THE FIRST OF IT'S KIND IN WISCONSIN

After much wait, the new Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic has arrived and is parked in Jeff's' garage (unless he's out riding it).  We believe that this is the first of it's kind to see the Wisconsin Pavement.  As of April 30th, no dealer in Wisconsin had any 900's in stock and Jeff had a difficult time getting this one.

First I should point out that the only reason Jeff went to Chicago Cycle for this bike to begin with is that they were advertising the 900 as "In Stock".

The long story started when on April 15th Jeff called Chicago Cycle, the (self proclaimed) Midwest's largest motorcycle dealer, and was told by a Sales Rep that they had four of the bikes in stock, including the blue one (which happened to be the color Jeff wanted).  He and our friend Jerry drove down that afternoon, trailer in tow, to buy his dream bike.  Upon their arrival (almost three hours later), they were then told by the very same Rep that Chicago Cycle had just sold the last one, but there were more in their warehouse.  The Rep then assured Jeff they could have another one ready for him the following week.  Jeff was disappointed, but willing to be patient to get the bike he wanted, so he left a deposit to lock in the price and thought that the deal had been done.

The next week, Jeff put in several calls and left several voicemails for his Rep.  He finally spoke with someone else who told him that, first, the Sales Rep was no longer with Chicago Cycle and second, they had yet to receive any of the new Vulcan 900's and had none in stock.  Jeff was beside himself.  He had been lied to and wasted a great riding day along with gas and toll money to go on a wild goose chase.  Well, because of all this hassle, he was given first dibs on the bike when it arrived.  So, Chicago Cycle managed to get a blue one on their floor late in the week of April 24th.  Jeff got the call on Friday and started planning another drive there.

To wrap this story up, on Sunday April 30th, Jeff, Jerry and I made another trip from Madison to Lincolnwood and finally got his bike.  There was no record of the earlier deal, yet they did manage to have a record of his deposit (go figure), so Jeff had to pay more than had been agreed the first time and jumped through way to many hoops with Chicago Cycle to get this deal done.  The upside is that he now has a brand new Kawasaki Vulcan VN900 Classic sitting in his garage and I guess ultimately that is the most important thing in all this.

Because Chicago Cycle had only this one bike, and as of May 1st, there are none available anywhere else in the state, we are fairly certain this is the only one in the state of Wisconsin prior to May of 2006.

Congratulations Jeff!

The particulars of the deal.

What he had been told:
Jeff was told they had four on their floor.
Jeff was then told they had more in their warehouse.
Jeff was quoted an out the door price by the first Sales Rep.
Jeff was told he would get a $25.00 gift card for his troubles.
Jeff was told he would be able to pick the bike up on the 23rd of April.

What actually happened:
Jeff paid over $200.00 more than originally quoted.
Jeff never received his $25.00 gift card.
Since there was no bike on the 23rd, Jeff took delivery of the bike on April 30th.

While Jeff is just happy to get the bike, I personally am disturbed by the behavior of Chicago Cycle.  They had a Sales Representative working for them that by their own admission was known to be a pathological liar.  He had been fired and re-hired on numerous occasions.  They conveniently lost the paperwork that Jeff had already filled out.  They then gave him a price higher than the first one and would not come down to meet what a "representative" of theirs had already quoted Jeff.  They stiffed him on the gift card, and when he asked about getting a discount for some tie down strap extenders, they didn't even give him the courtesy of a reply and just continued to write up the purchase.

Editorial comment by John.

Chicago Cycle acted in a very un-professional manner.  As a Sales Representative myself, I am embarrassed by their behavior and lack of willingness to make things right.

My personal opinion of Chicago Cycle is that they are so busy trying to be the biggest, that they will never be the best.  They tried to tell us that they were breaking even on this deal, but little of what they said rang true.  They didn't even offer to show us the invoice on the bike.  I know there is not much of a margin on the smaller bikes, but they should have found some way to make things right for Jeff.  The impression we were left with was they were only trying to cover their own asses and cared very little whether or not Jeff actually bought the bike.  After all, they sell "over 10,000 bikes a year" and "placed the largest single order that Kawasaki has ever received".....  So busy blowing their own horn, they forget about the customer.  They didn't even seem to care that we might share this experience on our different forums.  Not a great business practice.

In the end, we all left feeling very cold about the whole experience and none of us will probably ever consider doing business with them again.

John Conners is solely responsible for the content of this page.

Any questions or comments should be directed to:
john.conners@smart-digital.com