Looking for opinions

jroberts

Sorry for your bad experience. It is absolutely incredible that a dealer would have such gross neglect for a boat in there care. In this market it is crucial
for dealers to go the extra mile to do more service work and attract new customers. You are probubly right this dealer will not last long with an attitude like that. SC should be on top of this since its the only dealer in the area. Your next boat wont be coming from them unless they make good on this. If you don't get satifaction by the start of the season I think you should
tell all using names, dates and pictures on all the forums . good Luck

Thanks for all the responses and PMs, especially Sandm and Benson. I was hoping that someone would eventually take an oppossing viewpoint. My take on it is this: I know that some people are far more paranoid than I am, and would have called all the time to make sure that their boat (or car, or whatever) was being treated in the way that they expected. In this case, that paranoia would have been well founded, and would have paid off for them.
If i would have dropped it off at "Fred the mechanic", who works out of his garage and charges me $20 an hour, then I would have been more paranoid as well. But, I really do not have the time to screw around with that. This is why I took it to THE dealer, and am willing to pay a premium for expertise and professional services that is far beyond what Fred would charge me. Each time that I have had this dealer perform winterization and scheduled maintenance, my bill has been in excess of $1000.00. If he suggested it, I did it; no questions asked.
If he would have called me because he had no room, I would've come to get it. If I would've found the boat with an old cover over it I would not have been thrilled, but I would not have pressed the issue either. If it would've had to be taken outside uncovered from time-to-time to make room for other projects- well, OK. But the absolute and utter disregard with which my boat was treated is almost incomprehensible to me. And then, to be cursed at and berated when I merely asked that dealer to help me look it over for possible damages-- ??

How much does it cost to get a boat winterized? What other problems were
found? I do all the maintenance on my boat the only time it was at the dealer was when it was new to get a few bugs out. I haven't kept up with repair rates. After reading your post I couldn't sleep at night knowing my boat was in someone else's care.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jroberts

Each time that I have had this dealer perform winterization and scheduled maintenance, my bill has been in excess of $1000.00. If he suggested it, I did it; no questions asked.

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What was the charge just for the winterization? If it was a large percentage of the $1,000, then I'd find someplace else regardless. Full winterization for me was $175. That included oil & filter and whatever else they do at 50 hrs.

50.00 an hr is CHEAP . Our dealer is 115.00 hr. Winterization is about 375.00. Thats why i do my own.

Sorry misread your 50hrs as per hr but the rest still applies.

Everyone,
I have read all the responses to the service issue this particular individual has with my dealership. I must say, as a person trying to earn a living in the marine industry, most of the replies seem very angry in nature. I always try to hear both sides before I condem someone. From the overall responses on this issue, that does not seem to be the norm.
I will not waist your all's time with our point of view, because it does not seem that you want to hear the facts as the happened. The fact that this boat was brought to us after Thanksgiving to be winterized, in very questionable condition. It was dirty. The fact that several conversations took place between my employees, and this person. The fact that we told the person several times after the previous employee left, that we do not keep boats inside that are not paying for indoor storage. I have to keep my own boats outside. The fact that a cover was not left with the boat, and my employees ask the person to bring us one. But, I am not hear to argue.
My reason for speaking up is this. As the marine industry changes so do we as dealers and or manufacturers. We must be more efficient, and grasp every dollar It is not, nor has it ever been my goal to have people dislike my business. I have found in my short 25 years of experience, that happy customers tend to spend more. This person, has called every employee I have a liar. He has given his opinion that I am going under. I did not know my accountant shared my financials with this person. He has been very hard to do a normal business transaction with. As an earlier response stated, there has only been one other complaint about my dealership in the thousands of customers we have serviced for Skier's Choice. And yes, I probably could have handled that better. In short, the customer drove past my strore and bought from a non-local dealer, then wanted warranty repair from me. Instead of asking why he went elsewhere, I told him to take the boat there for service. After looking at ourselves, I came to terms that we needed to work a little harder to keep that from happening again. I was wrong in that case. And as we got to know the customer from servicing his boat, our relationship grew. He ended up trading the boat in on a new Launch22ssv and continues to spend money here. I want customers to be happy with us. My employees also want to continue to earn customers respect. But, sometimes we just can't make everyone happy. It is not resonable in my opinion for someone to expect indoor storage while their boat is being serviced. I do not have enough room for it. As I stated earlier, my own boats have to sit outside. How do we discriminate on who goes inside and who does not? Do you want to be the one outside? No. That is why we tell everyone, we do not promise inside storage for service. We treat everyone the same. Please understand that most dealers want to make customers happy. I, we all ask, that before you pass judgement based on unverifiable statements, you just look both ways. To all, we are still in business, and will continue to do good work for a fair and reasonable price.
As a side note, even though this person has still not made payment, I have offered to clean his boat myself. I will not require my employees to, because they did try to get him to bring a cover. The followed every procedure we have in place to prevent such an issue.
It would not be fair for them to have clean this guys boat. Therefore, to prevent any additional slander to my business, waisted time for Skier's Choice, I will do the cleaning.
Pass judgement on that.

George Armour,
President, Lakota Watersports Inc.

Sounds to me like the customer had an arrangement to avoid having his boat put outside but it was made with a guy who left the employ of the dealer in the meantime and the boat got put outside. So the question is if the employee is permitted to speak for the dealer and if the customer is supposed to be able to take him at his word and expect the dealer to honor it. I don't believe for a minute that the boat owner was told his boat would be left outside and was asked for a cover and he agreed to this and failed to provide a cover. Better try again.

there's 3 sides to this story. the customers, the boat dealers and the truth. we will all never know the truth to this story.
bottom line, pissed off customer, dealer trying to save face and a dirty boat.

I will commend the dealer for trying to clean it, and hope that the owner takes him up on it, that ultimately ends in a better relationship, and a dealer that does a better job managing his employees. it really boils down to 2 things. a dealer that doesn't begin to look at what is in his yard, irregardless of what his employees are telling customers, and a boat owner that doesn't have enough pride in his machine to visit the dealer at least once, and is naieve enough to think that he can get inside winter storage for free.....

again, hope this has a happy ending, but I doubt it..
let the internet bashing continue :)

I bought my boat from this dealer and haven't had any problems. Being familar with the dealer and his operation, your statement that the dealer doesn't know what is in his yard is ridiculous. Just driving up to his shop he would know exactly what boats are there. I would say that he has room for 20 boats max outside his facility. I can't understand a boat owner who lives in the same city as his dealer and didn't drive by or check on his boat from december to march. My boat is 500 miles away so I don't have this option and by the way this dealer has been very helpful even though he knows my boat probably won't come back for service at his shop.