My old trade


L

LBI4fun

Member
I had posted this on BoatUS and wanted to ask your opinion:

I traded my boat last August for my new boat, the dealer finally picks the boat up last week from my marina. When they went to pick it up, it won't start and they had to haul it out to get it on the trailer. Now the dealer is giving me hard time and saying that I need to pay for the haul out and the new starter.

The boat has extended warranty on it and definitly had no problems while I was using it. I believe it sitting for 4 months in the water untouched is the reason and I am not liable for any of this. I have already taken delivery of the new boat last August and they are in the process of winterizing it. Do you think he has any rights or claims?

I never got a call back from the dealer and I called today to make sure my boat is wrapped before the snow hits us tonight. The salesperson answered and he continued on to apologize for his behavior. I did not contact Formula wanting to see if they ever call me back to work this out, should I still contact Formula?
 
Dont know how to put this so here goes. Did your boat sit for 4 months due to the dealer taking onwership in August? If thats the case I would not pay for it, but they do still have your new boat.  Did they plan on taking your trade back via the water?
 
I traded my boat in August and closed the deal, took ownership of the new boat, and signed the old boat to them. So, yes they owned the boat since August and I allowed them to keep the boat in my slip and even kept the insurance going for a couple of months. Of course, i did not need the slip since i used their facility on the Delaware. They originally wanted to run the boat to the boat ramp in Beach haven abd that way they don't pay for haul out, but since it did not start they had to haul it. The marina charged me $240 which in turn i asked them to pay it since it is their boat not mine.

So that is when the salesperson blew up on me and I was in complete disbelief. When I called today he apologized and that is after i sent a letter explaining my displeasure with the treatment I received but he never attempted to call me in the first place.
 
The question though, should I contact Formula and let them know about what happened? The dealer is going to eat the charge but I am not happy with how the whole thing went down.
 
Thats up to you. if they apologized i think you are good. Might be like when you send your food back to the kitchen. Same as the next time you are in for service or warranty they might spit in your boat ::)
 
LBI4fun said:
The question though, should I contact Formula and let them know about what happened? The dealer is going to eat the charge but I am not happy with how the whole thing went down.
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I'd let a sleeping dog lie.
 
I think I already guessed the marina AND maybe the sales person!  Theyre supposed to be the number one Formula dealer, I think? I would think Formula probably already heard an earfull about them any way. Some people seem really happy with them though.
 
I just read your Boat US post and guessed right. If the boat is shrink wrapped leave it for the winter, but come Spring get outa there. Didnt mean to scare you, and I wouldnt worry either. Also, I would be satisfied with the sales guys appolgy, I could EASILY imagine him having a bad day as an employee there. I wouldnt make waves while the boat is in their yard. Just GET OUT come Spring
 
Thanks for the advice, I still would like to know if you had your own experience with them or if you heard of any. I did not see any bad feedback about them prior to my purchase so needless to say I was shocked with the treatment.
 
LBI4fun said:
I was happy up to this point. :)

Did you deal with them before and how was your experience if so?
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I bought a used boat, no where near the caliber of yours.  My impression was as follows:  Some what mismanaged yard guys,  Lots of go-fast type egos and general rude treatment.  They took a customers brand new triple engined 419 out for some Full Throttle high speed passes after they put it in the water.  I doubt he was present for this.  The sales guy seemed generally Stressed Out.  I got a good deal and couldnt wait to get out of there.  My boat was cheap, they had new inventory coming in and needed the room.  The owner or top manager seemed very nice and helpful though.  This was almost 10 years ago however, and I was pretty young and nieve.  Once I payed for the boat, they were very unmotivated to move the other boats out of the way and load it on my trailer.  I had to "grease" the loader operator on my own!  The title was not on hand either, took going to the (again very friendly) "big boss" to get it. (Again, I was nieve, I never payed for something again without seeing the title first.) I was (somewhat understandably)low priority because of the caliber of the boat I was buying and I dont want to bad mouth this dealer because in the end I was taken care of. They could have been a little more professional at the time, but so could ALOT of dealers.
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I am known very well as a guy who ALWAYS speaks my mind.......in fact my mother-in-law (who loves me lol) bought me a Big Dogs Shirt that says "EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO MY OPINION" ;D

However, in this case, I would probably let it drop. I have had a couple more minor issues with both marine mechanics and auto mechanics (I am also a mechanic by "upbringing" and do much of my own stuff) and have "smoothed things over" so that I am able to go to them and still trust them. And I do like still going to them. Noone is perfect.

Everyone has bad days, maybe the guy's wife wouldn't...umm.....make coffee for him in the AM as he was hoping....who knows? Get the point? ;) :D
 
I am going to take it one step at a time and hate to burn any bridges, you'll never know. Spring count down is already started in my head and will see how things develop then. Thanks for all of your advice.
 
BTW, I used the boat I bought from them for 5 years and sold it for more money! I think you're good to go, enjoy the new boat. I'm only 28, but if I had to list all the bad experiences I've had with boat dealers/mechanics over the years, this site would run outa bandwidth!
 
mercrewser said:
BTW, I used the boat I bought from them for 5 years and sold it for more money!  I think you're good to go, enjoy the new boat.  I'm only 28, but if I had to list all the bad experiences I've had with boat dealers/mechanics over the years, this site would run outa bandwidth!
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LOL how true.....

I'm 32....and always did my own work on everything since I could turn a wrench....but autos these days you just can't work on many things yourself anymore. And boats...well, there many things I do myself, but some things I just won't and don't care to.

So, I do depend on a good mechanic, and you need to deal with some mistakes along the way.... ;)
 
I am not as mechanically inclined and have been lucky with a Marina where I keep my boat. My first boat had a Yamaha OB and the second 2 had a Volvo and they did a great job servicing. I guess now I will find out about how well they service my Merc which I think will be as well as they did with my other boats. On top of that I am sure Formula will assist as well if I run into warranty work type of problems.
 
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