First let me say that to those of you reading this, this post is to be SOLELY DIRECTED at those that have slandered, misrepresented, twisted facts and have told numerous falsehoods regarding my dealership. I will be the first to admit that we have made mistakes. Some worse than others, I have made things right to the best of my ability with all customers that have any sense of fairness. But, we have over 18,000 customers in our data base, we do 3500 RO's a year and sell 1700 motorcycles a year. We are never the most expensive shop and we are not the cheapest. We have a tremendous repeat business and have sold over a dozen quads to one family in the last three years as an example. We have grown bigger and faster than any other shop in central Ohio and are one of the largest in the state and nation. Our first year in business we sold 39 units. I never wanted to get this big. In fact my goal was 250 to 300 units a year, originally. There were problems with that. In a major city it was grow or die as my two closest competitors at the time vowed to put us out of business. I have several principles by which I operate my business. One, is to stay in business and give my customers the best value we can. Second, is to keep employees and pay them a living wage. Third to do no harm. My greatest fear from the beginning is that someone gets hurt because of something we do either in service or sales of a new bike. The cynics of you I am sure will say that is my greatest fear because it would be bad for business. So be it for those. But it is not. I want to say something about the internet. The internet was not prevalent when I first got into business. I use it a lot in business. The problem is the anonimity it provides for those people that want to throw stones and don't have the guts to say something to your face. Worse are those people that tell you one thing to your face and then you find out it is that person that is posting something completely different. Of the thousands that are on this site, most are very good people and sensible. To about six that have posted repeatedly about my dealership, negative and downright mean spirited responses, here this is your response, from the owner. To Phillip Haley. I am sorry a mouse got into your air box and made a nest. I am sorry a new air filter (even though your air filter wasn't damaged) was not good enough for you and a free full service and offering to pick up your bike for FREE, was not good enough for you. The rest of your tirade was filled with misrepresentations, embellishments and bull-shit. First your bike and 80 per cent of the motorcycles sold sit in one of six giant warehouses near Lima, Ohio. The mouse could have secretly entered there. Or on a ship or train in transit. It could have even entered at our warehouse. Nevertheless it happened. Get over it, it didn't damage or hurt your bike in any way. You twisted what my wife said to you to make your story sound better, you didn't get what YOU thought was fair, so you come on here and whine and whine. So, take us to court. Let me tell you what the judge would say, "So you offered to fix it? Yes. Thats it" We check every unit that has a problem. Nothing leaves until it is has been gone over twice. Your bike ran fine when it left, so no, we didn't take the tank off and inspect the air cleaner. Do you have any idea how many customer bikes come in with mice nests in them? The little devils have a mind of their own sort of like an act of god. Next, we pay to have all of our bikes built and prepped by custom assembly. Then we go over them again before they leave. Tanya never rode your bike down from the warehouse. She was six months pregnant and under my orders was not allowed to ride anything at that time. The employee that rode it down from the warehouse evidently didn't notice that the clip on was not in the right position or it changed or you moved it. Contrary to what Mr. Wizard says we don't get paid to prep bikes by the manufacturer. We get a supposed credit that is about 1/3 what it actually costs. Let me explain. At one time the factories paid a cash payment of about 10 bucks a bike. I am talking about 25 years ago. The dealers got together and sued a certain manufacturer, Honda. Honda lost or negotiated a settlement and agreed to pay more. So they upped the cost of the bike to the dealer, but not the retail price, and gave them a credit for building and prepping the unit. The other manufacturers followed suit. That credit hasn't moved in ten years. But it is really none of your damn business Mr. Wizard. Phillip I know since you got your motorcycle you have been on here daily, finally found some people that will listen to your compaints. I liked the "cold acid running down my spine" comment my self and take your picture of your air cleaner and post it wherever you want or I can tell you where I will help you put it. The only thing that would have made you happy was to get the bike for free which is about the price we sold it to you for. To Brian Healea. You sir, are a pompous a$$, know it all, who posts on here against anyone you think you can make look small. For all of you that don't know Brian Healea he is a fast guy in STT. Thats it. Thats the extent of his being. With that he is a know it all. He lives in a palatial estate in Mount Gilead, (Home to the Stars) and shills for Iron Pony. Spends most of his waking hours posting on websites of the motorcycle variety expounding on all aspects of the motorcycle business with a half ass understanding of it, all the while holding himself out as an industry insider to all his little minions that hang on his every word, which actually just causes him to spew some other bullshit fact he makes up to make himself self grandiose important. If only the dealers in his territory he was hired to service actually ever saw him they might order some fox or shift gear from him, but he hangs out most days at the one vendor he can sell stuff to. But, he is on here bashing me, whom he has never met, as far as I know and Joyce who does work at the shop every day as do I. Contrary to what you think our growth has been 10, 20 and 30 per-cent a year. Your constant harrassment on every aspect of our business is out of line and off the mark most of the time. It is interesting to note, because you won't, that you are basically a paid shill for Iron Pony. Everyone elses sales practices are shit. I notice you haven't brought up their sales practice of quoting cost or below for a Rhino and not having one, at least one you can see, without big wheel kits, nerf bars, roofs and cages already installed but you can buy it for 13,000. Guess your OK with that and that IS illegal according to the Attorney General. If you offer a price out there you must sell that unit for that price. You have issue with us offering buddy packs. Yes we do, thats what customers asked for all the time because of the Michigan dealers. So we gave it to them also, but not for the crazy numbers they were doing and not delivering the units in the middle of the night. What mud do we sling at other shops? Who says it. Give me some names. Talk about slinging mud, you have the arrogance to make a statement like that? Have you read your posts? Your comment that Iron Pony doesn't try to trick people, but we do? I just sold two tubes to a guy for six dollars and nine dollars, suggested retail yesterday, that he said he bought the same tubes there for 20 and 22. Suggested retail is just a baseline for current stuff, most of their small stuff is way over suggested retail. Do I care? No more power to them. I am glad you make a living off of selling them Shift. Just don't come on her like some F**king white knight. The thing is they buy the bikes for the same price we do. They aren't going to get Yamaha to sell them units for less money than other dealers the way they buy left over apparel for five bucks a jersey and ten bucks for pants from you rag merchants. The best thing you can say about any shop in central Ohio is Honda Northwest isn't a piece of shit. I know almost all the dealers in the State. There is only two that I know of that don't try to do their best and really enjoy their customers and business. Contrary to what you believe most of us do this because we love it. At an industry average of 3 to 5 per-cent net profit, on a good year, is not worth the time we put in. There are other things that make a lot more financial sense. For you to come on here and present yourself as an industry insider is an insult to the dealers association in this state. The part I like is about certain financial issues. Oooh that certainly is nebulus. (Don't buy from Hinds buy from Iron Pony because they have certain financial issues.) Do you get commission from them for unit sales? You want to show me a shop in the U. S. that doesn't have financial issues, ESPECIALLY NOW. If they say they don't they are lying. At last count over 100 Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamah, Honda shops each have went under this year. (Evidently, they didn't rape the customer enough.) The first five Harley stores since 1990 filed for bankruptcy in January. Our sin is we tell our employees what is going on and try to be upfront with everyone. Excuse us. We appreciate those that have continued to come in and spend their hard earned money in our store. Your comment about certain items not being able to be ordered from my store. What do you want Feldsheer, Fox, Shift, Sidi, what else and from whom? Come on in lets order it up. What a pissy statement. You don't know sh-t but you say it anyway. Yes, we will sell for less than Iron Pony on most stuff, but we may have to order it. Tires are the same price.
