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Rick Mayer MIA...has MY seat and MY money

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Not that I want to stir the fire, but just to share some more information...

At our rally in Gillette several years ago, I stopped by Rick's setup to check out what he had going on.
Certainly a rally can be a high-stress environment for any vendor, especially considering that he has to deal with a thousand lookie-loos in addition to actual customers (real and potential), but he was pretty rude to me.

I saw another guy (shortly after my encounter) get into a shouting match with him; what little I saw indicated that Rick over-reacted to the guy's presence and really blew his temper.

I bought a seat from brother Bill (Rocky) in 2006 - never again. I did a ride-in; first customer of the day. He was loud, pompous, and over-bearing, and insisted that "this is what you need". He built it "his" way in spite of my strong and repeated request for certain modifications after a test ride and before he attached the top cover. He was quite anxious to shoo me out of there since another rider had shown up for his appointment. Subsequent requests for rework were blatantly brushed off. (And by the way, I'm very happy with the rework that Cee Bailey's did for me.)

I've talked with many local riders who have been to his shop - every single one agrees with my perception of Bill's attitude; satisfaction varies a lot: if you have a standard butt, he builds a decent seat, but if you have a special need or request, he ain't listening.
 
Hodadd said:
I dunno, but when your own brother (Bill Mayer) and a top employee (Seth Laam) distance themselves and in the case of Bill, won't talk to him or even mention his name there's a problem. BTW, both Bill and Laam have outstanding reputations on other motorcycle forums.
Click to expand...

To the best of my knowledge, Bill and Rick have recently worked to resolve their differences.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that the difficulties between the half-brothers are a one-way street.

I could easily give you a number of negative stories about Rocky and his business practices, but i will refrain. Suffice it to say that neither party has been entirely blame-free.
 
bikerfish1100 said:
To the best of my knowledge, Bill and Rick have recently worked to resolve their differences.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that the difficulties between the half-brothers are a one-way street.

I could easily give you a number of negative stories about Rocky and his business practices, but i will refrain. Suffice it to say that neither party has been entirely blame-free.
Click to expand...

I really don't care to know about their personal problems, even though life is full of them. What I do want to know is that companies that advertise in the Owners News will stand behind their product and provide customer service. Something that is obviously lacking from Rick Mayer.
 
Makes me glad I bought a Sargent seat. No hassles, quick delivery, great seat. Not custom fitted, but it worked well off the shelf and it sounds like custom fitted can be problem with one or both of the Mayers anyway.

pete

"No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich." - Louis Sabin
 
been there done that

I won't bore you with the lengthy play by play, but in 2012 I kept a transactional record of emails, phone calls, etc from him.
It was ugly and lasted many months. I finally did get the seat after many months. My deposit took several more months to get back.
The final product was only so-so on the workmanship.

I really wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I don't like calling someone a liar, but the inconsistency in the email chain indicates that to be true.
Just so many excuses they can't keep the story straight.

I would avoid at all costs.
 
Many years ago, I lived in a little town in northern CA, which was the next one over from where Bill Mayer Sr. opened up his shop in Beiber, CA. I used to go over on Saturdays and have coffee with him. He was always trying to talk me into letting him build a seat for me but I'd tell him that if I could do 1,000 mile plus days on the stock seat, I couldn't afford the luxury of a custom seat (money was pretty tight in those days). At that time Rick was working in the shop building seats with him. They made a pretty good team. I met Rick and his family at that time. I never saw Rocky working in the Beiber shop. Following Bill Sr's passing, I know there were issues with continuing the business of seat building in the Bill Mayer name, and Rick went off on his own with his own brand name. Eventually I succumbed to the need for a custom seat for my '00 R1100RS, so contacted Rick and made arrangements to ship from Idaho. Though delivery ran a little long, maybe several weeks, the product arrived for the riding season and the workmanship and fit are outstanding. Sorry to hear of Rick's personal issues and problems following through with the product delivery. Hope that he can make it through this period and get back on track because he is a real craftsman, skills and knowledge passed on to him by his father.
 
na1g said:
Makes me glad I bought a Sargent seat. No hassles, quick delivery, great seat. Not custom fitted, but it worked well off the shelf and it sounds like custom fitted can be problem with one or both of the Mayers anyway.
Click to expand...

I don't think its both Mayers.

I got a Bill Mayer Seat last year, through the mail, on time and perfect.
 
And so to recap or summarize, those who had good service are happy. The ones who are still waiting for the seat promised back in February, unable to ride their bike, unable to get a reply to countless emails, unable to get a return phone call form messages left on the machine (when the machine is not on "fax"mode)......Not so much.

For all good will he may have generated in past years. he can't be bothered to correct the current situation.

About 45 days ago, he did reply to a previous thread, (where he asked for understanding and compassion) by explaining his personal problems... so why can't he find time to answer subsequent emails from customers still waiting (Months) for their seat????

My friend is till waiting, with no response to endless attempts to contact him, and not knowing if he will ever get his seat back, is having to search for a replacement seat just to be able to ridd his bike.

So far, he is out his original seat and pan PLUS the money paid by check and cashed back in Feb.

The originator of this thread asked if MOA could help, since ads are in each issue of the Owners News.
Apparently the answer is "NO"

Al
 
And in case anyone missed the post from Rick Mayer on Mar. 20th..........in a previous and now closed thread.

Quote:


I regret that my personal changes have affected my business-after 32 years I filed for divorce in January and had to relocate my shop-and redefine my life to a large degree-I regret that a number of customer orders have been affected during this change. It has been a personal struggle of mine to regain some sense of order, and I hope the community at large, and Mr. Garcia and others whose ship date is overdue in particular will not only grant some degree of compassion, and understanding, but also enjoy their saddle in the end. I intend on shipping all orders scheduled for February by the end of the month, and by mid April be fully caught up so that everyone can enjoy their motorcycles once again.

I have been in the community a long time, yet I know for each customer that does not know me, their first experience is the one they will most likely remember and in that regard I regret any less-than-positive experiences.

Thank you all for your understanding.

Rick

end of quote"


And in spite of the promise made over 45 days ago , still no word, no answer about a seat that was originally supposed to ship first week in MARCH......

Al (making a plea to remove Rick Mayer Cycles ads from the monthly editions of the Owners News)

Rightly or wrongly, and ad in the ON is an endorsement for the company.
 
alfreeland said:
And in case anyone missed the post from Rick Mayer on Mar. 20th..........in a previous and now closed thread.

Quote:


I regret that my personal changes have affected my business-after 32 years I filed for divorce in January and had to relocate my shop-and redefine my life to a large degree-I regret that a number of customer orders have been affected during this change. It has been a personal struggle of mine to regain some sense of order, and I hope the community at large, and Mr. Garcia and others whose ship date is overdue in particular will not only grant some degree of compassion, and understanding, but also enjoy their saddle in the end. I intend on shipping all orders scheduled for February by the end of the month, and by mid April be fully caught up so that everyone can enjoy their motorcycles once again.

I have been in the community a long time, yet I know for each customer that does not know me, their first experience is the one they will most likely remember and in that regard I regret any less-than-positive experiences.

Thank you all for your understanding.

Rick

end of quote"


And in spite of the promise made over 45 days ago , still no word, no answer about a seat that was originally supposed to ship first week in MARCH......

Al (making a plea to remove Rick Mayer Cycles ads from the monthly editions of the Owners News)

Rightly or wrongly, and ad in the ON is an endorsement for the company.
Click to expand...

+1, Gunny; his ad shouldn't be in Owners News, he should be banned from ON ads!
 
2bikemike said:
I really don't care to know about their personal problems, even though life is full of them. What I do want to know is that companies that advertise in the Owners News will stand behind their product and provide customer service. Something that is obviously lacking from Rick Mayer.
Click to expand...

Since it's been said many times that "WE" are a social club, perhaps you need small claims court & not MOA advertising consideration?:brow

not that I disagree with #73...
 
fastrph97 said:
I got a message on Friday that said it would go out Saturday or Monday at the latest. It's Monday and I have not received any shipping confirmation. :banghead
Click to expand...

Well, any updates from anyone still waiting??

Like I said, on May 2 I heard from Rick, here's what he said:

It is on my becn for pick up sat or mon at the latest Chris-sorry to have run so late.

Rick

I don't know WTF a becn is but apparently that's where he says my seat is. It's 8 days later now...still no seat...no tracking number...nothing. Interesting thing is I contacted him multiple ways. No response from his customer service email (now there's an oxymoron) but he responded to the new sales email (apparently no problem picking up new 'business').

This is bull****. I'm all for compassion but my money and my seat was not a charitable donation...it was a business transaction. We all have our struggles. I happen to have my own & I really don't need this **** right now. [It's nobody's business but my mom is battling leukemia in Atlanta. I live in WI. It would be really nice (& therapeutic for me) if I could ride my motorcycle down there instead of my car...but I can't because of this ****.] I cut him a little slack back in March but now it's May. The expectations of production & delivery were not created by me, they were created by RMC.
 
This has been discussed for 75 posts over a period of 12 days - and nobody has mentioned that the BMW MOA has a volunteer Consumer Liaison whose efforts are specifically intended to be of help in situations such as this.

From Page 6 of the current (May, 2014) BMW Owners News:

"BMW MOA Volunteer Staff
Jim Wright - Consumer Liaison
10 Hillswick Drive, Tryon, NC 28782
828-817-9135; wrightjkwright@gmail.com


So, in direct answer to the original post, and to anybody else that currently has an overdue seat from Rick, if you contact Jim Wright there probably is some help that the BMW MOA can provide you. When you contact Jim please be as specific as you can so he has hard facts to help intervene in this business relationship on your behalf.
 
This thread is like watching a bad accident.....you know you should look away but you can't. And does anyone really think the BMW MOA liaison is really going to get him to change his behavior? What are they going to do to him not take his advertising dollar? What leverage does liaison have that the consumer doesn't have? The guy has no integrity and has an excuse for everything.....no accountability. If he hasn't learned those values by now he never will......time too stop looking at the accident. Good luck to those of you subject to his crap.
 
moralem said:
This thread is like watching a bad accident.....you know you should look away but you can't. And does anyone really think the BMW MOA liaison is really going to get him to change his behavior? What are they going to do to him not take his advertising dollar? What leverage does liaison have that the consumer doesn't have? The guy has no integrity and has an excuse for everything.....no accountability. If he hasn't learned those values by now he never will......time too stop looking at the accident. Good luck to those of you subject to his crap.
Click to expand...

I think the point being that blowing off anger on the forum doesn't really help the situation. Contacting the liaison might actually help as it would organize the complaints a little and help unify it under the MOA name. I agree these complaints read like a horror story which is odd since I had a complete opposite and good experience with Rick. Granted, I dd a ride in appointment and the trend seems to be those go well while the mail order business suffers.
 
natrab said:
I think the point being that blowing off anger on the forum doesn't really help the situation. Contacting the liaison might actually help as it would organize the complaints a little and help unify it under the MOA name. I agree these complaints read like a horror story which is odd since I had a complete opposite and good experience with Rick. Granted, I dd a ride in appointment and the trend seems to be those go well while the mail order business suffers.
Click to expand...

+1.
 
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