Hattar rant

[Desmostro]

So after buying an 848 from Hattar I thought we'd be friends.
No.
I go in there to order a helmet after extensive hunting. AGV GP Tech. High crash rating, DOT, ECE, Super light all that. Plus it FITS  .
Anyway, $600.
Kneedraggers.com has it for $482.  I find out the next day. Many other places have it for $100 less.

I call Hattar to ask WTF?  They say they can't compete with the warehouses and go on to cry me a river. Ok $50. more for being a swanky dealer. I could deal with that. $120 more! Someone's pulling my chain. Sales boy went on to slime me with excuse after excuse not budging on price, not a penny.
That’s down right insulting. That’s a FIFTH of the cost of the helmet that’s supposed to be for the ‘service aspect of the sales experience.‘
I like the big screen TV there, but not enough to buy it if you know what I mean.
No way. I canceled the order. Am I wrong here? I’m all about buying local, just not getting reamed local.

Buyer beware!

[707soldier]

you're are right, it's your money.

[duckwrench13]

I go in there to order a helmet after extensive hunting. AGV GP Tech. High crash rating, DOT, ECE, Super light all that. Plus it FITS  .

Drop Biker Goddess a line. She was mentioning something about an AGV-Big D merge.

[Meltz]

If the prices were closer, hey, no problem.  I'd love to support the local shops.  But, you can always save BIG on most high-dollar parts/accessories on the internet.  Hattar doesn't budge on their parts/accessories, in my experience.  

I was surprised when they didn't give me 10-15% off parts on the day I bought my SECOND motorcycle from them.  That was the first time a dealership didn't give me a deal on the day I bought a bike.  Some manager there told me that their parts prices were already 10% lower than other dealerships, so they couldn't give discounts.  I checked around & I didn't find that to be the case...no more/no less.

My friend also bought an '07 S4R (his is the S) from the place in Santa Rosa and paid at least a few hundred less for his Termis.

I guess a lot of people in Marin don't really care about the price tag though.

[CharliesAngel]

I bought my SS from them and liked Valerie (who Bill sent out to "work" with me as we are both women).  I didn't haggle over the price AT ALL and bought the bike within 15 minutes of looking at it (it simply took longer as they couldn't locate the keys).  The only comment I have is that I think they should have comp'ed me the keychain that I bought along with the bike.  But at least Mike the Customer Service dude is awesome and always follows up with service that has been done!

[Vindingo]

They didnt throw in a keychain after you bought a bike!?  That seems a little silly. 
I have heard about some dealers throwing in a jacket or a helmet with the purchase of a bike. 

I went there after my bike go knocked over in the San Rafael court house.  $112 for a stock clutch lever    the CRGs were cheaper...

[BikerGoddess]

Drop Biker Goddess a line. She was mentioning something about an AGV-Big D merge.

Dainese acquired AGV recently so the D Store will begin carrying AGV helmets in October. I'm not sure about the selection of colors and graphics so ask Dainese Dan for the lowdown.

[Meltz]

But at least Mike the Customer Service dude is awesome

+1

[GrendelsTwin]

I went there after my bike go knocked over in the San Rafael court house.  $112 for a stock clutch lever    the CRGs were cheaper...

Holy Jeebus!  I could swear Moto Meccanica in SR has stock levers for like $30.  Glad I don't head down to Marin to shop.

Back to the original post. 

The only thing I think you might be wrong about was the order in which you did things E.  You need to shop around first, then go in to the store, tell them what you can get "X" for and then ask what kind of deal the local shop can swing. 

[johno]

I've really enjoyed my experience there.  Which means its probably for rookies.  More experienced riders will know size, mfg, and details enough to shop warehouse, online or ebay.  So, I happily pay some markup early in my carreer to get what appears to be decent tools and advice.  But, as Biker Goddess mentioned - as I get more into the gig, I learn more about the specialists who have the expertise and deals - like the Dstore in SF.  Which I learned about here

Dealerships in my opinion were always on the high end of any price range - cars or bikes - service or parts.  But, they tended to offer ease and experience - like the earlier post on Michael.  I like Charles in sales and Ryan in Parts.  They have taken good care of me.  But, like I said - I am probably paying 10 - 20% more than I should for the ease and service of buying straight from the dealer.

johno

[desmoquattro]

I bought a bike from them, and was generally satisfied. But yeah, I generally stay away from anything else there...except their excellent sale/discount section 

[johnc]

dude -  i am seeing a trend here <RANT> 

did they at least kiss you before they f*cked you?  that would have been the decent thing to do.

anyway, i hate to hear of folks getting reamed, and even hate it more when the folks doing the reaming don't listen to the reamee, and then do the "right thing".  i guess they just don't understand something called "lifetime value" of customers, and as such, don't understand that when a customer gets reamed, they generally tell all their friends, and anyone else that will listen, about the reaming, and to avoid the reamers.

hope hattar does the right thing and either provides you with a price adjustment on this purchase, or will refund your money if you decide to cancel the order and re-order from a dealer with pricing more in line with fair market pricing.

a presto,
johnc

So after buying an 848 from Hattar I thought we'd be friends.
No.
I go in there to order a helmet after extensive hunting. AGV GP Tech. High crash rating, DOT, ECE, Super light all that. Plus it FITS  .
Anyway, $600.
Kneedraggers.com has it for $482.  I find out the next day. Many other places have it for $100 less.

I call Hattar to ask WTF?  They say they can't compete with the warehouses and go on to cry me a river. Ok $50. more for being a swanky dealer. I could deal with that. $120 more! Someone's pulling my chain. Sales boy went on to slime me with excuse after excuse not budging on price, not a penny.
That’s down right insulting. That’s a FIFTH of the cost of the helmet that’s supposed to be for the ‘service aspect of the sales experience.‘
I like the big screen TV there, but not enough to buy it if you know what I mean.
No way. I canceled the order. Am I wrong here? I’m all about buying local, just not getting reamed local.

Buyer beware!

[sally101]

+1

I don't know how you can say that after your recent Multi problems..

[hypurone]

Yeah, I gotta go with everyone else on this one. Moto-Meccanica is way better on parts/acccessories stuff. Even better still if you buy a bike from them (or so they say, I can't prove it otherwise, cuz that's where I bought mine and haven't spoken to anyone who hasn't bought their bike there to see if the deal is better or not).

They are in the middle of re-organizing their workforce. Ely is moving from service to parts (damn! he ran service tight) new gal gonna be running service (first experience = not good, but not terrible, but we'll see...)

Owner is alright but not too knowledgeable but we have what we need here on the forum. After I picked up my bike from its 600mi, the maint indicator was still on, I called and asked how to reset it (was a noob to the S4RS at the time) and he told me some inane moniker for it like (N America Int'l!!) and it didn't mean MAINT!! WTF!!??  I googled it and dealt with it myself. 

Their service is top notch though and my bike has never come back cleaner and without ANY damage than from them! 

[Meltz]

I don't know how you can say that after your recent Multi problems..

I still think Michael is a stand-up guy.  I'm sure it's not easy to find good mechanics to work for him.