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Letter from Malibu


jb 156

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So checked the mail today and had this letter in the mailbox, still hate that Great Wakes isn't selling Bu's anymore but the guys at Sunny's seem nice as well. Just thought I would share.

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http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/tennessee/east/douglas-lake

http://thepointresorttn.com/

The condo's at the point are pretty nice and I think you get access to a slip at the marina. Also good food at the restaurant. When you are in town give me a yell should be around.

Also there is this place if it is just a few of you.

http://www.mountainharborinn.com/

Has it's own marina attached, and you can launch at my buddies marina Lighthouse pointe if you give me a call.

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My vote is going to be for horrible customer service when selling a 'Bu out of state. Deliver, drop, and never reply moving forward seemed to be the motto.

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This is unsubstantiated, but my understanding is that there may be a conflict of interest between Great Lakes Wakes* and Malibu. TMI: One of the managers/owners of Great Lakes is engaged to a Malibu marketing executive. That would pose a serious conflict of interest for both organizations when it comes to customer service.

I've never had any communication with Great Lakes, so I can't comment on their professionalism, but everything at Malibu was top-notch and above board. Hopefully if it's an HR issue at Malibu it can be easily resolved.

***

I'm putting the edit "out of line" so it can easily be see, I'll also add a post below so anyone on the digest can see the update to my error.

I don't know if I was too tired, autocorrect kicked in, or what, but when I stated Great Lakes above, I intended to write Great Wakes. I can see how my typo could cause a great amount of confusion, and the names of the two companies even caused some confusion during conversations when I was in Loudon.

I'll restate: I have had no dealings with Great Wakes (boat dealer) and I hope that I didn't cause anyone too much confusion.

Edited by mikeo
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So what really happened here? Anyone willing to share publicly? Why did Great Wakes get their franchise ripped?

I would think it's common in this business. Dealers change. I wouldn't read too much into it. Heck, my local malibu and my local mastercraft dealer just changed. No biggie.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G850A using Tapatalk

Edited by bamabonners
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This is unsubstantiated, but my understanding is that there may be a conflict of interest between Great Lakes and Malibu. TMI: One of the managers/owners of Great Lakes is engaged to a Malibu marketing executive. That would pose a serious conflict of interest for both organizations when it comes to customer service.

I've never had any communication with Great Lakes, so I can't comment on their professionalism, but everything at Malibu was top-notch and above board. Hopefully if it's an HR issue at Malibu it can be easily resolved.

It is Great Wakes, not Great Lakes. I would expect that you may be confusing the supplier of biminis and covers, which IS Great Lakes, as the owner/manager of Great Wakes is married with kids in their teens. I met them before I was a boat owner, as our kids did gymnastics together.

I bought my Axis from them in 2011. He put me in it at a price point I didn't think I'd ever hit, and kept me from buying an older V-Ride. Stopped in a couple of weeks ago to look at a boat they had on their website, and that is when I found out. Their side of the story is that they don't know why it happened, and that they were pretty shocked and surprised, and found out at the boat show. Also claim they weren't given the 90 days they are supposed to get. They were clearly unhappy about it, and that is only their side. I will say this, the owner is the guy who got me sold on Malibu. Whatever caused it to happen, they were pretty good ambassadors of the brand. The only issue I had with them was with my seat covers which should have been repaired under warranty, but the guy who was suposed to be handling it left, and I didn't follow up on it judiciously enough and lost the window (so I'm having it repaired at my cost).

They brought on Centurion a few years ago as they couldn't get enough Malibus to meet demand. They indicated that they've been talking to Nautique, who used to be with Travis Marine, but was dropped a few years ago, according to Travis because they weren't able to move enough of them to justify the resources.

Zac at Sunny reached out to me very quickly and offered to work with me. I had at that point already visited another dealer that I knew, and went with them. But I do appreciate Zac reaching out to me, and the initially impression with Sunny is positive. Big problem, IMHO, that Malibu has is that the biggest market, and most of the other boat dealers in the area, are in the Farragut area, which is west Knoxville and close to where Great Wakes is. Sunny is a bit far away, though better for the guys near Douglas and Norris. The one I went with is in Charleston, which is pretty close to hte same distance to me.

Hope Brett gets settled with his new line of boats, and hope that Sunny gets things rolling soon as well, and everyone puts the disappointment behind them.

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I think Sunny's location will be a good one. Anything closer to Norris makes sense. I would say half of the Malibu's (Newer Ones) come from No Wake Malibu Dealer in Cincinatti and the others from West Knox/Lenoir City. The closer you get to Norris the better.

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With dealer contracts being how they are I kind of doubt that it just happened to GW without them knowing. It's too much of a litigious world for that to happen these days.

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All, I know I caused some confusion so I want to correct what I said in a previous post:

I don't know if I was too tired, autocorrect kicked in, or what, but when I stated Great Lakes above, I intended to write Great Wakes. I can see how my typo could cause a great amount of confusion, and the names of the two companies even caused some confusion during conversations when I was in Loudon.

I'll restate: I have had no dealings with Great Wakes (boat dealer) and I hope that I didn't cause anyone too much confusion.

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I think Sunny's location will be a good one. Anything closer to Norris makes sense. I would say half of the Malibu's (Newer Ones) come from No Wake Malibu Dealer in Cincinatti and the others from West Knox/Lenoir City. The closer you get to Norris the better.

I don't know. Fort Loudon has TONS more people than Norris. The other wake/ski boat dealers are or have been around Farragut (ABC, Travis, Shadrack/Premier). Lenoir City is a lot closer to them than is Clinton. I think it is a pretty bad location. But I'm also in Farragut, and our lakehouse is in Friendsville. Biggest thing IMHO, though, is that the other dealers are all together. Being away from them might be good, in that they'll have a market all to themselves. But OTOH, it makes it a lot more likely that other folks will go with someone else. Mastercraft seems to be the biggest by a little out here, with Malibu/Axis being second.

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I don't know. Fort Loudon has TONS more people than Norris. The other wake/ski boat dealers are or have been around Farragut (ABC, Travis, Shadrack/Premier). Lenoir City is a lot closer to them than is Clinton. I think it is a pretty bad location. But I'm also in Farragut, and our lakehouse is in Friendsville. Biggest thing IMHO, though, is that the other dealers are all together. Being away from them might be good, in that they'll have a market all to themselves. But OTOH, it makes it a lot more likely that other folks will go with someone else. Mastercraft seems to be the biggest by a little out here, with Malibu/Axis being second.

First, I would not build my Dealership around Fort. Loudon. Norris is a destination for many around the country...especially Michigan and Ohio. I can't tell you Fort Loudon has more boats, but Norris has an abundance of MALIBU's. I also see plenty of Mastercrafts. I was good buddy's with some of the folks from ABC, and they will tell you their customer base boats on Norris. Remember that Marine Outfitters is in Cleveland which is kind of close to Lenoir City. I say a Knoxville Location for Malibu is going to be awesome.

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