Honda NW vs. Honda Marysville

[redriderRR]

Awhile ago i was coming up on my bikes 16k service, living very close to Honda NW i went in for a estimate and some parts, i was needing some basic stock honda decals for my belly pans, just instead of stock white i wanted red, after being told they would come in red, they came in silver, then if i wanted to re-order and they were not correct i would be charged a stocking fee, the dealership did not know what color they were ordering in the computer, it was only a code, granted i was not ordering the correct colors for my bike, but the ones i wanted were still a factory color for a completely stock factory bike.Honda NW said they had never seen a Honda CBR600RR completely black w/ red decals, and after overhearing the conversation, one of the gentleman behind the counter told the others that he had seen the bike and knew exactly what it was, a graphite black cbr. After he walked away they quickly told me that he had worked for Harley Davidon before, as if he didnt know what he was talking about. So i said forget it and proceeded to get a estimate for service,not only was the price considerably higher than other shops, i felt like i was bothering someone to get noticed.

After that i decided to try Honda Marysville,rode up there,was extremely impressed with the facility,ordered the same decals, again they came in silver, but the parts man, told me he would find the correct ones i wanted, i figured "yea right", but the next day i get a call telling me that he had went online researched the all black cbr w/ red decals and already made the order for my belly pan decals, and he would let me know if they were correct or not. I was impressed that he went out of his way to try and make me happy. A few days later i get the call, that my decals are in and they are in fact red, exactly what i had wanted from the start, but a task to difficult and bothersome for Honday NW to handle.So i got my decals, and Honda Marysville got my 16k service, my brake and coolant flush, and all my future service. I will gladly travel right by Honda NW to go out of my way to Honda of Marysville.

[APCh8r]

Awhile ago i was coming up on my bikes 16k service, living very close to Honda NW i went in for a estimate and some parts, i was needing some basic stock honda decals for my belly pans, just instead of stock white i wanted red, after being told they would come in red, they came in silver, then if i wanted to re-order and they were not correct i would be charged a stocking fee, the dealership did not know what color they were ordering in the computer, it was only a code, granted i was not ordering the correct colors for my bike, but the ones i wanted were still a factory color for a completely stock factory bike.Honda NW said they had never seen a Honda CBR600RR completely black w/ red decals, and after overhearing the conversation, one of the gentleman behind the counter told the others that he had seen the bike and knew exactly what it was, a graphite black cbr. After he walked away they quickly told me that he had worked for Harley Davidon before, as if he didnt know what he was talking about. So i said forget it and proceeded to get a estimate for service,not only was the price considerably higher than other shops, i felt like i was bothering someone to get noticed.

After that i decided to try Honda Marysville,rode up there,was extremely impressed with the facility,ordered the same decals, again they came in silver, but the parts man, told me he would find the correct ones i wanted, i figured "yea right", but the next day i get a call telling me that he had went online researched the all black cbr w/ red decals and already made the order for my belly pan decals, and he would let me know if they were correct or not. I was impressed that he went out of his way to try and make me happy. A few days later i get the call, that my decals are in and they are in fact red, exactly what i had wanted from the start, but a task to difficult and bothersome for Honday NW to handle.So i got my decals, and Honda Marysville got my 16k service, my brake and coolant flush, and all my future service. I will gladly travel right by Honda NW to go out of my way to Honda of Marysville.

Thanks for the info, if you don't mind could you tell me the names of the people you worked with at both locations. I know people at both shops and would be interested to see if they were the ones to help you. Thanks

[SWing'R]

I bought my SilverWing from Honda NW in August of '07, I've had it there for scheduled maintenance twice, both times they fit me in and got it back to me extremely fast. I was impressed, without havin an appointment I expected to have to wait a few days but it was done the next day after dropping it off both times.

[R6KID]

Working in the industry i hear good and bad about every shop. In my personal experience I cant say much about NW, only because I have never been there. I can say that I have been to Marysville and they do have one of the nicest buildings ive seen. As for the people there I have previously worked with their sales manager maybe he is the gm now, Im not sure. I have also worked with their parts manager. Both of them are good people and truly care about customer service. I dont personally know anyone in the service dept. but I have heard many good things about them.

[r6allstar]

this is good information.. have a good friend who was just moved the motorsports division from their car sales division. have been seeing the effects of the economic slowdown like the rest of us, guess they have had to let a few guys go lately.

Look him up(Jack Mosley) when you go there and tell him that "Tony Tito" sent ya.. am sure he will get a good laugh about it and will probably get ya a good deal

[Moto-Brian]

Awhile ago i was coming up on my bikes 16k service, living very close to Honda NW i went in for a estimate and some parts, i was needing some basic stock honda decals for my belly pans, just instead of stock white i wanted red, after being told they would come in red, they came in silver, then if i wanted to re-order and they were not correct i would be charged a stocking fee, the dealership did not know what color they were ordering in the computer, it was only a code, granted i was not ordering the correct colors for my bike, but the ones i wanted were still a factory color for a completely stock factory bike.Honda NW said they had never seen a Honda CBR600RR completely black w/ red decals, and after overhearing the conversation, one of the gentleman behind the counter told the others that he had seen the bike and knew exactly what it was, a graphite black cbr. After he walked away they quickly told me that he had worked for Harley Davidon before, as if he didnt know what he was talking about. So i said forget it and proceeded to get a estimate for service,not only was the price considerably higher than other shops, i felt like i was bothering someone to get noticed.

After that i decided to try Honda Marysville,rode up there,was extremely impressed with the facility,ordered the same decals, again they came in silver, but the parts man, told me he would find the correct ones i wanted, i figured "yea right", but the next day i get a call telling me that he had went online researched the all black cbr w/ red decals and already made the order for my belly pan decals, and he would let me know if they were correct or not. I was impressed that he went out of his way to try and make me happy. A few days later i get the call, that my decals are in and they are in fact red, exactly what i had wanted from the start, but a task to difficult and bothersome for Honday NW to handle.So i got my decals, and Honda Marysville got my 16k service, my brake and coolant flush, and all my future service. I will gladly travel right by Honda NW to go out of my way to Honda of Marysville.

As far as the graphics, they can be translated via the codes. It takes a bit of time on the counter guy's end, but can easily be found. If it was an OEM colorway and you had the proper year, you can get what you want and if they order it wrong, there's no dealership going to charge a restocking fee for an error on their end.

Now, if you gave them just "I need red for my CBR" and they have to sort out a bunch of years, I'd say you are asking for the moon almost and unless the counter guy is an avid CBR hard core fan, they may have a tough time finding it...

[zerocrash]

As far as the graphics, they can be translated via the codes. It takes a bit of time on the counter guy's end, but can easily be found. If it was an OEM colorway and you had the proper year, you can get what you want and if they order it wrong, there's no dealership going to charge a restocking fee for an error on their end.

Now, if you gave them just "I need red for my CBR" and they have to sort out a bunch of years, I'd say you are asking for the moon almost and unless the counter guy is an avid CBR hard core fan, they may have a tough time finding it...

Agreed. The parts guys at HNW are extremely knowledgable, especially if you have a real problem concerning 'actual' parts. They have all been in the business for a really (really really) long time and are only in the business because they are true enthusiasts. I will say that they do have a tendency to come across as a bit 'bothered' at times when people come in looking for something that they have no idea what it really is.

That's still no excuse for making people like they are bothered, after all that's their job, but you have no idea how often they hear "I need that one bolt that holds that one thing on.." or something like that.

[SWing'R]

That's still no excuse for making people like they are bothered, after all that's their job, but you have no idea how often they hear "I need that one bolt that holds that one thing on.." or something like that.

Don't they have a book called "Thingamagigs & Whatchamacallits" they can look it up in?

[Moto-Brian]

Agreed. The parts guys at HNW are extremely knowledgable, especially if you have a real problem concerning 'actual' parts. They have all been in the business for a really (really really) long time and are only in the business because they are true enthusiasts. I will say that they do have a tendency to come across as a bit 'bothered' at times when people come in looking for something that they have no idea what it really is.

That's still no excuse for making people like they are bothered, after all that's their job, but you have no idea how often they hear "I need that one bolt that holds that one thing on.." or something like that.

I personally like the call in customer that when asked what year Honda they have, the comment is "The red one from 20xx". Or the guy who has his wife call and he is telling her the info as she is being asked...

People are silly sometimes and with the fact that one can use online fische finders, I have no idea why people expect dealers to know EXACTLY where to find parts for HOW MANY bikes they have in existance for one brand - let alone multiple.

Trust me when I say Tom and the boys at HNW know their parts or where to look for them... Sounds like it was an obscure part that the customer wasn't too sure on and it became an Easter Egg hunt...

[rockybalboa]

Agreed. The parts guys at HNW are extremely knowledgable, especially if you have a real problem concerning 'actual' parts.

Thats not cool! Graphics are "acatual" parts.Check the price and you'll find out how real they are.

[r6allstar]

Ya know guys, its OK to choose a place over HNW. Dont get me wrong, I almost always got excellent service at HNW, but if someone has a better experience somewhere else then you dont have to make excuses for the people at HNW. If they were acting "bothered" by the customer then that isnt too cool and they lost a customer b/c of it.

Edited December 8, 2008 by r6allstar

[Moto-Brian]

Ya know guys, its OK to choose a place over HNW. Dont get me wrong, I almost always got excellent service at HNW, but if someone has a better experience somewhere else then you dont have to make excuses for the people at HNW. If they were acting "bothered" by the customer then that isnt too cool and they lost a customer b/c of it.

I agree on the bothered part, I was referring to the parts department part of the post.

As far as the "bothered" part, realize that there are always two sides to every story. A lot of times, comments like "They seemed bothered" is an opinion. Sharing one's experience in a neutral manner can sometimes be clouded with one's opinion and not give a true representation of what really happened.

A lot of people can mis-read others easily. Especially different personality types. I just think that sometimes, we forget that...

Another note is that typically, you don't get threads with people saying how wonderful their experiences are. They usually only post when they have a negative issue to report. Just the way it goes. Do something good for someone, they usually tell 5 people. Do something bad in someone's eyes, they usually tell 50 people...

[r6allstar]

Another note is that typically, you don't get threads with people saying how wonderful their experiences are. They usually only post when they have a negative issue to report. Just the way it goes. Do something good for someone, they usually tell 5 people. Do something bad in someone's eyes, they usually tell 50 people...

Agreed.. I personally have no preference in the situation.. hell I dont even ride anymore.

[g35tonv]

I shopped at both places.. However, i ended up buying my new bike at HNW heh.

[CbrGirl]

I shopped at both places.. However, i ended up buying my new bike at HNW heh.

Smart man!

[f4i06]

I've actually had the same experience as the original poster. When I was first shopping for my new bike, I had visited, ASK, Motorsports of Columbus, and Honda Northwest. ASK and Columbus Motorsports we're all very friendly, approached me to ask if I had questions, all of the things that I would expect at a sales store of any kind. Northwest on the other hand, I actually had to track someone down to help me. While I understand shops get busy and people are tasked ten different things to do at once, I noticed 3 employees lounging around the back of the shop, literally sitting on ATV's. I left severely displeased.

Fast forward 3 years and I've now come to learn that the place I did in fact buy my bike from, Motorsports of Columbus has gone out of business and I find out that Honda Northwest has now assumed the service plans that I had through MoC. I called on Monday to ask a question (I had specific Honda part numbers) and was promptly placed on hold, for 10 minutes after which the call disconnected. I called back, was placed on hold again, and when they finally came back on the phone, I was told 4 weeks to get the part, and that they were booked up until May 12th. I didn't get the warm fuzzy from the gentleman I spoke with, nor did I even consider doing business with them.

Pick up phone call Honda Marysville, they have part in stock, had a full schedule booked, but since it was a quick fix, they told me to bring it out and they'd have me squared away same day. I know these are personal experiences and everyone is entitled to bad days, but as the OP said, I will gladly drive past HNW to Marysville every time.

[f4i06]

Having not been in the business before, I understand completely that there could be a situation where everyone and their brother needs the part guy at that very second, I will give some headway for that scenario, but I still have not gotten any sort of warm fuzzy from anyone at HNW recently.

[rockstarhonda]

Our parts guys do have alot to do, but they are very good at what they do. And this is not the first time I have heard of long delays on the phone or the occasional disconnect. One thing I can say is we do have the best sales, service and parts in the columbus area. And im not being unfair either. I worked in the service department at in grove city, I would not reccomend anyone take anything there for service. but remember you get what you pay for, our service department has many awards for there work, some I have never seen in any other shop. (there is a reason that shops are closing and were doing just fine)

[Hoblick]

i do most of my local business with HNW, and though i have had the parts guys have there bothersom moments, i have also had alot of great experiences with them as well. gave me a great deal on my chatterboxes that i bought there, and always get the parts that i order in 4 days.

they are bike enthusiasts there, and im glad they are, they know what they are talking about.

as for marysville, i dont think id ever buy a bike from them, they are higher on price on almost everything they sell.

but i personally know the service manager (Dan), and one of the techs (doug). avid racers, both street bikes, and MX. they know there shit, and the tech (doug) is top notch. he has given me some tips and tricks to help out with some work on my bikes that i didnt want to bring in.