Triumph of Seattle — Local services in Seattle

I wish that I could give less than 1 star because the service department is just terrible. Unfortunately, there are few Zero Motorcycle dealers in Washington so I've had no little choice but to use Triumph of Seattle, but over the past 5 years, I have yet to have a positive experience servicing my 2016 Zero SR.

I first visited the service department in 2016 for a collision repair. The repair took a few months but the damage was extensive so I expected it. What I didn't expect was when the bike was returned to me, that it would be missing parts. All of the fairings and associated hardware were missing. When I spoke to Daniel, the service manager at the time about it, he seemed almost unsurprised which didn't provide me much confidence that some other more critical items could also be missing. Nevertheless, Daniel ordered all the missing pieces and I eventually received them only to install them myself.

Although my first experience was less then positive, since I had no other option(s) for service I proceeded to use Triumph of Seattle for service each year. While subsequent visits did not result in my initial experience, they were unremarkable. Then came November 2021.

I brought the bike in for annual service on a Saturday in November 2021. I also requested an evaluation of the charging system since the battery was no longer charging to 100%. I scheduled a morning appointment as I always had but was left waiting ALL day for notification that the service was complete. Nothing. I finally went back to the dealership 15 minutes before they closed only to be informed that they were waiting for a response from Zero. I could understand the inquiry with the manufacturer but they are not open on the weekend, so why was I not notified sooner? The service staff offer the let me take the bike but that I would need to bring it back. What sense does that make?! I agreed to let them keep the bike until the following week when Zero could be contacted.

Two weeks past and I received no updates. I called the service department and was told by Elijah that the bike was ready to be picked up. I inquired about charging issue, he seemed confused and placed me on hold. When he returned, he said that they had submitted a good will warranty request with Zero and were still waiting for a response. Two more weeks past and still no update. I called again and had the identical experience again with Elijah. He said the bike was ready but when I inquired about the charging issue, he said that they were still waiting. There's no way this should take this long, so I contacted Zero myself.

I provided Zero with my VIN and a brief description of the issue and claim. They responded the next day and stated that the warranty had expired in April 2021. Their response did not surprise me, but Triumph's ineptitude sure did. I forwarded Zero's response and asked what the cost would be for the repairs. No response from the service department. I knew the cost would likely be considerable so u actually contacted the sales department about a trade in. I immediately received a response from Kevin in sales who was able to get the info from the service department that I had been waiting weeks for. The repair price was significant and the trade-in value offered for my bike was not reasonable in my opinion so I chose to pick up my bike so that I could at least ride it while I decided how to proceed.

I arrived at 10:00am on February 16 to pick up my bike. When it was brought put to me, I didn't initially see the damage. It was only after I began loading it did I notice that one of the bar ends was broken, then I saw that one of the side fairings was cracked and the side stand bracket was broken. Clearly, the bike had been dropped.

I have several more details to share but evidently there is a character limit. At this point, all I can do is discourage anyone and everyone from using their...

I too get the feeling that this shop really only cares if you purchase a bike from them. I stopped by last summer to see about an oil change for my scooter, and I was told they were too busy and wouldn't be able to fit me in for weeks. They actually suggested going on craigslist to find somebody, and they also gave me the name of a guy who works out of his home garage. I stopped by again last week for 2 new tires which they didn't have in stock, and was told they would order them for me and then they would contact me to schedule an appointment as they were just too busy to schedule anything then. It's over 1 week later and I have yet to hear back. So today, I have spent the last 15 minutes dialing their phone #, and it just rings like nobody's listening FOREVER. They are super consistent when it comes to dropping the ball and blowing customers off, as this is the EXACT experience I had last summer, and the previous summer when I actually purchased 2 new tires from them. 3 back to back summers of trying to do business w/ these guys w/ the same horrible customer service and results, Speaks VOLUMES. I'm going to dial the number again and see what happens, if you see this post, you'll know they didn't care enough to even pick up the phone. Yup, called 15 times in a row and each time it just rang and rang, and then eventually times out and goes dead. Pretty pathetic. To The owner Garrett, don't bother answering w/ a nice note to chat sometime, and then leave your phone # that none of your employees answer, let alone you.

Edit (24 hrs after original post) As you can see the owner has replied w/ an offer for me to call to talk and see what's happening with 'my' customer service, however I still haven't even heard from his employee in the service department who supposedly ordered my new tires ( I also need a full brake job & tune-up, and told him this) - so really, I'm just waiting on my call back from over 1 week ago.

Garrett, (the owner) I'll tell you what the problem is right here: You are waaaaaaaaay understaffed, or maybe you have placed priorities in the wrong categories. 3 summers of this exact experience by the same consumer should tell you that this is not my fault, and that maybe you have some real problems you've been unwilling to take on for whatever reason. I'll bet your staff completely agrees and is beyond frustrated.

Please, just actually do something to make this more visible and actionable instead of asking me to call you and discuss. I've given you more than enough info to call me at your shop, your service counter guy was visibly overwhelmed by workload, however he should still be able to figure it out. I still haven't received a call back after 10 days to just let me know what is going on. If your service guy can't figure it out, I'm the guy that had the cute tiny dog that rides on the back of my blue Yamaha TMAX, that came in last Tuesday. No call back. No information. Please fix it all, or be honest and tell me that you don't care unless I purchase a...

I drove up from Portland to buy a used Vespa. The test drive and purchase went smoothly. Kevin showed me around and introduced me to the shop and staff. It was a nice experience the day of purchase. I felt like it was a fair price for what I was getting and still do despite the typical dealer behavior outline below, but I wouldn't refer any friends to this dealership.

I noticed before buying it was missing some reflectors and trim pieces. I chalked it up to a previous owner wanting a cleaner look. Later on I see my scooter in a photo on the lift in the dealers shop posted on social media - missing fender, dash opened up, etc. Turns out it had fallen over and they were repairing some damaged parts before they put it on the sales floor (Not sure why they wouldn't bother to replace the trim pieces and reflectors) I asked my sales person what they knew about the history of this Vespa before purchasing to which they replied "Bikes are like lost puppies, it's hard to know". After riding it for a few weeks I'm finding some issues due to the bike having fallen over (missing screws, panels poorly put back together, fuel gauge not working correctly due to a bad fuel sender) Minor issues than can be fixed, but annoying none the less.

Matt at the dealer did reach out and leave a message to which I called back and was told Matt was with a customer. I requested a call back but never heard anything.

I ordered the missing trim pieces and reflectors at time of purchase as there was holes left behind where they were missing. When my parts order finally shipped, it showed up incomplete.

They claim they weren't trying to "pull the wool over my eyes" which I do believe...they just behave like a typical dealer. Missed an opportunity to be exceptional. There's a chance if I knew what they knew about this Vespa when I initially came to buy it, I may have opted for a brand new one instead. I don't expect a used bike to be perfect, but I do expect a reputable dealer to be transparent about what they know about it and it's condition.

Update 4/25/20:

Garett the GM reached out and apologized for my bad experience. He offered to refund me for the parts and pay for an accessory of my choosing. After Covid hit, I told them to keep it but he insisted and said he would send a check - this eventually got to me in late May, pleased they followed through with this promise. I did take the Scooter to my local Vespa dealer for a tune and check over and find out there’s an open recall on it for the fuel pump that can cause the scooter to die in traffic. Piaggio paid for parts/labor. All they had to do was run the VIN and they would have seen this - instead they just shoved it out on the sales floor and sold me something with a dangerous open recall on it. They ended up making it right in the end, but I would buy from here...