How Should I respond...

[Greg Meyer]

So here's part of the text of a post on Walleyecentral... Reference to the Tracker Tundra...



"I am wondering about this boat? I did a archive search and found quite a bit of info on them. I was wondering if any one out there has any thing more to say about them. I stopped at a dealer and looked at a 18' DC, it looks like a pretty well tought out rig, and a 18' DC with a 175 is what I was looking for.They have a nicely laid out interior. I have a few questions...



4-Warrenty issues? How are they to deal with?







Now... How would we all reposnd to that... Invite him over here to meet some of "our" folks who have had experiences... What would you post?

 

[JEFF WHITE]

i think you should invite him here to ask the same question.might get an honest answer!!

 

[Rich D]

When I see those types of questions, I generally invite them here.



Rich D

 

[Michael Snow]

The warranty is top-notch if you never have a problem. Depending on WHAT the problem is, you may have a positive of negative experience. The DEALER is VERY, VERY important. In my ever so humble opinion, BPS is not where you want to buy a tracker/nitro for assistance in dealing with the factory.... wait, before you slam me... they're owned by the same folks. Tracker's company line IS BPS's on Nitros (or should be).

 

[Michael Snow]

Oh, one more thing.. resale value.



It is my (once again) humble opinion that Tracker/Nitro is the worst investment in a new boat. While it's hard to use investment and boat in the same breath, there are a lot of other brands that hold their resale value better. Two examples are Basscat and Bullet. Both of these seem to hold their values quite well (only going by what people are trying to sell them for). Granted, neither is aluminum or multi-species like the Tundra, but the Tundra is one EXPENSIVE boat.

 

[Craig Roberts]

 

[Charlie Nethaway]

Craig I think Mike knows that service varies from shop to shop and you sir are correct, I have read about your shop and I do believe you guys are one of the best. from my experience BPS Grapevine "CAN NOT do service work".



It is very important to find a good dealer no matter what brand boat one buys.



I only know from my experience and what I read and hear but TRACKER has the worst reputation as far as standing behind their boats.



I guess a few statements say it all,

"we had to go to bat for the customer"

"we fought with tracker to get this fixed for you"

"We've gone to battle with Tracker Marine on several occasions when we felt our customers had legit claims"



Words that tell one in the market for a boat, don't walk away.... RUN.. RUN like hell from your tracker dealer unless you live in Detroit.



Charlie



PS the Tundra is the same QUALITY as any tracker product

 

[Michael Snow]

Craig, I missed your comments, so I'll have to guess from Charlie's remarks. Ken Neeley used to go to bat for his customers against Tracker --- they found a way to stop that from happening.



Please don't misunderstand me here, I'm not arguing that BPS IS bad as a dealer, simply that there's a more-pronounced conflict-of-interest than at other dealers. While all dealers have to keep the factory happy to keep selling their boats, when the dealership is OWNED by the factory, it isn't in the dealer's best financial interest to argue for the customer. If the dealer wins, their parent company loses money. It's simple economics. Others have said before (and I'm not weighing in on this) that Tracker doesn't seem to value the customer.



I'm not arguing that my boat isn't of decent quality... I think I got a heck of a deal on it -- used. If I take my Chevy truck into a Chevy dealership for a warranty repair, the dealership evaluates it and fixes it then and there. There is no "sending the claim to the factory".

 

[JEFF WHITE]

i guess this thread is getting a little out of skew here with the comments and editing of the posts.i went through tracker myself with my warranty problems,and got them fixed myself,they fixed the major stuff,i am going to fix the minor stuff myself so i know it will be fixed the way i like it to be fixed.but that is just my opinion,and you know what that is good for,right!!



some dealers dont care for the customer,once they got the money,good bye!warranty,nope,not here! but some will go out of there way to help you.some wont give you the time of day.

 

[Staci Matheis]

For the record.....



Automobile dealerships must often get factory permission before making warranty repairs - usually determined by dollar value of the repairs. The factory will often ask for the original parts to be returned as well. If it turns out that the failure was due to neglect or abuse, the dealer has to eat the repair or bill it back to the customer.



But then..... The automobile companies have very effective channels of communication in place.....

 

[Adam Murray]

I've got some rare free time this afternoon, so thought I'd chime in. A couple quick facts...



Tracker/Nitro is not owned by BPS. There are no financial ties between the two companies.



me! is almost 100% correct. Dealerships must ALWAYS get permission when making warranty repairs. The system is detailed and documented enough, though, that most repairs are done and reconciled afterwards. While I'm sure everyone has a story about it, rarely do you hear about a dealership having to "go to bat" for a customer. Millions of pages of documents, diagrams and drawings (as Mac can probably attest to) leave very little gray area.



Most everyone is correct when stating something about the dealer "making the difference". This is good for some (ie. live close to Auburn Hills), bad for others. In my mind, it is complete and utter bull.



This mode of operation illustrates a complete lack of processes, organization, planning and training. I can teach a six year old reactive management techniques. As a matter of fact, most six year olds are very qualified in this manner.



I've been on both sides of the track when it comes to this issue. Some days I'm treated like a king, one day I was considered "retarded" for thinking something should be repaired under warranty (several weeks later it was considered faulty and repaired).



These inefficient and random inconsistencies are not illustrative of a nationally recognized corporation.

 

[Michael Snow]

Adam, is Johnny Morris not the majority owner of both BPS and Tracker Marine?



Second, are the Tracker/Nitro dealers inside BPS not indeed OWNED by Tracker/Nitro?



PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong here.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Snowman....



I can tell you for a fact that none of the "Marine" employees are part of the "retail" side in a BPS. I can also say with first hand knowledge that Tracker leases its space inside the BPS store from BPS and there are no management overlaps. The retail side operates completly seperate from the marine side. There is no common management. The problem as I see it is that if you visit this site with any regularity, you will notice that most come here to get problems solved and are VERY vocal about their problems. So, that is what you read here MOST of the time. There are THOUSANDS of members who don't post after every trip and say "My NITRO/Tracker performed flawlessly again". Reading this site is how people get problems fixed. Start a thread once a week asking how many are indeed happy with their NITRO/Tracker and see how many positive responses you get. There will be a lot. Don't judge a company by how many come to a website to vent, ask for help, gripe, etc., it is just not fair unless you have both sides. It's like standing behind the complaint window at a department store to judge how happy the customers are. They sure aren't coming up to the internet equilivent of a complaint window, which is exactly what we are.



TOXIC

 

[Larry Harp]

Just for the record, I love my Tracker PT185. Except for stuff that would go wrong with any boat in the world I've had not one problem.

That said, and having read all the warranty issues that others have had with Nitro/Tracker would I think twice about buying another one? Yes. Do message boards such as this one exist for other brands of boats? I would be interested to peek in and see what the owners of Rangers, Tritons, and Skeeters are saying about their rides.



Harpo

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

The same exact things Harpo....It makes no difference.



TOXIC

 

[Bill McElroy]

FYI---Yes, it's true that JM ownes both company's,.. however as Adam mentioned,..they are completely seperate entities,...

They are not tied to each other in any way...

 

[Bill Hamilton]

Hey Guys (and gals) - I LOVE MY NITRO!!!!! I have never had a problem with the boat. Can't say that about my fishing unfortunately (LOL). Seriously, I have had three Tracker / Nitro boats and have never, never had any significant problem with any of them. While I don't fish tournaments and try and stay out of real nasty weather (except our last one on the hot side - haha) I use the boat nearly every weekend all year long.



Just thought I would post a positive note on our Nitro's and Trackers.



Bill

 

[Staci Matheis]

Merry Christmas, Adam!

Exceptional reply!

How's the tattoo?



me!

 

[JEFF WHITE]

every boat/car/truck manufacturer had/has problems with there vehicles.for example,for 6.0l diesels,first years out,problems galore,many buybacks,many lemons,but people still buy another even after they get the buyback,why owner loyalty.chevy piston slap,front end creak,but people still buy chevys,dodge,well,just leave that alone.the point im trying to make is this is my 2nd tin tracker,will it be my last,yep,why?next boat will be a cuddy cabin.will i sell it,nope.with its minor problems it had im happy with it.would have likes to see tracker fix the decks it boogered up,but hey,life sucks,then you die,then you get married!



who cares who owns the company.does forest wood still own ranger?but the ranger name has been dragged through the mud a few times,you start to hear about stress cracks and other problems now,but ranger steps up to the plate and fixes things ,sometimes out of warranty,because i feel they want to keep people happy who own them so they keep buying the expensive sparklies!

 

[Steve Rizza]

By the sounds of it,I'm glad I did buy an older Tracker.Why pay the extra money for a new one with a warranty if you get the run-around?



Steve



Ps.I love mine,it has been solid as a rock.But as far as buying a new one,I am starting to think twice.

 

[Russ De Kruyf]

Getting back to the Tundra question, I

 

[Larry Harp]

Steve, you feel the same way I do. I bought my boat when it was a year old so there was no warranty to break my heart. So far I haven't needed it. I did have some carb trouble caused by bad gas I think.



I used to manage a carpet store that was part of a 5 store chain. Part of my job was to inspect customer complaints and deal with them as needed. It was a pretty easy job because the owner of the store believed in taking care of the customer NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. He would say, "I spend thousands of dollars in advertising to bring customers into my stores, why would I want to make one mad so she can tell all her friends, relatives, and neighbors in order to save a couple of hundred dollars?" Too bad Tracker doesn't understand that concept.



Harpo

 

[Bill McElroy]

Harpo,...Great analogy!!!

 

[Steve Rizza]

Very true Harpo.

Peed off people will spread the word farther than happy ones.