Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

cant be sued if all comments are factual and unbaised.

not that i agree with someone stating the obvious

I'm not objecting to it over lawsuit fears. I'm objecting to it, because it's obvious I didn't want to identify the workshop. If they did a lousy job, or ripped me off - sure I'd name and shame. But they did a great job.

I just wanted to discuss the issue of businesses putting advertising on your property without permission.

Edited to clarify: Without the sticker issue, I would be posting a good review of them. With the sticker issue, I'm ambivalent. Therefore, I didn't want to give them any publicity at all, good or bad. Too late now

Blurr: Correct and factual hasn't stopped either of those two cases i know of going ahead. Regardless of if your incorrectly sued or not, unfortunately the only people that come out on top due to fee's are the lawyers.

Cath: I'm not overly paranoid as it's not something unreasonable to be mildly pissed about. I could also see that you were just after a general concensus/opinion and weren't trying to name/shame in the remotest way. It still didn't stop Owen opening his gob and giving me reason to voice my (although minor) concerns.

But lawsuit fears or not, I still have seen people sued for the most trivial crap and it cost the recipient real world money to defend themselves, claims warranted or otherwise. Until defamation laws are changed to be more realistic i would rather err on the side of caution when it comes to negative commentary just to try and sidestep the headaches.

Bike shops putting their names on MY bike shit me to tears, I even take off the damned number plate surrounds, and thats ALWAYS the first thing I do when i get the bike home

As for stickers, it hasnt happened yet, and if it ever does ill be making them peel them off with their teeth

Speaking of Americanisation "Pissed"!, this is Aus, It's Pissed off!!
If I slip up with with a American saying.........please point it out people

No - Maam.......... "Men Against American Masterhood"
Wear your pants around your arse by all means, but at least speak properly like what I do

Mike - SixAddict may have said who they were - but only to those who already know.
He gave initials, and I still don't know who we're talking about.
So I didn't seen any need to remove/modify his post.

Yeah well he's removed it now anyway (Thanks for that). I figured something coming of it would be a slim shot, but thought id mention it "in case".

Cath wrote:Today I got my bike serviced at a new place and now there's a little sticker sitting on my chain guard...
I just thought I'd see what other people think about this practice.

I would feel violated...

Hey Cath, This must have ticked you off a bit, as you didn't appear to attack it with your usual logic. It sounds like your wasting a potentially good relationship maybe?? So they put a sticker on, which was not asked for nor permission granted, but they did a ripper job with the bike, the bill and the courtesy! Why not have a chat with them!! Let them know.."Hey, I don't like that stuff....everything else is great but.." and see how they deal with it. If they do your next service and no sticker appears, then nothing lost. If they sticker it, try plan C again! While I'm not a fan of stickers, I'll just remove them in front of the workshop and stick em in the worshops bin. I just let em know I don't like it and they generally don't do it again.

Is a bit of a catch-22 ....I can see both side's.

IMO Chainguard tollerable but would let them know if I didn't like it.Fairing they wouldn't see my buiseness again ....

Maybe just let them know you wern't happy with it and you don't want them to do it again...Ya don't want to shoot yourself in the foot over a sticker

Stickers are just rude. By all means, give me some stickers with your company logo and I will probably put them somewhere but do not put them on my baby. I do not have any sponsors and am happy that I can have a beautiful clean looking bike, devoid of any blemishes/stickers. Respect my ride & you will get return business!

I understand where you're coming from Strika, and if they were in a convenient location that I had a long-term arrangement with, I would. Don't forget, I paid top dollar for a shitty service at my usual place, had a polite chat with them and took it back to give them a second chance, so I'm not averse to letting things slide or working around things. But when there's another two or three workshops that I have heard good things of, in a similar level of convenience from me, why bother - why not just try another shop?

DISCO wrote: Ya don't want to shoot yourself in the foot over a sticker

I don't see it as shooting myself in the foot. I tried this workshop out, based on feedback from some people I respect. I also had good feedback for other places - I could've easily tried the other place first and I wouldn't have posted this thread (unless they were also in the "deface a customer's property for my own benefit" mindset). Why not try the other places? If the other places suck, I can always go back to this place and ask for no stickers, but realistically, it's not like there's a shortage of bike workshops. And if it gives me an incentive to learn how to do at least the minor services myself, why not? I don't see how I'm shooting myself in the foot at all.

It's not just a sticker, in my mind. I may be overstating the issue, but to me it's also an attitude towards the customer. I willingly give great kudos, internet postings and word-of-mouth advertising if a business treats me well. I try to praise as often as I complain. But by chucking a sticker on my bike, they've guaranteed I won't be recommending them to others.
I wonder if they know the result of their stickers? For every person like me, I bet there are 5 who rip the stickers off their bikes and forget about it, and maybe one who leaves it on there.

As a mechanic, I don't have this problem, but a workshop I used to work for decided to try the get-some-stickers-made-&-stick-them-on-the-customers-car-without-asking trick. The VERY FIRST sticker the boss stuck on was met with "I assume I don't have to pay for the service now that I'm advertising your workshop for you?"
Needless to say, that was enough to make him ASK thereafter.

So long as they didn't put it on paint I wouldn't be too bothered. I wouldn't leave it there, because I don't like stickers of any sort, but I wouldn't spoil the relationship if the service was good.

I've had a similar deal with places washing my cars after they service them. Sure it makes some customers feel good but I'm anal about my vehicles. Thus the first year apprentice using the shitty sponge and Chamois to wash my car and scratch the buggery out of it doesn't impress me. I always ask them not to when I drop it in though.