"my boat (or my dealer) sucks!"

[Michael Snow]

Now, for those who know me, "Hello Pot, this is Kettle"...



I see a lot of posts on other boards about new boats and/or dealers. I see this whole mentality of "I just gave them $30,000 of MY money and this is how they treat me". Things like parts breaking that aren't under warranty and blaming the dealer for not making good on it.



The problem with this mentality is that you didn't GIVE them anything, and you sure didn't buy a boat for 30,000 that they paid 2,000 for.



While I'll agree that having a dealer who stands behind the product (usually by arguing your case with the manufacturer) is great, you can't go buy a boat after negotiating the price to a bare minimum profit, then come back a week later and expect the dealership to just "fix" things for free. If it's a warranty item, sure. But if your boat cover just rubbed the finish off part of the boat because you secured it improperly, no...



I hate to admit it, but I see guys who work for BPS and/or Tracker Marine on here offering assistance and helping people out for free. They've answered my questions and I sincerely appreciate it. I'm not nearly as impressed with my local BPS store, but that's as much my fault as theirs.



Yeah, on this site, this kind of post is really flying in from left field, but there are a lot of sites where people have seen exactly what I'm talking about. I guess I just wanted to lend a little support to our dealers.

 

[Mark Hofman]

Mike:



Good post. I also get a bit perturbed at people who go out and buy a boat, and then operate that boat in conditions or in a way that exceed the design tolerances of the components. For example, if you take a welded aluminum boat or a fiberglass boat out in four or five foot waves, and run it at wide-open throttle banging the boat over and over and over, then you are operating in conditions or a manner which exceeds the design tolerances of the components. You should EXPECT welds to break or for stress cracks to appear. If you come into the dock at ten miles per hour and hit that dock hard, you're putting unnecessary stress on components and materials. You should EXPECT the gel coat to get scuffed, the rub rail to come loose, and maybe even a trolling motor mount to break loose.



When something breaks, then the owner blames the manufacturer for making a "poor quality" boat. That's just ridiculous. I hate to admit it, but if something breaks on my boat, the first person I'm going to blame is me.



I also realize that there are truly those situation where defects or poor workmanship occur. The dealer and the manufacturer are responsible for those kinds of problems. But how many people (novice boat owners) go out and run their boat so hard in less-than-ideal conditions, and are the cause of many of their "problems"?



MO

 

[Thomas Macaluso]

Mike I agree with lot of what you wrote . Of course we all know THAT I WOULD NEVER,NEVER COMPLAIN about cracks in my boat NOT ME. But seriously you are right a person can