I don't care about the Walton's personally. what it is now, is cheap shit for cheap people. That's fine, i get it. But i choose not to patronize them for what I have seen them do to small communities 1st hand. that's my thing, I don't expect to convince anybody, but they never see my money.
As far as shops, usually it boils down to management, hiring barely if at all skilled techs. Lack of parts inventories for even basic service items for current models, IMHO, is inexcusable. and that's where a lot of the waiting come from, even from 3-4 yrs ago. I have wrenched for money, on a professional level, for bike shops and car dealerships and private shops, most many years ago. Last shop i was at between 2 gigs for a few months (3), was an independent shop, mostly harley stuff but i did most of the japanese bikes, and i enjoyed it. I then did Saturdays only there for another 6 mos. The owner cared, and wanted quality work. that made all the difference. I also did some of the harley stuff as well.
The local dealership, when it went under new management/ownership approached me to run the service department. I asked the owner what his tech rate of pay was, and of course what my salary would be. He was surprised I asked about the tech pay, and when he answered me, I declined the jobs primarily because, and i quote 'you'll never get a tech worth a shit to work for that amount of money'. and, i was right. their service department is awful. I also wasn't going to work for what he was offering, but that was besides the point. Maybe when i retire. But most dealerships see service as a 'necessary evil'. its weird. and it certainly didn't used to be this way.
Local shops though, can be hit or miss, but we have a very good one here, and I will use him to mount tires and occasionally balance wheels, because I hate doing it. He's slam full but gets work done quicker than the dealership and does great quality work. I've actually done some side jobs for him on vintage bikes, mostly to help him out. But doing it for a paycheck isn't any fun, to me. I like my easy engineering job and do all this stuff as a hobby. Best advice is to find a local shop that actually gives a shit, usually a conversation with the shop foreman or owner tells you what you need to know.
