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Polaris West - W Houston/Katy
- Thread starter 10-95
- Start date
Re: Polaris West?
Bad experience.
I had my Tbird Sport taken there after my accident. After the estimate I decided to do the work myself.
Insurance Company agreed to pay Polaris West towing fees and one hour labor to do the estimate.
Polaris West agreed and accepted check from Insurance Company.
When I went to pick up the bike I was informed that an insurance estimate was $175 and the amount paid by insurance company left a total due of $116 including Tax and If I wanted my bike back I would have to pay it.
I had a wrecker on the way and had no choice.
This is called extortion and I am currently disputing the charge.
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Bad experience.
I had my Tbird Sport taken there after my accident. After the estimate I decided to do the work myself.
Insurance Company agreed to pay Polaris West towing fees and one hour labor to do the estimate.
Polaris West agreed and accepted check from Insurance Company.
When I went to pick up the bike I was informed that an insurance estimate was $175 and the amount paid by insurance company left a total due of $116 including Tax and If I wanted my bike back I would have to pay it.
I had a wrecker on the way and had no choice.
This is called extortion and I am currently disputing the charge.
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- Joined
- Mar 6, 2003
- Messages
- 4,676
- Reaction score
- 2
- Location
- Houston
- First Name
- Paul
- Last Name
- Massie
Re: Polaris West?
I've bought a few parts there without problem, but that's the extent of my dealings with them. The prices they quote on new bikes always seems high to me, but perhaps that's just their starting point for negotiations. For service on my Triumph, I would go next door to KS Cycle Works instead.
I've bought a few parts there without problem, but that's the extent of my dealings with them. The prices they quote on new bikes always seems high to me, but perhaps that's just their starting point for negotiations. For service on my Triumph, I would go next door to KS Cycle Works instead.
Re: Polaris West?
Good experience.
I bought my bike there. Paid MSRP which seemed reasonable since there were only 2 S3s in Houston and B.USA (after telling me they would sell me the other one at MSRP) jacked their price up 800 above MSRP and fed me a bunch of carp about it being...but we're not talking about BUSA. Polaris (Rick Sr.) also threw in a free Shoei rf1000 with graphics (price tag $515) and hung around after hours on a saturday to get the deal done. The owner and his son are cool and they have a nice shop but as is usually the case with a bigger shop like that, the parts guys are relatively incompetent and I'm pretty sure they've gone through three service managers (not the guy who works on your bike but the guy that schedules work and deals with customers) in the last year and they were all pretty bad. Also I think their shop rate is $90. As I type this 90 seems so high that it can't possibly be right but I'm pretty sure that's what I was quoted for my first service. I'll check and post a correction if I'm wrong.
I did get some warranty work done there. It's a long story but in a nutshell, the 3rd? service manager took my word for it that my exhaust pipes were leaking and had replacements shipped in without any proof that my pipes were truly faulty (I would have taken the bike out there and shown him but it's a long drive). Ironically, one of my pipes actually fell off the bike coming back from the ride for nutmeg on the way to Polaris to get it replaced (probably my fault - I had them off a couple of weeks earlier to clean off some fix-a-flat but that's another story). Once again, he took my word for it, replaced the pipes and asked that I bring in the lost pipe if I found it because Triumph wouldn't pay them without it (I took it in the next weekend). Pretty cool I thought.
Bushwacker, sorry to hear about you getting shafted like that and I hope you get some satisfaction. Did the insurance company decide not to pay the quoted price for the towing and estimate or did Polaris jack up their price or add something on to what was quoted or both? I hate carp like that? BTW, hope you're getting better quickly. I'm glad your accident wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Good experience.
I bought my bike there. Paid MSRP which seemed reasonable since there were only 2 S3s in Houston and B.USA (after telling me they would sell me the other one at MSRP) jacked their price up 800 above MSRP and fed me a bunch of carp about it being...but we're not talking about BUSA. Polaris (Rick Sr.) also threw in a free Shoei rf1000 with graphics (price tag $515) and hung around after hours on a saturday to get the deal done. The owner and his son are cool and they have a nice shop but as is usually the case with a bigger shop like that, the parts guys are relatively incompetent and I'm pretty sure they've gone through three service managers (not the guy who works on your bike but the guy that schedules work and deals with customers) in the last year and they were all pretty bad. Also I think their shop rate is $90. As I type this 90 seems so high that it can't possibly be right but I'm pretty sure that's what I was quoted for my first service. I'll check and post a correction if I'm wrong.
I did get some warranty work done there. It's a long story but in a nutshell, the 3rd? service manager took my word for it that my exhaust pipes were leaking and had replacements shipped in without any proof that my pipes were truly faulty (I would have taken the bike out there and shown him but it's a long drive). Ironically, one of my pipes actually fell off the bike coming back from the ride for nutmeg on the way to Polaris to get it replaced (probably my fault - I had them off a couple of weeks earlier to clean off some fix-a-flat but that's another story). Once again, he took my word for it, replaced the pipes and asked that I bring in the lost pipe if I found it because Triumph wouldn't pay them without it (I took it in the next weekend). Pretty cool I thought.
Bushwacker, sorry to hear about you getting shafted like that and I hope you get some satisfaction. Did the insurance company decide not to pay the quoted price for the towing and estimate or did Polaris jack up their price or add something on to what was quoted or both? I hate carp like that? BTW, hope you're getting better quickly. I'm glad your accident wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Re: Polaris West?
I was not involved with the negotiation with them and the ins. company.
However, my understanding is that they wanted 175 and the ins co. said no that was too much and offered to pay one hour labor for the estimate.
Polaris West then told the Ins Co (they also had several hundred dollars tied up in towing fees) - Send us the Check.
After the ins. co. messengered the check over I called a tow truck to come and get the bike.
Polaris West then told me - Ins did not send enough money for our full estimate fee - You want your bike you owe us another $105 plus tax. (I think this means that their labor charge is $70/hr, because I believe that is what the Ins Co was willing to pay for an estimate - 1 Hour.
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Houston Speed Triple said:
I was not involved with the negotiation with them and the ins. company.
However, my understanding is that they wanted 175 and the ins co. said no that was too much and offered to pay one hour labor for the estimate.
Polaris West then told the Ins Co (they also had several hundred dollars tied up in towing fees) - Send us the Check.
After the ins. co. messengered the check over I called a tow truck to come and get the bike.
Polaris West then told me - Ins did not send enough money for our full estimate fee - You want your bike you owe us another $105 plus tax. (I think this means that their labor charge is $70/hr, because I believe that is what the Ins Co was willing to pay for an estimate - 1 Hour.
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Tx Ex
0
Re: Polaris West?
I want to preface this with a qualifier - I am an insurance guy (health, not P&C, but all insurance is fundamentally the same). You might want to go easy on the Polaris dealership. It sounds like they spent more time than they should have on your bike, possibly because they were trying to do a really good job to help you out. However I use the word should because the insurance company has statistics guys like me who would have a database of actual repairs to insured motorcycles, that, when aggregated into total claims experience, were used to set your insurance rate. They then have applied-knowledge experts (like a motorcycle mechanic) working as claims adjusters as a cross check on what the number monkeys like me estimate. The claims adjusters generally can't pay outside of their historical range for two reasons - paying based on experience deters abuse, i.e. it can help reduce a tendancy to overcharge for services, and it also prevents your (and everyone elses) rates from getting unaffordable. All that said, you might want to give the Polaris dealership the benefit of the doubt. They may have incurred legitimate costs that were outside traditional historic ranges of how long this job should have taken, maybe because they were really trying to take care of your bike (compared to the minimalist inspection the insurance company might have idealistically envisioned). The insurance company here is more than likely the "bad guy" so to speak, but the question still remains - how do you and the dealership settle up for the bill the insurance company stuck you with? Should you reasonably expect the dealership to write off the excess time and effort as a lost? Should they have done a better job managing their time? To be fair to all parties, maybe you should offer to split the difference with them? They did take longer than it historically takes to do the job, the question is why. Was it for your benefit?
I want to preface this with a qualifier - I am an insurance guy (health, not P&C, but all insurance is fundamentally the same). You might want to go easy on the Polaris dealership. It sounds like they spent more time than they should have on your bike, possibly because they were trying to do a really good job to help you out. However I use the word should because the insurance company has statistics guys like me who would have a database of actual repairs to insured motorcycles, that, when aggregated into total claims experience, were used to set your insurance rate. They then have applied-knowledge experts (like a motorcycle mechanic) working as claims adjusters as a cross check on what the number monkeys like me estimate. The claims adjusters generally can't pay outside of their historical range for two reasons - paying based on experience deters abuse, i.e. it can help reduce a tendancy to overcharge for services, and it also prevents your (and everyone elses) rates from getting unaffordable. All that said, you might want to give the Polaris dealership the benefit of the doubt. They may have incurred legitimate costs that were outside traditional historic ranges of how long this job should have taken, maybe because they were really trying to take care of your bike (compared to the minimalist inspection the insurance company might have idealistically envisioned). The insurance company here is more than likely the "bad guy" so to speak, but the question still remains - how do you and the dealership settle up for the bill the insurance company stuck you with? Should you reasonably expect the dealership to write off the excess time and effort as a lost? Should they have done a better job managing their time? To be fair to all parties, maybe you should offer to split the difference with them? They did take longer than it historically takes to do the job, the question is why. Was it for your benefit?
Re: Polaris West?
Time did not enter into it.
They say they have a flat $175 estimate fee regardless of time.
What I would have expected was them to tell the insurance company "No we will not accept that payment. You need to work it out with your insured.
Instead they told the insurance company to send the check and after I called the wrecker they told me they were not releasing the bike for what the insurance company paid.
They never told the insurance company this and they knew the insurance company was messengering over the check so I could take the bike.
The cost does not bother me nearly as much as the underhanded way they handled the situation.
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Time did not enter into it.
They say they have a flat $175 estimate fee regardless of time.
What I would have expected was them to tell the insurance company "No we will not accept that payment. You need to work it out with your insured.
Instead they told the insurance company to send the check and after I called the wrecker they told me they were not releasing the bike for what the insurance company paid.
They never told the insurance company this and they knew the insurance company was messengering over the check so I could take the bike.
The cost does not bother me nearly as much as the underhanded way they handled the situation.
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- Joined
- Jan 11, 2006
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Sugar Land
- First Name
- Paul
- Last Name
- Reeley
Re: Polaris West?
Good dealings with Polaris. I bought my bike at British U.S.A.
Have had an oil change at both places, liked Polaris better, quick, did not have to wait all day. I do know the hourly rate for service is about $73.00 per. Plan on getting them to put the TOR map on after I install the Hi-Mount CF can.
They did not have said can for my bike but offered 2 suggestions on where to get on.
Paul
Good dealings with Polaris. I bought my bike at British U.S.A.
Have had an oil change at both places, liked Polaris better, quick, did not have to wait all day. I do know the hourly rate for service is about $73.00 per. Plan on getting them to put the TOR map on after I install the Hi-Mount CF can.
They did not have said can for my bike but offered 2 suggestions on where to get on.
Paul