NEW BOAT DILEMMA. FRUSTRATED

OK I ordered a 2017 CRESTLINER 1850 WT FISH HAWK on January 31 to get the $1500 rebate and was told I would be able to take delivery in 6-8 weeks. I put a $2000 deposit at that time . I was happy. The boat showed up 10 weeks later and was told that CRESTLINER did not ship a trailer with the boat; said they had one with another boat that they could use. A week later they said another trailer was being shipped and would be there soon so they were going to wait on it. I was not happy. Trailer finally showed up and I finally got to see my new boat on the trailer; they had it in the back of the showroom with no motor on it. They also had the accessories that I ordered with the boat which included a new Minkota ULTERA w/ ipilot & Link. I was happy again. I stopped in twice a week to check on the progress. 3 weeks later it was still sitting in the same spot and had not been touched. I was not happy and I kinda came unglued on them. That made me feel better for what it was worth. They said they were short handed and the service dept was swamped with repairs. Couple days later I went in and they had the Minkota on and next day they had service dept put the Merc 150 on the boat. That was a week ago and they have yet to install my 9.9 kicker on it and my 3 bank charger. Then I was told that I needed to install the charger myself since they could not figure out how to run the cranking battery lead from the charger from up front by the TM batteries to the rear where the cranking battery is. I said wft doesn’t CRESTLINER have tech support for this kind of thing? They sail they would try.
Now its almost June and even if I got the boat back soon I still need to install need to install my HB HELIX 10 on the console; HB HELIX 9 on the bow and the HB 360 on the transom and the hub under the console that came off of the last boat which I do not have anymore so at this point I have no boat. Now I am really not happy. Sorry for the rant but I’m not sure what to do about this. All my buds are asking about my new boat and they can’t believe it. The wife says I should get my $ back and tell them to shove it where the sun don’t shine.
What can I do or what would you do. I may as well take up golf.

Wow, another sad Dealership Boat deal gone bad!
Seems to be alot of this these days
You ordered 1/31 and it’s now Memorial day and boat still sits! I would demand my money back and would make it a point that others were aware of how this dealership handled this situation!
Has the boating world forgotten why they are in Existence?
Evidentaly so.
All I can say is WTF & Sorry

Sorry, can’t tell you what you should do. It’s a raw, raw deal and I feel badly for you. Funny how a place that deals in what should be fun products can make the customer experience so miserable.

My only thought is a pow-wow with the big chief there. Not the Under Manager, not the Assistant Manager, etc. You have to find out who’s really in charge.

Tell him or her you need a FINAL date AND ask for your deposit back NOW. The bottom line is if they want to sell the boat, you pay in full on the agreed to date. No boat ready? No sale.

If you can’t pull this off with getting your deposit back the problem is that if you walk away, you’re going to have to go through hell to get your deposit back later. Sure, it can be done, but it’ll probably take at least filing in court to get them to refund the deposit, if not outright dragging them into court which would be a 6 month + project.

This is the problem with ordering anything these days. The contract is a one-way street. As I’ve pointed out before, dealers seem to feel entitled to ignore ALL parts of the agreement if they become inconvenient, whereas the buyer lived up to everything that was required of him. Delivery dates, installation dates, workmanship, warranty, all the terms are with a * that the dealer can ignore with no consequences.

Sorry for your troubles and the misery of the whole ordeal. Hope you get it sorted out. I’ve been there before and had to have “the talk” with suppliers that don’t get it done according to the agreement. Never fun.

Grouse

Call and ask to talk to the owner.

Man I am sorry. Just unacceptable. I would do as others suggested and make hell with the person in charge. Probably won’t fix things but may present more options. As for them telling you that can’t figure something out so you have to do it, well, I think my jaw would drop if a service department said that to me! “I paid x dollars and you want me to take this home to my shop!!” If i ever buy a new boat again im gonna just have to go with a floor model that’s all ready to hook up to my truck. That or buy a skeeter haven’t heard anything bad about their service yet.

Also I might suggest outing the dealership on this forum and others. Worked for eelpoutguy and the marina responded

Ya I would social media blast the bejeasus out of that if the timeline you described is true. wow

Sorry to hear man, hope everything works out.

I’m curious why people are hesitant on calling dealerships out with names. As long as they’ve had the chance to redeem themselves before, let it air out. If there is no consequence what reason is there to change, some people need a kick in the online ars.

Don’t understand why people will bad mouth a dealership, yet are hesitant to name the dealer? Put the name out there and if they don’t like it, tell them to get your boat ready. Short handed is one thing, but there has to be a list of priorities or a to do list on their end and some communication. Go in on the busiest day of the week and make a stink with your paper work in hand and demand to see the actual person in charge.

Have dealt with Rapid, Hallberg’s, Hannay’s, Frankie’s and know guys who deal with SBC and all have been top shelf. There’s always issues along the line with boats, motors, trailers and all the wiring and electronics, heck rigging takes time to be done right. Rig all my own stuff and have just learned over the years it’s way, way less frustration. Plus it helps when something goes down on the water, which it all eventually will. For a dealer to have problems pulling and running wire for an onboard charger, I’d be ubber concerned about them doing anything after hearing that nugget of wisdom.

Sorry it’s been such a cluster bomb of frustration and couldn’t imagine where my blood pressure level would be at. Hope it works out.

Might not hurt to have a discussion with someone at Crestliner as well. I’m sure they do not want dealers indirectly giving Crestliner a bad name by shotty service. After all, the dealer is an extension of the boat manufacturer. Bummer. Best of luck to you!

Well, the second layer of problems with these deals is the quality of the workmanship can go to hell if the customer forces the issue too much. If the OP does go forward, inspect the beejezes out of the boat before you sign off. Any Generic Mechanic rigging should be rejected.

Based on the threads about this exact problem with dealer under-performance, I’d never order a new boat. It sounds like it’s just a massive cluster of delays, denials, blown deadlines, and effups.

I’d love to know out of every 100 boats ordered, how many are delivered as-promised, on time? Yeah, I get that it’s the old mantra, a happy customer tells 1 person, a unhappy one tells 10, but still out of every 100 sales, even if 5% of them are delayed or screwed up…

Grouse

Blasting a company online is a last resort for me, and even then they have to REALLY pissed me off to go that route. However, if what you are saying is correct, I would be shouting it from the mountaintops. Especially when they can’t install an onboard charger…?!?!?

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

This is the problem with ordering anything these days. The contract is a one-way street. As I’ve pointed out before, dealers seem to feel entitled to ignore ALL parts of the agreement if they become inconvenient, whereas the buyer lived up to everything that was required of him. Delivery dates, installation dates, workmanship, warranty, all the terms are with a * that the dealer can ignore with no consequences.

I saw your post on the other thread, and wonder why that is? I have never purchased a new boat, so I am not familiar with the process. But when making a major purchase like that, don’t you have a written contract specifying the delivery date and extent of work to be completed? Is that a realistic ask for a buyer? Seriously just curious, as in any other contractual purchase this would be commonplace. I will hopefully be buying a new boat soon, and just going to have to convince the wife it needs to be from SBC…

I have heard more stories about delayed shipment, dealers not rigging boats in a timely manner, production delays, etc. in the last couple years than I have ever heard.

I have a brother-in-law who ordered a brand new Alumacraft 175 Competitor. I told him to essentially assume that it would not be here by Memorial Day Weekend (ordered in February and told it would be here). Shocker – he has to wait another couple of weeks yet.

It’s a complete joke and I feel bad for all the people that overpay for these new boats, only to be given the run around. It makes quality, well-maintained used boats that much more marketable and valuable in my opinion. If I had $30K plus burning a hole in my pocket, it’d be going towards a 1-4 year old mint boat, where there’s no sales tax and the day I fork over money, it’s on the way to my garage.

basseyes wrote:

Rig all my own stuff and have just learned over the years it’s way, way less frustration. Plus it helps when something goes down on the water, which it all eventually will. For a dealer to have problems pulling and running wire for an onboard charger, I’d be ubber concerned about them doing anything after hearing that nugget of wisdom.

That part alone gave me a whole new level of concern. If they can’t run 2 damn wires, then they can’t find their @ss with both hands.

I’m going to start taking pictures of the cluster-effed rigging jobs I see coming from dealers.

Just last night another forum member contacted me for a replacement tail light guard. I make these guards in my home shop to protect tail lights for those of us who have to travel a lot of remote gravel roads.

He had these installed by a dealer. The dealer screwed them on. Not bolted, just put two Chinese sheet metal screws in to hold a 6-ounce piece of metal on a bouncing, vibrating trailer. NOTHING in the history of mankind since the invention of the wheel has stayed on a trailer if it was just screwed on.

Don’t even get me started on the hairball wiring jobs I’ve seen coming out of dealers. Bilge pumps connected with 18 gauge wire, that’s my personal favorite. Let me just say that any dealership caught with a quickie lock pinch on connector anywhere in their service shop should face a firing squad.

Grouse

Bad deal man. Hopefully it gets resolved in a timely fashion and you’re happy with your new boat

BigWerm wrote:

But when making a major purchase like that, don’t you have a written contract specifying the delivery date and extent of work to be completed? Is that a realistic ask for a buyer? Seriously just curious, as in any other contractual purchase this would be commonplace.

Sure you’ve got a contract, but here’s the problem. Imagine the dealer putting on his best Al Capone mobster voice here:

You: So you’re 2 weeks late delivering my boat. My contract said I’d have it by now.

Dealer: Whadaaaya gonna do? Delays at the factory. No biggie. Bing, bang, badda bing. We’ll gedda round to it.

You: When is it going to be ready?

Dealer: Hey, look at Mr. Impatient here. Forgeddaboudit. You should take up fishing to relax. We got your money, little man. Whatdaaya gonna do, sue us?

That’s what it comes down to. What are you going to do, sue them? They have your money AND they have your time because you just spent 2, 3, 5, or more months waiting. You have no other options now because you go to the back of the line even if you walk out on the deal.

That’s my point. There’s no consequences on the dealer’s end for bad service and the customer’s path to holding the dealer accountable for the contract terms is so steep and difficult that there’s really no teeth to it and the dealers know this.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Based on the threads about this exact problem with dealer under-performance, I’d never order a new boat. It sounds like it’s just a massive cluster of delays, denials, blown deadlines, and effups.

Not only threads but also personal experience with shops. I actually loath dealing with a couple of metro dealers. What drives me nuts about them is they charge customers similar to car dealer pricing for shop time but the customer service is nothing like what you receive from a car dealer.

I’ve run my problems up the flag pole with a local dealer and what I learned is that, as with any business, the attitude of the employees is not much different than their leader/manager/owner. So running a complaint up the chain of command usually doesn’t change the outcome because the employee doing the work is doing it based on the direction of management.

We outta just develop a new slogan – if ya think you want a new boat next year order now and expect to wait.

crappie55369 wrote:

We outta just develop a new slogan – if ya think you want a new boat next year order now and expect to wait.

Yeah. Or how about this:

Order a new boat by June of 2017 and we guarantee delivery by March of 2022. Or somewhere around that time, depending on how things go. We might be short staffed then, so, ya know. Maybe it might be a few weeks late, but still.

Grouse

Yeahhhhhhh,, I’d be pretty careful about throwing the manufacture under the bus in any of these scenarios. YOU are buying a boat at a BOAT SHOW!! What do you think the dealer rep is going to tell you about delivery dates when he has 16 of his toughest competitors sitting 12 feet away. I know it sucks and all that but this is on the dealer in my opinion. I don’t think sales people are above shaving off a few weeks to get your check… Clearly between yesterday’s post and today’s this is not an isolated situation between manufactures and I’m certain there are hundreds of other buyers that bought at boat shows feeling the same way right now. I’m not saying don’t buy at a boat show but it’s more like buyer beware with what any dealer will tell you to get you to sign on the line. Again,, sorry for the situation, it blows.

I’ve had a new paid for Yamaha engine sitting on the rack at the dealer since early March. Yamaha hasn’t a clue when a linkage kit will be available to hookup the tiller handle. Almost 1/4th of the year now!

It was a new model engine, so I was warned it might be delayed and was surprised to get a call in early March that it showed up.

Luckily the dealer has recently provided a 2014 equivalent until mine is running.

If I every order a new boat I will have to come with a contract for them to make sure it is on time or every week it is late it is another x$$ off the price. I can’t believe all the problems I keep hearing about. I hope you get your boat soon.

The owner of the dealership IS who I’ve been dealing with since the order on 1/31. I’ll be stopping by on my way home to see if anything has been done since this last Monday. I may just call CRESTLINER directly and give them hell too.

Is there an echoe in here?

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Is there an echoe in here?

Is there an echo in here?

walleyebuster5 wrote:

YOU are buying a boat at a BOAT SHOW!! What do you think the dealer rep is going to tell you about delivery dates when he has 16 of his toughest competitors sitting 12 feet away.

I don’t get this at all. So it’s OK for the dealer to overpromise and deliver poor customer service because his competition made him do it? That’s your defense of the dealer?

I don’t think the manufacturer should be thrown under the bus, but they should certainly be made aware of the service THEIR authorized dealer is giving. The #1 thing customers remember about a product and a brand is how it made them FEEL. With any transaction, the feeling about the product starts at the buying experience. You can have the best product in the world, but if your customer’s buying experience is horsesh!t, that’s what people will remember.

You can also have people lined up to pay huge money for a so-so product because they love the experience. Any guys out there who have daughters who have done the American Girl doll thing at the MOA know exactly what I mean. The experience IS the product.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>walleyebuster5 wrote:</div>
YOU are buying a boat at a BOAT SHOW!! What do you think the dealer rep is going to tell you about delivery dates when he has 16 of his toughest competitors sitting 12 feet away.

I don’t get this at all. So it’s OK for the dealer to overpromise and deliver poor customer service because his competition made him do it? That’s your defense of the dealer?

No no no no I’m not saying that AT ALL. I am not defending the dealer at all. In my very next sentence I said this is ALL on the dealer.. That’s my point. And regarding the manufactures,, yes that is their authorized dealer BUT if the poster here continues to avoid naming the dealer how would the any of us or the manufacture ever know about it!? The manufacture authorizes and continues to keep an active dealer based on past experiences and their quality of business. If I’m the manufacture I would want a phone call to be made aware of the situation… Just sayin’

Throw the dealer’s name out there, as well as give the manufacturers hell. The dealer and manufacturers should be on the same team. Their goal should be to make a quality product that is marketable to buyers while following through on the customer service piece. They make plenty of $$$ to handle the warranted criticism.

My question after reading through all these posts and having some relatives go through the same exact scenario (with Alumacraft), is WHY do people insist on ordering these new boats knowing it’s all a hoax on delivery times and the entire process? There are thousands of demo boats and quality used rigs for thousands of dollars less, no sales tax, and you get the end product in your hands seconds after you fork over the money. I watched at the MPLS Boat Show as people dealt on boats that were ~30k and a couple grand off MSRP being advertised as a “Great Deal”, while on some of the local sites the same boat completely rigged (even a larger motor), that was 1 year old sold for $20,500. Is that 1 year of age worth $9k + the headache and additional sales tax? No Thank You.

Research…buy a used quality product for thousands less, and don’t look back. Even warranties on most items today are about as valuable as a used piece of Charmin. More and more banks and credit unions will extend a line of credit on boats that are 0-10 years old and in good shape if cash is an issue but you have a steady income.

buckybadger wrote:

WHY do people insist on ordering these new boats knowing it’s all a hoax on delivery times and the entire process? There are thousands of demo boats and quality used rigs for thousands of dollars less, no sales tax, and you get the end product in your hands seconds after you fork over the money.

Only if somebody else goes through this BS for us

Very True – Great Point! Kudos to the people who throw common sense and testimonials out the window when purchasing their brand new boats.

…I’ll gladly buy 1-3 year old fully rigged boats the rest of my life without the excessive depreciation, sales tax, or headache they endure to “Keep Up With The Joneses”