My own experiences with Suzuki and Arctic Cat have been somewhat negative. If this thread generates quite a bit of interest I will provide details. I am aware that customer service in the power sports industry is lousey in some cases. I read posts about problems others have had with other brands. I thought this might be a good chance to try to compare all of them in one post and see if one company emerges as having better customer service than the others.

 

I don't think it is so much the brand but the front end dealer. I have an excellent dealer & no complaints on my po.

 

I agree that a good dealer is most important. No doubt. He can run a good deal of interference for you when a problem develops. There is a vast difference in individual dealers. I will gladly pay several hundred dollars more to purchase a machine from a good dealer. To refine my question: Which MAJOR BRAND ATV COMPANY will back their product best when a mechanical defect is revealed ie multiple failures of the same part on multiple ATVs of the same model? Will they cover the cost or will they charge an excessive price to correct the problem. And to go along with that: How reasonably priced are replacement parts that just wear out or break due to normal use?

 

Around here, the dealers are all multi brand. Chaparral sells absolutely everything, and I think they have the worst customer service and service department on the planet. They are just way to big to provide anything even close to personal service.

 

WOW I think this could be a can of worms. But I believe that it is more of customer service of the dealer rather then the manufacture. But I do have 2 stories. I have a friend who purchased a AC 06 V2 650 and in the first 2 months it had been in the shop more then he had it. Incompetent AC dealer in Missoula Montana. But the final straw came when Arctic Cat them selves said after 5 weeks of the dealer having his machine the last time and not being able to fix it or make it run to give him a new 06 700 LX with everything new not just taken off his old machine. WOW Arctic Cat manufacture stood up for him. The dealer uncrated this pretty little orange 700 and started loading everything on it. After much excitement my friend (yes I was there at the dealer with him the whole time) took the new machine out for its madden voyage in the parking lot. He only rode it for about 3-4 minutes and took it to the loading ramp to put his new baby in his truck. Upon walking away I smelled something odd like insulation burning. But hay it is a new machine. He started to back up to the ramp when I looked back and seen BIG puffs of smoke surrounding his machine. I quickly ran over to his machine and removed the seat and yanked the wire out of the battery terminal. Needless to say the COMPLETE wiring harness was burnt up. From tail light to headlight. I did not understand how as it should have popped a fuse or 2. But from front to back including the electronic boxes had melted wires running to them. So needless to say that on Monday they had another machine yes another new one ready(we made sure the burnt one was still there). Come to find out when installing the winch the mechanic did not tie the wires up and the wires laid across the exhaust pipe and melted to many other wires which in turn melted to others in many spots. So I believe the DEALER is completely at fault on this one.

Then story #2

After seeing how Arctic cat took care of my friend I went to a completely different dealer in Helena Montana and ordered a 06 500 lime green Arctic cat TRV for my wife. Was given this long story that he called the main office the day before (as we called and explained that we were coming a couple of days earlier and what we were looking for) and that they had a machine there that was taken back from another dealer who could not sell it and when arctic cat does this and helps out their dealers so no one gets stuck with a machine they can not sell they make much better deals as they want to get rid of the machine quickly. WOW cool, saved about $800 over other bids. Upon ordering the machine I was guaranteed it would be there in 10 business days. We paid by check and away we went home all excited. Well several days after the 10 business days I called to find out what was going on as no one had called for us to pick up our new toy. I was told that they did not know where the ATV was. Ok now I am nervous as they have ALL my money (stupid me paid in full up front then went to the bank for the needed extra cash) and no knowledge of where the machine was. So my wife called and ?the use to be nice salesman? got very rude and pissy with my wife, telling her that they had other things to do. Well I called back and explained to the owner that I did not appreciate that and I did not even treat my wife that way so I would not put up with some salesman treating her like that. He said he was going to talk to the salesman and find out what happen. Come to find out the salesman had a customer there and did not want to deal with my wife on the phone. A few days later I called and the same salesman answered the phone and told me he refuses to deal with me or my wife again and hung up the phone (the only time I talked to him was buying the machine in his shop3 1/2 weeks earlier). So I called back and a different person answered the phone and requested the owner. After talking to him for about 10 minutes the only answer he could give me was no one including arctic cat knew where the machine was. So I decided it was time to start finding phone numbers of arctic cat direct. Well I love the fact that now days you can not speak to a live person it is all leave a message. So for about a week I called and left voice mail and no one would return my call. So I called another dealership in another part of the states and explained what has been happening and is there any special numbers I could use. They gave me another number to try and I was able to get to some OLD CRANKY WOMAN can not even call her a lady for the way she treated me. She informed me that arctic cat can not control their dealers and that the number I was given should have not been handed out to people. I assured her that my money must have in some way made its way into her pocket in the form of a paycheck and I was very disappointed in her customer service and as far as I am concerned that it is a direct reflection on arctic cat and this time I got to hang up first. Then after explaining to my wife how and what happened she took it upon herself and called. This time she got a VERY nice young lady who was very supportive and helpful. Longer story short. Apparently the machine was never ordered from arctic cat but a dealer trade and somewhere in the process the machine was put on a wrong truck. But I do have to say. That after all this and my run in with arctic cat manufacturing. That the dealer did try to make it correct. As when the machine was delivered to me (they said they would meet me half way) that he included a do it your self oil change kit with a gallon of oil and he made the first payment. So it did all work out. But I have since found a dealer in Philipsburg Montana that is INCREDIBLE. I have called and ordered parts and even took mine and my wife machine to him for repairs(found MANY issues with the new machine as it was not PDI?d correctly) and was treated like royalty. And I sure will recommend Granite Sportland for all your Arctic cat and Yamaha parts and or work needing to be done. http://www.granitesportland.com

Dont get me wrong WE LOVE our cats
Oldmancrash

 

Oldman,

Wow, Thanks for taking the time to hammer all of that out. I'll bet you feel better.

 

Best, Dealer-Customer Service: " Polaris" Worst Dealer-Customer Service: "Suzuki"

 

From reading your post I can't say that I blame them.

 

The Polaris dealership around here is horrible according to my brother-in-law (die hard Polaris fan), who's had 4 of them. My Yamaha dealership treats me like gold...because I'm friends with the manager. I'm sure you could try a consumer reports type magazine for a better answer, or check with the BBB in your area.

 

Ok I?ll tell my Arctic Cat story. In the fall of 2002 and after quite a bit of research my 16 year old son and I purchased a 2003 Arctic Cat 400. I know in retrospect there were probably better bikes out there but anyway. I loaded the bike with Arctic Cat accessories, gun boot, windshield, winch, hand guards, quick attach baskets, etc. I negotiated the price for all of these accessories along with the price of the bike in the initial purchase, $5,900.00 for the whole package. One of the accessories was a cushioned seat back. The dealer was a farm equipment dealer about 70 miles from where I live. I made the deal for the bike and accessories at a farm show where the dealer had a display of equipment. He advised that the bike was still in the crate and I was to pick it up at his dealership a couple of days later. When I showed up to get the bike they advised that they were not able to get one accessory, the cushioned seat back, ?we will call you when it comes in?. During the next three months I did not hear anything from them but I did call two or three times and ask about it. It still had not come in. As I recall the item was over one hundred dollars suggested retail. Finally at 100 days after the purchase I had had enough. I drove to the dealership and demanded a refund for the amount the accessory listed for on the retail price list. I advised them if they could get in contact with Arctic Cat and have the thing shipped to me overnight I would accept it and be satisfied. They got on the phone with Arctic Cat and I learned from listening to half of the phone conversation that Arctic Cat still had not started production of the seat back even though it was featured in their sales literature. I demanded my money. This got them all hinked up because they did not have a procedure for giving customers money. Finally they realized they had a problem with me standing in their business all steamed and they had the bookkeeper write me a check for the amount of the item. A day wasted.

We enjoyed the bike and this has nothing to do with Arctic Cat but a couple of months later I was spending a month in California visiting my daughter and my son got the bike out one day when there was three or four inches of snow on the ground. It was 10 above zero. He some way or other skidded the bike in the snow and flipped it over on level ground, broke his collar bone and the bike landed back on it?s wheels. He knew he was hurt, drove himself to the doctor. If he had got pinned under the bike in that cold he would have froze to death in an hour. I cut my trip short and it wound up costing me $3,000.00 for his medical bills. Those things happen, no complaint from me. Thank God for teaching a lesson and things did not turn out worse.

In the fall of 2004 I decided I wanted one of those Kubota diesel ZTR lawn mowers. I mow about 4 acres here. My brother and his friend had bought a pair of them from another farm implement dealer for about $9,200.00 each. I check and find out that this implement dealer is also an Arctic Cat dealer. Ok, I?m tired of the bike and I will try to work a trade. I call them, tell them who I am and who my brother is, and what I have in mind. ?Come on down, We will se what we can do?. I get there with the bike and they are short handed on sales personnel that day. So it takes a couple of hours to get to talk to the manager who is there by himself. They have three or four really junkie older ATVs there along with their new ones. And while I am there waiting, honest to God, two different customers come in there looking for used ATVs. My bike is a nice good looking bike with 287 miles on it. This guy is an Arctic Cat dealer. He offers me $2,900.00 for my bike in trade and jacks the price of the mower $400.00 to $9,600.00. It is clear they do not believe in the product they are selling and they do not want anything to do with an Arctic Cat trade even though they are dealers. I leave. Another day wasted.

I called a local classified paper and ran an ad on the bike priced at $3,900.00. This older man and his wife call from 200 miles away and they wind up buying the bike for $3,900.00. They come and get it. I assure them that the bike is ok. Two days later the buyer calls me and he is worried, there is a strange sound coming from the clutch/transmission of the bike. I tell him not to worry, I have made it this long without cheating anyone and I am not going to start now. I tell him to take it to the Arctic Cat dealer in his area and have the mechanic look at it. Long story short, I wind up talking to the mechanic on the phone. He tells me he knew what the problem was from the sound of the bike when the guy was unloading it at his shop. There is a large ring nut inside the engine/transmission that fastens the engine to the clutch. It is coming loose. It will be over $200.00 shop time plus gaskets etc. to take it apart, locktite the nut and fix it. Of course the bike is out of warranty with 287 miles on it. The mechanic told me this was a common problem with that model Arctic Cat. He has seen lots of them. I tell the buyer, fix it and send me a copy of the bill. He did. I mailed him a check for $240.82.

All the earlier stuff is incidental. The part that really P!$$E$ me off is that Arctic Cat had to know they had this defect in that model of their bikes and did nothing to correct it with the customers who had bought the bike.

That being said, that was a good bike. It did not have much power but it had a suspension and a ride second to none. It also had a superior quick attach rack system and attachments. I regret selling it for $3,900.00.