Treedoc:
You might nicely mention to the store manager AND service manager at the same time what took place with the young man working on your machine, and the problems you found at lhome. Explain the work YOU had to do that you paid THEM to do. You want a refund of their shop rate for the time it took. Say an hour of so. Might keep it conservitive but be firm. Tell the store manager your situation with the additional money you spent and that you came for boots. TAKE CARE OF ME !! WORD OF MOUTH SPREDS REALLY FAST.
As to the manual for doing the repairs yourself, I'd bet Rick could set you up with the one you need.
Hope you have better results in the future.

Jes [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

I try to do all my own wrenching if it is not covered under warranty but in the case were it is something I do not how to do I make a few calls to my brother-n-law and he walks me thru it. In most cases when I learn to do something the same problem will happen on my buddies quads and I am able to fix or show them how to do it, mostly fix it for them as I get tired of waiting for them to do it. With the manual there is not much you can not do. As for the poor work it would be better to talk to the manager as in most cases this is resolved and I know some people will chime in slam me over this comment but not every dealer in the USA is out to screw you, some people want every thing and not pay for it. TreeDoc talk to the manager. AlaskaBoy.

 

Yeah, I've pretty much decided that I'm gonna handle it like Jesbuilt and AlaskaBoy describe. I don't need to go in there and start a pi**ing match, it will get me nowhere fast. I'm still waiting for my Thor ATV boots to come in...maybe still today, then I'll go up there and plead my case. The boots are paid for already but now Mama wants a fancy new Thor suit just like I have! I'll be needing to drop more of my dollars there if they treat me right. Dang, Mama even wants my new 400 after she rode a rental Yamaha on the dunes yesterday!!! Looks like maybe that dealer might have a chance to take care of me when I eyeball another brand new 400 or maybe a 500 for myself! Oh man! What this first bike has started![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img] [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img]

 

Check out eBay and www.motorcyclecloseouts.com for your gear. Save you tons of $$$$

 

I hope no one minds that I continue this a bit but more has transpired.....

I did mention my displeasure to the salesman that sold me my bike as the service manager was out when I was there. He acted as though he was concerned but I saw through that. Last week I had an electrical problem related to the winch which they "expertly" installed. Long story short, they couldn't find the problem as it sort of fixed itself....temporarily. They had the Ute for 2 days and told me they were really gonna give it the "once over before we feel comfortable sending you home with it" the Service Mgr. said. I had made HIM aware of my previous encounter and displeasure when I delivered the Ute and he assured me they would "take care of me" this time around. I pick the Ute up and the wife and I go for a ride last Sunday after I brought my new 500HO home from another dealer down in So Cal for $1100 cheaper than this dealer would do it for! I have the same electrical problem as before, it's dead. The dealer wants it back again but I say screw it and call Warn Industries myself. They connect me with a warranty center and the guy tells me that my handlebar switch and contactor need to replaced with updated units to solve my problem. He wants both parts removed and shipped to him and I'll have new ones in no time.

Tonight, I go in and start to remove the contactor which as you recall, was "expertly" installed. I remove 2 bolts that hold the contactor to the mount and begin to pull back the rubber boots which cover the terminals where all the leads are attached. The yellow lead to the winch just falls off, the blue lead is barely attached by just a few wires out of the entire 6 guage cable, the solderless connections were tweaked so severely and they didn't even bother to use the shrink tube which Warn supplies to protect the connections, it was still on the wires waiting to be heated! Now, wouldn't you think that when the Ute was there just a few days before with an electrical problem pertaining solely to the winch that they would have at least LOOKED at the contactor??? Had they done so, there is no way in hell that they would have released that with the way it was all connected so that leads me to believe that 1. They never even checked it or 2. They checked it a don't give a rat's *** about their quality of work.

I immediately called them on the phone and connected with the Service Mgr. I told him what I found and let him know just how F**K**G MAD I was about it. I told him that I was DONE with their B*ll Sh*t forever, was reporting there work directly to Polaris Industries, and demanded a full refund of the $170 dollars that I paid for the install in the first place. He wanted to fix their mistake but I said there was no way I was taking another 100 mile round trip for them to screw it up again and they couldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. He said my check for $170 would be mailed out tomorrow in the a.m. I thanked him for doing so and ended the call. I can't believe these guys! I can't imagine Polaris having a presence on the Central Coast of California for much longer at the rate this dealer is going! Now my choices are 2 hours south or 2 hours east if I have a warranty issue.

I love my Polaris' but my dealer SUCKS!!!

 

Hey TreeDoc,

After reading your situation, i noticed my plastic doesn't line up either since my winch install. How did you get it to line up??

As far as the install, i guess i got a break. They forgot to charge me [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] But i don't feel bad since when I sat down to sign the loan paperwork, it was $115 more than what the guy told me on the phone "OUT THE DOOR"!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img] Guess that makes us even!!!![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

I wasn't impressed with my dealer anyway. He sold me a 2004 when on the phone he said 2004.5. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img] Conveniently he "didn't have any 2004.5's" in the color I wanted. And then the warranty. I still don't have any paperwork!! I bough my bike on FEBRUARY 2nd!!! He said they had already assigned the warranty to a guy, but his financing fell through. don't know, just felt really fishy. I think he really wanted to push this out the door. It was manufactured in August of 2003. He showed me the title though and it said 2004. Needless to say, I won't be going back to him, and if I don't get my damn warranty info soon, I'm calling Polaris myself.!!!! And again, don't forget...how do I get my plastic to line up?/ Thanks

 

Just out of curiosity........how come you are buying Thor ATV boots when you ride a Utility with FULL FLOORBOARDS???? Just curious, a good set of regular work boots would be cheaper and fulfill the same purpose!!! As for the protection of those boots, Ive broken my ankle twice wearing my Alpine's!!!

As far as dealer reliability, if you have a chance read another post of mine where the dealer said a friend of mine had $2600.00 worth of damage to his 250F to replace all "damaged" parts with stock parts, instead I sent him to a race shop down south of me and they modified his bike to a 262cc, added a Wiseco high comp 13:1 piston, did a port job and cleaning of the entire bike and a thorough check of everything for right around $600.00! Me, I do my own work, "MOST" dealerships are CROOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dealerships can give you somewhat of a great deal on buying your bikes from them but everything else they ROB you!!!!!

 

Hey Azz,
It didn't take much to get the panels straightened. When I went to put on my brush guard, I ended up getting into the front end pretty deep because of the bolt tightening issue as described above. Just park that baby in the warm sun and you'll be able to get the panels trued up.

I would have been a little torqued about the year too. I just bought my 500HO from a blow out dealer in L.A., CA. They sell so many of these things that the salesman don't know much about them. My transaction was arranged all by phone and because I was so skeptical at the cheap price when I asked them if it was an 04 or 04.5, he didn't know what to say! I said "get on your cordless phone and describe the bike....does it have a "P" on the gear selector? does it have a digital fuel guage when you turn the key on." His reply was "yes" to both....I said "that's an '04.5". He learned something that day! It was built 10/23/03, the '04.5 400 that I bought almost 2 months ago was built 10/30/03.

Sorry Tellico, I didn't see your post till now. Well my best answer about the boots is this....I'm pretty new to the ATV scene but have enough common sense and understanding of physics to know that sometimes these 700 pound machines don't always keep the shiny side up! I have a couple pairs of really nice Danner Hunting boots but those wouldn't do much in the way of shin protection. I just consider the MX type boot "cheap insurance" I suppose, maybe overkill too. They are making them now specifically with ATV soles, that's what I have. As for your unfortunate injury with your boots on, all I can say is consider the severity of your injury had you been wearing work boots instead.

I don't have an issue with turning a wrench on my own equipment. I do it frequently with heavy equipment I own and toys alike. It really depends on the scope of work though. I've learned in my short 42 years that sometimes it's better to pay someone who really knows their stuff rather than reinventing the wheel. I don't do my own taxes or practice law, I hire that out too! I suppose if I had something like a Go Fast Quad, I'd be out there turnin' wrenches and trying to get the most from it all the time but I bought a couple of Utes for the wife and I to enjoy and get some practical use out of while hunting and even working. I also have 2, 4 year extended warranties to cover them. I'd rather be riding these in my spare time than wrenching on them! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Most Polaris dealerships are "SUPPOSED" to have Polaris "CERTIFIED" mechanics to work on the atv's and snowmobiles. I know here at my dealership they do have a certified polaris mechanic that works ONLY on atv's and snowmobiles. But when he gets busy(almost always) they is always some other guy workin on the atv's that doesnt know hardly anything about them. I'm good friends with the polaris certified mechanic here (we race sprint cars together) and when I needed my winch installed on the 700EFI I was back in the shop talkin to him and jokin around and it only took him a little over an hour to install it. At most a winch install should take 2 hours with a mechanic doin it. At my dealership here they sell Polaris stuff (except Victory cycles) and John Deere equipment ( lawn tractors, bob-cat's, etc.) and the mechcanic's (polaris and john deere) are certified which alot of people make sure of before they let them work on their atv or whatever it is they need fixin. I'm with everybody else also, do your own work if you can to avoid any problems.