Triumph Dealer - Unimpressed!

[Mongoose]

Yesterday, having ordered a rear comfort seat from Youles in Blackburn, Lancashire, I rode over to pick it up. Before I set off, the wife quite cannily said "Don't go buying a new bike". I didn't intend to, but was thinking about taking a 1200 Explorer for a spin, just to try it out......

So, 2 O'clock, I park the bike up and walk into an empty showroom, the only bloke in the place. I'm wearing a decent jacket, carrying an expensive helmet and wearing a pair of Daytona Goretex boots. I'm in my 50's.  Having worked in sales many years ago, had I walked into my own workplace then, it would have been a race between me and 3 others as to who could get to the bloke who's clearly got a few quid and no responsibilities first. Neither of the 2 sales blokes moved an inch. One of them appeared to be doing nothing, but he didn't even acknowledge me as I sat on a couple of bikes and tried on a very expensive and rather nice leather jacket. Not even a "Hi", "Can I help you" or "Would you like a brew, seeing as it's freezing out there today".

I'm appalled that where there is so much competition these days, they just can't be bothered and this is in a month where they traditionally sell nothing and earn little commission for January! God only knows what they're like in July.

Contrast that with the reception I got at BMW just down the road: Coffee, warm friendly greetings from several staff, "Can we help you" as soon a I walked in and a bit of banter. Triumph aren't making it easy for themselves!

[trophied]

Had more than one of those experiences at more than one large dealership in Texas that is owned by an ex pro baseball player a few years ago before I bought my first motorcycle in years.  Walked in, walked around a new previous year model Gold Wing on the floor, opened up the top case, luggage, did everything but sit on it while a salesman toured a young couple around all the atv's inside and outside in front of the showroom and there were three other sales people sitting in cubicles which all looked up and saw me and never made a move.  ATV guy bids the young couple goodbye without them committing to anything and goes and sits in one of the cubicles and carry on a conversation, both still ignoring me.  I walk immediately next door (same large building) to their other brand showroom and get the same treatment.  Rode on up to Austin and looked at BMW's and ended up with the R1200RT.  I was a cash buyer at the time.  When I emailed the sales manager there because I couldn't get to anyone at Honda USA  for two days he wrote back some malarky about remembering talking to my wife and I, a good trick since she was 25 miles away at home.  I informed him that I knew how obvious his lie was and guess what?  Crickets.  The only places I haven't had that treatment was at the BMW/Triumph dealer I go to and the Aprilia dealer that used to have a shop in my own town.  Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha dealers in other towns around me all offer the same treatment, although the local Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki family owned dealer does have a receptionist that greets people and asks how she can help them.  For that reason I buy accessories from them if they have what I want.  Sad state, but at least I found a good one for the brand(s) I like best.

[av8or-dave]

When I showed up at TEAM WINNEBAGO (#TEAMWINNEBAGO) on Oshkosh, WI (after a day before 15 hour drive/860 miles) to buy my 2017 TTSE, there were three guys greeting me at 09:15 (my appointment time), gave me a tour of the place, offered me drinks, and took the puppy I had with me for a "relief" walk during the process of buying the bike.

EVERYONE was very nice.

I also had a malfunction with the trailer's tailgate during my previous days trip, and they fixed it for me while another employee was going over the TTSE with me!

I wished I lived closer to them for all my services too.

[trophied]

Yeah, the good ones are REALLY good aren't they!

[Coconut]

Assuming your Purchase isn't one that will attract the usual "Feedback" email from Triumph,
it might be worth sending your comments to Triumph HQ so they know what is going on.

Cheers 

[1675]

Same thing has happened to me several times. A well known dealer in Chester where I manged to slip away from the xmas shopping only gave me an "alright mate" as he tucked in to his takeaway and played on his phone. Went to a Mercedes dealer on the bike and it was tipping down. Walked past 2 gaggles of salesmen. One lot were on about the footy, the others were comparing phones. Only the young girl on reception gave me any welcome, but the sales guy who came wasn't interested. Ended up spending 30k at a different garage later that week and let the original lot know. Their email started "we are sorry to hear etc.."
BMW bike dealer looked up and gave an "alright" then went back to his phone. It must be me.

[earthman]

I had a similar experience at a Honda dealership the other month, looking at a demo Wing they had, a sales guy walked past me, I asked him how much they were now, he did answer but kept on walking,....I hung around for 10 minutes but he didn't bother coming back to me. He happened to be walking out of the building just whilst I were pulling away on the Trophy, our eyes met, I couldn't help but laugh, he's face were a picture, he must have been thinking that I really could have been a potential customer for that bike after all.   

[ShaunDW]

Youles Blackburn is my local dealership, where I bought my TT from in 2015, where it has been serviced since, and where it will shortly get its 50K service.
While they have never been as impressive as the BMW dealer I used to visit in Manchester (who has better coffee, biscuits and comfy seats), they have always shown a reasonable amount of interest in my visits.
I can only think that perhaps they had met their sales targets for that period, and the boss was away so they were a bit CBA.
They are always keen that I fill in the feedback form that Triumph send after each service, so appear to be keen to maintain a good reputation, so maybe Coconuts suggetion is worth following up.
Incidentaly, I had the 1200 Tiger out for the day (pre-booked) during my last service, and was very impressed!