Nautique purchase outside of local area

[Evening Shade]

being military... I move every 2-3 years, and I’m rarely at my home dealer. I’ve had 4 dealers that were terrible (Chessie, WSA, Wilson Watersports, and Poplar Pointe). I’ve had 2 that were exceptional (Buxton and TNT).

never once have I got good service from anyone that started the conversation with “where’d you buy your boat?” Regardless of the wait game you describe. And I am talking lying, unethical, damage to boat hack jobs at EACH of these hack service depts.

WSA- liars and thieves “a mystery man jumped a fence and did a bad vinyl repair on your boat, it wasn’t us”

Wilson- hack job screw through CAN cable grounded it out by weed smoking 18yr old wake grom during warranty vinyl repair. “We dont know why none of your electronics are working and we’re too busy to fix the damage we did to your boat.” “You didn’t buy yer boat here”

Chessie- destroyed boat cover with 100gals of pooled water and mold over every surface in interior and compartment, customers fault. And treat you like trash when you try to use a coupon for $75 in road tolls reimbursement they send you i the fall for winter services. “ we treated you great!”

Poplar Pointe- charged for an impellor change, was never done, and then ran the boat dry out of water destroying existing impellor, the bits clogging tranny cooler. “We have no idea what happened.” “You didn’t buy yer boat round here”

on the inverse, neither Buxton nor TNT ever asked me where I bought my boat or why i was bringing a new 1-2 yr old boat to them. They are just great folks that treat customers with respect exceeded all expectations. “Let us fix this crap these other dealers wouldn’t “

The good this is, Nautique have Ron Nace heading customer service. When these ^^^ shenanigans are going on, he will bend over to make it right.

Some of these examples are why I do nearly all of my maintenance myself.

Every time I take my boat to the dealer for warranty work something gets screwed up. Water pooling on the cover and stretching it until it doesn't fit tight, wakeboard racks bent, scratches and over spray on the trailer, stains on the seats, chips in the gelcoat, bimini cover put on upside down so 10 gals of water collected and dumped out on me and the inside of the boat when I removed it, and the list goes on. All of this just with my current boat which I've only owned for 1 year.

I cringe every time I have to take it to the dealer.

Sorry I got off topic here, but Ryan's post got me all riled up again about my dealer experiences.

[Tallredrider]

The "dealer territory" crap isn't helping anyone, except the crappy dealers..... a good dealer doesn't have to worry about keeping customers. And it's not like territory restrictions help any customer. Quite the opposite actually.

The sooner that we realize we are not Nautique's customers, the better we will understand the situation. Nautique's customers are its dealers. They do not sell boats to us. I do not say that to slam them, it is just the reason why we get frustrated.

Being a boat dealer is difficult as well. Boats are hard to work on, and the seasonal nature of the work makes the income less predictable. So good mechanics are hard to find, at least my dealership says so. And they for sure don't want to be paying several mechanics all winter for doing nothing. I always thought if I were a snowboarding freak, I would become a boat mechanic, work my balls off all summer and hit every powder day I could in the winter.

[Wayward]

The sooner that we realize we are not Nautique's customers, the better we will understand the situation. Nautique's customers are its dealers. They do not sell boats to us. I do not say that to slam them, it is just the reason why we get frustrated.

Being a boat dealer is difficult as well. Boats are hard to work on, and the seasonal nature of the work makes the income less predictable. So good mechanics are hard to find, at least my dealership says so. And they for sure don't want to be paying several mechanics all winter for doing nothing. I always thought if I were a snowboarding freak, I would become a boat mechanic, work my balls off all summer and hit every powder day I could in the winter.

I own a mostly seasonal business that is required to service its customers within 24-48 hours, and some of those customers are up to 500 miles away. We get it done....

being as you are a snowboarder- have you ever been up to the mountain and found that you couldn't ride that day, because they were servicing the locals first? How often have you found that sections of the mountain were closed because they couldn't find enough lift operators that season? How many resorts refuse you service, because you didn't buy a season pass from them?

I mean..... it's easy to see that it takes excellent management, and that it is not easy to run a seasonal boat dealership. But it's also easy to see that lots of dealerships are managed well enough to make it work, as well as maintaining top notch customer service, and reasonable service timelines...... as well as being there to help anyone that needs marine service. Including people that purchased elsewhere.

the fact that it isn't easy to manage is the excuse?? That's exactly what it is....... an excuse.

Being a boat dealer is not the only seasonal business in the world......

[scottb7]

I agree with above!

Maybe too many dealerships are owned by bad managers. I think they should be able to make money on service, in which case they should staff for the volume, and ensure everyone get's good customer service. Many seasonal business give great service, this should not be acceptable. And it is great when Nautique helps when something goes wrong, but may not really solve an underlying dealer service/management problem.

Having boats in stock is a problem. It is not like cars which they can borrow from other dealerships, and then order and replenish later. I don't know how a small dealership or Nautique could deal with that problem. Probably current system is as good as you can get on that issue.

P.S. "Boats are hard to work on." Tell me more...not sure I understand where this comment is coming from...I would think most of the volume of work is pretty easy stuff..,

[Wayward]

P.S. "Boats are hard to work on." Tell me more...not sure I understand where this comment is coming from...I would think most of the volume of work is pretty easy stuff..,

This as well. Boats are 10x easier than cars/trucks. Basically, if you have enough mechanical ability and knowledge to work on lawn mowers, snowmobiles, atvs, motorcycles, tractors, etc., you have everything it takes to be a marine tech. Boats are super easy.

[Tallredrider]

I agree with above!



P.S. "Boats are hard to work on." Tell me more...not sure I understand where this comment is coming from...I would think most of the volume of work is pretty easy stuff..,

I think it is more physically demanding to work on boats, but am open to alternative opinions.

Whenever I work on my boat, it seems like I feel like I have been standing on my head reaching in the dark for a good number of the parts that I need to get to, even for some boat's routine maintenance items. Isn't even an impeller change sort of an act of mechanic yoga on most boats, laying across the top of the engine reaching into the depths? Don't get me wrong, I am not arguing, especially since 2 posts in a row seem to think boats are not too bad to work on. Everything else requires you to lay on your side in the storage compartment, which often is not quite big enough for a full sized man. Once you get in there, you realize you need a 14 mm wrench that you didn't bring with you. Climb out and going to get it is not as easy as an auto. My experience is limited working on autos, but it seems like it is a lot easier on my trucks and cars.

Around here, I've never seen an air conditioned boat mechanic lair, either.

[Wayward]

Tallred- I can definitely agree with you about the acrobatics involved in working on a boat!

[brit_hunsicker]

I will agree that boats are pain in the arse to work on...physically. Mentally not so much.

A good way to combat this whole dealer territory crap is just let someone else take the 10-20k bath on buying a new boat and pick it up from them or a dealer of your choosing that just got a 40 hour boat on trade in. Territories only matter on brand new boats.


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[Wayward]

I will agree that boats are pain in the arse to work on...physically. Mentally not so much.

A good way to combat this whole dealer territory crap is just let someone else take the 10-20k bath on buying a new boat and pick it up from them or a dealer of your choosing that just got a 40 hour boat on trade in. Territories only matter on brand new boats.


Sent from my iPhone using PLT Nautique

I don't know about that. Two of the guys that bought my G's said that their local dealers weren't going to work on them because they didn't buy from them.

the good thing, is that once you are past the first 20-30 hours, they are usually straightened out, and fairly bulletproof.

[gonefishin5555]

I just bought a used GS22 and the prior owner had the 50hr service done recently and it cost $1K at the dealer. My question is this: Can't you just substitute a good certified PCM engine mechanic/dealer for the Nautique dealer. For my car I use an independent mechanic and take it to the dealer when I have a recall. After 5 years you are on your own anyway. I actually read the engine manual and only a couple things on the annual service are required to be done by the dealer, ignition system inspection, check engine alignment and change a couple fluids out. I doubt that service is worth more than $2-300. I probably would have them do the oil and filter change and the impeller if they were reasonable.

[Tallredrider]

I just bought a used GS22 and the prior owner had the 50hr service done recently and it cost $1K at the dealer. My question is this: Can't you just substitute a good certified PCM engine mechanic/dealer for the Nautique dealer. For my car I use an independent mechanic and take it to the dealer when I have a recall. After 5 years you are on your own anyway. I actually read the engine manual and only a couple things on the annual service are required to be done by the dealer, ignition system inspection, check engine alignment and change a couple fluids out. I doubt that service is worth more than $2-300. I probably would have them do the oil and filter change and the impeller if they were reasonable.

Most dealers will charge more than that. Don't assume.

[GMLIII]

I just bought a used GS22 and the prior owner had the 50hr service done recently and it cost $1K at the dealer. My question is this: Can't you just substitute a good certified PCM engine mechanic/dealer for the Nautique dealer. For my car I use an independent mechanic and take it to the dealer when I have a recall. After 5 years you are on your own anyway. I actually read the engine manual and only a couple things on the annual service are required to be done by the dealer, ignition system inspection, check engine alignment and change a couple fluids out. I doubt that service is worth more than $2-300. I probably would have them do the oil and filter change and the impeller if they were reasonable.

Buy an oil extractor and it is a breeze to change your engine oil and filter on your own. Now the impeller is somewhat a pain in the "Ahole". Yes I could have changed it, but it was well worth the dealer labor charge of $149.00 with me supplying the impeller to get it changed.

[lucky7t]

I was told that the dealer doesn’t have to pay if you walk in the door at another location .

We own a property in Texas and use that address for Nautique but live in a Oklahoma .

Competition is good . Another scenario would be if your local dealer is horrible then call Nautique and explain . I’m sure they would work with you .

The only issue I’ve experienced first hand is service . If you bring yours in to your local dealer for service I can almost bet your last in line .


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