Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge New Triumph in Family

Well my boy bought a new Triumph, not what I would have bought but at least he bought a Triumph. He bought a brand new leftover 2009 675 Daytona. We drove from the Pittsburgh area out to Clinton Cycles in Maryland (near DC and Andrews AFB) The place is pretty big and they sell Triumphs and a couple other Jap brands. He got a good deal on the bike and then they added the freight and setup fees to that which was still a good deal but not as good as it started out. I don't know if anyone else lives near or purchased their bike from Clinton Cycles but that place is a ZOO! They have tons of people working there and we stood around for an hour before we ever spoke to the salesman that knew we would be there at 1:00. Then they said that they would not release the bike without a check in hand even after we had all the documents from USAA (Bank in Texas for military). I told them I could go buy a brand new $50,000 vehicle without any money ever changing hands and leave with the vehicle. They said NO! I complained and argued for over an hour and told them I wanted to speak to the manager. Once I spoke to the manager and told him that the bank (USAA) was overnighting the check and it would be there the following day, he said no problem, USAA is a great bank and he never had any issues with them. So OK I figured we should be out of there soon, that was at 3:00. Next they said they are charging the battery. We walked around for another hour. An hour later they called us into an office and finished filling out the rest of the paper work. OK should be ready to go now. NOPE! They were still prepping the bike. So we walked around for another hour killing time. My patience was very short by this time. The main reason I wanted to get out of there early was because of the rush hour traffic around DC and Baltimore! 6:30 we were finally on our way home, we still had some rush hour traffic to deal with at that time but I am sure it could have been a lot worse (I have experienced it). We arrived back at home at 11:45 after only making a couple quick stops for fuel and one quick meal. Needless to say I would NOT go out of my way to ever go back there. Has anyone else had dealings with them? Anyway I am proud to see my boy want and buy a Triumph even though it is a crotch rocket. Clinton Cycles Triumph

Hmmmmm...."Clinton" Cycles ya say, Ron?! And it's around the D.C. area ya say too, huh?!

Well, I'm just guessin' here ya understand, BUT I think your FIRST mistake might've been not establishing from the getgo what the term "is" exactly meant when that manager told ya the bike "IS" now ready for pickup at 3pm!!!!

(BTW...I've ridden one of those 675s, and if I were, say, 25 years younger, well, I'd DEFINITELY have one of those babies in my garage too...it's an amazing bike...tell your son congratulations on his choice...oh, and to ALWAYS respect the power that baby can put out, and to ride safely and within his capabilities at all times!!!)

Yeah,Id say Id never go there after hearing that fiasco.I bought my bike at Martins motorsport here in good ole Pennsyltucky.I was there for all of 1 hr,had the bike loaded by them into my uhaul that required refit to tie the bike down,I bought a cover and a tender.That is how a deal should be done ,quick and happy.Spread the word about pain in the ****** dealers as well as the good ones.

Yeah, Clinton has a rep for poor service, but you won't need that. Any reason why he didn't use Butler Cycles near Pittsburgh? That guy seemed like the geuniune article. We have a few members near Butler that always seem very pleased.
One of the Clinton sales guys used to belong here, but I guess he moved on (he had the purple bike with the crazy long Specialty Spares pipes).

+ 1 million on the horror that is the Clinton Cycle sales department. Similar mess when I bought the new Speedy... First they haggled and delayed over 50 bucks on my trade, followed by finding out that I could not take the bike that day because I had to have insurance on that vin before it left the dealer ( um... No) add one week till I could get back there and they still didn't have the paperwork ready, add three hours, new paperwork... Wrong bike. Wait wait wait more new paperwork,take bike home.... But there's more, a week later, they call saying they wrote up a 2009 but the bike in my garage is a 2010, so I need to sign a new loan because the incentives were only good for 09 models.... (sure, I'll bec" right there to do that") Another two weeks for them to chop the numbers to make the contract work and 10 minutes of yelling until they bring me the papers at my house ( and fork over 100 bucks off 1st service) before it's "done".
At least the service dept is decent, and parts are always on sale (+10% military discount)
Sorry, but welcome to the club... You're not alone.

Sorry about your fiasco but good news on another Triumph in the family!

Dwight, I haven't ridden it yet but I will! I am actually looking forward to see what a bike that size feels like with 125 horsepower. And as far as respect for the bike, On the 4 1/2 hour trip to the dealer I talked to him in length about riding and safety on the new bike. He had a little 250 Ninja that he was used to riding. I told him this will be a big difference in power and to be extra careful until he has more experience riding the new bike. He is ready and looking forward to go riding with me this weekend and so am I!

The only reason we went to Clinton Cycles was that they had a brand new leftover and he saved over a thousand dollars buying there but I wouldn't do it again. They claim to be the number 2 Triumph Sales dealer in the US but with service like we got I find that hard to believe. I did notice alot of what I would call riff raff walking around there too. Just a strange place, not used to dealing with a place like that.

I like the dealerships that are closer to home but they did not have any leftovers like he was looking for. European Motorcycles of Pittsburgh and Triumph of Windber are alot better places to deal with, especially after dealing with Clinton Cycles. My boy is happy and that is the main thing at this point!

They had their own RAT pack, the "DC Rats" (shocker..) but there were so many service/other problems they broke away from the dealership. It is a very "urban" dealership. They do promote Triumph heavily, and show up at any and all events with a full lineup. Too bad they can't follow thru.

I have purchased 3 triumphs from clinton cycles all from Kasey, who is a member(not active) here.
I got a good deal on all my bikes, Thanks Kasey.
but he no longer works there.
they are a bit too busy with there used bikes and jap brands to have good customer service.
they had a good service dept. but it has been 3 years since I have been there.

I just find it hard to believe they sell as many bikes as they do with the service new customers seem to get (My experience anyway). I am glad I don't have to deal with any dealers in my area like that ZOO. But the ordeal is over as long as we don't find out that they titled the wrong bike or something. Never again!!!

Add crappy parts department to the list.
Spent 2 hours ( even though I had a list with part numbers) too find out that of 17 Genuine Triumph parts on my list, they had NONE!
And, no more discounts for anyone (military or other, not even RAT)
sooo... Anygood dealers within 100 miles of souther MD?

I noticed you said you were charged set up and freight fees, I've worked in a dealership and with other dealerships for 12 years setting up bikes and doing accessory installations. The dirty little secret is the manufacturer covers freight and setup costs. I can't say what Triumph pays for set up but $70/hour is pretty much standard for other manufacturers. The typical cruiser bike takes about an hour to set up and service, with no accessories, if you actually work on it, book time is usually double the actual time required for an experienced tech to do the job, again if he works at it. So in addition to what they charged you they got $150 or so from Triumph to set the bike up.
In short set up fees and freight charges are just used to pad the bottom line, if you see a price that's to good to be true you can bet it'll be way higher by the time the paper work is done, due to the addition of fake fees such as these. The dealer I worked at has NEVER in over 43 years of business charged either fee. Their advertised prices were higher than others but ad price plus tax and registration fees were typically 500 to 1000$ less than the actual price the dealers advertising lowball prices would let you get out the door for.
To bad they aren't a Triumph dealer.
Anyway congratulations on the new Triumph on the family.

Only an idiots in the vehicle sales business wouldn't know USAA banking and insurance is gold, especially located close to a AFB. Congrats on the the new Triumph, that one is bad ******.