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How should I react to a frustrating new Bennington order ?

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knucklebuster

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I have been enjoying all the great info posted on this site since we placed our order for a new toon 2-23-2013. I was going to wait until we took delivery to post our info with pic's but decided to reach out for any suggestions or input as not sure what to do now.

A quick recap of our situation follows without all the details:

This is the first NEW boat we have ordered although have owned over 30 boats over the last 40 years.

Placed order with $3000 deposit 2-24-13 with verbal understanding that we should take delivery about the third week of April (It was important to have ahead of our Minnesota fishing opening weekend 5-11-2013)

Tried to upgrade bimini top to a powered unit 2-27-13 at full retail less LED lighting option already ordered but were declined (will always remember this everytime I pull into our boat lift with cover).

On 3-1-13 discussed with salesman that 6 weeks expected putting us at about 4-12-13

On 4-2-13 contacted salesman for a update and after viewing all the recomendations on this site asked if we could upgrade our engine HP to 115. We were informed our 90 hp engine was registered with Yamaha 3-15-2013 so is now a used engine and dificult to make a change even though the pontoon hasn't been built yet and no engine installation has taken place.

As we ordered a new lift from a boat lift company and they requested that the new pontoon be present when lift delivered to our lakehome so the lift and canopy can be adjusted to fit our pontoon. We asked for a date to coordiate delivery but that has been dificult.

This morning, 5-3-2013 we recieved the call that our new pontoon has arrived at the dealership but as they are very busy it won't be ready for us until 5-14-2013 (possibly earlier?) which is a month latter than expected and the week AFTER our opening fishing season.

Not sure how I should deal with this situation but will appreciate all suggestions.

We are looking forward to the enjoyment from our new toy when we finally get it.

Thank you !
 
I have no helpful information for you, just wanted to let you know I feel for you, especially on the whole engine part. I think thats total BS. You've already missed your opening fish day, if I were you, I'd tell the dealer that you won't accept the boat until it has exactly what you want. On another note; 30 boats in 40 years, thats crazy. Why?
 
I would add in to the story that your family pet is very up set because the boat is not here yett and she you tell him the boat is not in your pet cry's. Mabey T B will chime with some sort of option?
 
Sounds like you would be using the new boat as an ice breaker if you had it now from what I hear, I just talked to a friend north of Detroit Lakes a week ago and he said the ice was still 30 inches thick yet on some lakes in that area then. Don't think the opener is gonna be very good from talking to others from that area with the ice yet, all joking about still ice fishing during when the normal fish opener is supposed to be.. Where is Al Gore hiding at now days?
 
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1Tiredlady said:
I have no helpful information for you, just wanted to let you know I feel for you, especially on the whole engine part. I think thats total BS. You've already missed your opening fish day, if I were you, I'd tell the dealer that you won't accept the boat until it has exactly what you want. On another note; 30 boats in 40 years, thats crazy. Why?
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I agree. The way I understand it, the boat comes in and the engine matched to it comes in separately but ships at about the same time. If the boat had not been invoiced to the dealer, they should have been able to change the engine if Bennington had an available engine. The 90 & 115 use the same wiring, etc.

And I've never seen any manufacturer invoice a boat that's never been built. The dealer could mount one of his own 115 hp engines, but he cannot purchase the engine from Yamaha as cheaply as if the engine came thru Bennington (a bulk buyer of engines.) And the warranty paperwork goes to Yamaha when the Bennie is sold to you.

What can be said about any dealer that puts a special order boat prep. on the back burner for 12 days? I'd be a little disturbed if I was able to go boating. But I don't know that you'll be able to go to the lake the next 12 days as Minnesota weather still sucks. I'm just sorry that your order/purchase didn't go as smoothly as it could have.
 
We were torn between the Yamaha 115 and 150, my dealer told us that we could make up our mind at the last minute because it was the last thing to put on the boat. He even said that if we put on the 115 and was not happy he would switch it to the 150. We didn't discuss price if we swapped the 115 in for the 150 but he did say the most important thing would be that we were happy with the boat.

Lately there have been a few threads concerning dealers so I am thankful that my local dealer is Point Breeze Marina in Saratoga
 
The ice is gone in Northern Michigan at least the Petoskey area . Not sure about the U.P. or Minnesota.

I went through the same type of thing with my order constantly changing and adding to the point, the dealer could not change it any more .I had a delivery date in writing on the order .( 5/1/13)

I knew we would not be happy if it didn't have everything I wanted .

Dealer said If I wanted to reorder he would keep the first .

So we reordered with everything we wanted ,we also went bigger ( length and motor.)

Just one problem ,an added 4 week wait .( also in writing on the order 6/1/13)

It will be worth it to know it is exactly the way I want .

I had already pictured me trading it in next year because I wasn't happy and most likely lost more on a trade then on the upgrade on the new order .
 
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I think you are missing one important point... YOU are in charge.. YOU are the customer, if they dont' accommodate you, move on, they are in bussiness to sell boats, Personally i would get what i want, Do you really want to always wish, why pay money for something you don't want, how many times have you done that in your life to settle, you have had many boats, so you should know that you need to get what you want.. When i ordered my Q on Feb 27 at the l.a. boat show, i had them put on the order, Delivered to me before April 10th.. or keep it, My boat came in the first week of april and took dealer 3 days for prep, dont be such a nice guy, becasue we all know that nice guys finish last.. lol.. good luck
 
This could be the reason ."Placed order with $3000 deposit 2-24-13 with verbal understanding that we should take delivery about the third week of April"

Keywords are $3000,and verbal .
 
Like Link, my dealer offered to hang a 150 on it, on the spot, if I didn't like the 115 on the test drive. We "pre-agreed" to the price, either way (115 or 150). So, I don't buy what your dealer is saying, but I have a Merc and you went Yamaha which could be the difference.

But, my hunch is, since you said the dealer is so busy, is that he was pushing back on you a little to guage how serious you were about the upgrade to the 115. It's more money in his pocket, but if he's busy, I can see him only wanting to do this for you if it was a sure thing. How hard did you press? Did you say you definately want the 115? Or did you just ask "how hard would it be..." If you were soft on it, he's probalby playing the odds that in the end you'd change back to the 90, and he would have spent a lot of time for nothing. You would have to tell him you ARE changing the order. I'm sure he'd be fine with that.

As far as scheduling and prep, if a dealer is busy, I can see him pimping you for how firm you are on delivery date. He probably tells a lot of people he can't do it for a while, and the ones that push back and insist on holding the schedule go to the front of the line and the nice guys (like Fatee said) go to the back of the line.

Squeeky wheel gets the grease is a saying born from real life situations. You don't have to get mad, just be firm and say that won't work for you. Tell him you want your deposit back and suddenly you'll move forward. It's a touch and feel thing with words...

By the way, what does "declined on the bimini upgrade" mean? I can hardly believe you were told something like this...
 
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cwag911 said:
My wifes favorite saying is: "That's just not acceptable". Works every time.
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+1

I learned how to use that phase from my Dad who was a very wise, but gentle man. I heard him utter it only a few times, quite calmly, and nothing else needed to be said.
 
I would like to thank all of you for the replies and agree a written delivery date would have been a great idea. I have answers to a few of the other questions:

1tiredlady asked why so many boats over the years? = I often have owned 2 or 3 at a time and often want try something different although our last pontoon we enjoyed for 11 years.

Wild and Free commented about the late spring. It is only in the 40's today but our ice went out Wed 5-1 and we are putting in our dock tomorrow. 70's next week?

Kaydano asked about the power bimini which includes LED lighting. I offered to pay msrp of $1388 less the $222 already in our deal for LED lights in the standard bimini. The salesman wouldn't agree to the difference of $1166 but wanted to charge for both options.

I also want to point out that Bennington did a great job of staying on schedule with our build of about 6 weeks once our dealer submitted the order.

Now the GOOD NEWS : I received a call from my salesman at 11am today letting me know their schedule opened up for the final rigging of our pontoon and we are scheduled to pick it up next Wed 5-8-2013. I will have to see how the horsepower and manuaI bimini work out as to late to change now.

I will update the site with how next week goes see if my daughter will help me with posting the pics.
 
As long as the both of you are happy is all that matters
 
Expect the worst and hope for the best !!!!! Looks like it will work out. My advice, VERBAL commitments mean nothing. If it ain't in writing, it's just words. Even in writing it does not mean it WILL happen but it SHOULD happen. It at least you gives proof, as verbal statements just lead to " he said, she said"

Glad it sounds like its going to work out and make sure to post up pics !!!!
 
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FYI: You can buy the Schwintek power bimini top for $1K at Pontoonstuff.com. It's the same unit that Bennington's installing. That's just in case you ever want to change bimini's. They're not at all hard to install, either.

I don't find my manual OEM bimini at all hard to put up and down. I always forget to drop the top before coming into the boathouse, and have to back out, drop it, and come inside again. Oh, well.
 
Hey knucklebuster may I ask what dealer you bought your new benny from. I also ordered one and should be getting the news of delivery any day now, it was promised before Memorial day. bought mine from st. cloud. Just curious if it is the same dealer. So far I have not had to many issues yet. The motor issue you had is kinda bogus I think.
 
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That power bimini is awesome, I think I may have found my next project !!!!! That thing is SWEET !!!! :wub:

I wonder if I could modify one for my Jeep ...... :D
 
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Knucklebuster here again with a update. We did pick up our new pontoon Wed 5-8 (in the rain) but still have some issues to work thru so I am not comfortable naming my dealer yet. As it was outside in the rain when picked it wasn't practical to do a normal walk thru. I had asked about a orientation on a similar boat in their showroom but that didn't happen either.

The info Bamaman sent about a power bimini outright purchase looks great and may be a future option.

The current issues I need to work thru are the playpen cover has 2 snaps that don't fit well and stay snapped as well as I ordered the clip system to attach to the side rails but on both sides tword the stern where the rails curve down there is not a slot to insert the clips into?

The biggest DISAPOINTMENT is with the wet sounds factory upgrade. I had discussed with the service manager prior to purchase that if it is added to a dealer stock boat it is inside the helm storage locker but if on a factory ordered boat the subwoofer is installed into the helm storage door.

When I ordered the system (at full retail) I confirmed with our salesman it would appear as in the liturature picture on page 16 surface mounted in the door. Our pontoon was built with a box under the helm out of view.

As we didn't receive a walk thru and all the acc switches on the dash are a mystery I haven't had been able to figure out how to turn on the wet sounds system (no owners manual?) The salesman agreed it wasn't right and as expected and they would be out to my home to correct it if I took delivery that night.

I need to now decide what our request will be to rectify this misunderstanding. As has been suggested previouslyin this thread "this is just not acceptable to us"

I will update you how this all works out and still need to get those pics up. Thanks
 
knucklebuster said:
Knucklebuster here again with a update. We did pick up our new pontoon Wed 5-8 (in the rain) but still have some issues to work thru so I am not comfortable naming my dealer yet. As it was outside in the rain when picked it wasn't practical to do a normal walk thru. I had asked about a orientation on a similar boat in their showroom but that didn't happen either.

The info Bamaman sent about a power bimini outright purchase looks great and may be a future option.

The current issues I need to work thru are the playpen cover has 2 snaps that don't fit well and stay snapped as well as I ordered the clip system to attach to the side rails but on both sides tword the stern where the rails curve down there is not a slot to insert the clips into?

The biggest DISAPOINTMENT is with the wet sounds factory upgrade. I had discussed with the service manager prior to purchase that if it is added to a dealer stock boat it is inside the helm storage locker but if on a factory ordered boat the subwoofer is installed into the helm storage door.

When I ordered the system (at full retail) I confirmed with our salesman it would appear as in the liturature picture on page 16 surface mounted in the door. Our pontoon was built with a box under the helm out of view.

As we didn't receive a walk thru and all the acc switches on the dash are a mystery I haven't had been able to figure out how to turn on the wet sounds system (no owners manual?) The salesman agreed it wasn't right and as expected and they would be out to my home to correct it if I took delivery that night.

I need to now decide what our request will be to rectify this misunderstanding. As has been suggested previouslyin this thread "this is just not acceptable to us"

I will update you how this all works out and still need to get those pics up. Thanks
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NEVER take delivery of a boat that "isn't right." All your leverage is lost.
 
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