Buying outside of your market

[Rockman]

Originally Posted by onewheat

Warranty work is not as profitable for dealers as customer pay work is though.

Speaking in general here...

Oh well, then close your doors and move on...part of the business...deal with it. Glad I know I am welcomed once my boat is out of warranty and I have to fork out money on my own to get it fixed as opposed to getting an issue with a new boat fixed.

If warranty work is such a pita, then don't offer warranties and see how many people buy your product. If warranty work is so much to deal with, the need to step back and determine why your product has so many problems within the warranty period and correct the problem going forward...makes sense, doesn't it?

[JimN]

Originally Posted by maxpower220

Funny, I have never had a dealer ask me where I was from or where I lived. I have never had an issue with a dealer servicing or doing warranty work. Over the 20 years of transferring in the Navy, I purchased boats here, there, and yonder. Due to moves, other dealers serviced or did warranty work. Not once did I ever get questioned about where the boat was from nor did I ever contact the manufacturer.

Note, 1 Malibu, 1 Moomba, and 2 MCs were owned new during my experience.

Out of warranty, nobody cares where the boat was bought. In-warranty allows the manufacturer to track boats, dealers' performance and technical updates. Some updates are critical to the longevity of the drive system or safety of the users- if these aren't performed, it cam mean problems during the warranty period, which costs the manufacturer, but the worse ones cause problems after the warranty ends, costing the user or a second buyer a lot of money and time lost. If the dealer neglects to perform updates and a boat is serviced by the same dealer through its life and a problem that should have been avoided by one update or another, it shows that the dealer dropped the ball, or the owner didn't bother to take the boat in, even though they may have known about it. In warranty, MC sends notices to the dealer and/or user. It's not in anyone's best interest to ignore these, no matter how inconvenient.

[musicmd]

I would expect that MC has pretty specific expectations of their dealers regarding warranty service. It shouldn't matter where a boat is purchased - - - if warranty service is needed, it should be done at an acceptable level, no matter where the boat was purchased.

Anything less than that, a dealer will likely get contacted by the MC factory. High quality service, warranty or otherwise, has to be part of the agreement that MC has with its dealers.

Ideally, a buyer will take the boat back to his original dealer for any warranty service. But, this isn't always the case. There are a lot of reasons why this might not happen. Whatever the reason, the consumer shouldn't have to suffer if they have to move or can't return to their original place of purchase every time the boat needs attention.

And, even if the factory doesn't pay quite as much for service as end-users do, the factory service keeps the lights on, pays for overhead, salaries, etc., and it is an important part of a MC dealer's business. At the very least, MC dealers should want to keep boats in good working condition.

IMHO, dealers who grumble about having to do factory service on a boat they didn't actually sell are missing the point. And, it isn't just that they may feel they're not getting paid for their work (which, actually, they are.) If I buy a boat from dealer A then move to another location which is serviced by dealer B, dealer B should want to do a great job for me when I need factory service.

Why?

Well, because many MC owners will someday be in the market for another boat and they will be more likely to bring business to dealer B if they have had a good experience. Also, there is the reality that my boat will be outside the warranty period at some point - - - dealer B has a better chance of getting that work if they have taken good care of me along the way.

[onewheat]

Originally Posted by Rockman

Speaking in general here...

Oh well, then close your doors and move on...part of the business...deal with it. Glad I know I am welcomed once my boat is out of warranty and I have to fork out money on my own to get it fixed as opposed to getting an issue with a new boat fixed.

If warranty work is such a pita, then don't offer warranties and see how many people buy your product. If warranty work is so much to deal with, the need to step back and determine why your product has so many problems within the warranty period and correct the problem going forward...makes sense, doesn't it?

The dealership I worked for never complained about or turned away warranty work. WE welcomed you in every time you came. If you come in to get something done on warranty, maybe you also needed some routine maintenance as well where we could make a little more money (oil change, tire rotation, etc). For who is warranty service a PITA to deal with? Manufacturers have the warranty - dealers do the service work. It's part of the deal with having a dealership. Not sure I get your point?

[Rockman]

Originally Posted by onewheat

The dealership I worked for never complained about or turned away warranty work. WE welcomed you in every time you came. If you come in to get something done on warranty, maybe you also needed some routine maintenance as well where we could make a little more money (oil change, tire rotation, etc). For who is warranty service a PITA to deal with? Manufacturers have the warranty - dealers do the service work. It's part of the deal with having a dealership. Not sure I get your point?

Yes, manufacturers are responsible for the cost of the warranty repairs, both for the parts and paying a dealer to do the labor, but I know one dealer who basically flat out told me that they stay away from warranty work (for whatever reason I do not know). Maybe as someone mentioned above, they get paid less for doing warranty work than actual work on older boats that are out of warranty.

The dealership I am referring to was (still is) a piece of work and they are still in business...I had the PLEASURE of going there one time to pick up a part MC gave me direct (long story, right after we bought our BF200, part was missign from the boat) and when I picked the part up, the owner of the dealer told me that I was LUCKY that MC did that for me and never to expect anything like that to happen again...my wife almost punched him right across the counter!

Do not get me wrong, there are alot of great dealers out there and that's the reason this whole thread started. Reward the good, stay away from the bad but it is not as easy as that.

Thank goodness for FedEx and some guys on the TMC board for helping me with my maintenance.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by Rockman

Yes, manufacturers are responsible for the cost of the warranty repairs, both for the parts and paying a dealer to do the labor, but I know one dealer who basically flat out told me that they stay away from warranty work (for whatever reason I do not know). Maybe as someone mentioned above, they get paid less for doing warranty work than actual work on older boats that are out of warranty.

The dealership I am referring to was (still is) a piece of work and they are still in business...I had the PLEASURE of going there one time to pick up a part MC gave me direct (long story, right after we bought our BF200, part was missign from the boat) and when I picked the part up, the owner of the dealer told me that I was LUCKY that MC did that for me and never to expect anything like that to happen again...my wife almost punched him right across the counter!

Do not get me wrong, there are alot of great dealers out there and that's the reason this whole thread started. Reward the good, stay away from the bad but it is not as easy as that.

Thank goodness for FedEx and some guys on the TMC board for helping me with my maintenance.

If a dealer refuses to do warranty work, they should lose the franchise, IMO. At the very least, MC should hear about it ASAP.

[jeff shelton]

If a dealer was refusing to do warranty work for me regardless if MC gets involved afterwards. I would not want them to be working on it. They already don't want to do it so what kind of work do you think that they will do if they are forced.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by jeff shelton

If a dealer was refusing to do warranty work for me regardless if MC gets involved afterwards. I would not want them to be working on it. They already don't want to do it so what kind of work do you think that they will do if they are forced.

The biggest problem with this whole situation is that MC can't have someone there all the time, so the dealer can act all happy, happy, joy, joy when the rep is there and like a complete DB as soon as the rep leaves. I have seen it in action and the guy who did this basically stole the dealership from the founder because he thought he knew how it should be run, without having a single clue in his freakin' head. Unfortunately for the boat owners and MC, Wisconsin has a law that makes it almost impossible to pull a franchise from a dealer, regardless of the fact that they're the worst on the planet. That damages the relationship between the customer and manufacturer and this may never be repaired to any kind of meaningful degree. Then, the customer tells their friends, they tell their friends and the bad rep expands exponentially.

A dealer who gets into the business because they want to get rich had better be backed by some decent business experience, have a great plan with contingencies in place and a bunch of money because the one universal thing about plans is that "Nobody else cares about your plan". If they get in "because I really like boating/skiing/whatever-ing", they should just do something else because these people WILL fail unless they understand customer service and have some kind of decent organizational skills.

The joke in the industry is-

Q- "How do you make a small fortune in the marine industry?"

A- Start with a large one.

[02ProstarSammyD]

I just had to bring this back up b/c I am dying laughing and pissed off here. One MC dealer in particular should read this since he posts boats on this site. When I call your parts department 4 freaking times to check on a part you should freaking return a call. When I send my g/f to your shop to take pictures of a boat we are interested in buying and she purchases a visor you say you have in stock it should not take 3+ weeks to mail it 2 hours down the road. These 2 put together make it come off like you couldn't beat a dead horse to death lil alone manage warranty on a boat I buy from you. Piss poor handling of customers. Makes me want to puke that you sell Mastercrafts or that I would ever be directed to buy one from you.

There are 2 really freaking good guys I've dealt with and I just want to say THANK GOD FOR THE GOOD ONES. Jim@baws jumped through hoops to overnight me a starter for a boat so I could save a weekend on the water and Midwest MC mailed me the most f'd up cluster order of 20 items/parts in 12 hours. WHY CAN'T my in state dealers not suck????????????????????? HULK MADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Also excuse me for my completely blown out of proportion attitude about a freaking hat and parts but c'mon its a complete lack of customer service. God my ****** is raging

[Wake190]

I'm in Raleigh and get a similar vibe from our local dealer. Hate to say it, but you might want to "file your grievance" by taking a hard look at what Pro Marine and White Lake are offering. Lots of nice inboards at the boat show this year. That X10 is a sweet boat, but might not be worth the hassle...