Poor Nautique quality control ruined my business and risked my life

[thejean]

Perhaps they would keep it running in building seas? Panic sets in etc...

D.

I suppose but that isn’t the boat’s problem then. That is solely a function of taking a small single engine vessel into open seas. Had he stayed in a bay where the seas wouldn’t be as rough (which I believe is the intent of the coastal edition), he could have just used a cell phone and called to get someone to tow him in and wouldn’t have been forced to run the boat until it overheated (or whatever else happened).

I was in that situation once as a kid (not my boat and yes, the guy who I was with was, and still is, a complete and utter idiot) and I can tell you the panic factor is real for sure. In the bottom of a swell all I could see was a 8 to 10 foot wall of water on every side of us. Incredibly scary and very difficult to keep the boat from getting tipped. Luckily the moron who was driving was at least a competent driver, if a little slow in the head. Ever since that day I have no desire to be on the open ocean, ever. But hey, at least the OP had a stout little boat with a lot of freeboard - I was in a very small 14 ft aluminum boat with a 50 HP outboard motor! I’m lucky to be here today...

[Infinity]

Doubt Rex will be posting anything else about the boat, what really happened and why. His "attorney" probably spanked him for posting this and let him know if he had any chance before, he ruined it by going on a public forum and talking a bunch of S&*t and likely the OP did something to make the problem worse that it should have been. At this point Nautique probably has a case against him for slander. No manufacture would have given him a free loaner and no one pays you money cause you had a bad day.... any tow boat bought for commercial purposes has a different warranty period. They would still cover any legit issues, but warranty is 1yr instead of 5. Its also a fact that you don't get reimbursed for having your time wasted, loss of income, feeling stressed cause you were in the ocean without a running engine, etc. I have seen countless people sue for that and/or similar claims and be laughed out of court by the judge. This is called LIFE. All of us would have been pissed that we got stranded at sea but most people realize early that you cant blame bad luck on someone else or every one of us would be in a lawsuit once a month.

[KTM525]

your maybe right with "free loaner and pays money for potential loss". But there is nothing Nautique can do if that failure is the truth and the repair is really a mess like he told us.

And maybe its called life, but i would never buy a product of the brand again if a defect is handled that poor, and to be honest, i would not care if the dealer or manufacturer is responsible for that.

Thank god my dealer knows what he is doing and has a 24h Service if you get stock on the lake and they do everything to get you boat running as fast as possible. They know the time you can use it is short and the cost are high.

Rex, i can't help you with, but some pictures would be nice.

[wakerider107]

Nice review of Orlandos local Nautique dealership that had nothing to do with your boat. Try searching for Correct Craft instead.

[Rex]

Nice review of Orlandos local Nautique dealership that had nothing to do with your boat. Try searching for Correct Craft instead.

Wakerider, thank you for notifying me so that I can write it on Correct Craft in stead, as I wrote you in the PM.

[Rex]

2 months and 2 days is what it took Nautique to get my boat running again. I got it back this past Sunday. The boat is awesome!! Nautique engineers have done an incredible job - such a shame that executive decisions are flushing the brand down the drains with poor quality control.

For those of you with harsh remarks about me being unfair for posting poor reviews - you have no idea what I have gone through with Nautique and how much I have tried to find common grounds.

I have played along and reached out for the first 6 weeks until these past two weeks where I told Nautique that I am taking this to court since they are by no means living up to their responsibilities.

The reviews here are, as I wrote earlier, so that others will know what they are getting into. Regarding the law suit, just wait and see how this plays out. From a legal stand point, this is a clear cut case.

[Rex]

"Pleasurecraft Marine has received reported instances of serpentine belt tensioners breaking on H5 and H6 engines within
the above serial range. Upon investigations, it was determined that the tensioners received from the supplier in October 2016
had undergone an unknown manufacturing process change. It has been determined that these tensioners DO NOT meet the
specifications set forth by Pleasurecraft Marine, and are suspect to cracking under certain conditions.
A robust replacement belt
tensioner will be supplied for replacement.
Pleasurecraft Marine is making every attempt to contact registered owners of these affected products in order to get this belt
tensioner replaced before a problem occurs. 100% of these engines have not been registered with Pleasurecraft Marine, therefore
we need your assistance in contacting ALL of your customers that have product within the above serial number range.
Pleasurecraft Marine highly recommends that you make every effort to contact your affected customers as soon as possible.
These efforts will help prevent a possible breakdown and bad experience for our customers.
Any inventory you may have that is
within the above serial number range must be corrected prior to selling."

Note from PCM to dealers
Serial range affected:
567085 - 571225

H5 and H6 engines

Exactly.

[Rex]

Nautique sent out similar info to dealers for the shafts too. I have the instructions on the bulletin and a huge list of Hull ID's, but its not easy to post it here because the list of Hull ID's is organized by which dealership purchased the boat originally and not in numerical order. It's also 25 pages long.
An interesting note on the shafts - as of May 2016, only 47% of assumed affected shafts had been sent back to nautique for claims.

Which means that 53% of these boats will most probably end up with a broken tensioner with the risks and problems this may lead to.

No wonder, Nautique is dodging the ball on my issue until they get the formal law suit in their door. Nautique is looking at a case that could result in a gigantic financial and brand wise blow as well as a shift og top executive management.

[wakerider107]

Which means that 53% of these boats will most probably end up with a broken tensioner with the risks and problems this may lead to.

No wonder, Nautique is dodging the ball on my issue until they get the formal law suit in their door. Nautique is looking at a case that could result in a gigantic financial and brand wise blow as well as a shift og top executive management.

The numbers in my post were about a previous shaft recall nearly 3 years ago and how Nautique handled it compared to the one your boat experienced. The 47% of shaft replacements number is the percent of shafts that dealerships sent back to Nautique for warranty about a year after the recall was sent out. There are a lot of variables to this: dealers may not have returned them to Nautique; customers may have ignored the recall (not every single one is going to fail); dealerships may not have contacted all affected customers; it has been a year and a half since that 47% has been reported so this number has probably increased.
The 47% number was sent to dealerships to encourage them to return shafts and remind customers to get this important recall done. What else should Nautique do?

[Kmayotte]

So Rex left 1 star reviews of the awesome dealership in Orlando who has 100% nothing to do with this? (The dealership where I bought my boat and had a stellar experience). That's too bad. Talk about going scorched earth without any regard. I hope he deletes...

[Rex]

What else should Nautique do?

Nautique and Correct Craft should have asked themselves exactly that question.

They should live up to their responsibilities and professionalize their Quality Control just like the industry as such has done in previous years and as we have seen in comparable industries such as the automotive or motorcycle manufacturing industries.

When Nautique/Correct Craft, an international boat manufacturer, relies on encouraging dealer networks through emails with information that cannot be understood decentrally for essential recalls, then that company does not live up to their responsibilities, to the quality control standards that have granted them US and international requirements.

Basically, I love the boat performance when it runs; but the complete lack of quality control at corporate level is a huge liability to customers as well as to the company. If I had known this, if it had been clear in G23 reviews or in posts on fora such as this one, I would have never purchased Nautique/Correct Craft.

Rex

[Rex]

So Rex left 1 star reviews of the awesome dealership in Orlando who has 100% nothing to do with this? (The dealership where I bought my boat and had a stellar experience). That's too bad. Talk about going scorched earth without any regard. I hope he deletes...

It has already been deleted.

[scottb7]

One, it is not just quality control, it is the engineering also...It is not either or...I think we would like to find one party to blame...If it was just quality control then why would they upgrade the shaft from 1 and 1/8 to 1 and 1/4?

Two, There will not be a lawsuit that is adjudicated. They will just work it out, like they did with you. And settle each problem case that comes up. And as to "top executive management" change. These guys make a lifetime of money in like 3 or 4 years. He doesn't care. I can prove he doesn't care. If he did he would fix this shizzle.

To the guy that says "what else should nautique do"? How about they cover labor and not just parts when it is out of warranty. Seems reasonable considering it is a known problem for 5 model years now (2013-2017).

If he posted that on orlando nautique when that was not the dealer he was dealing with then clearly he not a nice person.

[Kmayotte]

It has already been deleted.

Who ended up fixing the boat? It sounds like this fix (if it was actually the tensioner recall, no photos provided) was rather elementary.

[core-rider]

So Rex, you still haven't answered the question that has been asked several times... Was anything else BESIDES the belt tensioner wrong with your boat!?! You seem to be repeating the same thing over and over about "quality control" but never really touch on the actual problem that caused all this mess in the first place.

I can understand you being upset for loss of time, work, income, etc... What I can't get straight in my mind is how a simple part took so long to repair unless there is more than the tensioner that was causing an issue. Since you seem to be spending so much time slandering a company and dealership, how about answering the question many here have asked...

What exactly was wrong with your boat??? Details would be nice!

Your last post you stated... Basically, I love the boat performance when it runs; but the complete lack of quality control at corporate level is a huge liability to customers as well as to the company. If I had known this, if it had been clear in G23 reviews or in posts on fora such as this one, I would have never purchased Nautique/Correct Craft.

There might be others here in the same position that would use your experience as means for picking a certain brand over another like you just stated... Your detailed input would come in very useful here! Without those details your statements just look like rants of an upset customer who didn't get his way the exact moment he made demands. Not many people I know would use that interpretation as useful info for considering purchase.