Boat Companies ,Dealers , Customer Service, and Warranty

I have to tell you a little story about one of my customers .A little insight into the occasional unpleasant and unnecessary bumps in the road of owning a customer service based business.Its usually a pleasure to do what I do.I have almost all great customers that many of become my friends .   Sometimes you cant understand someone’s reaction to great customer service . Really great customer service. Some of our manufacturers are known for taking care of issues without hesitation . Thats the way we like them . Twin Vee has traditionally been one of them . Every manufacturer has issues. Now I will give you a little background and some somewhat inside info into parts of the the boat business .And how not to be a customer that is unwelcome for further business.

There was an issue with a certain resin  manufacturers gelcoat [resin] in the years of 2002-2004 or so . Many manufacturers and boat dealers were affected by this problem . Boats had cosmetic issues that appeared like time bombs after a few years .

Boat warranties are limited , very limited. Especially gelcoat , or the outer skin. That gives manufacturers relief from issues like a bad batch of materials that make a generation of boats go bad. The manufacturer of the gelcoat will do everything they can to blame the individual boat builder that the problem is with the application . Easily done if its a one Mfg. problem . If it happens to 5 or 6 manufacturers at the same time that wont fly .

Ok, we know we had bad product from a certain gelcoat manufacturer. Heres the scenario , in good faith , the innocent dealer has purchased a product and exposed themselves , trusting the manufacturer [who has the most to gain] to back their products . So what happens next ? The boat companies have already relieved themselves of legal responsibility for the cosmetics,transportation for repairs,loss of use , etc…. . They will blame the problem on the material manufacturer if its widespread .If its not widespread the pissing match begins . The problem does not go away . Thats where integrity comes into play . Wiil the manufacturers warranty require them to cover anything other than structural issues? NO.

Does a good manufacturer and dealer work together to solve the problem ? Yes . Can you do it till you go broke ? no.

Should a customer recognize when both manufacturer and dealer are going above and beyond ? YES.

Does the dealer carry responsibility to their customer ? To a large degree .We do .Some don’t however.They give the industry a bad name.  We shouldn’t be abused by our customers though, as we are not one of those. Even though we didn’t make the product, we sold it , recommended it and hopefully believe in it .Thats what creates repeat customers [which we have many]  I appreciate any customer that reads their warranty and understands it before making unreasonable demands and threats . Especially when a dealer goes to bat for them . And takes money out his pocket to do so .

So we got a customers 2003 [6 year old !!!!!] boat, that had been taken questionable care of , with a gelcoat issue that appeared much later [time bomb syndrome]  . We paid for their transportation to the factory out of our pocket, unrigged the motor from the boat at no charge to the customer as a bargaining chip on their behalf to get the customer any relief from the manufacturer AT ALL and generally went way above and beyond the call of duty .

So what is the point ?

There was a simple mix up with the fact that at no charge we removed the motor from the customers boat [in retrospect ,I would never do it for this guy again] and stored it safely ,which he took for granted .He arranged shipping back to his house directly through the manufacturer and nobody  put it together that we had removed the motor and stored it at no charge,which exemplifies  our superior customer service that we offered him and always strive for.

So instead of being thankful that the dealer and manufacturer stepped up to the plate to renew an old beat up and pretty well abused boat at no charge, he threatens to sue for the transportation charge that was never promised or covered under any warranty . It was a simple misunderstanding  The customer was the big winner regardless of the outcome.

Thats what I don’t understand .The words that are going through my mind regarding this customer cannot be expressed here as this is a family blog [I don't know what kind of family , but it is rated PG]

Will I ever treat a customer any differently due to this ? No. I will try to have my antennas up for the potential for this issue , Both by choosing my manufacturers carefully and customers as well ? Yes.

This is the first time I have ever had an issue like this . I will resolve it as always , and it will be with integrity and forethought.And if it comes to our integrity , I will defend it till it hurts.

The Fishtales Man