MOTTS Basingstoke warning

just to let anyone know who lives in the hampshire area about MOTTS in basingstoke.

my dads bandit was in for its service and first MOT, they quoted him for both £240. which seemed ok, tho still expensive. but fair enough. it had been explained to them it missed the 2nd year service, but as it had only done 3000miles since its last service it really hadnt needed one, they said that was fine.

i rode dad up to get it, and they said plain as day that it was £350 and tried to explain to us it was cos it missed a service. u can imagine our reaction and fury lol. we had been regulars there, id brought my last bike (gs500f), and my SV there- and dad his bandit so in the past 3 years we had given them plenty of pennies to expect to be treated with some respect or a honesty-and up till then they had pretty much.

anyhoo, i told them not to expect our business ever again and that i would pass the message on to every motorcyclist i know to avoid it like the plague. hence this message. i will try to find a similar bandit site and do the same.

my bike needed its service recently, tho i wanted to do most of it my self i currently dont have the space. so til i have my own place its not an option unless i really need to fix something. i took it to 'just motorcycles' who charged £85 they seemed to of done a good job and were friendly. plus they havent messed with my clutch like Motts used to on my GS

thought id let everyone know as there is plenty of SV's about round here

Yup, had my own bad experiance with MOTTS. I wouldnt recomend them to anyone. Best Suzuki dealer Ive used was Steve Jordan Motorcycles over in Guildford, bit of a treck but worth it IMO

[Stu]

Why didn't you just pay the £240 as agreed & leave with your bike? There's nothing they could legally do to stop you.

Originally Posted by Stu

Why didn't you just pay the £240 as agreed & leave with your bike? There's nothing they could legally do to stop you.

Precisely what I'd do. Walk to bank, get 240 in cash, throw it on counter and take my bike using force if necessary.

Originally Posted by Lozzo

Precisely what I'd do. Walk to bank, get 240 in cash, throw it on counter and take my bike using force if necessary.

The use of force if the quote was only given verbally could land you in hot water.

If a verbal quote is given, they could simply forget they said it when they called the law.

Written quotations are the way forwards.

well exactly, tho u would like to throw them over the counter. while they have your bike there is very little you can do.

plus if they have done work what can you do?

written quotes is a good idea, this time i had an email from the garage i used(not motts). but when u have been a regular u try to be a little bit laid back once u know them all by name.

i was just letting hampshire people know, its up to everyone if they want to pass it on or not

but thats why todays garage our mostly crap money making schemes compared to 70's or before. and many people just accept it rather than do something about it- i thought id let motorcyclists know for their own future reference.

[Mr Speirs]

Originally Posted by BrendanQ

plus if they have done work what can you do?

Ask for them to put all the old bits back on or in.

why has this been moved?

thats why us motorcyclists (tho id only call a few percent that- many just happen to have a bike.) dont get anywhere anymore. u bring up a very important issue that is probably being repeated accross the uk(esp during a recession) at other dealers and it gets swept under the carpet. thats why we get blamed for everything and treated like dirt.

Originally Posted by Stu

Why didn't you just pay the £240 as agreed & leave with your bike? There's nothing they could legally do to stop you.

U are not buying a bag of chips, thats not how it works. u pay once the work is done and that would be their terms of conditions, as would any company like that.

but either way, i put it in the tech forum as advice-to people from south and beyond to pass the word on. its the only way to stop bad service, but clearly some arent bothered-more fool them if they need something fixed quick and they are out of town.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by BrendanQ

just to let anyone know who lives in the hampshire area about MOTTS in basingstoke.

Originally Posted by BrendanQ

i was just letting hampshire people know, .

Originally Posted by BrendanQ

why has this been moved?

Seems like you only wanted local people to know so some kind Mod has put it in the right place for you

thats why us motorcyclists (tho id only call a few percent that- many just happen to have a bike.) dont get anywhere anymore. u bring up a very important issue that is probably being repeated accross the uk(esp during a recession) at other dealers and it gets swept under the carpet. thats why we get blamed for everything and treated like dirt.



U are not buying a bag of chips, thats not how it works. u pay once the work is done and that would be their terms of conditions, as would any company like that.

but either way, i put it in the tech forum as advice-to people from south and beyond to pass the word on. its the only way to stop bad service, but clearly some arent bothered-more fool them if they need something fixed quick and they are out of town.

Sounds to me like you did far more to perpetuate this situation by just paying up and then grumbling a bit on a few internet forums. If you had stuck to your guns, paiying only the £240 then this shoddy service is less likely to happen. Motts for one might think twice about doing extra work without advising the owner beforehand if they have a history of finding themselves out of pocket.

As I said I would just offer the £240 & if I was physically prevented from recovering my bike I would report it stolen to the Police with a description of where it was last seen.