[TXMOTORMIKE]

It was mentioned in another thread that several of the Texas Indian Dealers are owned by the same owners of HD. This is true from my experience. I have been in three of those dealers now. I bought my Vintage from Mancuso in Houston TX which was over 220 miles from my home and was the closest dealer open at the time. Since then two more have opened just over a hundred miles from my home and I thought this will be great until a local dealer shows up in my town. Back to my reason for this thread - I have always hated the way a car dealership or especially a motorcycle dealer will treat a customer with the question, "Did you buy it from us" when it comes down to warranty or other needs. I have got this at the HD dealers before many times before. I hoped this kind of attitude would be left at the HD dealers who also own several Indian dealers in Texas. I already have had to repeat this back three times now, "You weren’t in business when I was ready to buy but I am here now and you are the closest dealer to me".
I travel on business all over TX, LA, AR, and OK. Last month I walked into the the Indian dealership in OKC, the owner (Scott) and staff were so friendly. I bought a concho for the handle bar bag and he treated me like I was buying another bike already. He asked but did not care where I bought my Indian since he had just opened as well. He was excited that I was one of the first to buy a new Indian in 2014 as a part of the first surge to get this brand back to the top. I understand the almighty dollar and I understand the need to create loyal following, but Texas dealer attitude is not how you create loyalty from a potential future customer. I hope any dealers reading this especially in Texas will check this statement and learn how to use this sales technique. If Indian sends out information that its warranty and it can be handled at any authorized Indian Dealer then suck it up and deal with the warranty filing. That's part of a franchise dealership. I hope when Indian has its conference calls with its dealers they will remind all their dealers how small the network started and those of us who took the chance on them before the dealer network really began to grow deserve that respect.

Take your "Did you buy it from us" and leave it at your HD or other franchise dealerships. Indian dealers will need to rise above this type of mentality.

 

[Big Daddy]

A couple of things.
I was a long time resident of Houston and Mancuso had a bad reputation in the Harley community. At least the Harley community that I rolled with. So it doesn't surprise me that this has carried over to their Indian stores.

I have it from a good source that there will be two new Indian dealerships opening very shortly in Texas. One in New Braunfels and one in Georgetown. Neither of these stores will be owned by the Mancuso group.

 

[TXMOTORMIKE]

It's not just Mancuso - Its the two newest DFW Indian dealers doing the same.

 

[Shuje Sunge]

Yeah, I wish that some folks could lose the "HD attitude" at my dealer.

 

[chris]

I got a reply similar when I called about my free leather kit from Mancuso. Asked if I bought it there. However the manager told the parts guy that I only needed my coupon with my vin. I bought mine at Fort Hood because Mancuso would not deal with me. They were 400 dollars more on the setup and shipping fee's, and wouldn't work with my accessories. Fort Hood looked at my trade with pictures and we negotiated a deal via e-mail communication. I rode my trade down there and picked up my new indian. Took less than 30min to get all the paperwork signed and I owned a Vintage! If your looking to buy I would recommend the drive to Fort Hood, my salesman was DAnny and he is very customer service focused.

 

[TXMOTORMIKE]

I bought mine at Fort Hood because Mancuso would not deal with me. They were 400 dollars more on the setup and shipping fee's, and wouldn't work with my accessories. Fort Hood looked at my trade with pictures and we negotiated a deal via e-mail communication. I rode my trade down there and picked up my new indian. Took less than 30min to get all the paperwork signed and I owned a Vintage! If your looking to buy I would recommend the drive to Fort Hood, my salesman was DAnny and he is very customer service focused.

That’s interesting - I did my original deal with Mancuso the same as you did with Ft Hood. Ft Hood was a few weeks out from opening at the time. I had talked to Armando at Mancuso on Gulf Freeway four months prior to my purchase. He remembered me because of an arm injury and I was holding off. I sent him pictures of my trade. He came back with a quote. I countered back with an amount pending their actual hands on inspection. I requested a black Vintage with a backrest if they did not have it in stock. He informed me they had one black Vintage in stock and the next delivery was three weeks out. I told him three more weeks would not kill me and call me back if it was sold otherwise I would be there in 7 days. He took my emails and text to the manager. I got back a response with the last six of the VIN # and told they would hold it for 7 days. They took my word that I would be there and I did not put down a deposit. When I got there they spent about thirty minutes checking out my trade and then rode it right out onto their used line for sell while I signed papers and then loaded up my Vintage. Armando ran me down in the lot before I pulled out with the back rest that came in while I was loading apparently the UPS truck that had just pulled up had my back rest. The only issue I had was with the parts department on additional accessories I ordered. I had to call several times making sure they got shipped after three weeks what was supposed to have taken 7 more days. Armando was tops and I had no issues with him. Since then though I sent a freind to them and he tried to work with someone different since Armando was not availible. He got ticked and ended up dealing else where on a Victory.

Right now I will cross the Red River and head for Oklahoma City when I get ready to buy another 6 hours away.

 

[NickJ]

I dealt with Jeff Jordan over at Indian Motorcycles Houston. He is the GM over there, and said that he had been with the company 10+ years. We shared several emails and a few phone calls. He was Johnny On The Spot with all of the information that I needed to both confirm my Scout Pre-Order as well as all of the questions that I had.

This might be different for moto dealers, but I came from car sales, and dealerships LOVE warranty work. They bill for a full work up because the customer is not paying, the GM or Ford, or whoever, is footing the bill. HD dealers have a chip on their shoulders for some reason. If I recall, there is another member that recanted a story about the HD dealership treating him "not so well..."

 

[Burt]

It's not a HD attitude, it is a dealership attitude. I've owned three Harleys, none of them purchased in Oklahoma City. Yet I have never had any of the Oklahoma City Dealerships (three) ask me where I bought the bike. In fact, the dealership in Edmond (North OKC) has always treated my like family. Their mechanic knows I like to do some of my on service, so he gives me a advice to make the job easier. I also agree the Indian dealer in OKC (Scott) and his family are also very nice. I have become a regular trying to make a decision and he never pushes, just stands patiently with a smile answering my many questions. If I switch to an Indian, he will be a lot of the reason.

Burt

 

[armyvoyager]

I certainly agree that it is individual dealerships not the Make that matters. In the BMW world I can count on one hand the best dealerships in the U.S. and would go to those guys even if they were states away. As far as Houston, TX goes, I bought my last two bikes (Victory and Indian) from Jeff Jorden at Mancuso 59 and had a great experience each time. I wouldn't hesitate recommending him and his dealership. Like any other relationship, it works both ways, treat the dealer like you would like to be treated and generally they will do the same.

 

[NickJ]

I talked with Jeff at Indian Houston as well. Straight as an arrow. No BS and gave it to me like it is.

Ordered my Scout from him (first on his list) and he was super knowledgable and helpful. A++, would order again.

 

[NickJ]

I certainly agree that it is individual dealerships not the Make that matters. In the BMW world I can count on one hand the best dealerships in the U.S. and would go to those guys even if they were states away. As far as Houston, TX goes, I bought my last two bikes (Victory and Indian) from Jeff Jorden at Mancuso 59 and had a great experience each time. I wouldn't hesitate recommending him and his dealership. Like any other relationship, it works both ways, treat the dealer like you would like to be treated and generally they will do the same.

Actually, do you remember what the setup and doc fees were with your bikes?

 

[Rowlettdrifter]

The folks at Lone Star Indian in Garland have been very nice and helpful.

 

[lgjhn]

The wife and I went by Cowboy's in Beaumont, TX last week hoping to maybe take a look/see at a Chieftain. Of course, the same people own Cowboy Honda and Cowboy HD, but Dale Reynolds at the Indian facility was very nice and helpful...he's also a former Gold Wing rider. He didn't display any kind of that "attitude" at all, but having been to Cowboy HD in the past, we were prepped for it just the same. Thankfully, none was displayed. Unfortunately, for us though, there were no Indian motorcycles there for us to look at, except for the one Indian Chief Classic on the showroom floor. They'd all been sold! They was awaiting another shipment to come in. However, they did have several used Harleys for sale...no thanks. I now have an interest in the Roadmaster as well. Would love to have one in a trike version of it.

 

[geewago]

Several of you have mentioned the dealer in OKC and how friendly they were. I went by there about a month before I bought my Blue Chieftan and met the owners son. He was a super nice guy and I enjoyed my time there. When I decided to buy I looked on their website and saw that they had a blue Classic with Tall windshield, crash bars, Sissy bar, and leather saddlebags. However it was the vintage leather and I don't like the looks of it on blue, plus from my experience the black seems to hold up much better etc. So I asked about that and the salesman said, "No problem, we've got several sets of black seats and bags that we've took off bikes for people that wanted the vintage instead. We can swap that in a few minutes." I said Ok, let me know how you'll trade for my V-star 650 and I'll just cruise up from Waco and switch bikes with you. In about and hour the owner called and started talking in circles and saying I really can't afford to switch out the seat and the bags without raising the price some but we can work out something. I said, "Your salesman said you had several black sets setting around that you could swap". He said, "Yeah but I cant afford to have too much of that stuff laying around. But I'll work something out with you, we can deal. I'll figure up what we can do and get back with you". I said, "Ok the weathers good right now so let's do something". I never got another call, txt or e-mail. So I assumed they just didn't want to deal. Not necessarily a bad experience, but a strange one.

In the long run I'm glad it didn't work out. The chieftan is a much better deal. The hard bags, the fairing, radio, adjustable windshield, tubeless tires, name it.

 

[War Hoop]

I did business with Mancuso on 45... (yeah they own the 59 store to). Don't get me started here folks. Five hours to make deal and three of that was to get ripped off on trade in value. The sales guy was OK but not much else to say for that place. I really liked the way they bundled the prices so I couldn't even tell if I got my military discount. Not a good experience at all.

Actually, do you remember what the setup and doc fees were with your bikes?

My post tells you that.

 

[2506]

The folks at Lone Star Indian in Garland have been very nice and helpful.

+1. If I wasn't on this forum, I wouldn't know about all the issues about lack of communication and delivery problems with the Scout. Amy and everyone else were in touch weekly through the wait, knew me by name despite the long long list of Scout buyers and delivered the bike when promised.

 

[Hockeyray]

I bought my Chieftain in Las Vegas and Barnett Indian (who also has a HD dealership) has treated me like gold, even to the point of offering me the same discount that they give to the people who purchased from them.

 

[ndncowboy]

It's interesting that so many are seeing Texas dealers as being just like Harley dealers. Polaris had better jump in and squash that or they'll not be doing as good as they could here. I sent out three emails to asked about building up the bike I wanted. To the two dealers her in the Dallas/Fort Worth and one in Arkansas. Not one word from the two here and a nice reply from the one in Arkansas saying they could build just about anything I wanted and were happy to serve.

It will be a little bit longer before I can jump in but does anyone really want to fault me for taking my business to Arkansas? Sure, it's a 6 hour drive but they said they could even deliver it which to me means I could ride around here a week and then head back over to Arkansas for the first service. Then I found out the dealer in Fort Worth is also the owner of the Harley dealership there so that made sense. Not sure what the problem is with the Garland dealer except maybe they don't like emails.

I'll tell ya this much, if I could afford to open a dealership right here where I live I know I could take business from the other Indian dealers and for sure the Harley dealers in Dallas and Wichita Falls. I've even tried to get another brand dealer up the road to look into it because he already has the right attitude when it comes to his customers. Anyone want to float me a million bucks?

 

[Randall]

Morning Folks,
I bought my Chieftain from Barnett Indian in El Paso. Barnett H-D is world famous as one of the biggest dealerships on the planet, and they also sell BMW motorcycles as well as owning automobile dealerships. Indian is in it's own building and sales manager Ed Lind was very helpful and professional in his dealings with me. We actually negotiated the sale by email and I rode my '09 Street Glide in and rode out on the Chieftain. Service at Barnett's is handled by Gregor, the BMW tech. He seems very competent but stretched somewhat thin; he has done his best to be helpful when I've called with questions (I live 4 hours away). Barnett's business office lost track of my veteran's rebate and I had to contact Ed and get him to look into it, but I received a check for $1,000 from them last weekend.

I've had some work done at Black Gold Indian in Odessa, part of the Family Power Sports chain; they also have an Indian dealership in Lubock. They opened after I'd bought my Chieftain. I get over to Odessa (also 4 hours away) more often than El Paso. They had no problem honoring a warranty claim and have fit me in on short notice several times when I was traveling or happened to be in town.

Both dealerships have been helpful and professional and I don't have any problem recommending them if you happen to be in WestTexas.
--- Randall

 

[breeze58]

Bought my Vintage/hard bags from FT Hood and Danny. Truly a very good experience even handled the issues that arouse with out of state registration. A very good crew at the dealership. Think they are part of the San Antonino and Austin dealerships.
Had my 500 service done at "black gold indian" dealership in Odessa. They are more the polaris atv dealership than motorcycles. Scheduled an appointment for service making sure they knew I was coming 2.5 hours away. Got the bike back 4.5 hrs later after being told 2.5 hour job. Mentioned my displeasure to manager and they comped the $380 service ($60 to flash for exhaust). Bit of surprise, thinking a discount but what the heck. But doubt I would go back to them anyway. More into atv service I think.