Hal's Harley-Davidson

This letter is in response to a complaint filled against
Hal’s Harley-Davidson by an Individual on 10/4/We did store this
Gentleman’s motorcycle last winter from November 17, through April 11th,
At no time did we note any scratches present in the customer’s rear
fender during
that timeAfter the Customer picked up his motorcycle on April
11th, he returned on May 8th to notify us of scratches on
the rear fender of his motorcycleThat was the only cosmetic concern brought
to our attention at that time and this is the main point of contention for this
Customer.Due to the fact that we had no documentation that this
scratch occurred while the vehicle was in our care and the other fact that it
had been days since the Customer took possession of his motorcycle, we
declined to fix this scratch at our expense at that timeThere was absolutely
no evidence that we could have been responsible for this damage, it clearly had
occurred after leaving our facilityFast forward a few months to August and we receive in the
mail a letter threatening legal action, a repair quote for $1600.00, and
pictures of the scratches on the rear fender, some light stress cracks in the
taillight lens that are simply due to age, and some bubbling of paint around
the fuel filler capThe request of the Customer in his letter was that we pay
him the $to completely repaint his motorcycle or, in his words, “If I
do not hear from you within a reasonable amount of time I will understand that
you prefer more legal alternatives.” I reached out and sat down with the Customer after receipt
of this packet and had a conversation explaining our position in this matterI
can say steadfastly, and explained to him that by no way, shape, or form did we
damage his motorcycle while in our careIn a gesture of goodwill, and simply
in the interest of customer satisfaction, I offered to remove and re-install
the fender for paint repair and give him a new taillight lensThis offer was
declined outright by the CustomerHis only counteroffer was again a
disproportionately large cash payout that was unreasonable in the situation We have built a reputation of being as honest and
trustworthy of a service operation as can be hadWe would not jeopardize that
reputation by not correcting some simple scratches in a fender if we had created
themIf there was any possibility or doubt in my mind that we were responsible
for this damage, we would be the first to step up and correct our mistakeI
would be being dishonest if I said these things did not happen in our business.Hopefully this clarifies this matterIt is always
unfortunate when we cannot find common ground with our customers but we will
always do our best to do so.Best Regards,Walter *** ***Hal’s Harley-Davidson