Warranty

[SMLBENNY]

Placed my order for a 2012 2275 rcw ltd today, we are so excited. I am interested in different opinions....My wife and I researched and shopped for about 2 months before deciding on new benny. We went to our local beeny dealer and spent most of our time there. they were very helpful and knowledgeable. they spent 5-8 hrs total with us. I made a cash offer on the boat and the dealer/salesperson/owner told me ''go to the bennington website build the boat, email it to me and i will give you a quote. needless to say i did that and sent the build to 4 different bennington dealers within a 150 mile radius of us. the bidding came down to 2 of them. the dealer at sml was in the running. I was willing to pay him more due to the fact he was local to me. however, more doesnt translate into a 4 digit difference. so, i explained to him if he could be a little more flexible we would buy from him. he said he was firm on his offer. service and warranty work is a concern for me and i explained that clearly. he said to me "i have no obligation to service or warranty any product sold by another dealer" this is very concerning to me...that a representative of bennington(dealer) would make such a comment. I purchased my boat from a North Carolina dealer and he has offered to trailer the boat to me for delivery and said he would take care of any warranty work at my dock if needed. it may not happen as fast as i would like but he will take care of it for me. The NC. dealer also said if it was a catostrophic warranty issue he would handle it immediately. Should I escolate my experience up to VP of sales- Eastern U.S. of Bennington. I look forward to all comments.

 

[Jakester]

Placed my order for a 2012 2275 rcw ltd today, we are so excited. I am interested in different opinions....My wife and I researched and shopped for about 2 months before deciding on new benny. We went to our local beeny dealer at smith mt lake,va and spent most of our time there. they were very helpful and knowledgeable. they spent 5-8 hrs total with us. I made a cash offer on the boat and the dealer/salesperson/owner told me ''go to the bennington website build the boat, email it to me and i will give you a quote. needless to say i did that and sent the build to 4 different bennington dealers within a 150 mile radius of us. the bidding came down to 2 of them. the dealer at sml was in the running. I was willing to pay him more due to the fact he was local to me. however, more doesnt translate into a 4 digit difference. so, i explained to him if he could be a little more flexible we would buy from him. he said he was firm on his offer. service and warranty work is a concern for me and i explained that clearly. he said to me "i have no obligation to service or warranty any product sold by another dealer" this is very concerning to me...that a representative of bennington(dealer) would make such a comment. I purchased my boat from a North Carolina dealer and he has offered to trailer the boat to me for delivery and said he would take care of any warranty work at my dock if needed. it may not happen as fast as i would like but he will take care of it for me. The NC. dealer also said if it was a catostrophic warranty issue he would handle it immediately. Should I escolate my experience up to VP of sales- Eastern U.S. of Bennington. I look forward to all comments.

I would avoid any dealer that makes a statement that he is not obligated to service a brand that he sells. This to me indicates a degree of dishonesty. My dealer serviced my first Bennington even though I did not buy it from him with no questions asked. After all, they are getting paid for warrenty work so it shouldn't be an issue. As far as talking to the VP of sales, good luck. I spoke to the V.P in my region he ended up being useless to the situation.

 

[Boomers dad]

What I have found in the boating industry is that most dealerships will do warranty work on the brands that they sell. However, they typically take care of the boats that they sold first. In other words if you did not buy it from them you go to the end of the line. Personally if a dealer told me I had to buy from them to get warranty work done I would look elsewhere. Especially if I could save significant money.

As to there obligation to do warranty work I have no answer. Maybe TB could clear this up for us.

 

[amr7333]

First of all, welcome to the forum. This place is still fairly new and has got crawling down and is now trying to get up and walk some. The people here so far are real nice and try to help each other with technical issues and other things pontoonish.

Now for topic of your first post. To me, it sounds like you found a dealer you trust and can work with. This is a lot like buying a car in that aspect. If you don't trust your salesman, you probably won't get along with the rest of the crew who work there. As for trying to contact someone higher up in the company, I will assume(yes, I understand what assume does) Team Bennington will be along shortly to engage in this conversation and maybe get this resolved.

By the way, you will absolutely love that boat when you get it. I have the same model and get rave reviews on the rear facing loungers as well as the boat in general. I have had many say it is the coolest looking pontoon they have ever seen. It has great lines which make it look fast even just sitting still.

Good luck and happy boating.