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Starting this thread as I've seen a few comments in the welcome section on various dealer experiences in the Phoenix, AZ area.
Please share your experiences with the dealerships you've purchased from in the Phx Metro area.
I've heard mixed reviews on Western Honda. There are several reviews on Yelp which describe horrible service experiences. Reviews of no sales people being available to answer questions. But then there are great reviews of a few of the sales guys and people getting great prices, and people traveling from out of state to buy from there. So I'm not sure what to think.
When I went there in Aug, I had to wait to talk to one sales guy. But overall their showroom is uninviting and most of the bikes have signs that say don't sit on them. Or if they do, they are packed so close together you can't sit on them.
I didn't care for the sales experience at Ridenow Chandler for my recent scooter purchase. I was thinking this may be the place to purchase my CB1100 from of the prices are great. But I was hoping to find a place with both sales and service that would keep me happy as long as I own the bike.
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I'm a low maintenance customer, so the sales side of Western Honda worked OK for me. I already knew what I wanted and what I was willing to pay. The sales guy (Max) turned out to be the same guy that had sold me my last bike, 17 yrs earlier. I probably spent a total of 1/2 hr. on the purchase, which is how I prefer it.
I mentioned in the other thread that I do my own wrenching and that their parts dept. is a disaster, so I can do without that side of the business.
If you're looking for the full service experience, W.H. is probably not for you. BTW, I also went to Ridenow a few weeks before the CB11 was available. I told them I was ready to buy. They took all my info and promised to get in touch when they had one for sale. They never bothered to call or email.
Sometimes I wonder how these places stay in business.
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Sometimes I wonder how these places stay in business.
Answer: in spite of themselves
Answer 2: because the competition usually isn't much better
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I've dealt with North Valley Honda for two purchases. I'm not impressed with their service department but their sales staff are nice to work with.
Apache Honda on Camelback has an excellent service manager (but my experience was on the side; he repaired my dirt bike; something he does on the side for love and money outside of his day job as the service manager). I have not dealt with their sales staff other than a casual talk and was not real impressed. Was not put off either, just not impressed (don't make too much of this, few sales people impress me any more).
I've been to Western Honda at least once. Meh. Not enough experience to say anything.
GoAZ in north Scottsdale is a going concern but I tend to yak up the sales people in the Triumph/Ducati/BMW building and ride from time to time with their parts manager. A buddy is not impressed with the shop manager but was with their trained Ducati mechanics. I suspect your experience will be spotty too. All in all I prefer the mom and pop shop at North Valley. All that modern urban bling at the big shops is paid for by someone. And that is usually you.
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Lagoje,
Over the last 30 years I have probably purchased 20 motorcycles from Western Honda including my CB1100. I will never return to that dealership to buy another motorcycle or for service or parts. The owner has recently terminated his sales manager “Brian” who had been there for a quarter of a century. The treatment I have received by their parts manager has been unbelievably caustic. My service experience there has been abysmal as well. The owner of that dealership is the son-in-law of the now deceased founder. He is scared to death of his employees and allows them to run roughshod over him. Had he not basically inherited the dealership he certainly could not have built it himself. The employees there know that they can tell a customer to go to hell if they're having a bad day and that they will not be terminated. The last salesperson I tried to deal with there gave me one wrong answer after another. Absolutely clueless yet trying to present himself as an expert. Years ago when Bruce Wallace was alive and still owned Western Honda it was a hell of a place. Today, his son-in-law allows the inmates to run the asylum and it's a disaster. I would steer clear of Western Honda.
Chip
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I bought both my CBR and CB from Western Honda. I always know exactly what I want and never need sales "help" other than to negotiate the price. The first experience wasn't riveting, but wasn't horrible either, although when I asked the sales person about the oil-eating 2008 CBR's, he claimed that he hadn't had a single one come back for service (which, unless all their customers crashed them, must have taken them somewhere else, because a large majority of 2008 CBR's eat oil for breakfast, mine included). The second was lackluster. I was dealing with what appeared to be a new sales person, and every decision had to be run by the sales manager. I am a big believer in pushing responsibility down the chain and empowering employees to make decisions, so this was annoying to me. All in all, I got what I wanted, for a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I paid MSRP for my bike the first couple of weeks it was available.
The parts department has outrageous in-person prices (I think I paid $2.50 for nuts for the battery terminal screws when I needed them in a pseudo-emergency); their prices online seem alright, but I live here, so why would I not buy in-person? I had them change the tires on my CBR a while ago, I brought in the wheels, and they scratched them. Now I go to Kelly's Kawasaki for that, no scratches and cheaper. Other than that, I do my own maintenance, so I don't have any real experience with their service department.
Hearing the bad levels of service everyone seems to have almost everywhere makes me want to open a dealership so badly. I love motorcycles of all kinds, I love seeing people enjoying their bikes, and I love to help people when something goes wrong with their bike or just for general maintenance. I've toyed with the idea of taking a part-time job as a service writer just to get experience to see how things work.
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AZBob it does look different from the other side of the counter. I was just out to the Phoenix area to help a sister in law.
My very first trip out west. I was going to visit some Honda dealers but could not find the time. Wow it sure is different there.
Even though the roads are glass smooth there you do not seem to be any secondary roads to ride at all and it is very very warm and dry.
You really have to want a bike bad to live around there. I also had my car robbed of a new laptop and two cameras when I was there
so that did not make me feel to welcome.
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(10-24-2013, 04:50 AM)AzBob_imp Wrote: I bought both my CBR and CB from Western Honda. I always know exactly what I want and never need sales "help" other than to negotiate the price. The first experience wasn't riveting, but wasn't horrible either, although when I asked the sales person about the oil-eating 2008 CBR's, he claimed that he hadn't had a single one come back for service (which, unless all their customers crashed them, must have taken them somewhere else, because a large majority of 2008 CBR's eat oil for breakfast, mine included). The second was lackluster. I was dealing with what appeared to be a new sales person, and every decision had to be run by the sales manager. I am a big believer in pushing responsibility down the chain and empowering employees to make decisions, so this was annoying to me. All in all, I got what I wanted, for a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I paid MSRP for my bike the first couple of weeks it was available.
The parts department has outrageous in-person prices (I think I paid $2.50 for nuts for the battery terminal screws when I needed them in a pseudo-emergency); their prices online seem alright, but I live here, so why would I not buy in-person? I had them change the tires on my CBR a while ago, I brought in the wheels, and they scratched them. Now I go to Kelly's Kawasaki for that, no scratches and cheaper. Other than that, I do my own maintenance, so I don't have any real experience with their service department.
Hearing the bad levels of service everyone seems to have almost everywhere makes me want to open a dealership so badly. I love motorcycles of all kinds, I love seeing people enjoying their bikes, and I love to help people when something goes wrong with their bike or just for general maintenance. I've toyed with the idea of taking a part-time job as a service writer just to get experience to see how things work.
That was part of my issue with them. I initially tried to to communicate with the parts department via the website form, then the main dealership email address. Finally I had to go in person because I couldn't get a response online after repeated attempts over 3 days. Oh yeah, I called first but hung up after 10 min. on hold. They wanted to charge me the "in person" price, but eventually did the online price when I explained why I had to come in person. As I recall, they tack on about 50% above the Internet price if you show up at the counter.
When I went back a week later to pick up my order, they gave me the wrong parts. Fortunately, I checked each part number before leaving, so they were able correct it.
While I like to support local businesses, these guys are just too difficult to deal with. I know I can order OEM parts from several places on the Internet and spend a lot less time and trouble. In the end, it took over a week to get parts that I could have had in 2 or 3 days from one of the better online parts websites.
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(10-25-2013, 01:48 AM)CA200_imp Wrote: AZBob it does look different from the other side of the counter. I was just out to the Phoenix area to help a sister in law.
My very first trip out west. I was going to visit some Honda dealers but could not find the time. Wow it sure is different there.
Even though the roads are glass smooth there you do not seem to be any secondary roads to ride at all and it is very very warm and dry.
You really have to want a bike bad to live around there. I also had my car robbed of a new laptop and two cameras when I was there
so that did not make me feel to welcome.
Yeesh, sorry your experience here was so poor. Our roads are definitely in good shape (since we don't have any ice or snow), but yeah, they're all straight, and flat. There are some interesting places to ride though, but not many. I generally don't leave stuff in my car, but I'm from New York, and that was trained into me from birth, lol.
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There are some good roads to ride; but you have to get out of the Phoenix area. Back way to Bagdad, the Beeline to Payson, 89a, etc. Then we have the Devils Highway on the eastern side of the state. Never been on it but it seems to be about 30 Tail of the Dragons lined up.
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