Shame on Malibu corp.

[Living the Dream]

I think we should all chip some dough in so Paul can buy the business from Bill...

Anyone?

I have a couple of Bu dollars still left...I'm in anyone else?

[Bobby Light]

I'm in let's do it..

[jeremyk]

I'm in let's do it..

[Bill_AirJunky]

Funny....... employee owned company & owner owned dealership.

[liljohn]

I think we should all chip some dough in so Paul can buy the business from Bill...

Anyone?

Im in!

Bill- can we use the crew discount on purchasing the biz?

Paul- can you raise the crew discount to 80%? I promise we will pay you back some how !

Crew- I know we could come up with 20%!

[Living the Dream]

Im in!

Bill- can we use the crew discount on purchasing the biz?

Paul- can you raise the crew discount to 80%? I promise we will pay you back some how !

Crew- I know we could come up with 20%!

Maybe we can borrow from the OBama Tarp Funds...... they do have a few million left for us Bu owners!

[jeremyk]

What's the ask price? And how many boats is Malibu requiring dealers to stock?

[Majestic]

So after being a watcher of this site for awhile I feel a need to comment. (First post )

First of all I am not a Malibu owner however a Tige owner and I do live in the Seattle area. I very much wanted to buy a Malibu from Bakes in 08, but what I wanted was way out of my price range. Bakes is exactly what I wanted in a Dealership, they care about their customers and build long lasting relationships with them (much of the reason I feel like a minority out on Lake Sammamish in a Tige). I purchased one of the last boats from a long time Tige dealer in the area and have since 08 seen a dealer switch twice. It is important for me when spending alot of $$$$ to feel comfortable with whom I am buying from and who services my boat (I currently have none of these feelings).

Unfortunatly us in the Seattle area have seen all of the dealerships switch around except for one that I can think of (Pacific Nautiques). It will be very hard to build owner loyalty for me this way as I stated above I want to feel appreciated as a customer and when I bring my boat in for service or warranty issues I want to leave feeling comfortable that it will be done right. From what I have read and heard locally Bakes makes all of you customers feel this way.

I feel for you Malibu owners and Bakes customers as I have seen a dealer switch once a year for the last two. It is hard to try to build a relationship with your dealer when you have no idea how long they will be around.

Good luck Bakes! I will still continue to support and buy from your online site.

[Pistol Pete]

Well said Majestic.

Welcome to the site, stick around, you'll like it here.

[pennery]

I bet Bakes would service your Tige...

[Brian DZ]

I have nothing but good words to say about the service and the knowledge that the crew at Bake's have given me. I haven't had any dealings with other boat dealers but I can not imagine that anyone could meet the same standard of service that Bake's has. For example before I purchased my boat Matt pulled it up to Bellingham for me to demo. Only about an hour and a half on a good day. I think that if you are going to speed a lot of $$$ you should enjoy the whole experience. Thank You Bill and the whole team at Bakes!!

Brian DZ

[Bake's Marine]

Even though we're not going to continue selling Malibu's, you know I'm still going to be here to service them right!?

Believe me, buying into Bake's has crossed my mind!!

Well said Majestic.

Welcome to the site, stick around, you'll like it here.

Thanks Majestic for the nice post & welcome to the crew! I hope to see you at the shop or better yet on the water!

I bet Bakes would service your Tige...

We service them all specializing in inboards only.

-Paul

[rodman]

Even though we're not going to continue selling Malibu's, you know I'm still going to be here to service them right!?

Believe me, buying into Bake's has crossed my mind!!

Thanks Majestic for the nice post & welcome to the crew! I hope to see you at the shop or better yet on the water!

We service them all specializing in inboards only.

-Paul

Paul: Harley Davidson did it. Look at them now.

[Malibudude]

Dear Malibu Family,

I have always respected this forum as an opportunity for our family of

Malibu owners to have a safe-haven of communication amongst themselves

regarding their Malibu experience. So, here at the factory while we read

everything we do not interject very often. However, I have read a couple

posts lately that might need some insight and I thought since I have

been here for 20 years (I started when I was 9J) and have seen and heard

most if not all things Malibu I would give it a shot.

The first topic refers to the suggestion that Malibu Boats cancelled

Bake's Marine in Seattle. This was not the case as Bill Baker sent a

letter to his customers last Fall letting them know he was moving on. We

were in hope as Bill was that he would find a buyer for his dealership

in time to keep things moving right along at that location. However,

after many months of not securing a buyer we had to make a commitment or

be left possibly with no Malibu representation in Seattle. Malibu

cooperated with Bakes and involved him in the process of helping us find

the next Seattle dealer so our customer's needs would be taken care of.

This was very important to Bill Baker and Malibu Boats. Bakes Marine has

been an outstanding dealer for Malibu Boats and has been a very good

friend of many at the factory and we wish him well in all he chooses in

the future.

We have been very busy at the factory preparing for Model year

change-over and while we have not officially released our new model

information, I am hopeful you will all be as impressed as I am when you

see the photos in the next week or so! I have been on location at the

2011 Catalog photo shoot and everyone present including athletes Brian

Grubb, Chad Sharpe and Will "the thrill" Asher were more than impressed

with what our Design team and Engineers have developed. The word of the

week was "Wow!" whether describing the new power offerings or describing

the new.......oops! I guess I better stop there and let Amy Mauzy do her

job in the form of a press release.

One last topic of discussion: As you all know 2009 was a very

challenging time for the marine industry and no business was immune from

making adjustments including Malibu to how they conduct business. It is

true that Malibu does not build boats in California at the current time.

And if that were the whole story I guess I could understand how rumors

could fly but thankfully for all of us that is only a part of the story.

In the last 24 months we have strategically purchased Titan Wake

Accessories becoming the first boat manufacturer to design and build

their own tower and tower accessories. We are now using the California

plant for our Research and Development Center and home to our new tower

and accessory manufacturing. We also developed and introduced a new

brand of wakeboard boats called Axis Wake Research which has now grown

into a 2-boat line that targets a different owner. We also expanded the

production capacity at our TN factory anticipating stronger demand in

2010. And thanks to all of our Malibu owner's and your support here on

this site Malibu far exceeded our sales expectations and we are

expanding production capacity once again for future anticipated growth.

Our goals have not and will not change as we want to build the very best

boat possible and provide the best ownership experience possible for our

Malibu owners. I hope I have not worn out my welcome here as I just

wanted to let you all know how we are doing and thank you for your

continued support.

Sincerely,

Paul Singer

VP Sales & Marketing

Malibu Boats

[Chia]

Dear Malibu Family,

I have always respected this forum as an opportunity for our family of

Malibu owners to have a safe-haven of communication amongst themselves

regarding their Malibu experience. So, here at the factory while we read

everything we do not interject very often. However, I have read a couple

posts lately that might need some insight and I thought since I have

been here for 20 years (I started when I was 9J) and have seen and heard

most if not all things Malibu I would give it a shot.

The first topic refers to the suggestion that Malibu Boats cancelled

Bake's Marine in Seattle. This was not the case as Bill Baker sent a

letter to his customers last Fall letting them know he was moving on. We

were in hope as Bill was that he would find a buyer for his dealership

in time to keep things moving right along at that location. However,

after many months of not securing a buyer we had to make a commitment or

be left possibly with no Malibu representation in Seattle. Malibu

cooperated with Bakes and involved him in the process of helping us find

the next Seattle dealer so our customer's needs would be taken care of.

This was very important to Bill Baker and Malibu Boats. Bakes Marine has

been an outstanding dealer for Malibu Boats and has been a very good

friend of many at the factory and we wish him well in all he chooses in

the future.

We have been very busy at the factory preparing for Model year

change-over and while we have not officially released our new model

information, I am hopeful you will all be as impressed as I am when you

see the photos in the next week or so! I have been on location at the

2011 Catalog photo shoot and everyone present including athletes Brian

Grubb, Chad Sharpe and Will "the thrill" Asher were more than impressed

with what our Design team and Engineers have developed. The word of the

week was "Wow!" whether describing the new power offerings or describing

the new.......oops! I guess I better stop there and let Amy Mauzy do her

job in the form of a press release.

One last topic of discussion: As you all know 2009 was a very

challenging time for the marine industry and no business was immune from

making adjustments including Malibu to how they conduct business. It is

true that Malibu does not build boats in California at the current time.

And if that were the whole story I guess I could understand how rumors

could fly but thankfully for all of us that is only a part of the story.

In the last 24 months we have strategically purchased Titan Wake

Accessories becoming the first boat manufacturer to design and build

their own tower and tower accessories. We are now using the California

plant for our Research and Development Center and home to our new tower

and accessory manufacturing. We also developed and introduced a new

brand of wakeboard boats called Axis Wake Research which has now grown

into a 2-boat line that targets a different owner. We also expanded the

production capacity at our TN factory anticipating stronger demand in

2010. And thanks to all of our Malibu owner's and your support here on

this site Malibu far exceeded our sales expectations and we are

expanding production capacity once again for future anticipated growth.

Our goals have not and will not change as we want to build the very best

boat possible and provide the best ownership experience possible for our

Malibu owners. I hope I have not worn out my welcome here as I just

wanted to let you all know how we are doing and thank you for your

continued support.

Sincerely,

Paul Singer

VP Sales & Marketing

Malibu Boats

nice post. There have been a lot of views to this topic and some have stated an inclination to move to a different brand of boat over their perception of events in this case, however, i believe very few would ever change brands. Once you have owned a Malibu boat it would be very difficult to move to another brand. We were drawn to these boats for many reasons and those reasons haven't changed.

We have a great dealer up here in our neck of the woods and I am sure the good folks in WA will be giving the new dealer a chance to earn their respect.

[jimncin]

Thank you Paul.

[DIE2SURF]

Thanks for posting that M-Dude (and Paul). It helps bring this topic into better perspective rather than greater speculation. To add to it, I've always had excellent customer service from Malibu in Merced...as well as Bakes On Line.

Edited June 28, 2010 by DIE2SURF

[liljohn]

Dear Malibu Family,

I have always respected this forum as an opportunity for our family of

Malibu owners to have a safe-haven of communication amongst themselves

regarding their Malibu experience. So, here at the factory while we read

everything we do not interject very often. However, I have read a couple

posts lately that might need some insight and I thought since I have

been here for 20 years (I started when I was 9J) and have seen and heard

most if not all things Malibu I would give it a shot.

The first topic refers to the suggestion that Malibu Boats cancelled

Bake's Marine in Seattle. This was not the case as Bill Baker sent a

letter to his customers last Fall letting them know he was moving on. We

were in hope as Bill was that he would find a buyer for his dealership

in time to keep things moving right along at that location. However,

after many months of not securing a buyer we had to make a commitment or

be left possibly with no Malibu representation in Seattle. Malibu

cooperated with Bakes and involved him in the process of helping us find

the next Seattle dealer so our customer's needs would be taken care of.

This was very important to Bill Baker and Malibu Boats. Bakes Marine has

been an outstanding dealer for Malibu Boats and has been a very good

friend of many at the factory and we wish him well in all he chooses in

the future.

We have been very busy at the factory preparing for Model year

change-over and while we have not officially released our new model

information, I am hopeful you will all be as impressed as I am when you

see the photos in the next week or so! I have been on location at the

2011 Catalog photo shoot and everyone present including athletes Brian

Grubb, Chad Sharpe and Will "the thrill" Asher were more than impressed

with what our Design team and Engineers have developed. The word of the

week was "Wow!" whether describing the new power offerings or describing

the new.......oops! I guess I better stop there and let Amy Mauzy do her

job in the form of a press release.

One last topic of discussion: As you all know 2009 was a very

challenging time for the marine industry and no business was immune from

making adjustments including Malibu to how they conduct business. It is

true that Malibu does not build boats in California at the current time.

And if that were the whole story I guess I could understand how rumors

could fly but thankfully for all of us that is only a part of the story.

In the last 24 months we have strategically purchased Titan Wake

Accessories becoming the first boat manufacturer to design and build

their own tower and tower accessories. We are now using the California

plant for our Research and Development Center and home to our new tower

and accessory manufacturing. We also developed and introduced a new

brand of wakeboard boats called Axis Wake Research which has now grown

into a 2-boat line that targets a different owner. We also expanded the

production capacity at our TN factory anticipating stronger demand in

2010. And thanks to all of our Malibu owner's and your support here on

this site Malibu far exceeded our sales expectations and we are

expanding production capacity once again for future anticipated growth.

Our goals have not and will not change as we want to build the very best

boat possible and provide the best ownership experience possible for our

Malibu owners. I hope I have not worn out my welcome here as I just

wanted to let you all know how we are doing and thank you for your

continued support.

Sincerely,

Paul Singer

VP Sales & Marketing

Malibu Boats

Hey Paul, Thank you for posting up. I do how ever have a couple things I would like to point out and maybe you could address them a little better. I will only comment on one paragraph of your post as it seems to be the only one that actually pertains to this conversation and the rest seems to be advertisement.

The first topic refers to the suggestion that Malibu Boats cancelled

Bake's Marine in Seattle. This was not the case as Bill Baker sent a

letter to his customers last Fall letting them know he was moving on. We

were in hope as Bill was that he would find a buyer for his dealership

in time to keep things moving right along at that location. However,

after many months of not securing a buyer we had to make a commitment or

be left possibly with no Malibu representation in Seattle. Malibu

cooperated with Bakes and involved him in the process of helping us find

the next Seattle dealer so our customer's needs would be taken care of.

This was very important to Bill Baker and Malibu Boats. Bakes Marine has

been an outstanding dealer for Malibu Boats and has been a very good

friend of many at the factory and we wish him well in all he chooses in

the future.

1. You state that bill baker informed all of us of his intent to move on and specifically point out his letter that was posted by me here on the crew site so I dug it up and re read it. (Please note the bold portion.) In no way does this letter say or imply that bakes marine is going to leave its employees Malibu or its customers high and dry. I actually see that he is going to stick it out until he finds some one that will run the business in a manner that we have all become accustom to.

Bills letter-

October 28, 2009

Dear Friends and Customers,

In early 1989 I opened Bakes Malibu Boats for the purpose of selling and servicing Malibu Boats. Boating has been my passion since I worked on boats in high school and college. I never thought it was possible to make it a career. My first store was on Gilman Blvd in Issaquah Washington and I was the only employee. I sold, serviced and installed any items you wanted on the boat that would start the boating adventures for you, your family and friends. At times it seemed that the world was moving too fast for me and at others it was as if time stood still.

Many things have changed since 1989. Our name was changed to Bakes Marine Center in 1994 to broaden our market and I formed Bakes Marine Consulting in 1996 to address the needs of boat owners wanting more experience, training and advice on boats 32 to 200. One thing has remained the same for all these years and that is my firm belief that I must continually strive to add value to you for our products and services. I believe over the years I have enjoyed success due in large part to the great employees at Bakes and our strong relationship with our primary vendor Malibu Boats. I remember the first breakfast meeting with my soon-to-be first full-time employee Karen Audett. I said One requirement is that you have to ski with the boss. She said I can do that. And she was hired. Dealer Meetings at Malibu Boats used to mean bar-b-cueing at Bob & Anna Alkemas (Malibu founder) house in Merced California.

The strength of these relationships was only made possible because of you, the Bakes customer. Customers are the lifeblood of any business. Without customers there is no business. The benefit of having a business in the watersports industry is that my customers share the same passion for boating as I do. When I was working in High School my late father said make friends with the people you do business with, dont do business with your friends. Over the past 20 years I have found this statement to be quite accurate. The vast majority of my closest friends are also my customers. I have boat customers, accessory customers, service customers, online customers, yacht consulting customers and I trust you all share my love of being on the water.

Now it is time for me to make a change. My wife and I are empty nesters with a daughter who is graduating from Gonzaga University this spring in Nursing and a son who is a freshman at the University of Redlands in southern California. We plan to travel a bit more to visit wherever Addie ends up and to attend swim meets for Will at Redlands. To do this my plan is to concentrate on the Marine Consulting business with yacht delivery, training and sustainable boating design. We also plan to cruise and play more. I have listed the Bakes Dealership for sale along with service, Bakes Board & Ski, Bakes Online and the Bakes Canvas manufacturing shop.

I have enlisted the help of Bruce Sult and his team at Falco-Sult and Company for the marketing and sale of the business. I have been considering this decision for a number of years and there are several important factors about how I want the transition to proceed. It is my desire to find a buyer who will share my concern for my employees, customers and Malibu. I have offered to stay and transition the new owner for what he/she deems the most appropriate time. I believe that Bruce understands my desire to transition smoothly for my staff, customers and relationship with our suppliers especially Malibu.

The timing may happen soon or it may take awhile. In the mean time, we will serve you in the manner you have been accustomed to, with us trying our hardest to be the best. If you see me at a boat show or read a note I post online introducing you to the new owner, rest assured it was because I believe that it is the right decision for all of us.

In closing I would like to say thank you. Thanks for all the years I have enjoyed working for you and trying to give you quality time on the water with your family and friends. Thank you also for giving me quality time that I was able to spend with my family. We continue to spend time on the water and I continue to enjoy skiing and wake surfing. We also love cruising the San Juans, Gulf Islands and Desolation Sound. Perhaps we will venture further north, south and maybe even west in the future. So thank you one and all from the bottom of my heart for the past twenty-one years!

Sincerely,

William J. Baker

2. You say that you worked with Bill to secure new representation. Why on earth would a man help someone decrees the value of an asset he is looking to sell? Why would a man help this process when it does nothing to secure the relationship of his employees or customers? I know this man all too well to believe this for even a second.

So Paul I ask you this help me believe! Help me believe that Malibu boats is still the company that Bob built. Help me believe that it is not going the way of master craft. Help me believe that things like the way Malibu addressed the throttle problem in early 08 are not things of the past but will hold true in the future. Help me believe that the MAKE IT RIGHT PROGRAM that Malibu did was type of thing that Malibu owners will continue to see. Actions like the ones above are the reasons we own the boats we do. A company that acts proactively is worth the kind of coin we spend on these boats. Please help me believe!

Edited June 28, 2010 by liljohn

[Faceplant409]

LilJohn,

in your #2 paragraph you write:

"2. You say that you worked with Bill to secure new representation. Why on earth would a man help someone decrees the value of an asset he is looking to sell? Why would a man help this process when it does nothing to secure the relationship of his employees or customers? I know this man all too well to believe this for even a second."

The way I read Pauls paragraph is that Bill was involved in finding a buyer for his dealership to continue business as usual.

I take it you are or were an employee...

I am truly sorry for this sad turn of events.

Patrick

[liljohn]

LilJohn,

in your #2 paragraph you write:

"2. You say that you worked with Bill to secure new representation. Why on earth would a man help someone decrees the value of an asset he is looking to sell? Why would a man help this process when it does nothing to secure the relationship of his employees or customers? I know this man all too well to believe this for even a second."

The way I read Pauls paragraph is that Bill was involved in finding a buyer for his dealership to continue business as usual.

I take it you are or were an employee...

I am truly sorry for this sad turn of events.

Patrick

Patrick first off I am not nor ever have been an employee of bakes marine.. I am a simple customer who has had the pleasure of working with our new malibu dealer in the past and that dealer will never ever see a penny of my hard earned cash ever again!

As far as # 2 goes you should go back and re-read Phils post were he clearly states - " Malibu cooperated with Bakes and involved him in the process of helping us find

the next Seattle dealer so our customer's needs would be taken care of."

[Bobby Light]

LilJohn,

in your #2 paragraph you write:

"2. You say that you worked with Bill to secure new representation. Why on earth would a man help someone decrees the value of an asset he is looking to sell? Why would a man help this process when it does nothing to secure the relationship of his employees or customers? I know this man all too well to believe this for even a second."

The way I read Pauls paragraph is that Bill was involved in finding a buyer for his dealership to continue business as usual.

I take it you are or were an employee...

I am truly sorry for this sad turn of events.

Patrick

The only people that have posted anything up in this thread that work for Bakes are Bill (owner) and Paul (service manager). No body else has worked or works for Bakes. We just happen to like the way we're treated by our dealer.

[jeremyk]

Well said liljohn.

Paul, thanks for trying to be proactive in shedding light on the situation. However, the light you are shedding just doesn't make sense.

Bill had no intentions of leaving Malibu or his customers high and dry as voiced by him directly in an open letter to his customers. The word/commitment of a top dealer means nothing these days? wow. if that holds no weight, I fear how we the customers will fare.

And as far as saying Bill had a hand in helping select the next dealer, in addition to what liljohn points out (that it makes no business sense), thats seems completely contradictory to what Bill himself posted in this very thread. While he didn't directly say that he had no help in finding the next dealer, he did say that he found out a dealer was selected from his Broker. That's not a smoking gun or anything but pretty damn close. If he was part of the process, you would think he would have known who the dealer was.

[NewMalibu]

Paul, As others have mentioned, i also appreciate your comments. It shows me that Malibu is at least reviewing customer feedback.

I read your response this morning, and have been thinking about it all day, trying to fully understand it. As Liljohn & Jeremyk point out though, some things dont quite add up for me either.

Specifically, the two things that i dont understand are:

1) Representation in the Seattle area: As others have pointed out Bill had openly posted a letter stating that he was looking for a buyer that would continue to treat his customers the same way that he and his current staff do. I can understhat that this presented a risk for Malibu, but he also said that he wanted to be out by 2013. that is 3 fully years from now. Malibu is a great boat brand to be a dealer for. but to me, if the new dealer wanted to represent Malibu, they should have looked at buying Bakes. it does not seem right that they get the customer base that Bill and team have built if Bill was a top 10 dealer and wanted to continue to sell Malibu's. My facts may be completely wrong, but this is the impression that i get.

2) Stocking dealer: in Bills response, he mentioned a need for him to be a 'stocking dealer' if he wanted to continue. or at least, that is how i read the response. I did not see anything pertaining to this in your response.

While i would love to understand this better, you may or may not be available to comment on it.

However, i would be interested in what we can do as a group, to let you know that we appreciate the service and support that Bakes Online provides to us. And that as long as they are interested, and it is mutually viable (for Bakes and Malibu), we would like to continue supporting them. If there is something that we can do to showcase this support, please let us know.

[Faceplant409]

Liljohn and 06,

look at it this way.....

Bill was looking for a buyer for Bakes, right? (yes)

If Bill and Faceplant409 struck a deal and I took over bakes I would be the new Malibu dealer, Right?? (yes, as long as Malibu and 300 lawyers approved it..)

So Bill WAS trying to find a new dealer... Maybe Paul Singer should have said "new owner of Bakes", or "successor", or "replacement" or something else... I agree this could be a misleading statement... especially to a audience that feels cheated, has lots of questions and is looking for answers and possibly someone to blame...

Apologies for thinking you were an employee. You seem passionate enough about the topic to be involved at a personal level.

Cheers!

Patrick

[jeremyk]

Liljohn and 06,

look at it this way.....

Bill was looking for a buyer for Bakes, right? (yes)

If Bill and Faceplant409 struck a deal and I took over bakes I would be the new Malibu dealer, Right?? (yes, as long as Malibu and 300 lawyers approved it..)

So Bill WAS trying to find a new dealer... Maybe Paul Singer should have said "new owner of Bakes", or "successor", or "replacement" or something else... I agree this could be a misleading statement... especially to a audience that feels cheated, has lots of questions and is looking for answers and possibly someone to blame...

Apologies for thinking you were an employee. You seem passionate enough about the topic to be involved at a personal level.

Cheers!

Patrick

IMHO, Paul said exactly what he meant. It appeared like a clearly crafted PR Statement that was probably run by legal. In non PC terms, a CYA. Had Bill not chimed in, there would probably be no question of his statement. But the fact that Bill did, and that the two statements don't line up, I highly doubt this was just a circumstance of a poorly worded sentence. It appears that someone is not being entirely honest here. And I don't think it is Bill. At this point, he has nothing to gain by spinning the situation to something that it's not. Not to mention that he isn't the kind of guy that would spin something in the first place.