Dealer Ratings

[Brad Boyer]

We need to figure out a way to document our experiences with Victory's dealers, especially when it comes to Service. We owe it to our fellow riders to give them a "heads up" on bad dealer behavior. Victory also needs to be aware of it, so they can take corrective action before it affects their business.

Anyone have any ideas?

[VaRyder]

I think one thing we need to understand is exactly how does Victory support the dealers. I may be wrong, but it seems that the dealers are actually 'Jobbers' so this would really not have the intended affect. The reason I come to this conclusion, most Victory "dealers" I have seen have other bikes in their inventory, like Triumph, as well. Also, I see Polaris dealers completely shy away from Victory motorcycles and that tells me there is no true Manufacturer to Dealer influence. Also, I believer I have a great dealer but they complain to the lack of support of Victory for resolving issues and encourages the customer to directly contact Victory for a resolution. If Victory would be more interactive with the dealers, I think this would resolve a lot of problems. I say we start at the top to suggest for a more structure dealership approach.

[bubba]

Don't disagree that we need something like this. The hard part is that people have different expectations of dealers. I have personally have had dealings with 5 Victory dealers. I have purchased Bikes at 3 of them. The three that are still in business I would not think twice on purchasing another bike from them, have them do service on my bike or telling someone that they give excellent service. But, there is always the person who (this is just an example) may buy a set of tires on line and expects the dealer to jump through hoops to mount at a cheep price. How would they rate this dealer?

Check this site out:

http://www.vicindex.com/cgi-bin/drmain.cgi

[Jeff Martini]

What Bubba said. It's hard to rate dealers because somethings they may do are great, while the can really disappoint someone else. They may be great on service, but fall short on going to bat for a customer on warranty issues.

VicIndex.com has been around for years and has accumulated a good database of dealer experiences. Steve Stoddard, the owner, has put much work into it. I think that should be the gold standard.

We are working on compiling a list of Victory resources (links) and should have it up in a week or two (remember, we'll be away at the AVR).

[Pat McQ]

I agree but don't have a solution to offer. I had a lousy experience just this morning.

I had a 1/2 hour appointment at Mount Hood Polaris (45 minutes away), to simply download a fuel mapping, of which I had all the paperwork and mapping number ready to go. 1.5 hours later, not only could they not handle this job, they wanted to charge me $80/hour while I continue to wait for them to call the mother ship (Polaris) and S&S trying to figure it out. I refused to pay and asked them to pay me $35/hour for my lost wages. Needless to say, the owner started yelling at me, saying I should take my bike and not come back. I kept my cool the whole time, even though I was out nearly a half day's work and my bike was still in need of service. So if anyone asks about Mount Hood Polaris in Boring Oregon, I would like to suggest that they run away... run far away. The guy's mental! The mechanic looked really sad when I rolled my bike out of their garage bay myself. I'm assuming because I could leave and he could not.

[steve rigdon]

i personally don't think we need to go high tec. in this regard, simply if you personally have an actual story, as Pat McQ
did , post it and let the readers / riders decide for themselves, a very good dlr. in So. Cal Brea to be exact, they are willing to go the extra mile for you, if ever in this area and your bike should need attention, i would seek them out. I bought my 04 vegas at another dlr. closer to my house, 15 miles v/s apx. 25 mi. to Brea, however all my purchases, & or services are done in Brea. [ by the way my son now has the vagas & im on the harley , not a happy camper, so as soon as i can sell the h.d. ill buy another vic. vegas or kingpin or ? the vision is a sweet ride, decisions, decisions, decisions.

ride safe, steve

[Chris Calhoun]

I know your frustration. I got took to the bank with Elk Island Polaris here in Alberta Canada. These _ _ _ Holes I lost a lot of respect for. The shitty part is I know these guys, but at the end of the day they want to make more money. As previously stated I had a bad piston in the front Cylinder. This is my BEEF, my my warranty expired July 29/09 and my machine was in their shop before that time and has been there for more than 8 weeks. I had to pay $485.00 for labour and oil and filter. According to Polaris when these guys meaning Elk Island. Gave Polaris the impression they are doing this out of good will Polaris calls it. Cause on paper it look like this was done September 24/09 of course the warranty is over. Elk Island said they will do a good will and split 8 hours with me 50/50. I say Bull_ _ _ _!!! Why do I have to pay when my Bike was there before my warranty was expired. Does anyone has any suggestion as to what I can do or I`m a sucker. I was thinking the local TV trouble shooter to get some answers. My thinking is what fool will have a problem and not get the bike in before the warranty expires.

[steve rigdon]

Hi again Chris here is a list of people you may not have contacted ? phone number & mailing add. of Victory , hopefully you can get better satisfaction from someone on this list, and we all should be wary of that dlr, imo

steve


Management Team

Scott W. Wine
Chief Executive Officer

Bennett J. Morgan
President and Chief Operating Officer

Jeffrey A. Bjorkman
Vice President - Operations

John B. Corness
Vice President - Human Resources

Michael W. Malone
Vice President - Finance, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary

Michael P. Jonikas
Vice President - Sales, Marketing and Business Development

Mary P. McConnell
Vice President and General Counsel

Mark E. Blackwell
Vice President- Victory Motorcycles and International

William C. Fisher
Vice President and Chief Information Officer

David C. Longren
Vice President and Chief Technical Officer

Scott A. Swenson
Vice President and General Manager- Snowmobile and PG&A Divisions

Michael D. Dougherty
Vice President and General Manager- ATV Division

Matthew J. Homan
Vice President and General Manager- RANGER Side x Sides Division

Or, simply address it to the Quality Manager at the address listed below.



Here's the mailing address and the phone number.

Polaris Industries

[phone]

Address: 1900 Highway 71, Spirit Lake, IA 51360

Chris Calhoun said:

I know your frustration. I got took to the bank with Elk Island Polaris here in Alberta Canada. These _ _ _ Holes I lost a lot of respect for. The shitty part is I know these guys, but at the end of the day they want to make more money. As previously stated I had a bad piston in the front Cylinder. This is my BEEF, my my warranty expired July 29/09 and my machine was in their shop before that time and has been there for more than 8 weeks. I had to pay $485.00 for labour and oil and filter. According to Polaris when these guys meaning Elk Island. Gave Polaris the impression they are doing this out of good will Polaris calls it. Cause on paper it look like this was done September 24/09 of course the warranty is over. Elk Island said they will do a good will and split 8 hours with me 50/50. I say Bull_ _ _ _!!! Why do I have to pay when my Bike was there before my warranty was expired. Does anyone has any suggestion as to what I can do or I`m a sucker. I was thinking the local TV trouble shooter to get some answers. My thinking is what fool will have a problem and not get the bike in before the warranty expires.