Ducati Manchester Situation Part 2

Thing is Carl neither I or you know the full facts. You have read one side of the story.

I ALWAYS say, no matter who the dealer is, that they should be given the opportunity to rectify a situation. I believe in this instance that that was done. And it was then up to the OP to either accept the offer made or walk away.

However certain “noisy” members on here decide that they should start baying for blood. That is not on if a dealer has tried to rectify a situation in my book.

A certain midlands based dealer reputation was called into question many times because they never tried to rectify any situations they’d caused. They not only blatantly ignored complaints but in many instances tried to rubbish the reputation of the paying customer. Completely different situation. And when Ducati UK finally caught up with them the dealership was taken away from what I understand.

 

As an update to this situation I have received the following email from Martin at Ducati Manchester:

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Hi Terry ,

Just been reading all this about the customer with his miles discrepancy on his potential 1299.

As I’m not a forum member would you mind copying and pasting this for me please ?

“I know the 1299 very well , it was sold by me personally new to a good customer who’s now purchased 7 new Ducati’s from Manchester

The bike has never been used for track days or ridden especially hard (to this particular customer its more about the look and feel of a large sports Ducati)

The bike has been back to ourselves every year for a full service and is exceptionally clean.

When we originally valued the bike it had covered 4250 miles

The customer then collected the new bike and traded his old bike with us (to answer the question if we reduced the purchase price because of the slight increase in miles – of course we didn’t ! – why would we want to upset a customer on the day of collection of his new bike ! – we are a Ducati retailer not a used car dealer ………)

We use a dealer management system which exports all the bike details onto our website , ebay etc , this is totally my fault in that I didn’t change the miles before the advert was published

Not done intentionally , made a mistake , hands up I admit it – my fault completely I forgot to amend the advert

After several emails and phone calls we took a verbal order from a customer and had agreed to take his Ducati in part exchange (which we haven’t seen or inspected yet)

We then carried out an Mot and as both tyres were 50 % worn we fitted 2 new tyres – we didn’t have to do this

I then received an email after the store closed – I think from memory it was about 8.30 pm – I always try and reply to emails , face book messages , whats app etc after hours if I can

After a few emails back and forwards we agreed a compromise which I thought the customer was happy with and the deal was back on

I then received another email saying he wanted to cancel , I didn’t advise him that we would put the bike back on sale the day after if he didn’t buy it , we are not selling “timeshare “ etc

What I actually said after 2 days of not knowing if he still wanted the bike , no payment received from him and no collection date arranged is the email below which I sent at 8.50 pm

“Thanks for the email.


Unfortunately I can’t offer anything over what we discussed.


We are all out on this particular bike.


Please confirm if you definitely don’t want to go ahead and if not I will put the bike back in sale and advise if we receive anything else into stock that may be suitable


Thanks “

As has been previously stated we have offered a great part exchange price , offered the new bike at a really competitive price , prepared the bike over and above what most dealers would do , offered to reduce the price due to our mistake , full tank of fuel , answered emails evening time (the accusation that I didn’t call him back as I was in a “meeting” and he couldn’t get hold of me is true – I was genuinely In a meeting with Ducati UK that day for aprox 4 hours) , he was the first customer I called back after the meeting finished

The customer agreed to collect the bike Saturday gone , that didn’t happen and he’s agreed to hopefully collect the bike this coming Wednesday - will keep you updated

Unfortunately I made a slight mistake (742 miles to be precise) , didn’t do this intentionally , wouldn’t ever lie about a bikes miles , agreed a compromise due to my mistake , answered emails in the evening , prepared the bike to a great standard and genuinely tried to keep this customer happy

I do a lot with the Ducati Manchester store , including Wednesday evening ride outs , customer trips to Italy and Scotland , organise a customer Christmas party , bike show trips , charity events and fundraisers etc etc

I do this because I love the brand and the people I meet and I genuinely love my job – to the customer who asks why I don’t speak to him instore , I wouldn’t ever ignore you , please come and have a chat and a coffee next time you’re instore – most probably I’ve not made the connection with you and your purchase as we didn’t speak ? - I apologise though I’m sorry

I hope this helps people understand how a simple mistake (my fault) can get everyone talking but please understand it wasn’t intentional and we did agree a compromise

Hopefully the customer will be posting photos of his new bike on Wednesday and when he actually views the bike in person he will be extremely happy with it

Thanks for reading all this and hope I didn’t bore you too much !

Kind regards

Martin

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And there you have it from the horses mouth.