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How is your dealers' service dept?

iToon

iToon

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Having a pretty bad week with out Bennington, we took it out last weekend and ran it on Sunday, first thing we discovered was the rear live-well would leak onto the battery, turned out to be the fact our boat was in a local boat show before being sold and they neglected to not only review and clean the boat of trash stuffed down the rod holders, they never took it out to see if there were any problems with it and make sure it was sea worthy

Now then, back to the problems, the live-well issue I called about and the manager told me to bring my Toon by and he would fix me right away, after calling him a couple other things happened and this was after close on that day so I waited to get to them when we went by. one was that the trim gauge would stop working at random, the other was some kind of alarm that went off twice as we went from full throttle to idle. I took it to them last Tuesday and dropped it off with the intention of getting it back in a few days. I just called them today Saturday, and the shop person tells me he has had yet to even look at my boat!

This weekend we had planned on being out and now we are without. I guess they should let every new prospective buyer know that if there is a problem a day after you buy this boat, well we will look at it when we get time to and feel like it.

I feel that I should have gone somewhere else.
 
I'm sorry to hear that. I have had a pretty good experience. My radio didn't work right and so they sent someone to me twice with no success to fix it. While that wasn't great, they then did the right thing and pulled it and took it to Earmark audio where the installers found a wire that needed to be fixed. They then tuned the amp for me so it sounded even better. The fact that they tried not to inconvenience me first by having someone come to my slip twice was nice. When that didn't work I was impressed with the quick turnaround at Earmark and the extra little service. They also gave me a free iPod holder to install if I want to place one in the back by the radio remote. So far, very good service.
 
Man I wish I was near you, I think the toon is perfect, its just my local dealers' repair shop. the only closer one is across the mountain in North Carolina and I don't like the idea of lugging my toon across a mtn road but it may come to that
 
Well, I finally heard back from my dealer, it seems their only mechanic had some kind of health problem today and that's why he was short and not friendly to me today. If the man is sick then I can accept that but I sure hope he gets better and the other guys can now correct my issues and get my pontoon back to me. I really don't like not having it to go out on especially when it was soooo sunny today and that was in spite of the fact it was supposed to rain all day, I would've been on the lake :(
 
That is really terrible dealer service. Have you called Bennington about it? My dealer goes above and beyond to keep customers happy. I blame Yamaha for the unresolved engine problem I have had to live with.
 
I think my marina is awesome here is what they offer when you buy a new boat

WILSON MARINE

Your reward for purchasing a boat here at Wilson Marine is that you will receive the highest level of service possible!

We call it Wil-care but it can be called "peace of mind".

100% Dockside Warranty Service

Warranty Pick-up and delivery service

Loaner Motor

No charge pontoon trailer rental

24 Hour Tech hotline

Next available bay Urgent Care

Boat School and Boating Safety Classes

Price Guarantee

Many other dealers may offer programs that are similar, but Wilson Marine is the only one to put this in writing.

Ron
 
I bought my last 2 boats from Wilson Marine and they are excellent! Everyone there bends over backwards to make sure the customer is satisfied. They have been around for years and built a great reputation. I will be taking delivery on my 20' SLI in about 2 more weeks. I have no doubt that it will be a positive experience. They are the type of dealer that you would expect to be selling and servicing Bennington boats. I can't speak highly enough of them.
 
kanop44 said:
I bought my last 2 boats from Wilson Marine and they are excellent! Everyone there bends over backwards to make sure the customer is satisfied. They have been around for years and built a great reputation. I will be taking delivery on my 20' SLI in about 2 more weeks. I have no doubt that it will be a positive experience. They are the type of dealer that you would expect to be selling and servicing Bennington boats. I can't speak highly enough of them.
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I've never dealt with Wilson, but I have to say that their internet sales presence is difficult to navigate when shopping and comparing boats. Their on-line listings are priced with low hp engines (40s or 50's) or no engine at all. While that may give them an attractive advertised price, when competitors are listing boats with 90s, 115s, 150s and more, comparing boat to boat can't be done on the internet. I guess they want to see you in person. That's fine, but not everyone prefers to shop that way. For that reason, I won't patronize them.
 
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kanop44 said:
I bought my last 2 boats from Wilson Marine and they are excellent! Everyone there bends over backwards to make sure the customer is satisfied. They have been around for years and built a great reputation. I will be taking delivery on my 20' SLI in about 2 more weeks. I have no doubt that it will be a positive experience. They are the type of dealer that you would expect to be selling and servicing Bennington boats. I can't speak highly enough of them.
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who is your salesman I use Donny, BTW Ron Wilson owner of WIlson is there quite a bit and a super nice guy that likes to talk to his customers

Ron
 
I hope the repair guy gets better... But, Wow the dealer only has one service man. Must be a real small dealer. We took ours out last Sunday to check a shake down cruise in before taking it to our cabin. Dropped the boat back off at the dealers on Monday for them to take care of a couple of small adjustments needed with the engine remote. While standing in the dealership talking the to owner, I told him he needed to call the trailer Manufacture and tell them to put stickers on the fenders with "No Step" on them. My brother had stepped on the fender when helping me put the cover back on. I was sort of kidding with the owner about the bent fender, as we had bent it back up. Just a little dismayed about the weak fender. Anyway, the service writer overheard me talking with the owner and insisted on putting the fender on the write up sheet.

Picked the boat up on Friday. Even the fender had been repaired and painted. I was impressed, as this was damage I caused, not really a warranty issue......
 
Wow, hope things get better with your dealer. Being sick is no excuse for poor customer service.

Steve
 
Ok, now it's ridiculous. I just went and got my pontoon from the dealer who told me it was ready, for the live well he put in some cheap aftermarket pullout tube. He told me he checked the ohms on the trim meter and it works and never went off for him, he told me he took it out on the lake for an hour and a half to check the alarm and it never went off, funny thing is not only is my boat and trailer is bone dry, the hour meter is still at 4.6 where it was when I dropped it off. The guy flat lied to me! All he did was put in the cheap flow tube in my live well, I have yet to get my numbers from the state on this boat and it has mismatching live well parts!

I tried to call Bennington but they are closed 25 minutes ago. I'm going to call them and I hope they will send me the correct replacement part for my well, if anyone here from bennington sees this know I am not happy at all with this dealer as I bought it only 2 weeks ago today and the dealer service is deplorable. I never will take it there for service, the guy ignored me until I actually asked him what he did. I'm afraid if I take it back there it'll be worse off when I get it back.

Awfully mad and through with this dealer, please help me bennington

Itoon
 
iToon said:
Ok, now it's ridiculous. I just went and got my pontoon from the dealer who told me it was ready, for the live well he put in some cheap aftermarket pullout tube. He told me he checked the ohms on the trim meter and it works and never went off for him, he told me he took it out on the lake for an hour and a half to check the alarm and it never went off, funny thing is not only is my boat and trailer is bone dry, the hour meter is still at 4.6 where it was when I dropped it off. The guy flat lied to me! All he did was put in the cheap flow tube in my live well, I have yet to get my numbers from the state on this boat and it has mismatching live well parts!

I tried to call Bennington but they are closed 25 minutes ago. I'm going to call them and I hope they will send me the correct replacement part for my well, if anyone here from bennington sees this know I am not happy at all with this dealer as I bought it only 2 weeks ago today and the dealer service is deplorable. I never will take it there for service, the guy ignored me until I actually asked him what he did. I'm afraid if I take it back there it'll be worse off when I get it back.

Awfully mad and through with this dealer, please help me bennington

Itoon
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Real sorry to hear that you have had your new boat experience ruined by a dishonest dealer. I had a similar experience taking delivery on a new Lexus. Once I knew what I was dealing with I fired the dealer, dealt directly with the manufacturer to get satisfaction and found a great dealer about 45 minutes away. After all was said and done, I was still very happy with my vehicle and made sure the dud dealer never saw another dollar of mine. Hang in there.
 
rpm said:
who is your salesman I use Donny, BTW Ron Wilson owner of WIlson is there quite a bit and a super nice guy that likes to talk to his customers

Ron
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I bought my boat from Donny too. He was real helpful as was everyone I have dealt with there.
 
That really stinks about your dealer iToon - hope you can get some help from Bennington concerning your dealer.

Hey Butchkid - glad to hear about your experience though since I assume we have the same dealer (Whittle Boats). :) I had some pinholes in the bottom of the 5 gallon water container for my galley and the owner got me a new one quickly without problem. Have not had any other problems except the freakin wind :angry:
 
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Hey IToon Where are you located. I know if this happened to me I would be spreading his name all over the internet. I hate people that lie :angry: . Others need to be warned.

Steve
 
Ok everyone, let's cool it! We will work directly with the customer and dealer to resolve the issue. Thanks. TB

This site is meant to be a positive tool. ;)
 
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Boomers dad said:
Hey IToon Where are you located. I know if this happened to me I would be spreading his name all over the internet. I hate people that lie :angry: . Others need to be warned.

Steve
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I'm located in upper east Tennessee. I am now in contact with Bennington and hope to get this all straight. I just hope that I'm an exception rather than the norm for this. My original post was to see if anyone else had been treated this way and from the huge response i can see that my experience is unusual for bennington dealers in general and that gives me hope. I will be reposting on the forum in the near future as this goes.

I agree this forum is here to be an assistant and tool for help, I really hope that Bennington and I will come together on this and they can try and make this a better experience with service that I've received thus far. I love being able to actually get a response from the manufacturer about it that really goes far for me.

I'll keep everyone posted

Thanks

Itoon
 
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 Most dealers don't realize that it is the customer service that makes or breaks a dealer. too many think you need them more than they need you. sad. My relationship with my dealer is just about to begin, didn't get my delivery yet, I hope I'll be posting all good reviews on how great he is.
 
Holy "Bring back a thread from the dead" ....  :)   This ones 3-1/2 years old ......  :blink:   You must be reading everything !!!
 
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