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chris jeroue

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If you all remember I had major problems with my Tracker pro deep V 16 with the rivets blowing out. Well Tracker came through and ended up scraping my old boat and gave me a Targa 165 sc (side consol) to replace my old boat. Well I have had this boat down to the repair facility twice now because the fuel gauge is not working, neither is the speedometer. I have found out that "F" is full, then the 3/4 mark is half and the half mark is empty. If I have a "3/4" tank of gas as soon as the boat starts moving forward it pegs to the "F" full mark. I am getting ready to put this boat away for the winter and it will go down to Tracker here in MIchigan and then possibly to there Springfield, MO. boat center. Did I forget to mention that I have had this boat for just this year and already it is leaking someplace. When I go out and fish for the day I come back to the boat launch and get the boat on the trailer and then I pull it up on the ramp and pull the drain plug and it drains like a garden hose, even though I use the bilge pump when up and running and yes it does bilge water out. My "buddy" Rich is about to give up on me I think. I hope these issues can be worked out so I can enjoy my boat.



cjeroue....aka. arthritic minnow.
 
Sorry to hear about your boat. I had bad luck with a 2005 PT165. It started taking on water while I was fishing in south Texas.



When I got it on the trailer, I found two holes in it and the hull was cracked down the center. I did not hit anything. I was in some bad water that did the damage. I took it to a Tracker dealer in NM. It was torn COMPLETELY apart. They found stress cracks all over the boat. The welder would not guarantee any work. The boat was totalled out by my insurance company.



The only reason I went with another Tracker was because my insurance company was outstanding and the dealer really worked with me.
 
Don't give up and keep at em'....been there and done it and didn't even get a kiss.

But, hey, they did make up for it.

I just don't understand Tracker and their CS and never will.....

Maybe the reason everyone else dogs Tracker AND Nitro ?

I think sooooooo.......:unsure:
 
First Sergeant, What is "bad water"?

You did not hit anything, they found stress cracks all over the boat, and your insurance company paid out? Good deal. Most insurance companies will not cover structure or mechanical failure not caused by an impact of some kind.



Sorry to hear about your trouble Minnow. Hope they make it right.
 
Chris, i'll never give up on you! ;)



Give me a call when you're ready to give the boat up for a day or so.

I'll tackle it one more and see what I can come up with.

If possible, try and fill up your gas tank before bringing it in. Then ill have a blank canvas to work with, where I can drain/replace fuel to check the gauge.



Thanks!

Rich
 
Minnow old friend...



I hope that they will find and fix the issues for once and for all... The leak could be a number of things from "silly" (like a loose livewell fitting) to serious ( stress cracks) and all thing in between... so you will just have to wait and see. The old level and fill the bilge does work to identify most leaks in the hull so it should (read that as probably should) be easy for them to find the leak... then fixing it will depend on what the cause is...



The fuel gauge issue is not rare... My tank will read 1/2 at rest on the trailer "level") and at WOT it reads full... at idle or at rest in the watrer it is a little over 1/2 (5/8ths?). When it is at 1/2 and I fill it it takes 11-12 gallons to fill it. It is marked as 25 gallons. From empty, bone dry it takes 26 gallons to fill it to "overflowing). So, I only trust it at rest level in my garage. Everything else is a relative reading...kind of like "for reference only"....
 
Araon,



What I call "bad water" was 6 foot waves in a storm and in the middle of a lake in a 15 ft, 10 inch boat.



I got beat to death. Lucky I did not sink the boat.



Your right! I got lucky. My insurance/tracker dealer took great care of me!



Shirt
 
Minnow, I am with Tee, you have to hound Tracker to get anything fixed. They replaced my first boat with one that had just as many problems if not more as the first one. I ended up with a pontoon for the second replacement because I didn
 
Rich called me today 12-2-06 and told me that my hull has a 3/4" crack in it just under the consol where the boat sits on the trailer. He has sent some pictures down to Tracker in Springfield, MO. and we are waiting to see what the outcome will be. I'll keep you posted. Please read Rich's post under this topic. He is willing to work with me. It will come out o.k.



minnow.
 
I got a call from Rich at Tracker Marine and he told me that the boat was going to the repair shop to get welded where the leak is at. Yes, it is going back to Glass-masters. I was told the leak was where the boat sits on the bunk. I hope they have a way of showing how they are going to weld this on the outside so the weld won't tear at the carpeted bunk. I am not looking forward to see how they are going to fix this problem but only time will tell.



minnow.
 
It seems to me that Rich and Tracker is trying to help Minnow... Am I wrong here? I WOULD look forward to see how they are going to fix it.



Sarge, you're out in 6' waves in a 15 ft, 10 inch boat and you lived? I sure wouldn't trash the boat that got me through that. I would also venture to say, and I mean no offense, that you would have no idea if you hit anything in 6' water.



Uncle Billy
 
uncle billy you are right Rich and Tracker are trying to help me but I'm not at all impressed with the welder that did the welding on my last Tracker. It was so bad that when the boat was sent down to Springfield, MO. they looked at it and gave me a new 2006 Targa 165 with the trailer and spare tire, they just put my motor on it. The boat has been down for repairs for a few weeks now. I'm going to want to see where and how they weld this one. This is really getting old and I know that Rich has to cringe each time I call and ask about the status of the boat. Last time I called he said he hopes to have the boat done by this coming Friday. I'll keep you all up to date on what is going on with this boat.



minnow.
 
update Jan.3rd, 2007. Talked to Rich and he said that he should have my boat back later today. I then called Glass-masters and talked to myles and found out that the boat had four (4) cracks in the hull plus some of the welds on the inside of the boat had broken loose and that they welded these back plus welded extra supports/braces. I called Tracker customer service and talked to Dennis there and asked if Jeff Gardner was avaliable as he was the one I was in contact with on my last Tracker issues. I asked Dennis to give Jeff my message and phone number and to have him call me back today when he gets in. Honestly I will admit that when I found out that there was more than one crack in the hull I sat down and cried hard for over 10 minutes. This is like going through HELL again as I know that the boat will continue to crack where they welded just like my last one did. When I hear from Jeff I will see where we can go from here and will post again soon. I wish I could get a photo attached here that shows how my last boat was welded, but for some reason I cannot get it attached.



arthritic minnow.



 
Jim, the bad part is Tracker has ok'ed the repair of from what I under stand 4 cracks in Chris's hull. That boat has hardly been on the water and developed the cracks. A guy (not saying the name) told Chris to hold on not to come get it because he wasn't happy with the repairs. Then I understand it was yesterday afternoon he gets a call and said come down and get your boat, tracker said it is all repaired. I guess if you leave the boat down there they charge 24 bucks a day for everyday after a week so by picking it up I suppose your accepting the repairs. What a shame he has hardly any time on the water and he mostly perch fishes in calm water. Never seen any waves. His last tracker they took back and replaced it with this one what 5 mo ago? Something is wrong with their customer service to allow such a thing as this to happen after a person pays such a huge price for a boat. Skeeter
 
It seems to me that Tracker would keep track of which boats (by hull# or production#) were welded by specific welders/shifts. Thereby enabling them to go back in their records and see who welded a particular boat and possibly curtailing/ending bad weld jobs. Or....perhaps they have an automated welding machine doing all the outer hull welds? Just guessing about that. Anyway, there should be a way to track the welding process and hopefully correct it.
 
Terroreyes thanks for the info of the attorney. I have kept all my past documents from the problem I had with my last Tracker boat. I will contact this person ASAP to see what can be done about my current situation. I really don't need this stress in my life, and don't think anyone who is having problems with Tracker boats should have to go this far (getting and attorney) to get such a simple issue resolved. I don't fish in the rough waters like I have seen some ppl. go out in and just watch them as they hit wave after wave. Where I launch from is only about 25 minutes from my home and the road dead ends at the bay and I go to the end of this road and look out on the horizon where the sky meets the water and if I see any ripples across the horzion I know the bay is rough. I won't fish in winds that are over 10 mph as this can really turn up the Saginaw Bay as you well know. I can count seven times when the wife and I were out perch fishing this past summer in one to two foot chop and then the bay would go flat and we learned that this is time to pull the anchor and start heading closer to the launch because when the wind/water goes flat on the bay you know the wind is changing and when it does it usually kicks up some waves that are over three footers. My saying is live to fish another day. Once again thank you for the information you have supplied me with and I hope other Tracker owners who have problems will keep this guys name and number handy. My nightmares are starting all over again and I hope he can help me.



arthritic minnow.
 
Thankfully, I went through every visible weld on the new boat and all look good. Thank god! I noted scary looking welds in the survey on my first boat before it ever saw the water.



Good luck! Keep us posted.



 
Jim would be me. We meet again Uncle Billy. Hopefuly, you'll be nice to me this time. After all, seems I was right about my first boat in the end :)



 
There's a lot to think about if you go down the attorney route. Hourly or contingency? Are you willing to sue BPS also? If you're flexible and just want a settlement, I'd go hourly. If you're going balls out and for the throat, I'd go contingency. The law provides for you to be reimbursed for all your personal and attorney expenses if it reaches a court settlement. That's your trump card right there. Pretty easy for a manufacturer to equal their value of a fishing boat in legal expenses. For you too if you go hourly though. But, you have to be willing to go the distance to recover the expenses. It's a sick chess game of dollars and cents! :angry:



 
I was just wondering how Skeeter knew who "Jim" was when you hadn't signed in?



I always nice Jim..:p Being right wasn't the point. It was the way you presented it all that got me a little riled. I never had anything against you personally. I'd love for you to get a dependable boat you like.



Uncle Billy
 
Yeah, I wasn't too happy about having to stoop that low, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Not to mention over $30,000!!!! If I would have tried to sugar coat it, I'd still be sitting on a cracked up defective boat. Like I said.... a sick chess game of $$$ and cents.
 
If this weather keeps up I'm going to have to get my safety check list out and start putting my things back in the boat. I can't wait to get it out on the water and see how it rides without the extra 20+ gallons of water that I was hauling around. Talking to Rich it looks like they may have gotten the fuel gauge and speedometer working properly. Only time will tell. When I get the boat in the water again I'll let you all know how it goes.



arthritic minnow.
 
I would like to clear something up here. It seems ppl. think that I fish when the water is flat on the Saginaw Bay. I will fish in waves that are 2.5-3' or less. It seems that someone, not saying who, thinks that I only fish on dead flat calm days. I like to walleye and perch fish when there is a "chop" on the water, NOT 3-5 foot waves or bigger. Two foot waves are great for both trolling for walleyes and for anchoring and perch fishing. YES, there are times when the wind will pick up. These are the times when you have to take your time coming in and make sure you are not beating your boat to death.

Another issue seems to be that I run long distances on the bay for perch. This is not true unless you call 6-8 miles long distances. I have and do launch out of Au Gres and Tawas from the DNR launches. I know that some ppl. will launch out of the marina that I get a season launch pass from each year and they will make the longggggg run approx. 38 miles one way to the Charity Islands.

I hope this clears up the fact that I mostly fish the inner Saginaw Bay and have several spots for perch and walleye fishing.



arthritic minnow.
 
Well now, it seems this thread took off a bit since I last posted..

First off, just to touch on the comment that "you have to hound Tracker" to get things fixed, I disagree. Obviously I cant speak for every Tracker dealership in the market, but I can for ours.. I take pride in trying to help every single one of my customers.

Chris is a worst case scenario with his boat. His old boat had obvious issues. The new boat had some minor items with the fuel and then the major issue of the crack. Tracker stood up right away to fix these items and get him taken care of. We made sure of that.

As for Chris and his boat, it's very clear seeing the boat how well he takes care of the boat. I could not see him ever putting the boat through harsh conditions or rough water.

There are alot of people talking without knowing the entire story of what's transpired between Chris and Tracker and that's not fair on both parts.



As far as im concerned, Chris's boat is fixed 100% as of right now. If he were to call me Monday and tell me that he's taking on water, I certainly wouldn't let him hang out to dry. I would not only take care of his boat, but take further steps with Tracker to make sure he is taken care of.



Chris, we've gone through alot together as customer/service dealer.. I've always been honest and upfront with you and I don't want you to think I would ever blow you off or have you think im sick of you, because that's not the case at all. You and your investment are priority.
 
Rich,



That is an attitude that I like to hear... Please continue to service your customers that way and you will get lots of support from the folks here...



We only hold the candle close to someone's feet when we perceive that it is not going to be a fair evaluation and a fair resolution... As a matter of fact we usually use about five cords of dry wood and a gallon or so of gas to make that candle!!!:wacko:
 
Wouldn't expect less from the Auburn Hills store. That is great customer service!! After all they have Mac and Mini on their retail Pro-Staff!!



TOXIC
 
Not anymore Tox. Neither of us are Tracker guys. BPS and Tracker are seperate and we have graduated to BPS National Pro Staff :)



But I am still proud of the store and will help them in any way possible....



Mini
 
Rich,

GREAT POST!! Glad to see someone from the MI-BPS stand up and help the man. Nobody deserves less than a first class attempt at excellent customer service!!

THANK YOU!!;)



Mac
 
I'd have to say that after experienceing a few different regimes at the Auburn Hills service center and watching these posts, Rich seems to have something going there! I know you guys don't care for me too much, but I'm willing to extend the olive branch since it seems your first priority is customer satisfaction now. What counts! Something that has always lacked there. Driving 200 miles each way for sevice is getting old and I'm willing to give you guys another shot. :) Ready to shim my trailer?
 
Mini.....That's why I said "retail" staff. I know who you work for towel boy!!:lol::lol:



Terroreyes, we don't take anything personal. You will always be welcome here (if I can speak for the majority). There's only a problem when it seems like there is an agenda or a vendetta.



TOXIC
 
The only "vendetta and agenda" here of mine is my "grudge" against Trepper... He didn't have time to fish with me and I will never let him forget it.... never...:lol:
 
Hey, no grudge against any of you in service. I'm still waiting for an apology from Doug in sales though ;)
 
Thanks all

Terror, yes, I'd definitely take a look at your trailer.

You and I spoke before on the walleye central board, so I believe I remember what the situation was, but it can't hurt to give me a shout at the shop next week.

We'll do everything we can to get you taken care of!



 
Thanks Rich. You da man. :) Call you soon as I get the clear from Melissa.
 
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