We'll see if we can work you in ????

[spydee owner]

My one and only concern about our wonderful bikes is the service networks. :agree:

I am not mechanically inclined but have had the sinking feeling for the last year or so that whatever goes wrong next on my bike is because the dealer did not service it properly if at all. And we can't all go to Cowtown. :clap:

BRP needs to wake up and realize that this is going to be the fatal flaw with the Spyder. Unless they begin to address this now and get the bike in a proper dealership network I fear my bike is going to sit next to a lawnmower, watercraft, and ATV awaiting maintenence quietly rusting.

I would sooner see BRP cut back on their big production spyder events and put more into training of service personnel. These are their front line contacts with the customer. You have a bad experience here, well.....
I like the way my Ford dealer operates. You get service work, they either do a follow up call or letter to see if your service was satisfactory. They used to at one time, throw in a free oil change every 5 or 6 visits.

 

[Dochands]

I don't think the point of this post was to compile our favorite dealer list. Again. I know if I drive 5 hours I can have honest and caring service. The point was as a whole BRP does not monitor or screen its dealership network thoroughly. This is one more product carried by places that service a whole line of products including lawnmowers.

It's not just about being on the road. It's also about the service most of us get locally often where we bought our Spyders.

It is almost inevitable that someday we will have dedicated dealers but we are the pioneers here.

But BRP needs to hear and listen to this now or this great product will falter and fail. IMHO. The Goldwing crowd will not buy an RT if the reputation is they are harder to service and the service is unreliable.

With curious experienced riders the single question I get is how easy are they to work on and who services them. I don't really have a good answer for them.

 

[BajaRon]

In defense of many of the BRP dealers, until the Spyder, most of their products were quads, snowmobiles or watersport products which longterm breakdowns only caused an inconvenience and not stranding you on the road. (I haven't heard of anyone SeaDoo'ing across the country.) I think that many of those dealers will have to learn to accomodate us cross country riders. If not, they'll still do their business in other powersports products but lose out on Spyders. :sour:

ps. my dealer sometimes fits into the above category....

I think you've hit this one on the head Brian. Some of these dealers are all about seasonal gravy trains with vehicles that people can live without for a week or so. They develope an attitude of 'We'll get to it when we get to it'.

Then along comes the Spyder and tries to change their world. Different kind of owners with different needs, different expectations and a machine that is ALL NEW!

Well, the good ole boys in the back aren’t about to crack open a book or buy a new wrench. By cracky they been doin' it this way for years and if it's good enough for the snowmobile it's good enough for the Spyder.

There are many great dealers out there with Cowtown at the top of the heap. And they sell a lot of Spyders out of their shop for that reason. We’ve got two great dealers here in East Tennessee that are on top of the Spyder so it is not a universal problem by any means.

We all understand that you’re going to have some bad apples. But with slim pickens to start with, it doesn’t take too many lousy dealers to blow a big hole in the nation wide service map. And that's were the long distance crowd is a bit nervous.

 

[pierrelogic]

I would not worry about it if it cleared. This happens occasionally. Probably got a hunk of crud on the O2 sensor for a moment. I'd ride unless it repeats. You can check for active fault codes on an RT by hitting "Mode", "Set", and the turn signal cancel simultaneously.

Now for the meat of the problem...the dealer. I understand some dealers are busy, have limited staff, and have other lines to service and sell. Nonetheless, if the Spyder is to seriously compete with the Harleys, Goldwings, and especially the BMWs in the realm of serious touring, dealer support for the traveler is going to have to improve. Most dealers for the makes that support cross-country touring, will move heaven and earth to aid a traveler in distress. I have to believe that there is some sort of factory encouragement and/or incentive for so many dealers to do this. I'd love to see BRP institute some measures to improve their support structure.

Don't get me started.

I had a long conversation with our regions BRP rep recently about this and a few other topics. Bottom line, BRP is not supporting the dealers like the travelling customers wish they would. In the end, many dealers get the bad wrap but they are just following the BRP protocol. BRP has the mindset their dealers are to concentrate on their local customers first. Sounds good on the surface but the dirt is in the details. From the mouth of the BRP dealer they don't want someone driving 300 miles to save $500. :dontknow: This directly contradicts the concept of a travelling, deperate Spyder owner getting any sort of priority at most dealerships.

I saw this with my own eyes recently with another fellow Spyder owner that limped into their OWN frickin' dealership and got the brush-off. They were not going anywhere and were literally broke down in the parking lot and left to feel like a red headed step child for hours. They were initially told by the dealer they had several bikes to prep (just sold 'em) and those were the priority. :gaah: Not naming names...irrelevant for this discussion. They eventually took the disabled Spyder in and fixed it but they were not handled like they really should have been. I'm leaving out some details but suffice to say and with god as my witness this opinion would be a foregone conclusion to anyone that witnessed it.

And stocking repair parts, that's a whole other long drawn out topic but again. BRP is not supporting the timely transfer of parts to the dealers. And who gets the bad wrap? Again...the dealers. When I brought this up to the BRP rep I was told things will get better. Sorry BRP when you're own protocol by design undermines the dealers getting parts quickly there no way to go but up (improve)...:duh: In the meantime your dealers are just getting hammered by the public....in many many cases unjustly. There is a cost in maintaining inventory granted, but 10 days to wait on a $10 part is unacceptable (this happened to me). Sending parts from distribution locales scattered here and there across the country is part of the the problem. Either increase the shipping locations or fire the mailman and start using more expensive (and dependable) couriers. Your customers are suffering BRP.

I'll bet the BRP rep will run like the wind the next time they see me coming.

BTW, this can't be considered libel if it's the truth....

[/off soapbox]

PS - doesn't Can Am Spyder "RT" stand for "Roadster Touring?" :roflblack:

 

[BajaRon]

Don't get me started.

I had a long conversation with our regions BRP rep recently about this and a few other topics. Bottom line, BRP is not supporting the dealers like the travelling customers wish they would. In the end, many dealers get the bad wrap but they are just following the BRP protocol. BRP has the mindset their dealers are to concentrate on their local customers first. Sounds good on the surface but the dirt is in the details. From the mouth of the BRP dealer they don't want someone driving 300 miles to save $500. :dontknow: This directly contradicts the concept of a travelling, deperate Spyder owner getting any sort of priority at most dealerships.

I saw this with my own eyes recently with another fellow Spyder owner that limped into their OWN frickin' dealership and got the brush-off. They were not going anywhere and were literally broke down in the parking lot and left to feel like a red headed step child for hours. They were initially told by the dealer they had several bikes to prep (just sold 'em) and those were the priority. :gaah: Not naming names...irrelevant for this discussion. They eventually took the disabled Spyder in and fixed it but they were not handled like they really should have been. I'm leaving out some details but suffice to say and with god as my witness this opinion would be a foregone conclusion to anyone that witnessed it.

And stocking repair parts, that's a whole other long drawn out topic but again. BRP is not supporting the timely transfer of parts to the dealers. And who gets the bad wrap? Again...the dealers. When I brought this up to the BRP rep I was told things will get better. Sorry BRP when you're own protocol by design undermines the dealers getting parts quickly there no way to go but up (improve)...:duh: In the meantime your dealers are just getting hammered by the public....in many many cases unjustly. There is a cost in maintaining inventory granted, but 10 days to wait on a $10 part is unacceptable (this happened to me). Sending parts from distribution locales scattered here and there across the country is part of the the problem. Either increase the shipping locations or fire the mailman and start using more expensive (and dependable) couriers. Your customers are suffering BRP.

I'll bet the BRP rep will run like the wind the next time they see me coming.

BTW, this can't be considered libel if it's the truth....

[/off soapbox]

From my discussions with some of the BRP reps I think they are getting at least some of the message. It's hard to turn a big ship and the way they've done business in the past has worked well until now.

Again, the Spyder is a whole new ball game from machine to useage to owner profile. BRP's system is designed for an entirely different market. In some ways the exisisting system does work. In other areas it does not.

I think BRP knows they need to make changes and some changes have already been made. More are coming. You don't change your parts distribution system overnight. These kinds of changes are expensive, you want to be sure the 'Fix' is what is needed.

It is going to take time. But I am confident that BRP is moving in the right direction with determination. It isn't going to happen fast enough for most of us but when these things improve it will be well worth the wait.

 

[Yazz]

No Bad Mo Jo...

Lets have a word from some of the 'travelers.'

MurphyBrown got good service when her oil spewed. Took a little time because the towns were few and far between, but the people were honest hearted and did her right.

Thus far, for our trip, there has been no Spydee drama's at all. But you never know whats down the road. On the front page of SpyderLovers, there is a link to all the good SpyderLovers willing to lend a hand to those on the road. It's a safety net beyond belief! Thank you one and all!!:bowdown:

We used to tour with HD's and were overwhelmed with the service given to people on the road. We were always the first into the bays.

What has happened that the people on the road are getting second rate service????:helpsmilie:

Hope never to receive that sort of hospitality! ray:

 

[ThreeWheels]

Yada Yada etc. etc.

Lots of good points raised here and the standard kudos as well.

I'd like to shout out to kyspyder who actually made an endorsement of another dealer to take my Spyder to.

Thanks again, and the same to all of you who participated in this thread.

Your help is much appreciated.

 

[Dochands]

Valuable and thoughtful post. I hope BRP is listening.

 

[ARtraveler]

Post #18 brought to mind an incident that happened to me in St. Cloud, MN, back in 1984. We started in Duluth, MN and headed out to Badlands National Park in SD. This was our very first road trip ever and we were driving my Yamaha Venture touring motorcycle. It was a GoldWing competition at the time. I got the Venture instead of the Wing because the seating position was better for me. Either bike cost about $4500 at the time. I developed a mechanical problem about 25 miles out of St Cloud. When we got into town I stopped at the Yamaha dealer right on the main drag. They immediately took my bike into the shop and fixed it--as well as giving me an oil change and doing a couple warranty updates I did not know about. All for free. We were back on the road in about an hour and a half. No further glitches with the bike, and we had a great time on our first road trip ever. IMO--this is the way service should be.

 

[Bob Denman]

The dealership probably feels they're putting their personal customers first. In reality they are damaging their image.QUOTE]
:agree: I don't know of too many riders of any brand who wouldn't understand putting the needs of a rider who's far from home first! I too worked at a Honda/Kawasaki dealership in the mid-eighties. There was always just a little bit of wiggle room in the scheduling for just this reason... Sometimes you've just got to suck it up :shocked: and get to it in order to keep customers happy... :thumbup:

 

[Dragonrider]

Here in the great Northwet, the issue is dealer competition. When the next closest dealer is 180 miles away, there's no incentive for good service or competitive pricing. If you want the product, or want it fixed ________ (fill in)