Shame-Metropolis Motorcycles, Vauxhall

Where shall I start…dropped off my pride and joy for its second service a week before I was due to be at Mallory, thought I’d better get there with a properly serviced/checked bike.

Picked it up Fri evening to ride up to Mallory the night before, not even two hours later, it went completely dead on me on the M1, first time I have a problem with my 675 since buying it last year, called the RAC, the guy couldn’t get it started at all, to cut a long story short, RAC got a trailer out and we headed back home that night :crying:

Sat Morning RAC came out again to deliver the bike to Metropolis, and after a long morning of stripping the bike and testing, they said it was the regulator/rectifier that went, so they ordered the part, as well as a new battery, and I picked it up last Thu.

Went out with a couple of mates on Sat, was itching to get on my baby again, 20min later they noticed fluid spilling out on the left hand side, so we pulled over to inspect, and as you can imagine by that point, my blood was boiling along with the brake fluid! all I wanted to do was get to Metropolis and give them more verbal abuse in front of any potential customers!

Luckily for them, the guys I rode with knew what to do, so we carried on with the ride, keeping a close eye on the bike, but basically, Metropolis mechanics have over-filled the brake fluid container and as it got hot, liquid started spilling out!

And as if they haven’t done enough damage, my front tyre was reading 22psi!

I realise everything, apart from the brake fluid, could’ve been a bad coincidence, but considering their bad reputation, I will NEVER take my bike there again, and hope no one else does either.

So, be warned, again!

sounds frightfully appalling!

fortunately, things weren’t as bad as they could have been, in terms of yours and others personal safety.

This sort of thing totally pees me off. You spend you hard earned cash at a dealership, do the right thing by servicing it regular etc.

Then go to a delaer, who simply cuts corners, thinks totally about profit, and don’t give a sh!t about you.

When are people like this going to realise it is a false economy, to rather save a few pound in one place, but risk gaining a poor reputation and loosing custom in the end.

I feel for you M-Daytona. Hope you get it sorted!

Dealers, SORT IT OUT!!

That is just stinky bull poo M, after messing up before they go and pull that on you…bang out of order. Give them hell and see what they come up with, probably nothing, but we have to spread the word around, that place is utter rubbish.

Was well annoyed that Mel couldn’t join us on the Saturday…Metropolis workshop staff seem completely incompetent. Read my experiences when they gave me back my R1 in a worse state than when they received it (here).I wonder if Metropolis’ owners know how bad their service staff are?

I also wonder if it’s just the Vauxhall branch with such a bad reputation?

Hmmm.

My wife’s had awful service from the Vauxhall branch as well. Neither of us go there now.

Sounds terrible service and dangerous too. Brake fluid will damage painted surfaces quite easily too so check for that.

Yep the owner does know. But doesn’t seem to care.

Hmmm…How do you know the owner knows…You’ve written letters etc?

Who is the owner of the Metropolis chain?

Sry to hear that M. If you’ve got hugger it could lost a little bit of it’s color (brake fluid fault). I and PavelBlueBandit are using Pole Position. Guys are doing great job and I’m not afraid of leaving them my bike.

Did my direct access there a few years back (which was incidentally very good)… However as regards sales & servicing, even my instructor said STAY AWAY FROM THEM !!!

I also spoke with one of the instructors there while I waited, and he took me aside and said the same thing, anyway lesson learned and they’ve lost yet another customer, but i don’t think they care much.

Looks like they’ve got enough people going back despite their reputation.

It’s a prime location so easy pickings lots of bikes out front so people are like lambs to the slaughter in a way :frowning:

well, ive seen the same tiger parked outside for sale for 15 months, they have left her in a right state, ripped seat, broken mirror, shes the same age as mine, and actually 2 digits out on the reg, she was one of the first 955i`s that hinckley released, shes only done 11000 miles and they want £3749.00, they will never get it unless they actually make her look saleable. If i had a spare few quid id buy her and give her a loving home.

Metropolis are crap!

I have posted about Metropolis before in here as I worked for them and I’m afraid I couldn’t agree more with the sentiments expressed here…the owner of the business is a chap by the name of Ian, not anybody else.If you have servicing issues talk only to Dobbo on the Service Counter…decent mechanics…yes there are/were a handful there at one time, if you take a bike there ask for the following people only to work on your bike…Morris,Tillo and if he is their Andy Birse.

In Greenwich you can deal with Shovel(Mark) and if he is still there the tech’s name is Mike Bradley who is a Top Lad.

I would never get a bike serviced there, but had reason to stop in for emergency parts this morning. I found the people on the service and parts desks to be extremely helpful and efficient.

I had my bike serviced there about 7 weeks ago and I was shocked at their lack of attention to detail. I paid something like £210 and they ended up damaging one of the side panels, forgot to put the tank rubber thing on properly, and routed the tank breather hose cable in the wrong place!

And ever since the service I’ve had an oil leak from the filler cap!

Im very annoyed and will not go back there again, they only seem to care about new sales rather than keeping existing ones

I hope my Yamaha dealers are better!

I got my bike from new there… The sales chap was fairly decent, but then again I was parting with £2000.

I took my bike there for it’s 1st service and it took ages. If I didn’t call them who knows how long they would have hung on for. When I got it back, they’d lost the little O-ring behind the dip-stick so now oil seeps out of the top.

More recently I went in to buy some bits and I find some (not all) of their staff quite arrogant. They’ll quite routinely leave you standing there while they tap away on the computer as if they haven’t seen you - and when they do finally acknowledge you; you’re made to feel like a pain.

I’m still waiting for some parts I ordered (paid for in advance is their terms) - 3 or 4 days I was told… 3 or 4 weeks later I’m still waiting. I’m not going back after this!

I went into Metropolis Vauxhall when I was looking to trade in my ZX12,other dealers were offering £3000,salesman there offered £2250 because ,quote"We’re not a Kawasaki dealer",walked away,never to darken their doors again.

M Daytona why are you telling lies.Your regulator rectifier had gone on your daytona 675 and this is a warranty issue and we had no control over this as i think you will find Triumph made the part not metropolis.You dropped your bike down to us and we did our best to fix it there and then when we realised it was the rectifier you were offered a brand new Yamaha FZS 1000 faired model to get you on your way but this wasnt good enough for you a bike more powerfull and expensive than your own,and you expected a Ducati 1098s coutersy bike!!I I bet you suppose all the other bike shops out there would have lent you one.

On one of your other previous rants about Metropolis you slagged our wshop off for quoting you main dealer prices for tyres thats how we dealers make our money why didnt you go to a specialist like fwr or true grip do you think george whites,rex judd,motoden infinity etc etc are much cheaper than us !!!

If we are so bad why did you come to our shop on the previos sunday and ask to demo our Ducati 848 you really do have some front, slag us off on an internet forum and then want to ride our bike you must be on drugs hate us one day love us another.

One point to everyone out there if Metropolis is such a bad shop how can a privately owned shop be in business for 13 years and have 10 major franchises to its name be the biggest vespa dealer in the uk sell more Triumph clothing than any other bike shop in the uk for the last 5 years running if the service is really that bad.Big names go bust because of crap service e.g motorcycle city carnells etc etc.

Dont be so harsh M daytona you were always looked after in here despite of your pmt attitude Bowyer racing may let you in there wshop we dont because it breaks health and safety rules and your not insured.Sorry did Bowyer racing go bust.Maybe people who are industry trained and do this for a living are better judges than you and your mates at diagnosing problems with bikes.If the magic wand existed and we could fix every bike on the spot we would do but sometimes we cant so were sorry that we didnt meet your satisfaction so with attitudes like yours im sure we can survive without your custom and maybe there is a bike shop out there who can meet it or if they dont im sure you can slag them off on here.

911 boy - you might weren’t took get some customer relationship training or something similar. I’m a new rider and I’ve also heard that Metropolis has a bad reputation. You approach on a public forum to M-Daytona’s complaints (whether he’s lying or not) is pretty poor.

Franchises and larger chains often start to see problems with customer service, so I wouldn’t say that size is a particular plus point. Being the buggest Vespa dealer and triumph clothing dealer doesn’t really help give confidence in service quality when it comes to motorbikes.

Clearly from the posts above it’s not just M-Daytona with issues at Metropolis and the rectifier business doesn’t relate to overfilling the brake fluid.