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Warranty work

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Ray22LSR

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Hi All,
We took delivery of our new pontoon in May. There have been a few warranty issues including a pontoon taking on water, blemishes on a couple seats, a knocking noise as I lower the trim and a decal coming off of the throttle mechanism. There was an attempt to fix the leak in June, but it is still an issue. The boat lisps to one side slightly, but enough to notice the difference. The dealer is busy with winterizations and will get to it in the Spring.

We were told that new seat cushions were ordered in June. We checked the status in late July and was told that they were getting ordered that day. When we asked in October we were told that the dealership has it documented but hasn't been conveyed to Bennington yet.
And today, they winterized the engine and we were told that because we beached our pontoon along side of twenty others each weekend, That our thermostat has been wedged open by a rock and has caused condensation which requires 3 oil changes and a thermostat cleaning to resolve the issue. $550.00 our responsibility.

We are disappointed with our first year. We had a different brand for 15 years prior, treated it no differently than this boat and had no issues.

Our biggest concern is that there has been no paper work or warranty documentation provided. I'm told that it doesn't exist and there is only tracking internal to dealers and Bennington.
Does this sound right?

Thank you
 
Situations like this can be maddening. Dealership service departments can really make or break the boating experience.

As far as the warranty documentation aspect, my experience was similar. It was all done through the computer system, and not really any paperwork style documentation.

That said, none of that matters if the dealership isn’t submitting the warranty claim request. Have they given any reasons why they don’t immediately input the requests so as to get things in motion?
 
All warranty work I have ever had performed, I have never seen any paperwork from Bennington. I had/have a leak in my Port side pontoon, replacement just arrived about 2 weeks ago . As long as the work gets done, I wouldn't worry about dealer to Bennington paperwork. I can't answer about the beaching I have never beached mine .
 
Ray22LSR said:
Hi All,
We took delivery of our new pontoon in May. There have been a few warranty issues including a pontoon taking on water, blemishes on a couple seats, a knocking noise as I lower the trim and a decal coming off of the throttle mechanism. There was an attempt to fix the leak in June, but it is still an issue. The boat lisps to one side slightly, but enough to notice the difference. The dealer is busy with winterizations and will get to it in the Spring.

We were told that new seat cushions were ordered in June. We checked the status in late July and was told that they were getting ordered that day. When we asked in October we were told that the dealership has it documented but hasn't been conveyed to Bennington yet.
And today, they winterized the engine and we were told that because we beached our pontoon along side of twenty others each weekend, That our thermostat has been wedged open by a rock and has caused condensation which requires 3 oil changes and a thermostat cleaning to resolve the issue. $550.00 our responsibility.

We are disappointed with our first year. We had a different brand for 15 years prior, treated it no differently than this boat and had no issues.

Our biggest concern is that there has been no paper work or warranty documentation provided. I'm told that it doesn't exist and there is only tracking internal to dealers and Bennington.
Does this sound right?

Thank you
Click to expand...
I hear you on the "paper work issue". When my rear decking buckled at the seam and they had to replace the 2 rear sheets of plywood and install new faux teak decking, I received no paper work other then what they showed me on the computer screen.

How did the dealer know you beached the boat and tied up with 20 other boats each weekend?

I don't mean to be "that guy", but the motor and thermostat issue is technically on you IF you did beach the boat. If you were in shallow water and sucked up a rock to block the T-stat, why would that be a Bennington warranty covered issue? That is like asking a vehicle manufacture to cover a tire failure when you ran over a nail or screw etc. Warranty doesn't cover issues like that unless you have "The Discount tire hazard certificates".

Cooling systems are finicky systems on outboards (or stern drives) that are open water cooled vs "closed cooling". Any type of debris (weeds, sand, pebbles, zebra mussels, etc can cause havoc on the cooling system.

I've changed my water pump 3 times in the 12 years I've owned our boat. 1st time was because I ventured over an unmarked sandbar that went to 2 feet and sucked up sand and the "peeing" was reduced significantly. The other 2 were just because I don't trust rubber parts more then 3-4 years and its part of my maintenance schedule. They tend to dry rot over the years especially if your in cold climates like me and they set out of the water for 6+ months out of the year. Your boat is brand new, so for the T-stats to lodge open, it must be because you sucked up some foreign material into the cooling system.

I hope you get all your leaking toon and interior issues completed to your satisfaction ASAP.
 
Cooling system related stuff generally is out of pocket. Particularly if debris is found to be present.
For instance, water pump impeller failure is not a covered item, even on a new engine.
 
A rock sucked up through the intake screens, past the impeller, up your cooling passages and somehow lodged into your thermostat? Which caused condensation?? And required three oil changes to do what???

Maybe some small debris can gunk up your t-stat but a rock would surprise me.
 
Bill N said:
Cooling system related stuff generally is out of pocket. Particularly if debris is found to be present.
For instance, water pump impeller failure is not a covered item, even on a new engine.
Click to expand...
Speaking of impellers..... How often do you guys change the impeller?!? I used to change it every 3 seasons on our I/O. Is it the same on outboards?!?
 
BigKahuna said:
Speaking of impellers..... How often do you guys change the impeller?!? I used to change it every 3 seasons on our I/O. Is it the same on outboards?!?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure on the Yamaha V6 it's 300 hours or 3 years, so I'm due. Plan is to put the boat on dry, yank the lower and do both the impeller and LU gear oil at the same time. Saving a few bucks these days almost seems like a necessity.

Merc is probably in the same ballpark.
 
While we're on the subject, I find it hard to believe that nobody can come up with a compound that would perform as intended for pumping water but would still stand up to being dry fired. Is that really too large of an ask?
 
Thanks for all your replies. I've been boating for many years and just found this new boat hosted more issues than I've been used to. I was surprised that cleaning the thermostat and two oil changes would cost $550, but it's a boat.
The lack of paperwork may be Bennington's way of producing flawless boats.
I wouldn't be so concerned if I haven't had the boat for 5 months now and every issue I've presented in the first month has either been a failed attempt to fix or nothing done at all.
Part of what sold me on the Bennington was the implied unbeatable warranty service.
We certainly haven't had that experience so far.
 
Have you bought other boats from this same dealership in the past? What was the experience with issues then? Was it pre or post 2020?

I only ask as your issues to date with getting things taken care of seem dealer related. That said, since 2020 nothing seems to be working smoothly or being taken care of in a reasonable amount of time in the recreational vehicle and boating industry.

Although I have had some similar experiences to yours due to the nearby dealership, I don’t believe these experiences are typical.
 
Bill N said:
While we're on the subject, I find it hard to believe that nobody can come up with a compound that would perform as intended for pumping water but would still stand up to being dry fired. Is that really too large of an ask?
Click to expand...

Bill my guess is that would harm the bottom line at the service and parts counter.... but that's just the conspiracy theorist in me!
 
Ray22LSR said:
Our biggest concern is that there has been no paper work or warranty documentation provided. I'm told that it doesn't exist and there is only tracking internal to dealers and Bennington.
Does this sound right?

Thank you
Click to expand...

Are you saying you don't have a copy of your original Bennington warranty, or that the warranty claims you've filed don't have any documentation? The former you should absolutely have. The latter, as others have mentioned, is simple correspondence between you and the dealer, and internal process between dealer and Bennington.

I've found 100% of the time any failures in the warranty process were because of the dealer - usually some lazy or overworked (or both) sack of potatoes who never followed up with Bennington. Once Bennington gets the claim it's resolved pretty quickly - in the sense that they approve or deny the repair order. Lead times of course are problematic across all industries, and I similarly had to wait around 5 months for a seat cushion IIRC. But they were upfront that it would take a while given the plastics issues following the ice storm in Texas.
 
Vikingstaff said:
Have you bought other boats from this same dealership in the past? What was the experience with issues then? Was it pre or post 2020?

I only ask as your issues to date with getting things taken care of seem dealer related. That said, since 2020 nothing seems to be working smoothly or being taken care of in a reasonable amount of time in the recreational vehicle and boating industry.

Although I have had some similar experiences to yours due to the nearby dealership, I don’t believe these experiences are typical.
Click to expand...
Our purchases were pre pandemic and two different dealers. I agree about these issues being dealer related. I initially posted because I was surprised to hear I couldn't get documentation on warranty work. I asked for documentation due to the lag of action on the dealerships part.
 
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