont judge Indian by a bad dealer, ALL Manufacturers have bad apples.

 

[high plains rider]

I hate to hear these stories.. and hope I never have the experience. But it just may be a Polaris culture issue.. I thought it would be fixed by now. Back in the day when Victory first came out a lot of dealers were their ATV/Water Craft dealers... let me tell you the mind set between a ATV rider and mechanic is totally different than that of a motorcycle rider/mechanic. There were lots of problems more along the line of if this part don't fit right the first time try a BFH.

I hope my dealer and most are now competent.. I and I think we don't spend 20-35K to be dicked around with and treated like crap. I bought a 18 Chieftain Limited for 21K this winter list was 25K and I bought the wife a Chevy Equinox for 32K... seems weird to me 7K difference for a whole lot more. So I guess I feel that Indian should be treating customers just like a BMW/Mercedes dealer would treat theirs.

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

@Rock, message sent.

 

[Dan_Frisbie]

@Rock, message sent.

 

[Baron58]

Many dealers just don't get it, and then wonder why they closed due to a lack of business.
I would suggest to anyone who has issues with a dealer and immediately call Polaris and politely let them know the situation.

The owners of bad dealers create the culture of incompetence. On top of that the Indian line doesn't net them much revenue compared tot he other motorcycles they sell if they are a used or multi-brand dealership. So these bad dealers look at Indian customers as "we will get to them when we can" but the priority is low.

Many times customers hear parts on back order, waiting to hear from Polaris, etc. What this really means is the dealer hasn't ordered the parts, forgot about you, or has put you at the bottom of the "to do list"

Don't cut a dealer any slack. Hold them accountable

 

[Racepres]

Many dealers just don't get it, and then wonder why they closed due to a lack of business.
I would suggest to anyone who has issues with a dealer and immediately call Polaris and politely let them know the situation.

The owners of bad dealers create the culture of incompetence. On top of that the Indian line doesn't net them much revenue compared tot he other motorcycles they sell if they are a used or multi-brand dealership. So these bad dealers look at Indian customers as "we will get to them when we can" but the priority is low.

Many times customers hear parts on back order, waiting to hear from Polaris, etc. What this really means is the dealer hasn't ordered the parts, forgot about you, or has put you at the bottom of the "to do list"

Don't cut a dealer any slack. Hold them accountable

PI made a terrible decision regarding the dealerships... believing that the DirtBike dealerships, would be OK with relatively high end Cruisers and RoadBikes!!! Dead Wrong... I personally despise the DirtBike Mechanics and their dealerships...
Betting if ya had a $10,000.00 Side by side you could get the service you are looking for...

 

[derailed75]

PI made a terrible decision regarding the dealerships... believing that the DirtBike dealerships, would be OK with relatively high end Cruisers and RoadBikes!!! Dead Wrong... I personally despise the DirtBike Mechanics and their dealerships...
Betting if ya had a $10,000.00 Side by side you could get the service you are looking for...

Certainly seems so in this instance but dont lump them all together. This has to do with customer service and while a primarily dirt bike dealer would have a much larger learning curve customer service is customer service you either have it or you dont. If this dealer had good customer service this would have been resolved regardless of what they usually work on

 

[bigcnote02]

First....thank you for your service....Second.....Polaris is not the most helpful when it comes to ordering parts and/are accessories. I had to wait 3 months for contrast rims. (WTF) I change bikes every 3 years or so....(I like new bikes) and when I'm ready to get another one(Current is 2019 Chieftain) I'll consider how long it took/takes to get Indian Parts.

Third....I would have just rode my bike...forget that....just saying

 

[wassup77]

If Polaris wants Indian to succeed, they have two very big problems they need to fix and both are dealership issues. 1. Lack of dealerships. This has been discussed at length in other threads, but it is an issue when their main competition has dealerships literally everywhere. 2. Incompetent dealerships. Seems at least weekly, we get another horror story of someone having to deal with a poor service dealer. And in 90% of these stories a call to Polaris usually yields results. I bought a Polaris sportsman 500 in 1998, when that was the biggest baddest ATV you could buy. It was a lemon, and what made that worse was it sat at the dealer untouched for 3 months while I waited on them to repair under warranty. I was told they do work on paying customers first because they don’t make anything off warranty and if I didn’t like it, I could pound sand. I called Polaris, and it was fixed and ready to be picked up 3 days later. Moral of the story, I sold the Sportsman, bought a Yamaha grizzly and didn’t touch a Polaris product again for 15 years. If they don’t get a handle on piss poor dealers, this will be the results with Indian.


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[Baron58]

H

If Polaris wants Indian to succeed, they have two very big problems they need to fix and both are dealership issues. 1. Lack of dealerships. This has been discussed at length in other threads, but it is an issue when their main competition has dealerships literally everywhere. 2. Incompetent dealerships. Seems at least weekly, we get another horror story of someone having to deal with a poor service dealer. And in 90% of these stories a call to Polaris usually yields results. I bought a Polaris sportsman 500 in 1998, when that was the biggest baddest ATV you could buy. It was a lemon, and what made that worse was it sat at the dealer untouched for 3 months while I waited on them to repair under warranty. I was told they do work on paying customers first because they don’t make anything off warranty and if I didn’t like it, I could pound sand. I called Polaris, and it was fixed and ready to be picked up 3 days later. Moral of the story, I sold the Sportsman, bought a Yamaha grizzly and didn’t touch a Polaris product again for 15 years. If they don’t get a handle on piss poor dealers, this will be the results with Indian.


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HD sells over 200K plus bikes a year thus the number of dealerships (which is dwindling down by the way) Indian only about 25K a year so the dealerships represent the numbers of bikes that are moving.

As with all internet forums you hear he bad and not the good.

Polaris won't know who the bad dealers are unless they are reported by customers