I've bought some parts from RTM. Brian has always treated me well, to the extent that I even stop in just to say hi from time to time.

The incident involving this motorcycle is clearly something that needs to be addressed by RTM. I do find it a little upsetting that this sort of thing ends up in a public forum before the shop owner has had a fair opportunity to make it right. Transactions don't always go well, and it's when they don't that you truly find out what type of company it is that you're dealing with.

Now it's entirely possible that RTM would have given this guy the bird and told him to be on his way. It's also possible that this work is not representative of what that company considers acceptable and amends would be made. At this point however, the shop has been exposed to a lot of bad publicity right in the middle of their target market (Tampa area motorcyclists). That's a hard pill for them to swallow considering the company wasn't really given an opportunity to make it right before this was made public. This fact will almost certainly play a role in the discussion between the customer and RTM.

The other thing that I find a little off putting is that this thread and it's sister at TSB were started by what appears to be an employee of a competing business (I could be wrong about that, but why else would you have a banner ad in your signature?). Maybe the intention was not to use the internet to sling mud at the competition, but that's certainly how it looks from where I'm sitting.

I won't be using this thread to pass judgment on RTM just yet. My experience with them has been good so far and the way this situation is being handled is not how I'd conduct myself if in a bad situation with a shop. I do all my own work now, but I've been burned in the past (literally 2nd degree burns) due to poor work on a car I had. I was of course pissed off. I called the shop, explained the situation as calmly as I could and they had a flatbed for the car and a rental for me within the hour.

Small local businesses are vulnerable enough as it is, you really need to give the shop at least one chance to make it right before you publicly blast them. That didn't happen here and I think its unfortunate.

EDIT: I've learned that wsideshow is not an employee to Pure Acceleration and that PA is not a service shop at all. The appearance of mud slinging that I mentioned is not based in actual fact, it's just the way things looked before I had the rest of the information. Props to PA for helping out a rider in need.

 

I would normally agree with you but on this case the poster is lucky he was able actually be here to post. Having oil spewing out of your motorcycle while you are riding down the road is incredibly dangerous and could have cost the rider his life had he gotten oil on the tire and went down in the wrong spot. This is not some little "oops". This is serious. I will never go to rtm nor care to hear what they have to stay. I will also show this thread to everyone I know that rides and make sure they never take their bikes to rtm either. The bike should have never left rtm's shop without them testing it.

 

as I said on tsb . 1 I work or am employed by no shop 2 pure acceleration is not a service shop.Frank is the owner and only employee of his shop.He saw a rider in need and helped him and let him use his tools.Yes I have this mans shop as my sig cause he is a standup guy. He even picked up and stored my bike from another shop for me while I was outa town working.

As for fixing the problem.what if he didn't make it home and he crashed.Now how do you make it right to a hurt or dead rider.

 

i dunno it kind of sounds like he gave rtm a chance to correct the problem when they were informed. but in true shady shops fashion they dismissed the problem and didn't offer to correct it in hopes it would just go away. well now he has to pay the price for tring to take advantage of this customer.

with me you get one chance to fix your mistake and man up. you choose to take the low road and hope i am bluffing you would end up with this very similar thread.

 

I agree.

 

I have always had great luck with RTM, granted its only parts that i deal with

i deal with Eric everytime

 

I have heard mixed things about RTM, but I dont think i will use them. For any of you who have been in there recently, theres a black 06 zx6r sitting right inside the shop that belongs to my roomate, and they told him that the frame was bent. upon us getting there and seeing the bike and asking to be shown where the frame was bent, it was changed to "oh the frames not bent its just dented." now the frame being bent and the frame having a small dent in it where the handle bar hit it are 2 completely different things in my eyes. It just seemed like a situation where they were trying to pull a few extra dollars out of someone who really didnt know his way around a bike. But as for the gasket not being put on, that is a joke, i cant believe that someone would do that and not tell the customer, or not do it right and put a gasket on it for that matter.

 

Bottom line... had it been my shop I would have made sure to set the customers expectations & I wouldn't have returned the bike to the customer before a thorough check of the work performed...

Sounds like RTM needs help with their service & character...

 

i personally see nothing wrong with gasket maker, IF THEY DIDNT CHARGE FOR A GASKET AND THE CUSTOMER SAID OKAY. However, that shit def HAS to be run and checked for before giving it back.

 

I edited my original post to reflect this information before there were any replies to my post over here. To reiterate, there is no effort on the part of Pure Acceleration to sling mud at RTM. That was just the way things looked before I had the rest of the facts.

That would be a different situation now wouldn't it? The fact is the owner of the bike was not injured. Yes, it is serious situation and he is quite lucky to have kept the bike upright, but there was no injury to the owner of the bike in this particular situation. The injury to RTM is clear, they're receiving a lot of bad publicity over this. I've not once stated that the work is acceptable, only that the shop should be given a chance to make it right before dirty laundry is aired out all over the internet. Businesses are run by people, people make mistakes sometimes. Some of you feel like this mistake is so egregious that RTM (the company) doesn't deserve an opportunity to make the situation right before having a mistake made by one of their techs (a person) posted right in the middle of their customer base.

As they say, you can't un-ring the bell so I guess there's not much point in my continuing this argument. I can certainly see the point of view of the bike owner and thread starter. I would be pissed off and freaked out if this were my bike, but when I have a problem with a business, especially a locally owned shop, I start the resolution process with the people in that shop. Not until I feel like they're unwilling to make the situation right will I attempt to cause injury to the shop.