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Dealer Refuses Warranty Work


Sandaholic

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Our family's 2007 21 XTi was having some power wedge problems. The wedge would function properly although the gauge would not respond to the wedge's actual position. We called the local dealer where the boat is used at, the owner was quick to tell us that he was busy and it just needs the calibration done which is do-it-yourself procedure. As it turns out, there is no calibration procedure for the 2007 power wedge. The dealer was then called up and requested a service appointment. The service manager then told us that per the owner, they will not do any warranty work on any boat that was not purchased from them. Keep in mind that this is the same dealer that did over $900 in service on non warranty work and accessories last year on the same boat. This odd policy prompted a call to Malibu customer service; they expressed concern and seemed shocked when informed that the local Malibu dealer would not perform warranty work because the boat was not purchased at their dealer. The Malibu customer service representative called the dealer directly to make sure there was not a miscommunication issue. Malibu customer service then called us back to inform us that this was in fact the policy of the local dealer and gave us a referral to a dealer over 3 hour away. The dealer they refereed us to was very helpful except that there service shop is closed for a month.

Malibu advertises a transferable limited lifetime warranty and a three-year bow-to-stern warranty on all parts and labor. If Malibu allows there dealers to refuse warranty work then the value of the warranty is minimal. We would have purchased the boat locally except the model (21 XTi) was discontinued and not available locally. Malibu technical support diagnosed the problem over the phone and they believe the power wedge module has failed. Of course this part is only available though a Malibu dealer.

Has anyone else had a dealer refuse to do warranty work?

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So you are already a customer and they have no problem selling you things that they are more than happy to install but when you need something from them its too bad so sad?

Business must be real good cause it sounds to me like they don't want you to ever buy anything from them again. When its time for a new boat are you going to buy from the dealer that didn't have the time to service you or the referred dealer that you will build a working relationship with?

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I said it once, I'll say it again.

The #1 reason why we bought locally was because any warranty work can be refused except by the dealership that sold the boat. Dealerships are generally good, but there are occasions where the dealer is busy enough with their own customers and do not need the extra hassel of someone else's boat whom did not make the purchase there.

Our dealer flat out told us, if you buy your boat somewhere else I will not do warranty work on it.

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I said it once, I'll say it again.

The #1 reason why we bought locally was because any warranty work can be refused except by the dealership that sold the boat. Dealerships are generally good, but there are occasions where the dealer is busy enough with their own customers and do not need the extra hassel of someone else's boat whom did not make the purchase there.

Our dealer flat out told us, if you buy your boat somewhere else I will not do warranty work on it.

Total Bull s***! I would make sure I used ALL avenues (legal, forums, internet, newspaper, etc.) to get someone off there butts and fix my boat. VERY VERY BAD BUSINESS!

Guy told me the same thing when I was shopping for our 247 - He didn't get the sale after he was done with that line.

I would raise HELL with Malibu about this - Total BS.

Believe it or not I'm to much of a hothead, but bad business doesn't sit well with me.

Later

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I said it once, I'll say it again.

The #1 reason why we bought locally was because any warranty work can be refused except by the dealership that sold the boat. Dealerships are generally good, but there are occasions where the dealer is busy enough with their own customers and do not need the extra hassel of someone else's boat whom did not make the purchase there.

Our dealer flat out told us, if you buy your boat somewhere else I will not do warranty work on it.

Total Bull s***! I would make sure I used ALL avenues (legal, forums, internet, newspaper, etc.) to get someone off there butts and fix my boat. VERY VERY BAD BUSINESS!

Guy told me the same thing when I was shopping for our 247 - He didn't get the sale after he was done with that line.

I would raise HELL with Malibu about this - Total BS.

Believe it or not I'm to much of a hothead, but bad business doesn't sit well with me.

Later

Choosing customer's who bought boats from you over choosing customers to do work for that breaks even is a smart business... See the other thread about this from a while ago. A search should find the hot debate.

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I said it once, I'll say it again.

The #1 reason why we bought locally was because any warranty work can be refused except by the dealership that sold the boat. Dealerships are generally good, but there are occasions where the dealer is busy enough with their own customers and do not need the extra hassel of someone else's boat whom did not make the purchase there.

Our dealer flat out told us, if you buy your boat somewhere else I will not do warranty work on it.

Total Bull s***! I would make sure I used ALL avenues (legal, forums, internet, newspaper, etc.) to get someone off there butts and fix my boat. VERY VERY BAD BUSINESS!

Guy told me the same thing when I was shopping for our 247 - He didn't get the sale after he was done with that line.

I would raise HELL with Malibu about this - Total BS.

Believe it or not I'm to much of a hothead, but bad business doesn't sit well with me.

Later

Choosing customer's who bought boats from you over choosing customers to do work for that breaks even is a smart business... See the other thread about this from a while ago. A search should find the hot debate.

I can see giving pref treatment to customers who bought over customers who didn't buy. That should move you to the back of the line not out of the line in my opinion. The dealer bills the manufacturer for the work right?

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I said it once, I'll say it again.

The #1 reason why we bought locally was because any warranty work can be refused except by the dealership that sold the boat. Dealerships are generally good, but there are occasions where the dealer is busy enough with their own customers and do not need the extra hassel of someone else's boat whom did not make the purchase there.

Our dealer flat out told us, if you buy your boat somewhere else I will not do warranty work on it.

Total Bull s***! I would make sure I used ALL avenues (legal, forums, internet, newspaper, etc.) to get someone off there butts and fix my boat. VERY VERY BAD BUSINESS!

Guy told me the same thing when I was shopping for our 247 - He didn't get the sale after he was done with that line.

I would raise HELL with Malibu about this - Total BS.

Believe it or not I'm to much of a hothead, but bad business doesn't sit well with me.

Later

Choosing customer's who bought boats from you over choosing customers to do work for that breaks even is a smart business... See the other thread about this from a while ago. A search should find the hot debate.

I can see giving pref treatment to customers who bought over customers who didn't buy. That should move you to the back of the line not out of the line in my opinion. The dealer bills the manufacturer for the work right?

Agreed. If they ever thought you might at some future time do more repair business or buy your next boat from them, they've shot that in the a**. I guarantee that SOB would never make another cent off me nor anyone I had any communication with whatsoever, even if I did have to take the boat 3 hours away for future repair. Driving an already established customer away is smart business? There maybe some small short term benefit (I really doubt it) but if they intend to keep the doors open long term it's short sighted damn poor business practice. I OWN a small watersports business, I think I have some perspective here. How many people will the OP keep from buying boats from this knucklehead when they hear how he does business? I damn sure wouldn't. Small wonder so many who conduct business like this one are going bankrupt, to the ultimate benefit of all of us IMO.

Ed

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When you found the boat that you purchased did you give the local dealer the opurtunity to negotiate the sale through his facility so he could get the factory incentives. This is one possiblity , I dont however agree with him doing any per pay items if he was upset with your purchase.

We will not work on boats purchased out of are territory unless customers give us common courtesy in making any deal.

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I did the same thing you did when I bought my first 'bu. Bought a left over from a dealer out-of-territory because my dealer didn't have what I was looking for. Despite that my dealer was fantastic to work with and, because of that, I made every attempt to buy my next boat from them. And that's exactly what I ended up doing.

So my take on this would be the following:

1 - Even if Malibu were able to strong arm the dealer into working on the boat I would NEVER go back to that dealer again. Done.

2 - Malibu is shooting themselves in the foot by letting dealers get away with this crap. If I were you my next boat would NOT be a Malibu if there is a decent CC, MC or Supra dealer in your area (and how could another dealer be worse).

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When you found the boat that you purchased did you give the local dealer the opurtunity to negotiate the sale through his facility so he could get the factory incentives. This is one possiblity , I dont however agree with him doing any per pay items if he was upset with your purchase.

We will not work on boats purchased out of are territory unless customers give us common courtesy in making any deal.

We did try to work with the local dealer on the initial sale of the new boat. The local dealer did not have any XTi in stock and since that model was no longer in production, he could not order a new one to be built. Of course the dealer tried to sell us a boat from his stock although it was not the model we wanted.

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I agree with what everyone is saying. It is most definitely poor business practice. I understand that warranty work may not pay the best, but it builds a relationship and has the potential to bring in more $$$ on other services or sales. We obviously will not be going back to that dealer nor refer anyone to them. While I was initially unhappy with the particular dealer, I am now more dissatisfied with Malibu for not having policies in place to protect their customers. With Malibu current dealer structure, there is nothing stopping all my local dealers from refusing service.

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When you found the boat that you purchased did you give the local dealer the opurtunity to negotiate the sale through his facility so he could get the factory incentives. This is one possiblity , I dont however agree with him doing any per pay items if he was upset with your purchase.

We will not work on boats purchased out of are territory unless customers give us common courtesy in making any deal.

I agree on the courtesy point, but is the boat business that good to turn away customers for any reason?

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When you found the boat that you purchased did you give the local dealer the opurtunity to negotiate the sale through his facility so he could get the factory incentives. This is one possiblity , I dont however agree with him doing any per pay items if he was upset with your purchase.

We will not work on boats purchased out of are territory unless customers give us common courtesy in making any deal.

Really, business must be good at Fortes Inboard Connection there in the Tampa area to be able to sustain that kind of policy.

You do realize that is a 2 way street you are on. Lost revenue on accessories, parts, labor, the next boat the guy buys, lost references to friends of the guy whose boat you won't work on, lost sales from the guys friends.... Wow, good thing car dealerships don't operate that way.

Edited by Cervelo
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I guess I won't be buying a used Malibu again, ever. No Malibu dealer will ever work on it? How does the dealer treat buyers of used boats? I assume they wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft pole.

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If every dealer had this policy then you have no warranty and Malibu is ok with that? I would love to see a copy of Malibu's dealership agreement.

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I guess I won't be buying a used Malibu again, ever. No Malibu dealer will ever work on it?

Exactly. I'm the 3rd owner of mine. This is absolutely ridiculous. Glad The Edge (Kalamazoo, MI dealer) is a great place to work with, no problem servicing the Echelon.

That whole policy is the worst thing I have ever heard of in sales. It's easy to fix - charge a different service rate for those who purchased from you versus those who did not (10% more, etc.). Then you get your margin, and eventually make up the lost sale revenue in service revenue. But never, EVER turn away a customer. I hope that guy goes under and a smarter dealership emerges.

Edit: And what about the guy that just bought a new place on the lake, and is bringing his boat from where he kept it at home? That guy won't get service even though he's now a part time resident and lives a mile from the shop? So what, he has to sell his boat and buy a new one now? This is insane.

Edited by Michigan boarder
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I guess I won't be buying a used Malibu again, ever. No Malibu dealer will ever work on it? How does the dealer treat buyers of used boats? I assume they wouldn't touch it with a 10 ft pole.

Likewise, what if a person moves to a different location? Am I supposed to sell my boat and buy a new one in order to guarantee serviceability? I don't think so.

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"We called the local dealer where the boat is used at"

Your profile says Northridge,(assuming CA) the dealer local to Northridge is Tilly's, but where is the boat used at? I've got a hunch there's more to this story than we're being told. And just curious, what dealer's service department would be closed for a month during the busiest part of the year?

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A poor way to run a business, in my opinion. Turning away customers? Really?

Want to know how to run a dealership? Look at the Mastercraft dealership in Orlando...formerly the Nautique dealer. They will perform an oil change FOR FREE on ANY inboard tournament boat, regardless of brand. Of course, they will suggest any other things you may need to have done, but instead of running customers off, they are actively trying to get them in the door.

I haven't taken advantage of their offer, as I really like my Malibu dealership, so I will continue to patronize them. But it's nice to know I have somewhere that would welcome my business should anything happen to the Malibu dealership.

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This isn't every dealer's policy, just a few. Most will give their own customers preferential treatment & send the others that either bought used or out of territory to the back of the line. I'm not sure what Malibu's take on that is, but my guess is that the next few years will make the cream rise to the top so to speak.

It would help if Malibu would adjust their warranty reimbursements. Too often dealers get absolutely hosed on warranty work.

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All I can say is WOW, Malibu products must be small time for that dealer or hard to work with because of distance because I can't imagine turning down work in this economy period. I am so thankful that I'm not in this situation and I do have to make the three hour drive but at least I'm getting some professional quality service from Boat Country in Escalon CA, never have I had service like this before.

http://www.boatcountryusa.com/index.cfm

quick plug for my guys over there Biggrin.gif Need to make sure they stay around :)

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This isn't every dealer's policy, just a few. Most will give their own customers preferential treatment & send the others that either bought used or out of territory to the back of the line. I'm not sure what Malibu's take on that is, but my guess is that the next few years will make the cream rise to the top so to speak.

It would help if Malibu would adjust their warranty reimbursements. Too often dealers get absolutely hosed on warranty work.

I agree with you. And you can use tact in dealing with these types of customers and use communication to your advantage. You can simply say that our preferred customers have priority but we'd be glad to help you in any way possible. Or in this economy we only have x number of mechanics and are backlogged but we'll be glad to give you an estimate of time.

If the customer is not happy with that information then that is the customer's decision point.

Always two sides to every story though.

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This isn't every dealer's policy, just a few. Most will give their own customers preferential treatment & send the others that either bought used or out of territory to the back of the line. I'm not sure what Malibu's take on that is, but my guess is that the next few years will make the cream rise to the top so to speak.

It would help if Malibu would adjust their warranty reimbursements. Too often dealers get absolutely hosed on warranty work.

I'm sure that's true Tracy and I'm not without sympathy for that. Put those people to the back of the line but don't just blow them off. Unless of course you're willing to pay the consequences. Both the dealer and Malibu-corporate. Any body up there listening??

Also agreed, the best will survive because they get it. Some dealers just want to sell stuff and make a quick profit (the Malibu dealer in the KC area is an absolute jerk), some are really actually Boat People in it because they love it and they understand the customer they market to. Which is why they survive and even thrive in a down economy - they set themselves apart and attract then build a loyal customer base. Real Boat People don't treat other Boat People that way. The ones just selling stuff will shake out and go away in this economy, and good riddance AFAIC. I guess there actually IS an upside to a down economy... Whistling.gif

Ed

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Most people around boating already know the importance of the dealer relationship. And since I purchased my boat from my local dealer I would certainly hope for preferential treatment at the service department and in fact that is the case. My dealer even discussed this with me before I purchased the boat. For anyone that is buying used or out of the area I would think it would be very wise to make sure you have a local service department that will welcome your business, if not you might want to reconsider the purchase.

The dealer should have every right to refuse service as they have to cater to their loyal customers or risk losing them. So really, if you were a dealer, who's business would you prefer to lose, the guy who did not buy his boat from you or the guy that did buy one? Think about it.

Edited by Sandbagger
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