Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. — Local services in Milwaukee

This is hard for me as I have been a loyal Harley guy my entire life! I have owned many and in the last year bought two new ones. I am 34, have been a lifetime customer and would have continued to be. This is causing me to carve a part of my soul out since Harley is so deeply rooted in who I am. This is what I have learned about Harley's TRUE culture. Challenges will reveal the true character and culture of someone or their company. Here is my long story made in to a short story;

I bought a new Road glide and love it, 2022 with stage 2 engine work, exhaust, handlebars, stage 2 audio and more. I'd drive it anywhere. Next is the issue......

I bought a 2023 Pan America after starting to ride adventure bikes and not liking my Kawasaki. I was skeptical of the Pan Am being new. I went to the demos and got dealer advice and bought one. So in a very short version after I bought it two days later it went in because it broke and wouldn't start and screen was black. This repair order was altered to show the bike was at the dealer 1 day instead of almost three weeks which makes Harley think I'm lying I have proof!! Got the bike back and two days later broke again and went back for three weeks for same issue. Neither time could I get a clear answer of what was done. I didn't trust it at this point. After riding around town for a while I decided when My Mom had a heart attack I'd ride from NC to Iowa to see how it did. Multiple failures occurred on the way and it would sometimes not start. I dropped it off at the Iowa dealer where it spent five weeks. Harley sent a rep and it was noted there was no issue. Later after it came back to NC I found out the Iowa dealer found that my local dealer didn't properly complete the previous "repairs." I had to pay to transport it back to NC and immediately off the transport truck it wouldn't start and had faults in it. Goes back to local dealer and they were trying to duplicate it after they saw the issue first hand while picking it up then Harley corporate told me it was interference in the air causing the bike to not recognize the key Fob. Still broken. Many conversations with Harley and NO HELP! They will not let me trade bikes, help get me in another bike, didn't offer to pay for the extended warranty coverage, discount a new bike, won't buy it back and won't do anything at all. So I ask sales what they can do at local dealer. They will give me $9k for an almost new 2023 Pan Am 8 months later after fighting. I paid (with add ons and extended warranty) $29k for the Pan Am. This is not the Harley culture I thought I would experience buying a bike. I will NEVER buy another Harley and will NEVER tell anyone to buy a Pan Am. I will go out of my way to share my story and how Harley doesn't take care of their customers, so people know. I'd be better off buying the $2500 dual sport off Amazon and riding it till it breaks then considering them disposable instead. What is the point in supporting USA made if you don't get support? That was a rhetorical question.

UPDATE! Came here in person and it’s just a shell. No one works here for corporate and no manufacturing...

I love the HD bikes and support you all greatly, BUT the Rapid City Black Hills HD store is THE WORST!!! I traded my 2014 Streetglide at that dealership 7/30/2023 and bought the new 2023 Anniversary Heritage Softail. The salesperson that sold me the bike was a traveling sales gal and she gave me her business card to contact for any issues, and as of today, 12/10/23, she has never responded to me and I have had nothing but problems from this dealership. The temp tags on my bike expired 9/15/2023 and due to many mess ups from the dealership the tags and taxes in my state of Kansas just got paid for 10/31/2023. I have not been able to ride my bike since we got back home due to this awful dealership! 🤬. When I bought this bike we were on the road traveling and not one person reminded me to make sure I sent them the title on the Streetglide, and Kansas is a title free state so I did not have it in my possession. When I never received paperwork on new bike to get tags and pay taxes, the dealership did not help AT ALL to extend my temp tags, so the bike had to stay parked. They said my state had to give extension which isn’t even legal since they had NO INFORMATION on the new bike. Once I finally received the title the title did not have all the required information such as how many miles was on the bike. 🤬 ANOTHER DELAY of getting tags and paying taxes! Due to dealership being busy with rally, the financial people just blew through explaining things and ASSUMED people want warranty extensions or GAP insurance etc etc. Yes, I signed for extended warranty but nothing explained due to being rushed. I was FINALLY refunded that money that was initially put in financial paperwork but that was a fight!! I was given $500 gift card for accessories and promised “crash bars” would be put on bike prior to leaving dealership, even after talking to my sales gal, Marjorie several times about this, and I never received them!! 🤬 When I got home to use gift card that was nothing but a hassle and not a fun ordeal!! I did finally receive my accessories but not easily!! I know I am not first out of state buyer during rally time and none of this is acceptable for a person buying a new bike! This dealership is used to the rally craziness and NOTHING went right for me! NOT ACCEPTABLE especially spending the money I spent on a new bike and due to all of the dealership errors I had to pay interest on a bike that was being paid off immediately when I got home but not able to due to all the above reasons! 🤬. As a corporation, this should not be allowed by your dealerships and customers suffer in a financial way due to incompetence! I should have never had to pay interest on a bike being paid off! Black Hills Harley Davidson dealership is awful and they never answer the phone and you have to make multiple calls before they call...

I bought a Sportster Iron 883, as my first motorcycle. I out grew that in a week. Next summer I lost a ton of money trading up to a Fat Bob 114. This was a gorgeous machine, tons of power and I was so comfortable racking up miles on this bike. Buuuuuuuuut, the bike was a mechanical disaster. It spent the 183 days of its first summer in the shop as they tinkered trying to fix (rather than just replace the parts and get me on the road) a bike that wouldn't downshift. I had been stuck at quite a few traffic lights stomping on the shifter hoping it will go down from 4th gear, as I give up and push it to the side. They didn't give me a loaner, I was just without a bike that whole first summer. Then I got an inner primary seal leak. Then the bike decided it would just shut off on me randomly. On the Highway at 120km/h, at stop lights, while accelerating, just any time. It gave me a fuel pump overload code, I took it into 2 shops over 5 separate times explaining to them that I think there is a fuel pump issue. They never listen, they always assume you're stupid and how could you possibly know. They always told me it was fine. I had them check it before a long ride, they gave it a clean bill... It died and refused to start at all 900km from home. It was pouring rain, as I sat beside my dead bike. Called the dealer, he said it "sounds like a fuel pump running too lean and overheating the engine". So the local dealer picked it up, they kept it for a week, told me the ECM just needed an update, and gave it back to me, after I protested all week to replace the fuel pump. It died 8km later, I waited 2 more hours in the pouring rain for them then to tow it back, guess what they found? Needed a new fuel pump, 1 week to order. I had to rent a car and drive 900km to get back home for work leaving my bike behind.

After retrieving the bike, it developed an "electrical gremlin".... I couldn't take it any more. I had to rid myself of this bike that when it ran, I loved it. Mostly because I couldn't deal with the service department at any of the 6 dealerships I had tried. They don't listen and they don't care.

Harley's biggest problem is they don't care. They don't see a problem with me spending $30k on a bike and letting it sit in their shop all summer. I wrote a penned letter after trading in my Fat Bob for a BMW R1300GS and I got an emailed response saying "We'll try harder in the future", I don't think they even read my letter, they just don't care. Has my BMW R1300GS been perfect? Nope, but the bike hasn't left me stranded and BMW takes care of you, they listen and they replace parts that might possibly even start to cause an issue. That is where...