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Warranty Repair Delay

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Rage

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One of the reasons we bought a Bennington was the 5 year bow to stern warranty. Well the middle pontoon had a leak and was judged to need replacement. Our boat was picked up by the dealer on October 31,2011. Today it is June 24, 2012. The elusive replacement pontoon was (once again & again & again & again & again &....) reportedly supposed to be delivered last week and once again it did not show up. This death by a thousand cuts senerio by Bennington has been replayed so may times since end of January I have lost count. Forget the family reunion at the lake on the 4th of July ----CANCELLED.

Anyone else experience this sort to warranty issue? How was it resolved?
 
Rage said:
One of the reasons we bought a Bennington was the 5 year bow to stern warranty. Well the middle pontoon had a leak and was judged to need replacement. Our boat was picked up by the dealer on October 31,2011. Today it is June 24, 2012. The elusive replacement pontoon was (once again & again & again & again & again &....) reportedly supposed to be delivered last week and once again it did not show up. This death by a thousand cuts senerio by Bennington has been replayed so may times since end of January I have lost count. Forget the family reunion at the lake on the 4th of July ----CANCELLED.

Anyone else experience this sort to warranty issue? How was it resolved?
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I would definitely look to TB for answers, something seems fishy. After my 'saga' of getting backed into on way to trade it in, my dealer was told around 4-6 weeks to get a replacement toon, not months! And I'm in Canada! So I would believe someone's story maybe slightly less than true. Don't worry, TB will jump on this quick I'm sure.
 
Our 2012 Bennington 22 SSI started taking on water in the right tube on the second trip out. Bad weld on the end seam. Took it back to the selling dealer and they had it fixed in a week under warranty. Kind of scary if it takes that long to get a new tube! That's a long time to be without your boat! I would be very angry.

Hope you get the issue resolved soon, good luck

RiverBill
 
The tube should be an easy order. Something doesnt sound right. Bennington makes pontoons every day.

We just converted a RL two tuber to a tritoon. It took about 6 weeks to get a new center tube w/ stakes directly from Bennington.

Now if the dealer could only get the skirting and transom splash guards / water diverters that we paid for and Bennington has yet to send. He ordered everything to make it a factory job, which should have included all of the afore mentioned......per Bennington.
 
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Rage,

I can relate my experience in waiting for a center toon. I had an express tube added to the showroom model which had to be ordered from Bennington. To prevent damage to the toon, it is shipped by being attached to another pontoon that is open in the middle and will fit your size toon. I ordered mine in February and took the pontoon home in May. Most pontoons ordered are tri-toon models and finding the right place on the shipment with a matching toon configuration is most likely the cause. Yes the tube is an easy order but not so easy to get it shipped. Good luck.
 
Ouch! Is there anything special about your center toon - storage, gas tank, strakes, etc? If not, why not use the boat with 2 toons? Or have the dealer put on a temporary third toon? I would certainly escalate up to the owner of your Dealership, and start calling Bennington customer service too. Bennington could have built you a replacement boat several times by now. :angry:
 
Rage said:
One of the reasons we bought a Bennington was the 5 year bow to stern warranty. Well the middle pontoon had a leak and was judged to need replacement. Our boat was picked up by the dealer on October 31,2011. Today it is June 24, 2012. The elusive replacement pontoon was (once again & again & again & again & again &....) reportedly supposed to be delivered last week and once again it did not show up. This death by a thousand cuts senerio by Bennington has been replayed so may times since end of January I have lost count. Forget the family reunion at the lake on the 4th of July ----CANCELLED.

Anyone else experience this sort to warranty issue? How was it resolved?
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Hello Rage,

We're sorry to learn of this issue. Please PM Team Bennington with your boat serial # and servicing dealer so TB can investigate. Something is obviously not right. Thank you, TB

FRIENDLY NOTE TO ALL CLUB MEMBERS: TB is not the Customer Service arm of Bennington, nor do we check this site on an hourly or daily basis! We will, on ocassion, step in. :)
 
Team Bennington said:
Hello Rage,

We're sorry to learn of this issue. Please PM Team Bennington with your boat serial # and servicing dealer so TB can investigate. Something is obviously not right. Thank you, TB

FRIENDLY NOTE TO ALL CLUB MEMBERS: TB is not the Customer Service arm of Bennington, nor do we check this site on an hourly or daily basis! We will, on ocassion, step in. :)
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PM sent.

The core problem seems to be the shipping policy/practices of Bennington. My experience has been that: 1.) Bennington will ONLY use their truck to ship replacement toon(s), 2.) they will only ship the replacemnt toon when a delivery of new boats is also going to that dealer in need of the replacement toon. 2.) even though a replacement toon is scheduled/promised to be delivered per item 2. if the the toon does not fit in the truck with the new boats it does not ship and one must wait for the next time an order of boats is to be shipped to that dealer.

I have experienced three such event cycles between October 31,2011 and now so about 2 1/2 months per try. The first try resulted in the wrong toon being delivered. The second try resulted in toon no show (never reported why but no room in truck is one possibility). The third try again resulted in shipment of boats being delivered without the replacement toon because there was no room for it in the truck.

My sole source of information until this Monday has been the dealer including talking to the owner. It would be nice to also hear Bennington's side of the story.
 
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Dan said:
Rage,

I can relate my experience in waiting for a center toon. I had an express tube added to the showroom model which had to be ordered from Bennington. To prevent damage to the toon, it is shipped by being attached to another pontoon that is open in the middle and will fit your size toon. I ordered mine in February and took the pontoon home in May. Most pontoons ordered are tri-toon models and finding the right place on the shipment with a matching toon configuration is most likely the cause. Yes the tube is an easy order but not so easy to get it shipped. Good luck.
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Only using a two toon boat as a shipping platform for a replacement toon helps clarify the "toon would not fit on the truck" comment.
 
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If it has seriously been a half a year on a "warranty issue" then something smells wrong and you are being nicer than I ever would be.

Half a year of depreciation is one thing but lost family events are priceless.

Have you called Bennington directly or only dealer?

I found Bennington to be very quick to respond on my warranty issue.
 
Willb said:
If it has seriously been a half a year on a "warranty issue" then something smells wrong and you are being nicer than I ever would be.

Half a year of depreciation is one thing but lost family events are priceless.

Have you called Bennington directly or only dealer?

I found Bennington to be very quick to respond on my warranty issue.
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Seriously, July 1 will be the eight month anniversary of the last time I saw my Bennington tritoon.

No reason not to be nice over the winter but now in season is a different matter. Already had to rent a deck boat so we could take our relatives and family out on the lake. We are retired and live at our lake house spring, summer, fall. From now on the friends and family visit schedule really picks up. I just kept thinking that they got to get it right the next time. What's the term...three strikes and you are out?

Anyway this Sunday, after getting the Bennington contact names and numbers from the dealer, I sent out emails/voice mails to all of those, cc'd the dealer plus posted on this and other web sites I could find my plight. Bennington customer service called me Monday and said the replacement toon would be shipped (along with two other replacement toons for other dealers along the way) and arrive at my dealer this Friday. The dealer says if they get it by Friday they can install it Monday and get the boat back to me by Tuesday next week. If everything goes perfectly I will not have to rent another deck boat for a family reunion the Fourth of July. We shall see.
 
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Rage, sorry to hear of your situation, and hope it gets resolved this week.

But, i have to wonder why your dealer didn't just have the toon repaired. Stress fractures and cracked welds are not uncommon in the pontoon world, and a competent welder makes short work of such repairs. Seems to me, unless there where some unusual circumstances, that should have been repaired locally under warranty by your dealer.

And, if your dealer has not been able to get the repairs done in a timely manner, i would think a loaner boat may have gone a long way in keeping you happy.

Just my opinion, but it sounds like the dealer has dropped the ball on you, and only after you pressured them for contacts at a higher level, have they got the ball rolling again.

Hope it all works out, and you get your toon back for the 4th!
 
Geoffrey & Brenda said:
Rage, sorry to hear of your situation, and hope it gets resolved this week.

But, i have to wonder why your dealer didn't just have the toon repaired. Stress fractures and cracked welds are not uncommon in the pontoon world, and a competent welder makes short work of such repairs. Seems to me, unless there where some unusual circumstances, that should have been repaired locally under warranty by your dealer.

And, if your dealer has not been able to get the repairs done in a timely manner, i would think a loaner boat may have gone a long way in keeping you happy.

Just my opinion, but it sounds like the dealer has dropped the ball on you, and only after you pressured them for contacts at a higher level, have they got the ball rolling again.

Hope it all works out, and you get your toon back for the 4th!
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Since this was a warranty Bennington calls all the shots. The dealer does only what they are told and Bennington reimburses the dealer for the work Bennington specifies. Bennington decided that the toon should be replaced not repaired.

The loaner as a backup subject was broached with the dealer who said that Bennington would have to OK (pay for) that. Waiting to hear back on that decision from Bennington as well.

Getting our boat back for the fourth would be the best outcome.

Thanks for the well wishes.
 
If it took me 8 months to get service done on a $40K + boat I would be standing on the desk of some executive at Bennington long before now! I was at the local dealer here yesterday looking at a all decked out R but if there warranty service is like this I may look else ware! This is ridiculous!
 
Maybe Bennington needs to provide an option for there customers to reach them when these type things happen then? We are forced to speak through the dealer network and most of the time handed some line of BS when something seems out of wack! The dealer forgets to order something and we hear it's "back ordered"! Famous last words......8 months of run around isn't making Bennington look too good!

Team Bennington said:
Hello Rage,

We're sorry to learn of this issue. Please PM Team Bennington with your boat serial # and servicing dealer so TB can investigate. Something is obviously not right. Thank you, TB

FRIENDLY NOTE TO ALL CLUB MEMBERS: TB is not the Customer Service arm of Bennington, nor do we check this site on an hourly or daily basis! We will, on ocassion, step in. :)
Click to expand...
 
Well the dealer just notified me some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the replacement toon arrived on schedule. The bad news is that it is (again) the wrong toon for my boat. The replacement toon was ordered based on my boat's serial number. Apparently Bennington's production build record for that serial number is in error. The dealer has proposed and I have agreed to have them ship my boat back to the Bennington factory for the needed toon replacement. Waiting to hear if Bennington will provide the loaner boat we requested in the interim.
 
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I feel so bad for you! I hope Bennington will help you enjoy the summer with a loaner...... Not allot of summer up north so you need to get out and enjoy it soon!

Good Luck!

Rage said:
Well the dealer just notified me some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the replacement toon arrived on schedule. The bad news is that it is (again) the wrong toon for my boat. The replacement toon was ordered based on my boat's serial number. Apparently Bennington's production build record for that serial number is in error. The dealer has proposed and I have agreed to have them ship my boat back to the Bennington factory for the needed toon replacement. Waiting to hear if Bennington will provide the loaner boat we requested in the interim.
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Well the dealer said that Bennington would reimburse for a rental which we have taken advantage of for one day so far to take everyone out on the lake. A nice Tahoe deck boat from Cedar Lodge/long Creek Boat Dock. A first class operation.

There was some suggestion to modify the new toon to fit my boat. I saw pictures of the old and the new toon. Totally different where they attach to the boat. I agreed with a lot of conditions. Saturday I got a tentative proposal from customer service(apparently not yet authorized by the management of Bennington)to have my boat returned to the Bennington factory for the repairs. I endorsed this for obvious reasons. To be continued.
 
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