I dropped my bike off at the shop Thursday to get a simple normal maintenance done to it. Today i get a call. The manager of the buisness tells me that my bike fell off the lift on top of his mechanic and there was damages to my bike. So i hop up and immediately drive over there. The manager takes me to the shop bay where they was working on my bike and theres my baby, sure enough, laying on its side.

He had some mechanic come over and pick it back up on its wheels then we proceeded to walk around the bike and make a list of all the damages. It Bent the right handle bar, busted off the endbar cap, put a crack in the guage cluster, broke the mirror, put stress cracks on the right side fairing, mangled the muffler, broke both the turn signals off, cracked the brake light, and put some gouges in the rear plastic piece. I guess its fortunate though that all the damages where cosmetic.

Directly after going over the damages, i say "heres the deal". . . "I brought in a 5 month old bike in perfect condition and i expect the bike returned to me that way". Then the manager is like hey man, i would love to discuss the damages with you, but i have a mechanic that had a bike fall on him!!! WTF!!!!

O.K., i feel bad for the mechanic, i really do. But this dont change the fact that my bike is busted up and theres someone OTHER THEN ME who IS going to pay for it. He said he was going to the hospital to check on his employee and that he would give me a call back later tonight.

So I got a call and was on the phone for about an hour with this guy. He is going to replace the broken parts. . . going to throw in a Yoshi slip on to replace the muffler (and im not dumb, i know the stock muffler costs more then the slip on does) and give me 2 free oil changes. But is still trying to charge me 192.00 for servicing the bike.

My question. . is wrong for me to demand the exhaust replacement, damaged items replaced, and to not be charged for the service done to my bike? This guy says im trying to take advantage of the situation by refusing to pay for the service. I told him there wouldnt be an issue if his company wasnt negligent on thier end. So what it comes down to, is this guy is now threatening not to hand my bike over unless i pay for the service which wrecked my bike????

Should I pay and just let them replace whats broken?? Or should i be looking for a lawyer?

 

The way I look at it, You were going to pay for it either way, right? The fact that that happened shouldnt change the outcome if you pay or not, if they are fixing everything. If they are fixing it all, then I would expect to pay. If they are not fixing it ALL, then I wouldnt expect to. But from the sounds of it they are, so I wouldnt complain about paying if you were going to have to in the first place.

 

i completey understand what your saying. . but this is what im struggling with.

If you pay for a service, isnt the company supposed to be held up to the expectation that they will perform that service to the best of their ability and leave the customer satisfied?

For example. I work as a computer technitian. If i walked into someones house and dropped their monitor and it busted all over the floor. There is no way i can charge them for my service based solely on the fact that i was negligent on my part. I would have to replace what i damaged to make that right, then take a hit in the wallet for my bad performance. Maybe because im still a little peeved about the whole situation. . but im thinking i should hold them to those same exact standards you know.

 

When you got there your bike was still laying on its side? You & D2MEclipseGT_600RR make very good points but how can you be so heartless when this tech is probably in ICU on life support.
I'm sorry I know it's not funny but I can't help it.
If the service was completed and they're going to fix everything then just pay the $192 after everything is said and done. It'll cost you more than $192 for a Yosh slip-on, and two oil changes so you really do make out in the end. Look at the bright side, it could always be worse!!!!!

 

well... the MINIMUM that they would have to do is pay/replace/fix everything that was damaged to the bike that you weren't getting fixed in the first place.

Like you said, you were going for regular maintenance. Is that oil change, chain lube, etc?

They have to replace all ur parts, but it would be good to not charge you the maintenance since, yeah, they did make a mistake and have to some how compensate for it. Also, they're basically eating up extra time from you being able to ride your bike, so they SHOULD do everything free.

it's like if i'm a billionaire... and i go up to your bike one day and just kick it over and break a couple parts. I'll say, "i'll pay for everything to get fixed as how it was". Yeah... I lose something that's not so valuable to me... you end up with your bike all fixed... BUT, it just wastes your time.

Try to talk with the owner again. Threaten to sue as a last resort... tell them you'll talk to your lawyer. But lawyers cost money. Might be better to just leave it alone.

 

Your situation is similar to bad service/food at a restaurant. For example, if you find something wrong with your food, you'll receive either a replacement or they'll say "it's on the house because we screwed up". Granted, your situation isn't bad food at a restaurant, and instead much worse. It all really depends on what you want them to do for you. I would rather have them fix everything and deduct a portion out from the bill; my reasoning would be that they are costing me time from their negligence.

 

I think you just summed the whole thing up. The matter of fact that you are still upset over this issue is also the same fact that you dont want to pay for anything. However, the shop's owner is not lawfully obligated to further assist you since he is already is taking a hit on fixing up your bike. His shop did provide services for your bike so, he is entitled to receive payment and he can and should hold on to your bike until he has filed a claim.

I recommend you pay but make sure document this case thoroughly(police report/sworn statement) . If you dont pay him now, he can and probably will charge you a "storage fee" for the last few day that he held on to the bike. Sorry to hear this happened, g-Luck

 

The way I look at is if they were concerned about their reputation and wanted to do right by you, he would havejust said they are gonna fix everything and you aren't gonna incur any charges. It seems though he is more worried about his $192 though, so I would just give it to him and tell him to keep his two free oil changes. Thats just me though, I would rather make it a point that they are loosing a customer and potentially multiple customers, since I have a lot of friends who ride, then worry about paying for the service, which I can only assume never got completed. If you don't feel you should pay it and don't plan to I would just threaten to call the Better Business Bureau, don't hire your own lawyer as that is just more money out your pocket.

 

I know it sounds wrong but if you refuse to pay, they can LEGALLY put a mechanics lean on your bike and you have so many days to pay or they can sell your bike to anyone who will pay off your debt, thats right 192.00 for a new bike. Some may disagree but I worked at a dealer and watched them sell a new Escalade for 2,000.00 because the guy who owned it said he wasnt going to pay for something he thought should be covered under warranty, oh yeah almost forgot he was still responsible for the balance of the loan to the bank. Ahh what a country we live in huh.