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MotoLiberty Dallas--Customer Service Fail

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drfood

drfood

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Location
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First Name
Darrell
Last Name
Gerdes
I know I am taking on a retailer everyone on here is gaga over and when it comes to retailers some view MotoLiberty as some type of "Nordstroms" for motorcycles. I have been to ML in Dallas 3x in the past year and have had the worst customer service experiences anyone could ever expect to experience. And when I wrote e-mails with details of the bad experience the crew there blew me off by never answering.

Sometimes you grow too big and too popular for your own good. ML suffers from that IMHO.

Audrey and crew lost over $2000 worth of sales from us on Saturday afternoon because their customer service stunk.

Thank goodness Newenough is a Texas company that carries virtually everything ML does and appreciates their customers and shows it with periodic special discounts and coupons. Heaven help Houston if ML ever considers coming here. We don't need another motorcycle related retailer with bad customer service. :eek2:
 
Not going to go into the details. When we left the store Saturday afternoon my blood pressure was in the range of 150/100 I was so angry.
 
Well, honestly, without any real details, it makes it hard for us to judge a retailer. Which makes this section of the forum rather useless along with the posts in it that tell us little.
 
Ok. Slight details on all 3 visits.

Visit 1
Folks at the store attempted to sell J and I clothing that obviously did not fit, but they said it would fit once we sat on the motorcycles. Pants and jackets were involved here.

Visit 2
We were attempting to purchase saddle bags for J's Sabre. We called ahead of time to make sure they had the make and model of bags. We got the name of the guy who answered the phone and he told us to come in and ask for him. When we got there he denied ever talking to us. When I asked for a manager I was told that it wouldn't do any good to complain. I wrote Audrey a long e-mail after this incident and never heard a word from her. I know she read it because I had a read/open receipt.

Visit 3
We were in town and wanted to buy a pair of Sidi boots and a bunch of other stuff they carry in the store. Since they were the closest to where we were and I kept reading glowing reports about them we decided to make a quick visit. I called and asked if they had both boots and sizes and was told to come on over because they were common sizes and there was stock. When we got there we had to wait 10 minutes to get someone to help because we wanted to make sure we found what we were told they had. One of the young men walked over to the stack of boots and looked at them and said, nope we don't have any. He walked away and started helping other customers. I interrupted and asked if there was back stock and he said I would have to wait since he was helping someone else now. Needless to say we walked out.

I find it very difficult to understand why people almost worship the ground ML is built on after these experiences. And I find it even harder to understand how folks say Audrey is so great a businesswoman when she allows customers to be treated like we were on multiple visits. Lesson learned on our part.....take your business elsewhere.
 
As someone who has worked almost their entire life in the retail sector I'll offer up this...
For every customer that says something good about you there will be 10+ that will say they are very unhappy about something. There is always going to be someone that you can't please for whatever reason... it might be that the customer is a twit, there was a mis-communication of some kind, or someone flat out stinks at their job (as it would seem to be indicated by Doc's comments).

Based upon the number of positive comments about ML and the relatively few complaints I would suggest that ML is still a good place to take a chance on for anyone that hasn't shopped there yet. Obviously Dr Food was screwed over on more than one visit so I can understand his reluctance to ever darken their door again.
 
drfood next time your in the area looking for gear try Griffs in lewisville just down 35 from ml prices are better and service is on spot.
 
drfood, I stop going there when I started ridding due to the same problem it went so far as they took a few jabs at me due to I was on my first street bike(gs500) and was told on more then one visit that I didn't have a "real bike". I went to NE to get gear. paints jacket,

I have been in there a few time after I was told by fieldsheer that things have changed. been there a few times but things just didn't do it for me. I have heard the sales people tell others things that just were not quite right..

Just so if they know if they are reading this.. I now have 4 sets of gloves, 2 pair of boots 4 jackets, 3 pairs of pants 3 helmets. the wife has a full set of gear also.

I need to get both of us new helmets to and do not think I will go there and get them. I am also not a big fan of cycle gear or the one in Bedford but that had to do with ordering brake pads and how they handle it.
 
Well, I admit some bias as Nathan is a personal friend of mine
that developed out of respect for the way he runs his branch of
the business. I also know one of the young men from the Dallas
store and he has always been helpfull to me even when he knew
there was no sale pending.

You may have had a bad experience. It happens.

One question is did you try the gear out on a bike, buying some
gear for that form fitting look in the showroom quickly becomes
gear you hate at 300 miles into a day. Remember the models in the
adds only need to look good for the photos and to entice you to
their brand, they dont live in the gear.

In your defense, I have the same motto about not shopping somewhere I
feel I have been treated poorly.
 
Re: MotoLiberty Dallas--Customer Service is fine by me

No problems the times I have shopped there. I'd return without giving it a second thought.
 
I have had simliar experiences with Audrey and her sales staff. In my opinion, the customer service isn't as good now as it was 3-4 years ago. When I first started shopping there you couldn't get me to buy gear anyplace else. Last few times in I simply wound up buying elsewhere after having visited her shop first.
 
Number 1... What time were you there? Rachel and I were there from about 4 until about 5'ish. Wish we had known, we would have said howdy.

Number 2, and I'm not making an excuse for them, but at least when we were there it was super-nutty busy because of their Easter sale they were doing. Normally, not that busy I promise you.

If you know what the guy looks like, lemme know. I'm in there quite often and I'd love to have a chat with Audrey. Believe it or not, she greatly values the opinions of the TWT crowd. We actually just talked about that a week ago when I was in there.

I guess I'm just glad to say that in the many, many times I've been in there I haven't had one single issue. Heck, when I bought a Scorpion helmet from them and it had an air leak, they didn't hesitate one bit to cannibalize a brand new on off the shelf in order to get mine functioning properly. So I still can't say anything bad about them. I'm sorry that you had poor experiences with them.

And Chris.... it's RIDING, not RIDDING.... jeez oh mighty how many times do I have to tell you that!!!:giveup::lol2:
 
I hava not been at this shop, but I am with drfood: 3 strikes, they are out!

A frequent visitor may be treated differently as per DFW Warrior's experience, but to fall 'victim' of the come over, we have it trick.... I just do not like it.
 
You know, it's funny how people can make the difference sometimes. I had a really horrible horrible customer service experience the first time I ever went to Cycle Gear in Plano. I swore to never ever ever go in there again. I picked up dirt biking and needed to check out some gear and lived right around the corner. Reluctantly I went in there to poke around and see what was there as I was clueless. One of the GIRLS that worked there totally turned my opinion around as she took incredible time to make sure I understood the dirt gear and really knew her stuff and rode too. I've been back in many times and spent more money there over the years and been treated well ever since.

I no longer know where my point was in this...something about the people making or breaking it or something. Anyway, I've only been in the ML store twice in the past several years and can't really say good or bad so much. I will admit to being biased and say that dealing with Nathan in the SAML store is really a pleasure.
 
Well what really chaps my butt is the guy on Saturday knew that we were driving over from UP and that we had a very tight schedule. I specifically told him that if they didn't have the boots simply tell me and we would not waste our time/gas. We were not going to buy the other merchandise if they did not have the boots.

Being super busy is not an excuse for bad customer service. We got there at 5:10 and there was some weird lady at a table messing with Easter eggs. I asked her where X was and she was too busy with her eggs. She never bothered to look up or acknowledge our existence.

I agree with the statements about Nathan and his store. The time we went there he spent almost an hour personally helping us with items and we ended up not buying a single item. I'd give him my business, but I am not because I am sure Audrey benefits from sales there.
 
I agree that the guy should have taken the time to actually look at his stock. There is no excuse for that at all.

The busy thing I personally still go both ways on. Just look at Pie Runs; I've NEVER had a great meal at any Pie Run I've ever been too. Yet when I go to any of the places on my own I notice much better customer service and food quality. Probably because the staff isn't overwhelmed. But.... I still go to Pie Runs whenever my schedule allows, and I still give the restaurant a little leniency because I know they are swamped.

I do also agree with CDC and the three strikes and you're out policy. I'm just lucky that I haven't had my three strikes yet....LOL

Oh yeah, the lady at the table messing with the eggs.... Audrey.;-)
 
drfood said:
I agree with the statements about Nathan and his store. The time we went there he spent almost an hour personally helping us with items and we ended up not buying a single item. I'd give him my business, but I am not because I am sure Audrey benefits from sales there.
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I certainly can't speak for Nathan, but as a longtime friend I must say that to my knowledge his store only uses the Moto Liberty name. I'm fairly certain that it has no financial ties to the Dallas store (with the possible exception of vendor purchasing discounts). He can give further details if he is so inclined.

For the Dallas store...never a problem in doing business with anybody there, especially with Audrey directly...and I go back to the original store further north on I35 (when Moto Liberty was a racing team).

Too bad you have had multiple bad experiences, but don't take it out on Nathan too.
 
I agree on how "people" can make a huge difference. Not getting to far off track I and a similar experience with Cycle Gear in north Houston. When I first started going by there they had a great crew that bent over backwards to help you.

Not to sure where they all went or what happen to those guys but the new regime sucked. They had a no initiative to "up sell" anything. They waited for you to approach them and made no suggestions for alternatives to what you where looking for.

On the other hand, eventhough AJ Foyt did not carry very much stuff (forgot her name, but the red headed lady) offered you choices and would work with you on price. Cindy really liked her and she was always nice to us.
 
Out of the half dozen times I've been to the Cycle Gear on 59 in Houston, only once did I walk out with a positive experience. I feel your pain, Doc. So far the best gear store I've been to in Houston has been Honda of Houston on 290. It's a drive for us, but worth every mile!
 
I have done business at ML and really haven't bought anything there since Nathan left. Not bad, not good.

I have dealt with Cycle gear in Plano and I have to say they have been exceptional. All my recent purchases of gear have been there.

I haven't purchased at Griff's yet but I've been by and it seems like a bang up place. We shall see.
 
Obviously, I know quite a few people on here personally. But, for those who don't know me, I'm Nathan, owner and manager of Moto Liberty San Antonio. I'm on this forum as a fellow riding enthusiast, to share my experiences and make riding friends, so I generally avoid business related posts. So, please excuse me for wearing my industry hat for a moment.

First off, D, I'm sorry we have not met your gear shopping expectations. We have the hard earned reputation of providing excellent customer service and that reputation is very important to us. We strive very hard to provide the best knowledge and service possible. But we clearly didn't live up to that reputation during your visits. For that, I sincerely apologize.

That said, this Saturday was EXTREMELY busy at the Dallas store. Their Easter event, including a hugely popular, fun Easter egg hunt with discounts and free food, had that store doing more than double their normal volume for a Saturday (which are typically busy anyway). I can't speak to the exact exchange you had with the salesperson, but I would hope that it would be understandable how, near the end of an extremely busy special event day, a salesperson might be a little frazzled and not communicate with the professionalism that you and I would normally expect. That doesn't excuse it. He should have certainly provided you with all the coutesy and assistance possible. But if nothing else, it might explain how a product was in stock earlier, but sold out near closing time, and how his attention might have been pulled between other customers.

The bottom line is this, though: you were disappointed with our service. And that means we didn't do our job. Our seven Best Gear and Accessory Store awards from the readers of Ride Texas magazine indicate that we manage to acheive that more often than not. But we are not perfect, and even the best have room for improvement. If you do see fit to give Moto Liberty a try again, please feel free to call upon me personally to make sure you get the best service possible. I will be happy to bring in special items, or hold in-stock items for your next visit. And of course, we are always happy to ship to our customers who don't find it convenient to visit one of the stores in person. And that goes for everyone on this board, too. Anytime you would like more personalized attention, or feel like you haven't had an experience that lived up to your expectations, feel free to call upon me personally at the San Antonio store. You have my assurance that I will do whatever possible to make sure that you are satisfied with your Moto Liberty experience.
 
My experiences with MotoLiberty tend to be very positive. Nathan actually helped me out for my first gear buying experience and bent over backwards to accommodate me. I think I took almost two hours of his time! But I got great gear - helmet, gloves, jacket and pants - and have since purchased more gloves, another jacket, and a leather suit. In all, I've spent about $2,500 there. My service from other reps has been the same.

I was there on Saturday, around 1pm, and it was very busy. The Easter Egg hunt was on! Once I had my product picked, I had to wait five minutes just to check out because all of the employees were busy helping customers.

That said, the Dallas shop has never been particularly fast about email responses. As I've learned in the last three weeks as I shop for a new bike, the entire industry tends to suck when it comes to email.
 
Nathan--
I appreciate your response. Although it would have been nice to hear from Audrey instead of you. You don't owe me an apology or explanation since it did not happen in your store. You helped me in San Antonio once and trust me you run a much different store than Dallas. I hope she wasn't the "strange" lady at the round table playing with eggs. If that was her she is one rude woman. Being a busy Saturday before Easter is zero excuse in my book. And quite honestly at 5:10ish when we arrive the store was basically dead with a lot of the hired help standing around BSing with friends and co-workers and ignoring customer. I called the store asked specifically for a specific boot in 2 sizes. The guy I talked to told me they were in stock and told me his name and to ask for him when we arrived. I gave the guy my name and told him we would be there in 20-25 minutes. We drove from University Park to Stemmons and got there and found out we had been lied to. I honestly believe they never had the boots.

And honestly I don't give a rats patooty about awards from magazines. I did not choose to give Dallas ML a 3rd chance to earn my business because of some award, I did it because I figured there must be something to this whole enchantment with ML by folks. Every retail shopping experience is unique and every customer is unique. Treat the customer with respect they deserve.

I had plans to spend as much as $2K on various items. That sale was lost because the store failed to provide me, the customer, with honest service or treat me like they were happy that I was there to spend money. And if that was Audrey sitting at the table playing with egg who basically blew us off, shame on her.

I had the option of buying the boots and gear online and not paying tax or shipping but chose to support a locally owned Texas business. And now I am going to support a different Texas business because they bend over backward to help, and give discounts

As I said, I wish Audrey would have been the one to apologize not you. You had nothing to apologize for, she does.

Darrell



NathanH said:
Obviously, I know quite a few people on here personally. But, for those who don't know me, I'm Nathan, owner and manager of Moto Liberty San Antonio. I'm on this forum as a fellow riding enthusiast, to share my experiences and make riding friends, so I generally avoid business related posts. So, please excuse me for wearing my industry hat for a moment.

First off, D, I'm sorry we have not met your gear shopping expectations. We have the hard earned reputation of providing excellent customer service and that reputation is very important to us. We strive very hard to provide the best knowledge and service possible. But we clearly didn't live up to that reputation during your visits. For that, I sincerely apologize.

That said, this Saturday was EXTREMELY busy at the Dallas store. Their Easter event, including a hugely popular, fun Easter egg hunt with discounts and free food, had that store doing more than double their normal volume for a Saturday (which are typically busy anyway). I can't speak to the exact exchange you had with the salesperson, but I would hope that it would be understandable how, near the end of an extremely busy special event day, a salesperson might be a little frazzled and not communicate with the professionalism that you and I would normally expect. That doesn't excuse it. He should have certainly provided you with all the coutesy and assistance possible. But if nothing else, it might explain how a product was in stock earlier, but sold out near closing time, and how his attention might have been pulled between other customers.

The bottom line is this, though: you were disappointed with our service. And that means we didn't do our job. Our seven Best Gear and Accessory Store awards from the readers of Ride Texas magazine indicate that we manage to acheive that more often than not. But we are not perfect, and even the best have room for improvement. If you do see fit to give Moto Liberty a try again, please feel free to call upon me personally to make sure you get the best service possible. I will be happy to bring in special items, or hold in-stock items for your next visit. And of course, we are always happy to ship to our customers who don't find it convenient to visit one of the stores in person. And that goes for everyone on this board, too. Anytime you would like more personalized attention, or feel like you haven't had an experience that lived up to your expectations, feel free to call upon me personally at the San Antonio store. You have my assurance that I will do whatever possible to make sure that you are satisfied with your Moto Liberty experience.
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