Mate of mine went in there today. He has just had an insurance payout on his car so decided to go into BATES with the intention of spending over 8 grand on a new R6.
He has got a K5 GSXR 750 which he bought new and is very low miles. Sales guy didn’t want his part ex as they have to many bikes. Now tell me this if someone came into your shop with 8grand cash to buy a new bike and they had a good P/X like a K5 gsxr would you not bend over backwards to get there buisness and secure a deal?
Sales guy just was not intrested. I hear that they are losing there Suzuki dealership soon which doesn’t surprise me.
Another example of why dealers close down. Customer service at its best a.
I hate that shop! Avoid at all times. Even for spares.
Im just a lad (was!), but my knowledge on my bikes is greater than i let on. They wanted £130 for a battery that wasnt even a gel. Got it for £60 off ebay. Told me 4 hours to fit due to it being a sports bike. Took erm… half hour at home! :hehe:
I went in there with 5.5k from my insurance and they let me walk out, I was more than willing to buy the R6 that was sitting there and have it serviced etc as its close to where I live. They couldnt give a hoot. I was gobsmacked. They werent busy, just didnt care.
Brands Hatch Yamaha have alwasy been really helpful over the phone (free advice - rare!) and have sorted quite alot for me at a reasonable price.
I didnt find EC Bates to be all that helpful either,
21st Moto on the other hand are quite helpful… but due to the p1ss poor service that you get after you give em your money, would never go there either… shame thats 2 out of the local dealers out of the window…
Aye-Gee sold me a back protector about £80 i think, that was too big for me and un-useable( I didnt have a clue about sizing etc, and asked the woman in the shop to help me, she held it up to me but never tried it on) , never got round to taking it back, but again poor service. Ummm…thats 3 i wouldnt use again.
Your right about Bates. 21st Moto are expensive aswell. Trouble is with 21st moto DOBELS with crush any deal they offer. Lol they have the scope to do is aswell so if you want a new Honda never go 21st Moto. DOBELS will crush em I tell ya. Speak to Paul Styles at DOBELS he gave me a grand off my CBR and a free alarm plus £300 to spend in the shop. 21st moto offered me a free **** crash helmet.LOL no thanks muppets.
BATES are a bunch of ballbag faces. The old gezzer Barry the salesman is a drippy lemon. Grumpy. Doesn’t engage in conversation with you and a lot of people say that. There is a chap in the workshop younger lad. He is alright. But the old boys in there are moany and very unfriendly. If they shut down then I wouldnt be surprised. I would AVOID EC BATE like the plague. Deffo.
AyeGees very good for parts thats all though. Les knows his stuff. Can get parts next day for any make of bike normally.
I had similar when Tiny computers were around, Went in with £800 in my pocket (literally)… 2 sales people and one other customer. She was buying so both attending to her. I asked for help (as I knew which machine I was interested in). they said hang on this lady is actually buying a computer.I pulled out the wedge said, I was about to as well but think I will go elsewhere. They tried to chase me down the road as far as I was concerned to little to late.not surprised they went under (that and proper poop equipment)
To be fair, if they have more bikes than they can sell then why would they want another? Let’s say they make £1k every time they sell a new R6 for £9K(?) cash (not sure how much a new R6 is, guess about £9k?). If they give your mate £5k trade in then he’s only paying them £4k cash (which goes toward the £8k they pay for the bike) so they’ve in effect lost £4k until your mate’s bike sells. If they’ve already got bike’s that aren’t selling them they won’t want the trade in. (All these figures are guesswork but the principal is the same).
I have to say that I’ve always found EC Bates to be very good as far as servicing costs are concerned, and as already said the young lad is particularly helpful. When my GSXR was due a service I got a quote from 21st Moto and they quoted almost £100 more than Bates for the same work which was a minor service:w00t:
I’ve also found stuff like chain lube to be cheaper than others and the workshop are were very helpful when I needed advice.
I’ve got a Honda now, if they were a Honda dealer I’d use them without hesitation. I’ve only enquired about a new bike once (by phone) and was offered £400 off a 750 before I’d even got round to haggling:). That was a couple of years ago though, when bike sales were a bit healthier than they are now.
The only thing I would say is they could do with a few younger faces in the shop, the general atmosphere isn’t that great. It’s a bit more old-skool bike shop compared to your Dobles and 21st Moto:)
JJON… you cannot go wrong with Kent motorcycles near canterbury, worth the ride to go see em if you need anything, tell them Mel referred you and they look after you for life. They know all their customers very well, remember you when you go back, and love getting referrals. (they remember me more of course due to my blazing personality, and sexy looks on my sexy blade) PMSL… :w00t::w00t::w00t::w00t:
I myself went in bates yesterday without a PX just for the fun of it. I saw Barry (couldnt miss him slumped hunched over in the corner like he was at the world gurning championships) said I am interested in the new R1 over there you gonna do me a deal mate? I was met with the swift reply no sorry the price is the price!! LOL I said "the price is right a, bit like Bruce forsythe a?) anyway I didn’t really wanna waste to much time so I said so u ain’t gonna do me a deal then grumpy? No he said in a grich type voice. I then very casually place my briefcase on the table and clicked it open. Click click. Will that change ya mind mate?? The look on his face was like he was gurning whilst trying to **** a brick lol though he was going to faint. I then reminded him I have a lot of reasons all with the queens head on why he should do me a cheeky little deal. Still didn’t wanna no. Put me sunglasses and top hat on and left… Wasters
Cheers Mel, I’m due a service soon so will give them a ring as I’ve heard good things about them. Just a shame you have to travel so far to find a decent Honda workshop considering the prices they charge.
These people have an atitude problem. My friend went in there last week even he said when you asked the parts guy or barry the sales guy a question its like you bothering them…fook me guys…liven up or your gonna go down the pan aswell
There’s a blast from the past! I had a Pentium 66 from them, boy was it put together badly… so much so I learnt how to rebuild it and here I am a decade later in IT - cheers fellas! When I’ve got my own multi-million pound repairshop I’ll be thanking the boys at KTM too
Yeah proton cars and 3 wheeled disabled karts aswell. I went down there yesterday to buy some parts and unlucky for me before hand spoke to Barry (The bloke with the comb over) on the phone asked him if they had the part in stock and he just put the phone down on me!!! Ok fair enough I thought. He looks like Jack Charlton not me so i’ll give him that one
Anyway I went in and asked to speak to the owner…Mr Bate…:hehe: I didn’t realise that he is about 102 years old. When I asked to speak to him they said he was having a nap. I demanded to speak with the legend himself at once!!! anyway they wheeled him out from the rear of the shop…He Looked like Captain Birds Eye with the fids and stank of fish supper
I explained my concearns to Mr Bate and he raised his stick in the air and said “Lets be aving him” with that Barry (Jack Charlton style comb over) came shuffling round the corner. "He got down on his bended knees and bowled down twice saying to Mr Bate “I shall not thee put thi phone down again Mr Bate Sir Honour of these fine shores” With that Mr Bate put his pipe back in and they wheeled him back…
yep barrys like a stale bit of chicken the foxes wont even go near give that place a new salesman and i think that place could go up in the world but untill then
Even for spares.
