Marine Max

[bharris6]

New owner of a 2007 sante which was boat from marine max in buford. Test drove the boat it ran great, had it delivered to our lake house two weeks later. Drove it to my dock turned it off went to the house did some stuff. About 30 minutes later came back down to go out wake boarding, went to crank the boat and the started hung!!! Went and bought a temporary starter for the weekend, then marine max bought us a new starter. Was curious if anybody else had bought from marine max in buford and if so how was there experience?

[biggator]

Sounds like they took care of you.. which is good!

I bought my boat from them.. but haven't had to engage them on anything yet. They've taken pretty good care of lion90's 230 since they took over the Nauti dealership locally from SMG.

[Nautiquehunter]

I live about 1 1/2 miles from them so far all my experiences have been positive.

[Andrew14]

I was in Atlanta over Thanksgiving visiting family. Dropped by MarineMax to look at G23's and to pick up a new T'Stat for my 210. Guy in the parts shop could not tell me which T'Stat would work on my 2008 210 343Excal and acted like it was a huge pain to go in the back to look for one (he finally narrowed it down to two different T'Stats, both were around $98). I said "well, we could call David at White Lake Marine and he would know which T'Stat would work for my boat". He said "who is White Lake Marine....never heard of them". I said "are you kidding, they were the first Nautique dealer"...he said "never heard of them". I said okay, forget it and I walked out. Went to my local dealer the next week and bought the part for $14. Aside from the whole Parts Dept experience, no one offered to help or show me any boats even though I crawled in and out of three G23's and 230's in front of the facility......and I own a Nautique and had my Tundra with a trailer hitch sitting right there. Unbelievable, I was not impressed.....but apparently they sell a lot of Nautiques, so what do I know? My $0.02

[Nautiquehunter]

Did you talk to Scott in the parts dept. He has always come through for me.

[Andrew14]

Their "usual" part guy was out on vaca, so I doubt it was him. Still the gentleman that was working the parts department was incredibly uncourteous and pretty rude. I left with a bad impression of the dealer and was pretty disappointed with my experience. I guess I just hold Nautique dealers to a higher standard for some reason and was surprised with the level of customer service I received given the current economy. Sounds like a one-off incident as others speak highly of the dealer.

[Nautiquehunter]

I would not rate them as world class . White Lake is family owned MM is a corporate store

[CCWakerider]

I rarely pipe in on something like this, but you are talking about a dealership that has to stock parts and have knowledge on 6-10 different brands of boats when talking about Marine Max, and then you are trying to compare that to a Mom-Pop dealership like White Lake that has to have knowledge of 1-2 brands of boats. If you want "Boutique" service & parts then you need to support small stores like White Lake, and realize upfront the difference in the 2 dealerships.

Marine Max is publicly held and has locations across North America. Marine Max represents at least 10 brands of boats that i know of, and probably more. Marine Max has also given Nautique an outlet to sell boats all over where there are NO mom-pop stores. This allows Nautique to sell more boats, and hence keep the price down for Mom-Pop stores like White Lake, and for you and me as the consumer.

I can tell you that I have purchased 2 Nautiques from MMax in Tennessee, and have friends whom also purchased, and they are awesome to work with.

You should not use this forum to bash good dealerships by trying to compare Apples vs. Oranges. You just got unlucky with the wrong parts guy in Buford, as there are plenty of good people working there and in Tennessee.

That's my $.02

[swc5150]

I agree with CCWakerider for the most part. I think it'll just take some time for many CC owners to get used to the big box format. In the end, it all comes down to relationships. I have an outstanding relationship with my dealer, but it wasn't built over night. I know the CC guy at MMX in Rogers, MN is making an effort to reach out and build new relationships. It'll just take time, as Son Watersports built their solid reputation over a number of years. MMX will also become more familiar with the product and parts over time. Growing pains are inevitable, and MMX will no doubt see their share. As far as pricing, I don't believe there are better deals to be had at MMX. With their overhead, I'd have to believe they require higher margins than a mom and pop. My buddy's CC dealership is an old building that has likely been paid for many times over, hence they can offer some pretty nice deals on boats. I just don't know to what extent quantities of scale would apply to these niche boats.

[Andrew14]

Relax CCWakerider - I was pretty "gentle" in my assessment of MarineMax and gave them the benefit of the doubt (hence my "Sounds like a one-off incident" comment). It shouldn't matter if you are a Mom-Pop Dealer, large Dealer, publicly held Company, etc. The customer/client should be treated with a certain level of courtesy / respect (in any industry). And honestly, I'm not even one of these people that likes "to be waited on".....I just couldn't believe the way I was treated when the guy knew I had a newer Nautique and could be a potential boat purchaser down the line (especially after I had been crawling in and out of new boats in front of three other employees who were outside on the porch of the dealer). If I treated my clients/prospects that way, I would have been without a job a long time ago. Again, maybe I expect too much from a boat dealer - its not the Ritz Carlton after all and not everyone you deal with at a Dealership shares the same passion for a Nautique.

[lion90]

I bought my 2009 SAN 230 back in 2009 with the previous Atlanta based Nautique dealership. When I heard that they were dropping Nautique, I had a lot of concerns about service for my boat. Luckily MarineMax picked them up and I again had a dealership for my Nautique. With that said, my first interaction with them was to fix the stereo and speakers since they kept cutting out at high volume. The previous dealer tried to fix this and ended up making it worse so I didn't know what to expect. MarineMax spent a decent amount of time diagnosing it however, when I got the boat back, it was fixed correctly the first time. They also fixed a bilge pump that blew a fuse. Since I don't have a trailer, they met me at a specified time to pull my boat out and then had it conveniently docked for me to pick it up. This is the only real service experience I have had with them since my Nautique has been pretty flawless, but it was positive.

On the Sales side, I have had an equally impressive experience. At the beginning of this year, I had the itch for a G23. I didn't know for certain if it was the right time to make a switch from my awesome 230, but I wanted to kick the tires. Konrad took me out on two separate occasions to demo the boat. The first time very early on (May-ish timeframe) with a group and the second time for an extended time with just my family. Konrad was very informative and never pushy. I am the type of person that is immediately turned away by uncomfortable, high-pressure, sales tactics and that was far from the case here. He provided me with info, went out of his way to let me demo the boat, worked with me on my trade and options. After several months, we agreed on a deal and ordered my G23 at the end of October. During the build process, he kept me informed, sent me pictures of the process and let me know when it was coming so I could see it arrive on truck and see the shrink wrap removed just before XMas. We are now working with AVC Marine to have Wetsounds installed instead of the factory speakers. After the boat show, final prep will be done and I will take delivery. I really can't ask for too much of a better experience and never once was I pressured into the purchase... maybe encouraged a bit... but never pressured.

[CCWakerider]

I appreciate your reply Andrew14. I can assure you that Joey in Buford (GM) will insure that you get the Ritz treatment you want. I truly believe that you must have experienced a one-off incident rather than the norm, as you stated. There are several really good people whom work for MMax in GA and TN, and they take the Nautique brand very seriously. They are a good dealer, and I have only positive things to say about my experiences also. I encourage you to call Joey and share your experience with him, and I would bet that he will make sure someone takes care of you the way you want in parts and sales.