Another Buxton Marine Props thread

[cedarcreek216]

Most of you will read this and think man, this guy is helpless so I'll get it out of the way and admit I am helpless when it comes to any kind of mechanical repair on our boat.

We have been keeping our boat in dry storage instead of the boat house at our lake house because the water level is so low at our lake I don't want it to get stuck in the lift. This weekend was the first weekend we were going to use the boat as my wife's family was coming out for the weekend. So Friday night I go get it out of storage and stop by the house and pick up my wife to drop it in. She backs me down and drop me in and immediately I hear the prop dragging on rocks. So I shut it off, hop out and push it out to deeper water. Get it started up again and take off for the house. As soon as I gave it a little gas the shaking began. At this point I knew I had prop damage and was just hoping no shaft damage. I finally get the boat lift and get it out of the water and find out it was just a bent prop and the shaft was fine. At this point it was 10:00 at night so I call my contact at Buxton to see if I show up at 8:00 Saturday morning, and hour and a half from my house, could they get me a prop on there and get me out of there quick.

I showed up at 8:15 and was back on my to the lake at 8:45 with a new prop and mine off to get rebuilt. For those of you who are not lucky enough to have a dealer like this close to you I feel for you. The guys at Buxton are always going out of their way to do more than they have to to make their customers happy. They showed me how to replace the prop so next time I won't have to bring it all the way back and won't have any down time.

Allthough it was an expensive weekend with the prop cost and the gas to tow it there and back, I learned two good lessons, always walk the boat ramp before you drop your boat and having a spare prop and knowing how to change it is critical.

[GCSuper]

I just picked up my new boat from Buxton's on Thursday. This was my first purchase from them, but we've known of them for a long time and had always heard many positive comments about their service and attention to detail.

As we were just ready to shake hands and depart, I noiticed the rear tire on the trailer was rubbing the fender. Phil took a quick look and knew something wasn't right. It took them 22 minutes to change out trailers and paperwork and send me on my way for our maiden voyage. The trailer supplier had offered to come look and see what he could do, but Phil made sure our needs were met first.

In a bad economy, they had three boats being delivered Thur, three more on Friday and two on Saturday, plus he will probably sell a couple more during this span. Mighty impressive.

[Chexi]

Ha! You all might have had great experiences with them, but that's probably because you bought your boats from them. Buy a boat from someone else and see how they treat you. After being screwed over by Buxton's sales department on a used boat, and having had several emails about service summarily ignored by Buxton, I had always opted to take my boat to Tyler for service. Last weekend while testing my boat hoping that I had fixed a problem I have had since I bought it about 1.5 months ago and realizing that I hadn't, I decided to take it in. Due to the lake by Tyler being too low to water test and them being down one mechanic for the week, I reluctantly called Buxton to see what their backlog was and asked them if it was feasible to have my boat at least diagnosed by today, Friday (I called 9 am Monday morning). I spoke to a mechanic, and while to his credit he was somewhat hesitant on the timeline, after I explained the situation (that I have people flying in next weekend for the sole purpose of wakeboarding), he said that it was feasible to look at the boat by the end of this week and at least get a diagnosis. So, against my better judgment, I agreed to make the trek up from Cedar Creek on Monday with my boat to Buxton (about 85-90 miles). I arrived about 12:30. I explained the situation and the tight time frame. No objections. No warnings. No, "you're crazy man, this is not possible, and whoever you spoke to was smoking crack..."

So I call today. No, my boat has not been looked at. "Mine is about 30 boats down the list. I'd be lucky if they can diagnose it next week, and the best case scenario is getting the boat back in 2 weeks from now." (stress that this is the best case scenario, so realistically maybe sometime in August). So thanks to Buxton I missed 3/4 of a day at work on Monday, and now I get to blow my Saturday and go pick it up, drive the 25 miles there, the 70 miles to my storage at Cedar Creek to try a few fixes recommended on this site and by the mechanic at Tyler Ski N Sport, and if I can't fix it, drive the 55 miles to Tyler and drop it off, and then drive the 80 miles back to Dallas... only to then have to drive 80 miles back to Tyler when they fix it, the 55 miles back to Cedar Creek to drop it off, and the 70 miles back to Dallas. Oh, and of course the plans for next weekend had to be cancelled as well. Thanks Buxton. Way to overpromise and under-deliver... again.

[AllianceBJJ]

I have been a happy cutomer in the past (bought 3 boats there)....But weeks and weeks of waiting for a few items to be put on is driving me up a wall....They were supposed to have done it twice in 2 weeks, but neither time did they ever go get it....

Not even a phone call as to why they havent gotten to it.....Service has never, ever been a problem before...I know a few others that have worse stories that I do going on at the current time....

[Chexi]

You guys have a bunch of good experiences, so one bad one sucks, but to you it is the exception. As for me, every experience I have had with them has been negative. Every experience I have had with the folks at Tyler Ski N Sport has been positive.

This will further delay any ability for me to set up a NTCCC get together.

[AllianceBJJ]

The bad experiences are starting to outweigh the good on our newest boat.....And hearing the stories of a good friend of mine who has been waiting 3 months for a part on warranty (when it is not backordered) is starting to make me question the current state of the operation....Lack of staffing and communication appear to be possible issues.....

[boatbuddy]

I have dealt with Buxton and bought a boat over the Internet recently ... and I am very happy ... it was more or less what they represented it to be

With respect to Service I have never dealt with Buxton but in my experience with other Correct Craft Dealers, they seem more intersted in the "Sale" than the "Service"

Even when I have expressed my concerns to Nautique they seems to want to protect the dealers ability to "Sell" ... I think they need to be more concerned about the Dealer's ability to "Service"

In my business "Service is KING" and as a result the sales automatically follow

I buy Nautiques because I like the boat not the Service ... we have 2 now

I actually have to decide now whether to pay the Warranty Transfer fees on the latest boat .... since I am a long ways from Buxton and have poor local service I am thinking that I should I forget the Transfer Fee and just put it towards future maintenance costs with other mechanics ... what good is a Warranty if you cannot get serviced

It may be the nature of the business but I think Nautique needs to reconsider their business model with respect to dealerships

Maybe the dealers need to be making less on the sales and more on the service

Based on what I have heard from one dealer ... they lose money on the service ... whether this is true or not they certainly act as if it is true

Money obviously motivates ... and I would bet if there was a better return to dealers for service related items ... service to the customers would improve

If Nautique continues to protect the the Dealers margins for Sales and nelgects the margins for service then we as the Customer will always be unhappy with the Service


Eventually we may all start buying elsewhere ... if we can find a better combination of Product and Service????

[2gofaster]

One issue is that with the number of servicing dealers having gone down in the last 3 years, the quantity of service tickets at existing dealers has gone up by 250%. Compounding that issue is that the rate of boat sales has gone back up after the economic downturn much faster than anyone could predict. Dealers have been leary of adding head count for fear the upturn has been temporary. Therefore, almost all are behind when it comes to service.

Service is generally less than 10% of dealer revenue. You cannot lower sales revenue and bolster service revenue when you're looking at that kind of ratio. You'd be lookign at $500/hr service if you did. Boat dealerships are not car dealerships. In fact, their revenue stream is exactly the opposite. Successful dealers are already selling at only 10% margin, when they used to be able to sell at 25%. Trying to cut that margin even more if very short sighted. If you knew the margin the manfucturers had, you'd be surprised. Be thankful you don't own a Formula. Formula has a 40% average margin built into the delivery to their dealer and dealers then have a 30% markup. And a service call(oil, filters, impellers, etc) on a Formula Fastech is $1295 per Mercury 525, more if you've got the upgraded engines.

Buxton is a good dealership. Phil and the guys are good people. It's unfortunate that some customers fall through the cracks and aren't happy with their(or any dealers) service.

[Chexi]

I have to give props where they are due. Despite having been given a bit of conflicting information about timing, Buxton was able to start looking at my boat last Saturday (not the one that just passed, but the prior one, so really about on schedule) and lake tested it the following Monday or Tuesday. They replaced the oil pressure sensor fixing my v-drive light always on problem, but could not get my stalling problem to repeat. I picked up the boat Saturday, installed Perfect Pass, and tested it for about an hour. I also could not get my stalling problem to repeat. So, either the oil pressure sensor was somehow causing the problem (unlikely), or I had some bad gas or water in the gas that has worked its way out of the system, or the problem is still there and will re-manifest itself at some future time. At any rate, Buxton did a good job at a fair price for me, so their stock just went up in my book.

[AllianceBJJ]

I was in there on Saturday and it was pretty busy...Glad they got you taken care of...I am still waiting on my Z5 bimini to be installed (had the boat since March)....Production delays, vacations and having to do some special fittment (due to my big a$$ speakers) have delayed the process significantly...Hope to finally have it done this week...My friend is still waiting for his latch that has taken over 3 months...

[jeepn]

I've bought a used boat from buxton, that i take care of myself. Purchase experience was great.

Was looking at another boat with some issues to buy recently. the owners took it to buxton and it was in and out and fixed quick.

They are always nice. I would buy another boat from them, if ever what I'm looking for would end up on their lot.

[bobcrex]

I recently purchased my 01' ss from buxton. *Had a great experience with them and phil is awesome to work with. *Would with out a doubt work with them again. *

[jroyal]

I have bought two used boat from Buxton and have been completely satisfied. I live in Alabama and drove to Dallas to pickup both boats. It was well worth the 10 hour drive. Phil was completely thorough with his explaination of the boat before I made the trip. There were no surprises.

Also, my current boat is an '08 210 and were fortunate to be able to get a transferable warranty. I've had a couple of warranty issues and Buxton has been quick to assist me. They do a great job in that department as well.