North Point Watersports - More Information

[cam8901]

RE: Re: RE: The Truth About North Point Watersports

Very true. I have had the pleasure of meeting the owner of the new Nautique dealership here last week and he is very excited about getting the brand and seems to have the enthusiasm that John did when he owned NPWS. I just got my letter from CC late last week explaining that HQ Marine is the new nautique point in town. Tony (new owner) is a local guy that knows everyone on the water and seems like he wants to really take care of the customer. Time will tell.

[04-211-DSJ]

RE: Re: RE: The Truth About North Point Watersports

I bought my boat from John in 2004, just before he sold to Team Carolina. I have met few people as genuinely nice as him. I was unsure when buying the boat if it would work on my lift (moving from I/O SeaRay to Inboard). I didn't buy a trailer so he agreed to deliver my boat. After the test run and official delivery, he measured where the delivery trailer held the boat and he didn't leave until we had the lift working to our satisfaction. He followed up with us a month after buying the boat and he was genuinely interested in how we were using the boat and the new tricks our kids were learning. Some of these things you expect when buying a Nautique and some are above and beyond like John. As a fellow Steeler fan, we still visit his brother's Coffee Shop in Blanox, PA when passing through. If you are out there reading any of this John, good luck selling those houses.

[Quinner]

RE: Re: RE: The Truth About North Point Watersports

Just met John this year at the CCFan reunion on Green Lake and then skied with him on Lake Normal a month later. Never knew or dealt with him as a dealer however I could only imagine what a great operation John must have had with his passion for the brand combined with being such a great guy with a great family. Another shout out to you John, thanks again for making our trip to Lake Norman so awesome, BTW John was part of our 5 and 6 man barefoot runs, fun stuff.

[CradGen2]

RE: Re: RE: The Truth About North Point Watersports

John is the reason Jen and I purchased our 2004 SV211 at the Charlotte Boat show. Jen said he had honest eyes and I still bought the boat from him. Both my uncle and I were sorry to see him sell. John for president or at least he needs to get back into the boat business. Go Steelers

[NPWSDrew]

Respectfully Setting the Record Straight

I am the Operations Manager of North Point Watersports, and I have been made aware and have reviewed the progression of all three threads regarding the letter we sent to our customers dated August 23, 2007. I don’t know if the escalation of speculation, rumors, and trash-talking in these threads is par for the course in these forums, but I think the common good would be best-served if more facts are brought to light.

First, it should be known that the letter sent to our customers was never intended to be posted on any web site, and it was not posted by anyone at our dealership. That letter was sent in order to inform our customers of a change in our product offering, to make sure they were “in the know” and to prevent any surprises should our warranty service center status change. The letter never intended to offend Correct Craft’s passionate fan base, and in fact we intentionally withheld specific examples of the continuing decline in boat quality. We saw no reason to alarm customers with regard to the quality of their boats, as the vast majority of the problems were repaired at our dealership.

There were, however three occasions where the issues could not be resolved to our customers’ satisfaction locally, and the boats were returned to the factory. One occasion involved a 2006 Super Air Nautique 210 that suffered extreme fiberglass cracking as a result of inadequate reinforcement beneath the Flight Control Tower legs. This boat was ultimately purchased back by Southeast Correct Craft and the customer paid the difference between it and a new 2006 Super Air Nautique 220. Another incident involved a 2006 Air Nautique SV-211 with a flaw in the gel coat that could not be explained by the factory to our customer’s satisfaction. Our dealership took the boat back on trade and delivered to our customer a new 2007 Air Nautique SV-211 (at no additional cost); we then sold the original 2006 model to Southeast Correct Craft. Another example involves a contributor to the most recent thread; Mr. Rilee purchased a 2007 Air Nautique 206 and upon taking delivery was dissatisfied with the amount of vibration in the Flight Control Tower (among several other less significant issues). After several unsuccessful attempts to repair the boat locally, it too was returned to the factory for repair. It was inspected at Correct Craft and we were told that the tower vibration falls into the acceptable fault tolerance range, but that they would reinforce the gunnels and return it to us. When the boat was returned to us it was test-driven with Mr. Rilee and the repairs were not to his satisfaction. Correct Craft refused to take the boat back, so North Point Watersports took the boat on trade for a 2007 Ski Nautique 196. In that case, North Point gave credit for the full original purchase price paid by the customer and we “ate” the loss on the later sale of the 206. Very few dealerships will do that.

Like it or not, these are all documented facts, and are by no means comprehensive of all the problems or issues that have been faced. A number of boats have arrived from the factory with significant fiberglass, gel coat, Flight Control Tower, and vinyl problems that should have, in our opinion, been addressed prior to being loaded on the transport truck. Again, these problems were repaired at our dealership. Some of the labor involved in the repair work was reimbursed under warranty, and some of it was not. Our concerns with the factory’s quality control had been voiced to Correct Craft representatives on multiple occasions and after acknowledging that they were having problems they indicated the problems would be addressed in short order. As of the date of our last delivery of new boats, we saw no evidence that corrective action had been taken, since several of the most recently received boats had the same problems.

We recognize that nobody is perfect, and that nothing man made is perfect. We never demanded (or expected) the boats we received from the factory to be perfect. We do believe that the boats should be well engineered and constructed, and that they should not require extensive repairs as soon as they come out of shrink wrap. None of the other manufacturers that we represent delivers all boats in perfect condition, but I assure you that from them we have had far fewer issues.

Many people have posted speculations and concerns about “who dropped who,” so if it really matters, here is our view of what transpired. During repeated discussions with Correct Craft regarding our quality concerns (dating back as far as February 2006 and as recent as August 2007), we uncovered what appeared to us to be a collaborative effort on the part of our Nautique rep, one of our former employees, Southeast Correct Craft, Correct Craft Inc, and one of our “in-market” competitors to set up a new Nautique store on Lake Wylie (contractually part of our territory). It appears the plan was for the new store to serve Lake Wylie, and for North Point Watersports to serve Lake Norman. Never mind that when the current owners of North Point (Team Carolina Marine, Inc.) agreed to purchase the business at Correct Craft’s request, they had been promised the first rights to any future Lake Wylie facility. Never mind that a timeline for that project had been mutually accepted and that the process of finding a suitable site had already begun.

Needless to say our ownership and management were alarmed and disappointed that Correct Craft would surreptitiously hold these negotiations with another competing dealership, let alone coordinate the recruitment of one of our employees to work for said dealership to facilitate the scheme. Thus far, Correct Craft has never denied its involvement in this conspiracy. Once the “pieces to the puzzle” began to come together our company notified Correct Craft representatives that if they failed to keep their commitments, North Point would discontinue its dealer affiliation. Subsequent to that, communication became difficult with Correct Craft officials. When Bill Yeargin, President and CEO of Correct Craft, Inc. was contacted, he failed to respond. When Gary Meloon, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing of Correct Craft, Inc. was contacted, he also neglected to respond. We can only assume that they were embarrassed about these questionable circumstances. The “buck” was eventually passed down to a relatively new addition to Correct Craft’s team, National Sales Manager Mike Yauch, who indicated that he was “just caught in the middle” but would look into the situation and respond. After weeks of hearing nothing from Correct Craft, we were finally contacted by Mike Yauch who simply said, “the dealer agreement will be allowed to non-renew.” This came the day after we represented them at the summer boat show. I guess the new dealership wasn’t quite ready, but Correct Craft did not want to miss the show.

The letter that was sent to our customers reads, “Because these problems seem to be getting worse, and because Correct Craft has broken certain commitments that they made to us, we believe it is best for our relationship with them to end.” That was, and is still our true sentiment, and is worth elaboration: Because of the declining quality control issues, because we believe that Correct Craft representatives recruited one of our employees on behalf of a competing dealer (& initiated attempts to attract several others), because they broke commitments to us, and because Correct Craft lost our trust and confidence, we do sincerely believe it is best for us that the relationship has ended. Our letter never made any statement as to “who dropped who” and the truth is, because they were not up front with us, we don’t know for certain what their true intentions were. Had we complained so loudly about the quality issues that they decided to blow us out? If so, then they dropped us. It is odd that they never complained about our sales or service levels. On the other hand could it be that their scheme to expedite another dealership simply backfired when our company made it clear that it would not condone their betrayal nor coexist with a competing dealer in the same market? We truly don’t know, so everyone must draw their own conclusion. The end result is the same.

It is sad that this is not the first (nor probably the last) time that Correct Craft undermines its dealer partners. Across the country Correct Craft has a reputation of dealer instability. Why do you think that there have been so many dealer changes in this area alone? I can count four different owner/dealers in the Charlotte market and four more in the Greensboro market in just the last few years. Have they all been bad guys? Some of your readers have commented on how great the prior ownership of North Point was and we agree. What most don’t realize is that for whatever reason, Correct Craft had decided to reposition the Nautique line to Team Carolina for the 2006 model year and it was Nautique Representative Skip Dunlap that orchestrated the sale and that ownership change. Had that transaction not closed for any reason, he had promised the owners of our company to move the line anyway. All of this was apparently initiated and blessed by Southeast Correct Craft and Correct Craft, Inc.

The truth is that Correct Craft hates the fact that both MasterCraft and Malibu beat them so badly in market share, and it appears that they will make whatever knee-jerk move they think might quickly reverse that situation. It’s not just this market, it is the same story in many other markets. Just read Correct Craft’s “new dealer” press releases over the past several years. It just seems that Correct Craft simply lacks the financial strength and patience to do the fundamental work necessary to build a strong dealer network. The fact is that it’s their customers who lose when they play musical chairs with dealerships. The Nautique product is very service intensive, and it takes a lot of time to properly train technicians. We have requested from Correct Craft their commitment to allow us to properly support our existing customers during the transition, but again, so far no response. But we do have access to the parts necessary to keep our customers on the water and we will support them with or without Correct Craft’s help.

As far as the WylieRilee post is concerned, we join those who condemn it as inappropriate and juvenile behavior. When I first read the post I too was fooled by the author and believed it to be one of our customers. Our management team had specifically instructed all of our employees not to make any comments or posts to any Nautique forums, or to any of our customers so as not to incite a backlash from Correct Craft owners. We value all of our customers and we wanted to avoid facilitating the rumor mill that seems inherent in the inboard ski boat community. I have spoken with all of my associates and asked if they were responsible for the WylieRilee post, but so far no-one has confessed. But it is certainly possible that someone here authored that post, so we sincerely apologize to Mr. Rilee and to all readers of this forum. Whether the deceptive post was made by a rogue employee, a former employee, or someone else, we again condemn that behavior. We do ask that readers not blame all of us for one person’s misdeed.

Finally, for those speculating that we are “the new MasterCraft dealer,” and that was the original motivation behind our customer letter, allow me to set the record straight: As a result of the end of our relationship with Correct Craft, we decided to pursue a cooperative promotional partnership with the local MasterCraft dealer, MasterCraft of Charlotte, in order to increase the exposure of all of the product lines of both of our dealerships. The individuals who work at MasterCraft of Charlotte are focused on delivering quality products and delivering exceptional customer service. We look forward to continuing to work with them in what we believe will be a relationship that will benefit our customers, both of our companies and all of our major vendors.

Please accept my apology for the lengthiness of these comments. It is however my sincere best effort to clarify some of the miscommunications and misunderstandings that have followed the letter that was sent to our customers. Perhaps that letter should have contained more specifics, but again, we were trying to spare the details of an unfortunate situation. We have no desire to perpetuate the trash-talking that’s gone on. Just as the letter states, for years Correct Craft has been recognized as one of the top boat manufacturers in the watersports marketplace. It was our dealership’s original intention to represent the Nautique line for many years. Whether right or wrong, that will not happen. We have moved forward, and we sincerely wish all Correct Craft owners nothing but the best, regardless of whether their boats were purchased from us or elsewhere. If we can help, please let us know. We will make every reasonable effort to ensure a happy boating experience.

Drew Shott
Operations Manager
North Point Watersports

[NautiqueJeff]

RE: Respectfully Setting the Record Straight

I think we should just let this topic die. Obviously North Point and Correct Craft disagree about certain things, and what's done is done. Further discussion on this forum will not change anything. North Point has a track record of questionable behavior, and I have no faith in their honesty at this point. Because of that, I am locking this thread. I wish them good luck as a MasterCraft dealer, and sincerely hope that their customers are taken care of.