wakefunX-2
05-19-2005, 04:33 PM
The following is a letter i have put together to send to Mastercraft over my conscerns about my dealing with this dealer who is representing the Mastercraft name, and if it came down to it, i would not ever buy another boat from them again unless something is done. Here is the letter, thank you for any input.
Dear MasterCraft Representative for Dealer Relations:
This letter is to inform you of some concerns I have had with a MasterCraft dealer in my area. Let me first say, we purchased a X-2 just under a year ago from a dealer here in Northern California, and have been more than satisfied with our actual boat. The X-2 is a fantastic boat, and my father and I whom purchased the boat could not be more satisfied with the product. Our main concerns have all been centered on our dealings with the dealer we purchased the boat from. They are the only MasterCraft dealer in the Sacramento Area, so we were forced by location to do our business with them.
After spending countless hours on my friends X-Star, My Father and I decided it was time to get a towboat of our own. We went to the only MasterCraft dealer in our area, and found a 2003 X-2 with about 208 hours on it. Since we did not want a brand new boat for our first boat and we did not want to spend the time breaking it in for the first season, it seemed like a perfect fit for us. The boat, although it was used, was being sold with the full factory warranty, which seemed great to us because we could have all the necessary problems with the boat, fixed. The first sales person we spoke with didn’t seem to have the time nor the desire to answer any of our questions, and because this was my father and my first boat purchase ever, we had a lot of them. We met the salesman later that week for a test drive/ride at our local lake. Just to paint a picture for you of how professional this salesman was, he arrived eating fast food in our future boat, to which he never threw away his trash, and left it in the boat, we later found, for a week. The test drive/ride was fine with exception of the salesman’s lack of true knowledge of your boat, and the differences between this boat and the other MasterCraft models. My father, my friend (who owns an X-Star) and myself were all pretty astonished when the salesman, while putting the boat on the trailer he hit the trailer with the prop and killed it!!! We all knew by the horrible crunching sound that damage had been done, but he quickly assured us everything was fine declaring “"oh yeah, everything is fine, talk to you later". To the dealers defense, you can just assume that some salesmen are going to be better than others, and this guy was a perfect example of a person you should not have selling your product. After the test drive and despite the now damaged prop we went to the dealer to put a deposit on the boat. A week later, we went to the dealer to finalize the deal, and while my dad is speaking with one of the managers, I went to take a look at that boat. Mind you that we had already placed a deposit on this boat, they had left in uncovered in the hot Sacramento heat; it was filthy, and littered with peoples footprints all over the carpet and there was the fast food trash from noted salesman. Needless to say, there was no attention to the boat after the deal was underway, which began to infuriate my father and myself, but after they assured us that it was an oversight, we signed the deal and became the proud owners of our new boat.
Owning the boat has been wonderful, its performance and its style, we love everything about it. The only issues that arose were small maintnance issues, but because we have the warranty, we wanted to get them taken care of. We figured the off-season would be the best time to take it in, so we brought the boat to the dealer in November. The issues we had in November still have not been taken care of, and now with peak season upon us, they are now having us wait longer.
In making some stereo modifications to the boat, we needed to install a 90-amp alternator in our boat. We called this dealer and they informed us that in order to have our warranty stay intact, we need a MasterCraft dealer make the switch. So, we asked them how much the labor would cost to install the new alternator, and they quoted us $280 in labor (we will supply the 90-amp alternator). I thought this was high, so I called another dealer in the bay area, roughly 100 miles away, and they quoted us $150 for labor. I have to, as a consumer, question this difference. Although our dealer is doing the small warranty issues we planned in November now, we are going to drive to the bay area and have the other dealer install the alternator.
Frankly we are just tired of getting ripped off. I feel that this dealer is incapable of creating return clientele if they treat all their boat purchasers this way. I know that they have burnt a bridge with my family and our friends, who in total, own four MasterCrafts. In talking with many MasterCraft owners in the greater Sacramento area, most of them have had at least one horror story about horrible service or outrageous costs. Our future business will belong to another MasterCraft dealer that is 100 miles away, all because they somehow lost the idea of customer service. We understand that we have not purchased the most expensive boat on the lot, but the cost of bad marketing is going to be the price they will have to pay. I am hoping that in bringing this to your attention, you can reassess your relationship with this dealer, and/or at least be aware that this is not a single case, there are many more out there. I know they sell a lot of boats at that location, I would be curious to know how many of those customers have been as upset as us. Thank you sincerely for your time, and especially for producing such a great line of towboats.
Sincerely,
Cory Hottman
Sacramento, CA
Dear MasterCraft Representative for Dealer Relations:
This letter is to inform you of some concerns I have had with a MasterCraft dealer in my area. Let me first say, we purchased a X-2 just under a year ago from a dealer here in Northern California, and have been more than satisfied with our actual boat. The X-2 is a fantastic boat, and my father and I whom purchased the boat could not be more satisfied with the product. Our main concerns have all been centered on our dealings with the dealer we purchased the boat from. They are the only MasterCraft dealer in the Sacramento Area, so we were forced by location to do our business with them.
After spending countless hours on my friends X-Star, My Father and I decided it was time to get a towboat of our own. We went to the only MasterCraft dealer in our area, and found a 2003 X-2 with about 208 hours on it. Since we did not want a brand new boat for our first boat and we did not want to spend the time breaking it in for the first season, it seemed like a perfect fit for us. The boat, although it was used, was being sold with the full factory warranty, which seemed great to us because we could have all the necessary problems with the boat, fixed. The first sales person we spoke with didn’t seem to have the time nor the desire to answer any of our questions, and because this was my father and my first boat purchase ever, we had a lot of them. We met the salesman later that week for a test drive/ride at our local lake. Just to paint a picture for you of how professional this salesman was, he arrived eating fast food in our future boat, to which he never threw away his trash, and left it in the boat, we later found, for a week. The test drive/ride was fine with exception of the salesman’s lack of true knowledge of your boat, and the differences between this boat and the other MasterCraft models. My father, my friend (who owns an X-Star) and myself were all pretty astonished when the salesman, while putting the boat on the trailer he hit the trailer with the prop and killed it!!! We all knew by the horrible crunching sound that damage had been done, but he quickly assured us everything was fine declaring “"oh yeah, everything is fine, talk to you later". To the dealers defense, you can just assume that some salesmen are going to be better than others, and this guy was a perfect example of a person you should not have selling your product. After the test drive and despite the now damaged prop we went to the dealer to put a deposit on the boat. A week later, we went to the dealer to finalize the deal, and while my dad is speaking with one of the managers, I went to take a look at that boat. Mind you that we had already placed a deposit on this boat, they had left in uncovered in the hot Sacramento heat; it was filthy, and littered with peoples footprints all over the carpet and there was the fast food trash from noted salesman. Needless to say, there was no attention to the boat after the deal was underway, which began to infuriate my father and myself, but after they assured us that it was an oversight, we signed the deal and became the proud owners of our new boat.
Owning the boat has been wonderful, its performance and its style, we love everything about it. The only issues that arose were small maintnance issues, but because we have the warranty, we wanted to get them taken care of. We figured the off-season would be the best time to take it in, so we brought the boat to the dealer in November. The issues we had in November still have not been taken care of, and now with peak season upon us, they are now having us wait longer.
In making some stereo modifications to the boat, we needed to install a 90-amp alternator in our boat. We called this dealer and they informed us that in order to have our warranty stay intact, we need a MasterCraft dealer make the switch. So, we asked them how much the labor would cost to install the new alternator, and they quoted us $280 in labor (we will supply the 90-amp alternator). I thought this was high, so I called another dealer in the bay area, roughly 100 miles away, and they quoted us $150 for labor. I have to, as a consumer, question this difference. Although our dealer is doing the small warranty issues we planned in November now, we are going to drive to the bay area and have the other dealer install the alternator.
Frankly we are just tired of getting ripped off. I feel that this dealer is incapable of creating return clientele if they treat all their boat purchasers this way. I know that they have burnt a bridge with my family and our friends, who in total, own four MasterCrafts. In talking with many MasterCraft owners in the greater Sacramento area, most of them have had at least one horror story about horrible service or outrageous costs. Our future business will belong to another MasterCraft dealer that is 100 miles away, all because they somehow lost the idea of customer service. We understand that we have not purchased the most expensive boat on the lot, but the cost of bad marketing is going to be the price they will have to pay. I am hoping that in bringing this to your attention, you can reassess your relationship with this dealer, and/or at least be aware that this is not a single case, there are many more out there. I know they sell a lot of boats at that location, I would be curious to know how many of those customers have been as upset as us. Thank you sincerely for your time, and especially for producing such a great line of towboats.
Sincerely,
Cory Hottman
Sacramento, CA