I'm in Illinois about a 3 hour ride away, and tried to buy a Yamaha XSR that Kendallville had…read morelisted on their website. This is a long but detailed story with some red flags for this dealer to be aware about if you're not a local buying from them. I called on a Fri afternoon, and talked to Nolan. He explained their dealer policy is to require a $1000 non-refundable deposit to place a hold on a bike, but would allow it to otherwise be held for me if I was travelling that day to come get it. I said I wasn't willing to risk riding 3 hours there and not liking something about the Yamaha or the deal and having them pocket $1000. That sounds ridiculous. With the understanding that it could sell to someone else at any time, I sent them my Finance app on Fri at 6pm. On Sat morning, I asked for a bill of sale and how it was going with getting my financing approved. Sat went by without them getting in touch with their bank. I was told they'll hear from their bank on Mon morning so I told them I'd be there Mon. On Mon morning when they opened, I let Nolan know I've got my own bike all packed up, paperwork ready, 2 keys, extra seat, owners manual, etc... and ready to hit the road to their dealership as I took the day off work to go buy the Yamaha from them once the financing is approved as I expected there wouldn't be an issue with getting approved. Salesperson then told me that their bank won't finance someone from Illinois, and multiple other states. They stopped doing business with their national bank, and don't have any way to finance out of state deals like mine. They apparently couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me this on Fri or Sat despite me sending them my finance application on Fri. They told me to instead get my own financing, and they would hold the bike today if I could still come in today (Monday). Otherwise, they wanted $500 non refundable to hold the bike beyond Monday. Actual text: "Just spoke to my manager and he said he'll hold for $500 if you can't make it today." I asked them to hold it as "sales pending for me today" as I was heading to my credit union to secure my own financing as Kendallville instructed me to do. I said I'd also like a phone call from the manager (Channing) about that non-refundable policy as I'd appreciate a reasonable explanation about it. Meanwhile I went right to my credit union to get my loan expedited so I could still ride out there today, or otherwise make plans to reluctantly put up $500 to hold it, or make another arrangement with Channing pending his return call to me as I'd requested. Nolan texted that he'd "put a hold tag on it, do our best to not let it sell, and if someone starts to show interest, let me know" since his manager Channing was out to lunch and would call me when he returns. Nearly 2 hours pass with no phone call from Channing. Instead, a call from Nolan telling me that "sorry, some guy from Indianapolis just came and bought the Yamaha from one of our other salesperson while we were both at lunch". Really? So much for their word about holding it the same day for me, putting a hold tag on it, or Channing even calling me back with any sense of urgency. I was then told by Channing that I should have put the non-refundable deposit down to hold the bike for today, and that's my fault for planning to ride out there to buy it on their word that they were holding it today for me. Takeaways of this dealer: Their sales guy got hosed out of a deal and another one got commission from sniping the deal. Their manager Channing, would not call me directly until *after* they sold the bike to another customer that had come in later. They don't apparently communicate in their CRM or use hold tags properly to let other employees know that a deal is pending on a bike. And then instead of taking responsibility for having a ridiculous policy about non-refundable deposits and not honoring their word to hold the bike today for me as I'm ready to ride out there, instead blame me as an out of state buyer for Kendallville's own inability to provide financing for a customer from a bordering state, and for me as a customer not trusting a dealer with a non-refundable deposit. A dealer that has now clearly demonstrated reasons to NOT trust them with anything that isn't in writing... Kendallville may service their other customers just fine 70%+ of the time, but Channing and owners really need to re-examine how they should help make a sale happen instead of finding ways to make it difficult, delay it, and eventually kill it. I also gave Channing an opportunity to explain to me why they should get more than a 1 star review from me, and well, you can tell how that went. Hope someone there learns from the way this whole thing unraveled and went sour. Oh, and for those that have read this far: Ask for a $500 deposit if they tell you $1000, as clearly they'll deviate from their own "policy" when it suits them.

Happy with my purchase! You want a seamless transaction from start to finish go see them!read more