Montana : Outdoor Motor Sports

Avoid!

• Currently 1/5 Stars.

by WAnzik 3 years 21 days 12 hours 24 minutes ago
Pros: The products - but you can get them at any other dealer.
Cons: Prices - refuse to deal. Lies. Condescending attitude. Unwillingness to work with customers.

Terrible to deal with.

I had been looking for a used Gold Wing for a long time and couldn't find one locally in my price range. In August 2003 I finally found one on Ebay and bought it (1985 GL1200 Aspencade). The shipper wanted to deliver from dealer to dealer so I called my Helena dealer, Outdoor Motor Sports (OMS), and asked them if it was ok to have it delivered there. I wanted to establish a relationship with them to do maintenance and buy new(er) later if I really got in to "Winging It" so I asked them to give it a going over when it came in. The owner told me "Fine, no problem."

On the Friday it was supposed to be delivered I was there waiting and they said they hadn't heard anything at all. So I left. On Monday I sent a nasty email to the shipper. Then I found out the driver HAD called earlier in the day and had called later saying he was running a little late and asked for an extra 10 minutes to unload the bike - didn't need help - just needed someone to sign. Ok, I understand they close at 5:00 and maybe didn't want to stay 10 minutes - but they could have told me and I could have waited in the parking lot. The fact is they LIED to me - right to my face. I had a conference call with the driver and dispatcher who told me the owner said "We don't do special favors for customers." They were both blown away by his attitude. When I went back and asked the owner about this he tells me "well any driver who's any good would be on time anyway. I've never seen a driver who was late." So what? Like that excuses him lying to me?

The next week (the guy drives through WY, CO, ID and MT so I had to wait another week for his next time through) the driver brought the bike right to my house on a Friday morning to deliver my Wing. It wouldn't start so he loaded it back up and followed me to another dealer, not even a Honda dealer, Helena Cycle Center, who were just opening up shop at the time. They agreed to take it and check it out for me. Allied Shipping and Helena Cycle Center - I highly recommend both - they understand the concept of customer service and quality service.

Alright, so I wasn't writing a huge check to the dealer subject to this review. Maybe that was the problem? The next year I had to replace the fairing - I hope I never have to do that again - lots of work. I got it all done and then I got into trouble with wiring up the intercom/CB/Stereo. I was stuck. So I ate crow and went to this dealer asking them for help. They didn't even seem to want to deal with me (I doubted anyone remembered me and I had never dealt with the mechanic before so it was just the normal approach for dealing with a customer I guess...). The head mechanic said "If this takes $100 to hook back up, would you be willing to pay that?" I said "I'm stuck - I'll pay anything I have to pay to get it done." I admitted I screwed up - I thought the connecters were color coded and didn't mark them. They were color coded I guess - all red. There was one white one. I saw colors and just disconnected everything. Mistake. Anyway, it sat at this dealership for a week and they called me and said "It doesn't work. Come pick it up." So I said to hell with them. I found a manual on Ebay and got some email advice and sat by it one Saturday and worked on it. It wasn't really that complicated with the instructions (which the dealer should have had) and everything worked perfectly. (I rode right into their shop later that day with the stereo cranked! LOL! And I'd say at that point I burnt the bridge - no regrets.)

Little did they (or even I) know at the time that I would really LOVE "Winging It" - so much that I, just this year (2005), started a local chapter of the Gold Wing Road Riders' Association (GWRRA) and am now the Chapter Director. Not only that, in a couple weeks I'm ordering a brand new 2006 GoldWing with lots of trimmings! From Adventure Cycle and Sleds in Dillon, MT (they've been treating me very well so far and have given me an excellent quote). I haven't bothered but a couple of my Chapter Members have gone to OMS to check on new Gold Wings and neither have been very impressed. Just think - an extra 10 minutes back in 2003 and a little effort for an hour in 2004 and they'd have sold me a new Gold Wing this year - and I'd probably have overpaid without even bothering to get quotes in other cities. Maybe they did me a favor...

I hear nothing but bad about Helena Outdoor Motor Sports and would highly advise going somewhere ... anywhere else.

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