RIDING ACADEMY REVIEW:
PLEASE DO NOT GO TO THIS RIDING ACADEMY if you want a true New Rider Course learning experience. The instructors here only want to pencil-whip the endorsements. I used to be a major supporter of this dealership since Hammond H-D was closed, but I do not think I can continue to do so as a result of this experience; nor could I support Freedom H-D in Baton Rouge since both are franchise-owned by Mike Bruno.My fiance needs to obtain his endorsement for his job in law enforcement since his department is planning to expand their motorcycle division. I highly respected Northshore H-D, and I recommended he go here to get the education and certification he had been seeking for years now since Hammond H-D in our hometown was closed. The experience he went through has been heartbreaking, as I now have a whole new perspective on franchise-owned dealerships; but has also become expensive since he will be going to another academy in order to get what he needs.
Here we go:
When my fiance went to the class the first time, he was having a few issues here and there trying to adjust to the HDX bike and gain stability. Instead of working with him and addressing any issues beforehand, or offering assistance and feedback or how to adjust, they told him to go home and reschedule because they "didn't have time to deal with him since it was a large class (10 people)." He was slightly offended at this and extremely confused because he was under the expectation that these "instructors" would be there to help him. He never became hostile or belligerent, he simply continued to express his confusion as to why he was being kicked out of the class within 45 minutes of being there after paying $200 for an education. The instructor over the class then told him, "Look, I see you're law enforcement, so I imagine you know what's going to happen when I call the cops to get you out of here." What made this comment necessary? He was confused as to why he paid $200 for a New Rider Course that explains the following on the Northshore H-D Riding Academy site: "Never ridden before? Want to get your license? The New Rider Course will lead you through the steps to learn to ride a motorcycle and get you on the road... Learn to ride on a genuine Harley-Davidson® motorcycle; Learn to safely accelerate, shift, brake, and turn, along with maneuvers like controlling skids and surmounting riding obstacles." First of all, most people cannot LEARN something if they are not TAUGHT properly. As a high school educator, I can speak from experience. I would NEVER let my shop students touch our various saw tools until they know the fundamentals of it, watch a few demonstrations with explanations, and have me right at their side to provide guidance and feedback. None of this was provided to him during his first jab at the class. The only thing given to him was hollering, complaining, condescending commentary, and extremely unnecessary threats. Unacceptable.
We called H-D Support over the issue, and this was the true "education" of the entire experience. The person we spoke to was ready to solve the issue and give a refund for the course so we could try elsewhere, until she found out it was a franchise dealership. She explained to us the following points:
-H-D provides the framework and expectations for their riding academies. However, they do not have control over what the franchise dealerships decide to do with that information, and many of those academies tend to either make minor changes or major overhauls to the New Rider Course.
-The franchise-owned dealers/riding academies are notorious for kicking people out of the classes and telling them to keep coming back when they "have more time to work with you." Some people have called H-D Support with complaints of being told to leave and reschedule their classes up to 5 TIMES!
-They cannot provide ANY REFUNDS for the franchise-owned riding academies. The dealership themselves has full control over refunds, and Northshore H-D refused to do so; explaining he would have to come back the following weekend for another class. As a police officer, his schedule has him working every other weekend; making it extremely difficult to play this rescheduling game with the instructors. read more