My experience with taking my bike in for warranty work usually goes like this:
The "technicians" are paid by the specific job or flat rate-by the book. Nearly every procedure has a certain amount of time alloted to complete it and that is all that the dealership is paid. Bye the way, the MOCO does not pay the high rate of labor that the dealerships charge us. They discount it a lot. So, if the technician is aloted by the book to take off a certain part and replace it in 1.25 hours-that is all the MOCO will pay for. If it takes the technician 2.0hours the dealership eats the extra .75 of an hour. For that reason alone they usually hurry, hurry, hurry to complete any repairs. Thus you will get parts left loose or untorqued. Lots of scratches too, because when they get grease on your paint they usually pull the shop rag from their back pocket and swipe at the spot. Auto mechanics don't have quite so many chances to damage the car because Harleys have a lot of chrome and paint that is out in the open and is usually spit shinned by the owner. You will occasionally find the odd technician who treats your bike like it was their own, but in today's world they are harder to find than a hen's tooth. I am not trying to badmouth anybody here, just my experience from years of riding. Once I asked my service manager if he would just give we the warrantied part and I would replace it. He just grinned and said "nice try" but if we don't do it we don't get paid. We both had a good laugh over that one. Sometimes I have even paid for the warranty part myself just to keep them from working on it and dinging something up. If it is a major part that needs replacing under warranty I would let them do it but not before we went over the bike fender to fender with the service manager or service writer. Once they do that they tend to remember you pretty good. And lastly, some shops have a policy of giving you a complimentary wash job whenever the bike has been serviced. In my opinion that is just begging for something to be scratched up. I always have them write on the service order "DO NOT WASH" in big letters. OK, so I am fussy as an old woman.
The "technicians" are paid by the specific job or flat rate-by the book. Nearly every procedure has a certain amount of time alloted to complete it and that is all that the dealership is paid. Bye the way, the MOCO does not pay the high rate of labor that the dealerships charge us. They discount it a lot. So, if the technician is aloted by the book to take off a certain part and replace it in 1.25 hours-that is all the MOCO will pay for. If it takes the technician 2.0hours the dealership eats the extra .75 of an hour. For that reason alone they usually hurry, hurry, hurry to complete any repairs. Thus you will get parts left loose or untorqued. Lots of scratches too, because when they get grease on your paint they usually pull the shop rag from their back pocket and swipe at the spot. Auto mechanics don't have quite so many chances to damage the car because Harleys have a lot of chrome and paint that is out in the open and is usually spit shinned by the owner. You will occasionally find the odd technician who treats your bike like it was their own, but in today's world they are harder to find than a hen's tooth. I am not trying to badmouth anybody here, just my experience from years of riding. Once I asked my service manager if he would just give we the warrantied part and I would replace it. He just grinned and said "nice try" but if we don't do it we don't get paid. We both had a good laugh over that one. Sometimes I have even paid for the warranty part myself just to keep them from working on it and dinging something up. If it is a major part that needs replacing under warranty I would let them do it but not before we went over the bike fender to fender with the service manager or service writer. Once they do that they tend to remember you pretty good. And lastly, some shops have a policy of giving you a complimentary wash job whenever the bike has been serviced. In my opinion that is just begging for something to be scratched up. I always have them write on the service order "DO NOT WASH" in big letters. OK, so I am fussy as an old woman.