Poor Customer Service in the Puget Sound...

That guy

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**** BACK STORY ****

I bought a XS650 bobber from a guy here in the Puget Sound. The bike didn't run when I got it (didn't mind a little project). So I found a shop in my area called Wise Guys Choppers, who "specialize" in these bikes apparently. Had it inspected and found that between the stator and wiring were the immediate problem and the ignition box was on its last legs. So he suggested installation of a Pamco, PMA, and rewire the bike to replace the hack job wiring done on it before. He offered to do this service for me, but was too costly at the time. After I looked into the parts, read reviews I decided on doing it myself. I'm a pretty decent mechanic and after looking into the installations it was a piece of cake. The only thing I am handicapped in is wiring. So I got the parts: Pamco ignition kit, Hugh's PMA, and went with the capacitor in place of the battery. So got everything installed and had a buddy help me with the wiring.
To make a long story short I had some issues getting it running after the work done I contacted this Joe Wiseguy to ask if he if we could have a bad connection in the wiring. After slamming the parts I chose for the install (like only he has the right stuff to install). He's says yeah something could be hooked up wrong. So I followed some simple steps to make sure I got spark and everything on the electrical side was good. So I turned to the carbs, the carbs are still the BS34's, I took them off and cleaned them out really good and installed them back on my bike. After a few adjustments to the jet screws it was RUNNING!!! It was running rough do to some cracked intakes but running none the less. I went ahead and took it for a quick ride down the road. after I got back to my garage in was wanting to die when I have it throttle.
While I had the carbs off I was in contact with Mike from 650Central (good guy) talking about some carbs options for the bike and I talked to him about the what I done to the bike so far and the issue when I got back to the garage and he thought it was being starved for something either power or gas, and I should try hooking up the battery back up to start with. After I got off the phone I decided to contact my local so called "professional" to see if he conquered with the suggestion. This is the email I got back from him:

john, what did hugh from hughs handbilt have to say? you bought his pma kit so surely you called him about this right? i mean why would you call me about a competitors system that you installed instead of buying direct and at a lower cost direct from me? sorry but i dont work on hughs handbilt pma systems.

had you actually purchased the products from me instead of wanting me as a backup only after you talk to mike in california and not hugh about the problems.......i would tell you that the capacitor has nothing to do with the bikes running.
the battery has nothing to do with the bikes running.
the battery is only a storage container for voltage produced by the charging system, a relay of sorts.
you dont need a battery to run a bike if you have the correct charging system and hooked up correctly.
you dont need a battery to run a bike if you have your ignitions system installed correctly.

however you mentioned that you may have hooked up the pma and the pamco incorrectly and that will cause all sorts of issues.
like a bike not running right. it also may cause you to repurchase those same items as they can be destroyed when not setup right.
sounds to me like maybe you need your bike looked at by a professional. too bad you dont know anyone locally? oh well good luck with your bike.
those long distance calls can be a bitch.

hHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH i bet you thought i was all pissy right? because you had the bike here and i did an overall diagnosis and gave you a quote on repairs and then you went and bought someone elses parts, possibly installed them incorrectly, and now want me to help you? you went online to an xs650 forum and took the advice of a bunch of guys that dont build bikes but buy hardtails kits, and parts and assemble with the help of their buddies and they tell you who has the best system when in fact they dont know anything about the systems that your local builder shop has to offer in comparison...... and then you call mike from 650 central who has nothing to do with hughs pma or pamco systems and ask him what to do about your bike....hahahahahaha
and now you are thinking of asking me to help you figure your bike out and if you should put in a battery or not because you think i will help you fix your bike for free when this is what i do for a profession? wow i bet you really thought i was pisssed.....hahahahahaah.....gotcha didnt i??? thanks for this email i have not laughed this much in a while.

After receiving this, not only did I think it was unprofessional, but childish, immature, and a douche bag move on his part.
I just wanted to put this out for any of the XS650 world in the Puget Sound to know. You can come up with your own conclusion on this matter, but I will no longer be doing business with anyone from Wise Guys Customs here in the Puget Sound or their Ebay store.
 
Can't say that I agree with you. You got a free diagnosis from Joe Wiseguy, which was the extent of your involvement as a potential customer. You never really did any business with him. After that you asked him twice for free technical advice on work he didn't do and parts he didn't sell. It's not his fault you couldn't afford the work. He has no obligation to provide these services to you for free. If he did that for everyone who came in the door, he would stay busy giving free advice and making no money. Soon his doors would be closed and he wouldn't be helping anyone, paying customer or not.

I admire your ambition in trying to fix it yourself. A lot of guys wouldn't even try. Many of us are here because we can't afford (or don't want) to pay someone else to work on our bikes. But I agree with Joe Wiseguy in his statement that you should have asked Hugh for support on the PMA kit, and from the sellers of any other parts you purchased.

As far as the email from him, you are lucky it was that civil, and not full of threats and F-bombs. In that respect, as think he acted as professional as could be expected.
 
Again....if you cant do the work yourself....why buy old? Plenty of honda shadows and V-star's out there that you just push the starter and drive away. It took me probably a whole season after my motor refresh on my 74 to get all the bugs worked out enough that i now feel comfortable running it for longer distances. I cant imagine the huge cost to pay someone else to do it. Actually i can...i owned a 4v ducati that i was to scared to work on.



So tired of posts like this....and i do agree with him.
 
I didn't have my bike inspected for free, he charged me $150 for the diagnosis. Your right the way I should have asked Hugh for any technical support, since it is his product. I didn't ask Mike about the PMA, it just came up in our conversation about my bike when I talked about what I've done to it. With a single income and a family the ability to afford services are slim to none, so that's why try and do all my own wrenching.
 
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Whether motorcylces, cars metal work, whatever....having the cash to pay someone or doing it yourself are pretty much the only options. Having both is king. I feel more satisfied at the end of the day doing it myself and knowing I learned the best way - the hard way. Nothing is free, someone will be paying for it somewhere. You paid $150 for someone's knowledge and experience. Xrays are not free and they don't always tell you the real problem.
 
Joe had no obligation to you past the $150 diagnosis that he gave you. You turned to him thinking that he would be a nice guy and give you free advice (which many in the XS community will). He did one time and then was a dick when you went to him a second time for free advice. You went to him because he is a professional in the field and he has that knowledge. But you weren't paying him for his additional time, so you are essentially asking for charity. Could he have not been a dick about it? Totally. This situation just shows that Joe Wiseguy is a dick. But a lot of people are dicks, if they are good at what they do then sometimes they can be. This issue is about him being a dick to you, not related to any service you paid for. Oh well, if you don't like dealing with dicks, take your bike elsewhere.
 
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I'd say Joe Wiseguy doesn't owe you squat. Why?

I had a small business for a while repairing/upgrading British cars. This was in the days before Email cell phones, the int3rw3b etc, there were several instances where people called me wanting their car diagnosed over the phone. I tried because I thought I was helping them until I got a call chewing my ass because the guy tried what I suggested and it didn't fix his car. He had the balls to say I needed to fix his car for free. So Mr Cheapass never paid me a dime for all my hard earned knowledge, quite possibly screwed it up himself and now I am supposed to 'make it good'?

Not no but HELL no. I don't do that any longer unless I am WELL insulated from someone who, for all I know, has never touched a wrench in their life. If that makes me an asshole with poor customer service, well print the T shirt because I will gladly wear it.
 
Joe was not being a dick. He was being a businessman, and teaching you a lesson about being a good customer. As stated above, you got what you paid for, and then you jumped in yourself. If there is one thing that sucks in this world when you are a mechanic of any sort, it's fixing other people's fuck-ups.
As far as the E-mail is concerned, hey, you're doing business with a company with "WISEGUY" right in the title! What did you expect. Take what's offered for free, offer to pay for what's not offered. Leave your feelings at home, and learn from this. Shops (any shops) do not really make any money on diagnosing. You are usually given a flat rate price for a going over by a compotent individual, and they make reccomendations based on all that they know, which often includes plan B and plan C in the estimation, because you don't start with open heart surgery when you can't get a pulse in the pinkie toe, but it could end up there! I have a friend that pushes folks out of his shop on a regular basis now, because they want to come in and shoot the shit, nitpick his brain, and never spend a penny. If you have anything to offer the small business man that will help him out, he may give you some adivise, but don't expect everyone to be a horse trader. Free labor or services are always appreciated in some form, but they will not pay the bills. I clean carbs, mount tires, wash parts, work on Gold Wings, whatever my bud needs every time I set foot in his shop. He knows I do my own stuff, and he will take any help I offer in the shop, and we shoot the crap and I pick his brain, and bring him beer, because he is my friend. He knows he has only sold me a couple grand in parts over the past 10 years, but when he needs help, he calls, and I show up. You are not going to find that just anywhere, and you will definately not find it as a novice, so pay a fair price for things ya can't handle, and wear your big-boy pants around the motorcycles please.
 
What you got for the $150 is usually free; not a real diagnosis but saying he wanted to replace everything that could possibly be the problem...

I would say you had a moral right to get a little actual help for your $150, so I think you're in the right to call and ask for information in your rare case.

It bears repeating though that the worst place to try and get something for free is from somebody who provides that thing for a living. Although he did have your 150.

Sounds like he might not be the sharpest mechanic but I've gotten things from his ebay store I think. He didn't strong arm you anywhere so I guess I'll continue.
 
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No, I agree, that he was being a dick. As a businessman he could have simply said something along the lines of "If you would like to bring it in I will be more than happy to take a look. All normal shop fees and rates will apply." Instead, he was a dick to the guy. It was his right, but it doesn't mean he isn't a dick. Maybe some would prefer I call it unprofessional. Either way.
 
See if he said something along the lines of that XSJoel, I would have been fine with that and most likely would have took it in to see what was going on. But since he responded to my question the way he did. Insulting me, the parts I chose, and the people I bounce ideas off (the xs community/ "you guys") pissed me off.
 
Oh geeze.... "That guy" is being, well, that guy. You have no one but your self to blame here big boy. I don't know what your intentions were for this thread, but I can tell you this: The guys you are bitching about aren't the ass hats in this equation......
 
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