Greater Boston Motorsports — Local services in Arlington

BEWARE!!! Please heed my warning... sorry if this is a second post i think the first one got lost...

I have a lot of experience with Motorcycles cars and other equipment. I have raced and restored many vehicles including Bugattis from the 20s and old exotics.... I have owned BMW's Alfa Romeos Porsches Mustangs and Camaros to name a few... I also have built and owned a few bikes- Ducati, Honda and Triumph..I raced motocross on NEMA and even some enduro riding.... I'M NOT bragging, I am trying to illustrate my credibility on the subject matter. I know a thing or two about mechanics, proper maintenance and I consider myself to be an honest person. Its this background that compels me to write this post- probably my first ever negative review...

WHile waiting for my daughter to get a haircut, I saw a 99 BMW R1100S SILVER MANDARIN ORANGE on the showroom floor. It looked pretty clean but it was close to closing time... I made an appointment to see and test ride the bike a couple of days later...

When I arrived Saturday morning, there was a heated sales meeting in progress in the showroom and the sales manager spent 20 minutes scolding the staff about a deal that had evidently gone against plan... embarrassing.

My intention was to trade a nice S2R Monster for this R1100.. JJ, the sales guy was introduced by Tom Harper as "really knowledgeable and has been here for years..." MISTAKE. The guy didnt know anything about the bike including how to get the seat off and told me the tank had an access pocket when in fact it was a clip to get the fairing off... that said, it gets worse...

After looking around for the bike, its located in the service bay.. Great, I think, but I overhear the tech say "charging system issue" JJ says to me "corrosion on the battery terminals... " I go inside to sign the test ride paperwork - Next thing I know the bike is out on the curb running. After a cursory look-see, Off I go for my ride... Typical oil head- nice ride. I stop at my favorite park and snap a picture or 2. then back to the dealership. Noone greets me so i start looking more closely at the bike... rust here and there... and a leak in the front block...big gob of silicone... Looking closer, the sightglass is EMPTY- its on its SIDE stand and its empty... I lean the bike over more and NOTHING... then I see all the corrosion UNDER the bike... cooling fins with aluminum/salt blooms... real black stains underneath.. 17K miles?? No way unless its been stored outside under oak trees then held under water for a week.. JJ then appears... "whadda ya think? Nice huh?" Not really.. There is NO OIL in it I say...his face drops... he takes a look and sees the leak....After asking for Brians help, cause he cant figure out how to lift off the seat, Lifting off the seat only confirms my suspicion.. the tools are rusted and fused to the underseat foam... the foam is stained... (in retrospect I wonder is this from the hurricane/ flood in NY???) Then he STARTS it with NO OIL and the fuel pump starts squealing inside the tank...

I point all of this out and he says "what if I fix the pump?" still interested? ARE YOU KIDDING?? when I say politely no, and I point out the multiple issues I see with the bike he says the incredible: "That's OK, we'll just put it on Craigslist " REALLY??? A qualified BMW service shop and dealership and instead of fixing it properly they'll unload it on some poor sap online rather than the retail store.. MONEY over service I guess.. NO SCRUPLES I could have bought it if I knew less... What a-holes. By the way they own Parkway and 128 as well.. i wonder how they operate??

The moral of the story? I went to NH that afternoon and bought a red R1100S WITH BAGS and ABS from Second Wind that was 2 years newer and although had higher mileage was CLEAN and well maintained. I'll not be going back to...

This review is for the Service Dept, and about my first (and last experience) with the GBM family of dealers.

I arrived this morning (04/18/2015) at 10:15am and left today at almost 4:15pm. So, let's see, that would be SIX hours for a battery replacement and inspection sticker for my BMW R1150R. Note that the battery install is rated at ONE hour's technician time. (I was originally told it would be done at about 1pm. That came and went, without any notice from the Service Dept.) I walked back into the Service Dept at least six times for updates throughout the day. Never once could I get someone to acknowledge my presence. The place is absolute chaos. I actually had to exit the building and call them from my cell phone to get an answer. Mind you, they were aware I was waiting and they do not take appointments on Saturdays (at least that is what I was told). The bike was returned to me working as expected, but my loose tail light and accessory cover were not repaired or commented on in the invoice. (I did not care at the time, I just wanted out of there.)

So there I am for SIX hours sitting on the sidewalk area watching the chaos of this place unfold. (I should say SIX hours minus 30 minutes as I had to go get a sandwich before I slipped into a diabetic coma.) There were four bikes and one scooter that were "completed", but when the owners got on them they could not or did not leave, or returned a short time later because there was something wrong. I assume, sloppy or incomplete work. (Examples that I heard: Seats not attached securely, scooter does not start.)

I also saw a few customers tip the mechanics. My assumption is that is how you get service at this place. You grease the wheels, or in this case, flat tires.

This place shows no pride of ownership. The store/showroom area is filthy. There are cigarette butts all over the sidewalk in front of the property. Chunks of broken wood, metal, and old broken signs in the landscape area...where I spent most of my day because there is no waiting area for service customers, except for a single lonely wooden bench in Dept Chaos.

I'm expecting more from a BMW dealership. I'm surprised this place is allowed to hold such credentials. Motorrad should audit this place.

Now I know what my next career will be. Setting up an independent repair shop for bikes and actually delivering timely and friendly service. The riding public will flock to me like bears to honey. I think I could do it with a tent in a parking lot. This is what happens when the same company owns all but one of the large dealerships in the area, they just do not have to care...enough.

The entire experience, at a minimum, does not inspire confidence. I'm heading to Riverside for the next service and winter storage.

Side note: It looked to me like half the staff at this place smokes and spent a good amount of time on the sidewalk doing so, some more than others. Disgusting. That aside, you would think while they were smoking they would take a few minutes to interact with the customers they have seen sitting on the cement....ALL DAY LONG. Also, I was unfortunately in earshot of some "sales" staff lathering it on to potential new customers. Just like a car dealership. I felt like a shower was in order post witness. Lastly, their website is horrifying, and useless and plain old fugly. Again, no pride in ownership. They took the easy way out with some POS off-the-shelf website...

I bought my scooter from GBM several years ago, and really drove the thing during the years to long distances. The bike has shown it's age, but the engine runs well, and generally the scooter works very well. I had hit a pothole in the Back Bay of Boston, and decided to have the scooter towed to GBM since the rear wheel had locked up. After providing an estimate of over $800 for repairs (half of which was due to the pothole, and half of that was labor alone), it took them two months to receive all of the parts for the scooter. During this time, I had faith that they would do a quality job on the scooter, since they had plenty of time to look at the issues.

Once I got the scooter back, I took it for a test ride and discovered I had extremely limited top speed. The variable clutch was slipping at higher speeds. I brought it back, and also noticed a bolt loose sticking out of the side of the machine. I asked about it, and watched as the technician stripped the bolt right in front of me. I also checked underneath the scooter -- instead of securing the exhaust with a pin and nut, he used a type of carriage bolt, which vibrated out very soon.

After getting the scooter back again, I was assured everything was fixed. It was not traveling as fast as usual, but I could live with it. At this point, after waiting for two months to get the scooter back, they mentioned the belt inside might be a little worn and could stand to be replaced. I really needed my vehicle back, so I put off that cost.

Well, in the few weeks that followed, the remainder of the bolts that were used to secure the exhaust on fell off. It turns out that the bolts were never helicoiled, but were just drilled and used larger bolts. They drilled out one of the sockets on the side of the exhaust port to the point that nothing can be screwed into it anymore. The main exhaust bolt in the rear had fallen out, and I had to use an allen wrench and zip ties to hold it in place because nothing would screw into it anymore. I don't believe that these kinds of things would be caused by anything but technicians not following bolt torque recommendations, and shortcut repair work.

I brought the scooter back and spoke to the manager, who then looked up repair histories and essentially said that the vehicle has seen so many repairs that it can't really be repaired easily anymore. He tried offering me another scooter on a different payment plan, but due to being a poor college student was not able to secure the funds for this.

Finally, a few weeks later, the belt did break, and apparently destroyed the clutch along with it -- a $500 repair, which I promptly sent up to Cycles 128 due to my dissatisfaction with GMB. This could have been fixed months ago when they took the scooter apart during the initial evaluation, but wasn't. This has cost me more money than the scooter is worth in repair.

While I bought my scooter from them, and the scooter has some age, and they certainly tried coming up with a different scooter to sell me, I feel that coming back to the shop three times after the problem should have been fixed was far too many. hey should have spent a little more time installing the proper cemented helicoils in the first place, getting the proper nuts and bolts required for the job, and mentioning preventative maintenance during the initial encounter with the scooter. I've reluctantly resolved never to send my vehicles back to Greater Boston Motorsports again...