Are Dealers Ruining The Moomba Brand

Ok so I need some help with this one. I recently discovered Moomba boats and think they have a huge niche offering so much value for the price......Only then to find out that my local (only dealer in the state) moomba dealer is SOLD out through the end of the summer and is not any help getting me the boat I want. Not to mention that this dealer in perticular, because their is such a demand in the area I live jacks their price way up....so I might as well buy a malibu when we talk the prices they are willing to sell for. So I call a few states around to find out that I can get a much better deal from these more reasonable dealers. I found one I like, start to negotiate the price and everything is falling into place. I then made the mistake a calling my local moomba dealer to make sure they could fit me in for the 20 hour and they freaked out that I was going to buy in another state saying that that dealer would loose his license, and I basically had to buy from him and pay his price or he would bring the boat in and I would pay his price. Long story short the guy tracked down the dealer out of state that I was talking to and demanded half of the profit and took any leg I had for negotiating a decent price right out from under me. He did not help me find this boat for 1 second and in fact tried to lie to me and say the engine wouldnt work right in our state. I just think it is CRAP and I wish I could go to moomba.com and order my boat direct!
Anyone have any suggestions?:)

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Originally posted by Ed G
post the name of your local dealer.

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I'm with Ed. Let the market decide.

The dealer's viewpoint, and for that matter, Moomba's viewpoint if indeed its represented accurately in your post (via the dealer) may constitute some sort of restraint of trade violation. This is very, very serious business. Generally, unless schooled properly, local and regional businessmen can get way afoul of the law and not even know it. If you have access to a commercial attorney, maybe through your workplace, you might try to get a read from them laws that might apply.

Id rather not post the name of the dealer at this time because one way or another we are going to buy a moomba this week and I may need service from them eventually. I guess its not really a big deal, their just tring to make money like everyone else. Not the way I would have handled it but, what can ya do.

As for the price. We live in America. Capitalism rules. Why would one prudent person pay more than necesary for the same product, especially when it is UNAVAILIABLE in that state. They wouldnt, that is why competition is such an important element of our economy. If Moomba decided to take that away in thier dealer agreements, I would say that is a huge mistake. To have marketing and no soliciting aggreements is one thing but what my local dealer did was another.:)

I agree with Ed, I think Moomba need to know how this dealer is conducting their business. And I would not take my boat there for service. Good luck and enjoy your new boat.

yea, I almost posted last night that the dealer is important & make a huge difference in your over all experience. We may not know who you are but the dealer sure does.

These boats require TLC now & then. Sometimes from the dealer. Life is too short to deal with difficult people.

SD2

Keep in mind, we are not limited to Moomba dealers for scheduled service on our Indmar engines. Mastercraft and Malibu dealers are also factory authorized Indmar service facilities. You may not get priority one bringing in a Moomba, but I would prefer that to bringing the boat to a shady dealer that has my number.

I believe protected teritories is normal practice in the boating industry (Mastercraft, Malibu, CC, and others operate this way as well). A dealer has a teritory and sells to customers in that teritory. Since the dealer invests money to open their busienss and must sell new boats to remain in business, the manufacturers protect these dealers by limiting other dealers from selling in their teritory. I believe old stock (Prior year models) may not fall under these guidelines.

OK...so what if your local dealer dosnt have a single boat to sell? And wants you to wait 3 months? But you want to be on the lake this weekend? He doesnt offer to help you find one, so you call around to find that no one wants to give you a good price because you live out of state and they will have to pay your local dealer 50%. And why would they want to pay your local dealer 50% when they could sell it themselves. Then you call your local dealer and he all mad that your calling around and says to wait 3 months and order from him. Then is a little grumpy about servicing you boat if you buy somewhere else because SC only pays 60$ an hour instead of the 90$ they normally get for warranty service. Then the mechanics arent happy. Then tells you the other boat stinks from the other dealer. I have been trying to buy this boat for 2 weeks now and am about to give up. I think moombas weakest link are their dealers. Their boat are great. Maybe I am just a big problem....I dont know....maybe I need some sort of boat coach to mentor me through this coplicated process of buyin a Moomba. Maybe SC should offer a 3 month training course so customers will know how to deal with their dealers.

2006LSV, I too had a similar experience with moomba dealers. I have a "local" dealer that is over an hour away (only one in my state) and 3 others within a 3-4 hour drive. I had hit a stalemate in negotations with my local dealer and branched out. One of the dealers outside my state would only offer me a boat at MSRP when I told him where I lived. I basically wished him luck in remaining in business and moved on. Others outside my state were willing to deal but didn't have anything on the lot.

BTW - my "local" dealer is so full of themselves, they will only work on your Moomba/Supra if you buy from them.

In the end, I purchased from my "local" dealer because they had what I wanted on the lot. I have the boat I want - I paid a little too much for it - and I love it! Oh and I keep the boat several hours - in the opposite direction - from my "local" dealer so I take it elsewhere for service...

Scoot_gt. Thanks for your post. Good to hear you havent had any other problems with your local dealer. Im at the point were I think Im going to pay the out of state dealers price(because they have the boat I want) even though I think it is a little too much and then take it to my local MC dealer for most of the service. Im a little worried that if I ever do have a problem and need warranty from the dealer im going to get A big "you should have bought the boat from me" like I told you and no warranty service from him at all. Or I thaught of waiting until winter and getting a better deal...but who wants to wait until winter anyways.

BTW I called my local dealer today to try and work with him, maybe get some help and have him bring a boat in....smooth things through..(i dont know how they werent smooth in the first place)...get some advise and how to find a boat since he dosnt have any.......HE HUNG UP ON ME. Or he pretended...Hello....Hello....are you there...click. Little did he know I was on my home phone...who knows maybe we did get disconectd....still..no call back. I wish this was a bit easier. I just want the dang boat on the lake tomorrow at a price that doesnt make me feel like a got taken advantage of. Is that to much to ask?

It really is too bad. I was, and still am not super happy with my dealer. I do not take the boat there. I take it to a different dealer 2 hrs closer to get any service done. I would have been happy to pull the boat the 2.5 hrs every time to keep my business with them but, they were just not interested. they insisted on over charging me, ignoring my requests....still waiting for the spare impeller and the little black nut that sits on top of the engine to hold the air filter and the plastic down... I ordered it in May....
the only other dealer in the province is 5 hrs away. If and when I upgrade thats where my business is going.

I guess for those of you looking to buy but not wanting to get it through your local dealer... dont give them your personal information that way they cant track if you are buying out of area. They dont know maybe you have a vacation property closer to them than the other dealer. Whatever works..

Sounds like some bad examples. I am not a dealer but think with some creatvity on the dealers part there should be a way to get this done. If not check on restrictions on old stock. Since boat companies are switching to 07 models this time of year 06 will be old stock shortly.

2006,

Without getting the dealer in trouble. You can email me privately on this at [email protected]. I would be glad to delicately look into this.

Rick

FYI

Rick is the president, CEO etc. at Skiers Choice. I have never dealt with him but the wakeboard grapevine gives him very high marks.

I don’t think it would be fair to them to post here and not provide the details when they ask. They want good dealers even more than you do.

SD2

All too often we all give information and advice for issues but we seldom find out the resolution to the problems. I would like to see people that initiate issues at least come back when the problem is resolved and explain what fixed the problem. Whether it's a warrenty issue or fixing a ballast, many of us like to know what worked and I don't see much of that here. I consider it etiquette to explain closure on issues.

Well, Im happy to say that I finally have my 2006 Mobius LSV in my garage!!! It is a sweet boat! I have about 10 hours on it in the last 3 days..and as for the boat the handling, the wake, the power..my family and I love it. Great Value. As for the experience unfortunately it is all very true. With Zero exaggeration. The most frustrating purchase experience I have ever had. In fact I have left out some of the worst most recent details. We ended up twisting a dealers arm (he admittedley told us he did not want to sell us the boat) out of State and paying Full MSRP + Freight and all the extras. Because the dealer was only making half as much on the sale..there was no breaks for us. We did however get 10% off some cleaner. Anyways that wasnt the point..we got the boat we wanted and I will post the conclusion over the next couple of weeks. We are still hoping to get good service form our "local dealer" on the 20 Hour. And Im intested to see how that goes.

At one point we even had a signed purchase agreenment on a boat out of state...they found another buyer that they were going to "make twice as much" and sold the boat to them. Even after we drove 12 hours roundtrip to see the boat, but couldnt bring it home. There were some pretty unbelievable things that happend in our buying experience but I think the bottom line is looking past it all and trying to see the best in each dealer and there perspective there may be some great dealers out there maybe even some that I met, BUT they have some SERIOUS ISSUES with how to handle there territory agreements they they do or dont have in a professional way. I realized that this wasnt just me...I was walking on sensitive ground from day 1. They have had issues in the past and that is why they treated me the way they did from the start. So hopefully they can get it together and sell more moomba boats cause so far mine is GREAT! I think my neighbor with an 05 Mastercraft X-30 is a little jelious. (hopefully I wont have to take it to his dealer)

Congrats!

It is good to see you are looking past the people to the thing that matters - the boat.

People can suck sometimes. Probably had their toys taken away as kids, and are still whiney little brats.

Please make sure to detail your experiences to Rick T. The man wants to have the best reputation for great boats at a great price, but if dealer network is giving him a bad name - this needs to be handled... and I'm betting he will.

Welcome to the club!

Enjoy the ride.

-Joe

I think that you should be able to buy your boat at whatever dealer you want and get it serviced at whatever dealer you want. So if I buy a new Ford Explorer in the next city because I got a better deal, then the Ford dealer in my city will refuse or charge more to service it? I don't think so! Its the local dealers fault for not giving the best deal. There should be set prices to do the service work, period. If the service department has a problem with it, then they should take it up with the sales department and ask them why they are running off the customers. Also it would seem to me that if I was the boat salesperson, and someone walked into my dealership and wanted a boat and I didn't have it, then I would even try to find it at another dealership and then just charge a small "transfer fee" and make the sale. I would know that this person would be returning to MY dealership to have service done, so I would still make money on it. Besides, if said customer happen to post his experiences on say a manuufacturers website, and the word got out, that my customers didn't come first, then it wouls be logical to assume that my business would suffer. Make any sense? Just some general thoughts about how I think a business should be run. Price gouging is disrespectful to say the least, and should be illegal. Its not like it's a Ferrari Enzo or Ford GT, gimmie a break. Of course, for me I would have bought the boat where I got the best deal, of course I will probably NEVER buy a new boat because the initial depreciation kills you, and if I can find one a year or two old with 50-100 hours on it, and get it $10,000 less than new, why would I buy a new boat? And as far as the service is concerned, I saw a post on a website a few years ago that sums up my feelings on that, "Buy the tools and avoid the fools, it's only nuts and bolts!" and cheaper too!

-Brian

Actually - Depreciation on tow boats is FAR below that of cars. Very minimal in the first 3 years. Even less for Moombas since they are already so cheap.

-J

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Originally posted by Ed G
This grape gives RickT an A+ grade in customer satisfactionology.

e

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Hasn't the Florida sun turned you into a raisin yet?

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Originally posted by NCSUmoomba

If the service department has a problem with it, then they should take it up with the sales department and ask them why they are running off the customers. Also it would seem to me that if I was the boat salesperson, and someone walked into my dealership and wanted a boat and I didn't have it, then I would even try to find it at another dealership and then just charge a small "transfer fee" and make the sale.

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I grew up in a family owned/run RV business as a kid.

The mechs in the shop, including the manager, seemed to think that the service department was an extension of the sales department. Its goal was to solve problems created by the sales department. Because of this, the shop when I started there, was teh most inefficient place on the planet. EVERY job was cost overrun.

I'd been there about 2 years, dumping holding tanks, ect, and my uncle and dad made some changes. From that point forward, the service department, while responsible for delivering newly sold units, oeprated autonimously. The department actually made money seperate from the sales process. This is the way it should be.

When I, as a boat owner, call the nearest dealer to my craft (which may NOT be the closest to my residence) and talk to service, WHERE I bought the craft should have ZERO bearing on the service departments desire to service a vessel. Where I bought it MIGHT influence the turn around time and the cost.

When I bought the outback this spring, I had a choice. Atlanta or Alabama or Florida. Why? Because I have address all three states and can easily register my craft where I want to (btw, alabama registration fees are VERY VERY low.) As such, I shopped all three states. I did get the absolute best deal from the Atlanta dealer (closer to my main residence).

Ok, enough ranting. I need to go change my oil tonight.

Got mine at Alanta as well, 3 hours from home in South Carolina. Highly recommend and I was able to haggle a good bit over the phone prior to picking up. Atlanta Marine has the policy of servicing only boats they sell; however, the sell a whole lotta boats.

YM,

Just curious. When you purchased, did you compare prices between Atlanta Marine and Strickland Marine in Seneca? I live about halfway between them and I'm thinking of upgrading to a new boat.

I called Strickland 4 or 5 times and they always had one boat, an 04 outback and i, not them, hem-hawed around. Finally I decided I was going to do it, and I wanted my boat that day. I called Strickland and there was a deposit on it already. So I called Atlanta and they had one for a higher price, I haggled with them based on the Strickland price but forgot to mention that the boat had a deposit, how conveniet for me.

Atlanta has taken excellent care of me:

fried RPM, UPS, no questions asked
Fried Stereo, Ups, no questions asked


I have no reason to say anything bad about Strickland, I just have not done any business with them. I would shop them both If I were you on price etc.

Good Luck

Good info. Thanks.

Soon, though, my guess (only a guess, I'm an outsider ) is that soon Rick T will have the sales growth momentum to upgrade his stable of dealers.

Go Moomba!

im with you Ed, i would be moving up there

talk about a dream job

stacy

I was thinking the same thing....upgrading the moomba dealers. Im not sure exactly what sort of dealer agreement SC has with them or time frame (and probably shouldnt even speculate because I have no idea) but I do know that I cant get service from my local dealer and another one would be great. In the end Dealer price controlls and exclusive territorial rights ONLY BENEFIT THE DEALER AND DO A DISERVICE TO THE CUSTOMER. Maybe SC needed them at first..but it should be a privilige to be a dealer, not a right. The dealer should have to earn the respect and business of each customer and not treat them like some sort of asset they aquired through some agreement made years ago without the knowledge of all obligated parties. Im sure in SC business plan everything stems from service to the customer. Everything else follows right? I wish my dealer had a copy of that plan.

BTW. My dealer was boasting to me that it was a good thing that he didnt have any boats to sell and the fact that I was looking for one somewhere else was good for him because he could use it as some sort of leverage with SC to get more boats. Talk about selfserving.

I still love my boat and so do my friends I have had on it so far. Too bad I have to reffer them out of state.

YellowMoomba,

On your warranty UPS did you pay or they pay for shipping??

2006,


I did not pay the UPS, So it was either Atlanta Marine or SC.

YellowMoomba0,

Just curious. The dealer we bought from insists that we pay shipping for everything. We had a couple of warranty items. Not really a big deal it was only like 3.50 for one thing but 90.00 for another. I think it would be a good idea for the dealers to budget like $100-150 just to pay for shipping of random things or to through in some free cleaner and a cool flag or something to make you feel like your getting some kind of deal. Maybe a lock. Just curious.

Its like you expect something when you drop 40K + on a boat. I usually get pretty good service and sometimes free drinks or chips @ Chillis when I spend about 30 bucks. :)

oops...oh and I dont think that SC Covers shipping for warranty, so its up to the dealer.

I suppose Atlanta Marine was just doing its part to live up to its proclaimed title of #1 dealer in the world. #1 on all issues, not just sales. All i can do is speak highly and truthfully about the Customer Service I have received from them. I agree that is sucks anyone would have to pay for the shipping of warranty parts.

I have only had a few warranty items that needed to be addressed. Mainly decals.

Needless to say I must say Xtreme Marine in KC, did a awesome job and they took care of getting the part in and shipping it to me no cost.

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Originally posted by YellowMoomba0


I suppose Atlanta Marine was just doing its part to live up to its proclaimed title of #1 dealer in the world. #1 on all issues, not just sales. All i can do is speak highly and truthfully about the Customer Service I have received from them. I agree that is sucks anyone would have to pay for the shipping of warranty parts.

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Brian in service has been very helpful. He knows I live just far enough away for service runs to be inconvenient. He has been more than willing to answer maintence questions on the phone or via email for me. The other thing is, with all the boats they sell, not only does my salesman remember my name, but Lisa, the owner does too. You walk in and its "Mr Feather, how are you enjoying that outback?"

Exactly Wolf, its been two years and when I call Brian or Michael the salesman all I have to do is say this is Sean from South Carolina, I bought the yellow Outback. Its immediate how they remember me.

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Sure wish Orlandoboats would consider opening a second business for Supra/Moomba sales and service in the Clermont - Leesburg area

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I was once a Service Manager for a Saab dealership in Connecticut...I'd love to apply for a job .

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Yes Ed, It would be nice to have a location in that area. It's just not feesable.
As for you working for us....... I don't think that would be feesable for us either.
I can see customers standing there with you saying, Just a minute I'm almost done
downloading some pictures or replying to a topic. I just don't see how you do it. I can barely find the time to keep up on reading the posts on Moomba's site much less all the others. Just a little teasing Ed. I guess I'm a little jealuos that I don't have the time.


Hope all is well in Clermont,

Rob

Get Ed a cool roo t-shirt and you can probably get him to be a human billboard for the day. Oh yea, add a tiki hat and zinc nose cream and he might be good for a weekend. hee hee

And dont forget the beer!!