Beware Manitou Warranty-Resolved

[ManitouPontoonBoats]

Dan,

We will respond to all of your post requests soon but we wanted to get one thing straight. You are lying to the customers on this forum about the dealers we have parted ways with in that area. We stopped doing business with Dealer A because they did not take care of any of the customers they sold boats to. We refused to let them sell our boats after repeated calls to the factory from upset customers that had been lied to and not taken care of properly. Dealer B stopped selling all pontoon boats, we still have a fantastic working relationship with them for service and customer care. As we stated previously Northern Boats and Boards did not drop us or go out of business, they decided to consolidate their locations and work out of one store.

[evinrude2stroke]

I hear what your saying ishoot, it's not about the money, you just want it inspected for safety.
But.. I have to say that I also understand what Slingshot is saying. From a legal standpoint I don't see them wanting to get involved once repairs were made previously outside the warranty. It just seems logical that they would not want to rubberstamp the boat as seaworthy with two separate welding issues and an unauthorized (by them) repair.
I own a Manitou but I am not sticking up for them. I can't say anything good or bad about their customer service since I have never had a problem with mine. Premier may be a better dealer in your area but there's a good chance that you may have gotten the same response had this issue been with them.

[Bamaman]

Dan,

We will respond to all of your post requests soon but we wanted to get one thing straight. You are lying to the customers on this forum about the dealers we have parted ways with in that area. We stopped doing business with Glendale Marine because they did not take care of any of the customers they sold boats to. We refused to let them sell our boats after repeated calls to the factory from upset customers that had been lied to and not taken care of properly. The second dealer Rochester Sportcenter stopped selling all pontoon boats, we still have a fantastic working relationship with them for service and customer care. As we stated previously Northern Boats and Boards did not drop us or go out of business, they decided to consolidate their locations and work out of one store.

I'm sure you didn't really mean to call a customer a liar. You might have just said that he was misinformed to the situations regarding any dealer terminations. You could have sent a PM to Dan to be a little more discreet.

And Manitou should never discuss any dealer matters orally or online. It's not a public matter, and you're getting into the area of dealership secrecy. It's just not anything that's ever done online.

This posting has gone on long enough, and enough damage has been done. Unfortunately, the poor communication with the customer and his rants may have cost Manitou some retail sales. It didn't have to be handled this way.

[ManitouPontoonBoats]

Dan,

We will respond to all of your post requests soon but we wanted to get one thing straight. You are lying to the customers on this forum about the dealers we have parted ways with in that area. We stopped doing business with Glendale Marine because they did not take care of any of the customers they sold boats to. We refused to let them sell our boats after repeated calls to the factory from upset customers that had been lied to and not taken care of properly. The second dealer Rochester Sportcenter stopped selling all pontoon boats, we still have a fantastic working relationship with them for service and customer care. As we stated previously Northern Boats and Boards did not drop us or go out of business, they decided to consolidate their locations and work out of one store.

I'm sure you didn't really mean to call a customer a liar. You might have just said that he was misinformed to the situations regarding any dealer terminations. You could have sent a PM to Dan to be a little more discreet.

And Manitou should never discuss any dealer matters orally or online. It's not a public matter, and you're getting into the area of dealership secrecy. It's just not anything that's ever done online.

This posting has gone on long enough, and enough damage has been done. Unfortunately, the poor communication with the customer and his rants may have cost Manitou some retail sales. It didn't have to be handled this way.

We did not want to bring this into a public forum, that was not our choice. We did not start making untrue and disparaging remarks about dealer relations on this site. All we were doing was bringing to light the actual truth behind the disparaging comments that were made. We are surprised that the moderators have no issue with someone stating we go through dealers like socks and they dropped us for warranty issues when that is an untrue and unsubstantiated statement but bringing the facts to light is a problem. If this is not anything that is ever done online why was that not addressed when the comments were made?

[ron993]

You may not have started the disparaging remarks, but your line of defense is definitely going the wrong direction.

I am in the market to purchase a boat sometime in the next year, been looking at a Premier in the $70,000 price range and other boats also. Based on your publicly calling your customer a liar regardless of the situation will strike Manitou from my list.

You might want to hand the login information to the PR department.

[ManitouPontoonBoats]

You may not have started the disparaging remarks, but your line of defense is definitely going the wrong direction.

I am in the market to purchase a boat sometime in the next year, been looking at a Premier in the $70,000 price range and other boats also. Based on your publicly calling your customer a liar regardless of the situation will strike Manitou from my list.

You might want to hand the login information to the PR department.

Ron993 in our experience telling the truth is always the best course of action. Perhaps the wording could have been different, miss representing the facts may have been a better way to put it, but the statements are untrue nonetheless.

[ishoot]

You know something Manitou, I am done... This is hurting too many people here who don't deserve it. I am done with you and your boat line. You could of emailed me off line to discuss your dealers, no reason to bring up their names on open forum since one of them has been sold to a new and reputable owner. I am sure he will be pleased to see his name mentioned in such a negative light. Very unprofessional on the part of Manitou...

I am not going to be called a liar by a company I made a major purchase from and was only looking for some help. I wasn't looking for any money or reimbursement, just some help in determining the cause of repeated cracked structural welds and to make sure the boat was safe.

Over and out;

Dan

[ron993]

Might be untrue but your public relation skills are very lacking since you are representing the company here.

You have to remember to remove emotion and use logic when typing anything.

What you should have done is come here acknowledge that Ishoot is having a problem and then state it is being handled privately. Instead you dug the hole deeper by bad word choice

[BobL]

Dear ManitouPontoonBoats:

I have a few constructive suggestions:

1 - Don't ever call a customer a liar to their face, over the phone, or especially on the internet. If they are in fact a liar, let your attorneys be the jerk, not you.

2 - After the "going through dealers like socks" comment was posted, I would encourage you to simply say that there are legitimate reasons to cancel dealer agreements in order to insure customer satisfaction. You may not want to get into specifics on the internet.

3 - I completely understand that you have to deal with a lot of people that abuse their boats, lie to you, etc. in order to scam their way into a possible warranty claim. Claims are denied all day long and every day for legitimate reasons but may I suggest you do one of the following in this particular situation:

A - Tell the customer that it is very likely that you will deny the claim because x, y, and z (someone else welded on it, it appears the boat was docked improperly, etc.).

B - If the customer disputes your initial opinion, ask the customer to bring their boat to you or your dealer for visual inspection (which you did).

C - If the customer cannot bring their boat to you (which he cannot), offer to send a rep to his location and ask the customer to compensate for the expenses involved if the rep determines that the warranty claim is not valid. If the customer thinks he has a valid claim then he is making a bet of a couple hundred bucks. If you think you have a valid denial, you are making a bet for a couple hundred bucks. If he is wrong, he pays. If you are wrong, you pay.

4 - Don't ever call a customer a liar (yes, this is a repeat of #1 because it deserves to be repeated).

[Bryden24shp]

I'm kinda thinking this thread needs to go bye bye. I can see the guys on both sides, and everyone in between takin a hit.
We can form and express our own opinions, but in the end, whats happened? Dan's still out $600.00, which he is not worried about, only wants a clean bill of health on his boat and can't get one without more expense. Manitou just lost one customer (Dan) and now this thread could possibly cost them a hell alot more. We are the biggest pontoon forum and the most watched. We all like to see stories with happy endings, I'm thinkin this won't be one of them.
Gettin me stressed, I'm going 'toonin.

Just went to hit submit and got the Previous Post warning.
Thanks Dan. Very big of you. You and Manitou can agree on disagreeing. I'll make the pic's you sent me go away and the subject dropped, if you wish.

BMR, can we make this one go away? It will be looked at in the archives and could be tagged for years.
Bryan

[tms0425]

Yes Bryan, taking the shovel away from Manitou seems like a good idea although I may keep the thread just to educate the product marketing reps at my company

All he wanted was the reassurance of an inspection by the manufacturer of a very high $ top of the line boat, purchased new. For heaven's sake, their rep offered to bring a boat to my house for a weekend in order to sell one, so this seems reasonable to work out.

[willy13]

The additional cracked welds is a concern that should of motivated the company to send over a rep. As a general rule a weld should be as strong as the base metal. So any sort of collision that would of caused these welds to crack should of showed damage in other places... a rep should of been able to determine if a collision took place. I am no expert, just my thoughts...

[ManitouPontoonBoats]

Pontoon and Deck Boat Forum,
My name is Steven VanWagenen; I am the president of Manitou Pontoon Boats. I would like to apologize for the comment made that Dan was lying to you and mentioning by name the dealers in question. We had hoped to edit the names of the dealers out of the post before anyone saw it once I was made aware but we did not react quickly enough. Although the information Dan heard regarding our previous dealers was not accurate that was not the proper response to the post. We are not a large enough company to employ a PR firm and thankfully do not have many issues like this arise. All of our employees are passionate about Manitou and their job. This employee did let emotion supersede the less confrontational response that should have been posted but that is still no excuse for it happening. Mistakes were made on our end in handling this issue in such a public forum. While we do stand behind the decision made in regards to Dan’s boat this thread has gone well beyond that and for that I apologize.

[Nautical]

This thread needs to stay open. Yes, too many words have gone back and forth but it has not resorted to name calling or swearing or much perceptible anger so there is NO reason to close it.

This has now become a major issue with one of ONLY two brands I'm considering.

I need to know how this story ends. The first Manitou rep, while unprofessional and completely void of tact (for a person representing a business) isn't enough to push me off the brand. However, how they follow through with this and how it ends has now become a major factor for me because I'm very big on how a company supports a product. I can very easily forgive a single defect and even a design defect but I cannot and will not EVER forgive a company that does not stand behind it's product.

I need to know how this ends. I also asked once where all of this is occurring and would still like to know.

[Cycleman07]

It is my belief that high end boat manufacturers generally go a long way to meet customer needs and complaints. I have had nothing but great feedback from South Bay when I have a question or request. I believe the OP has a legitimate gripe by asking for and not receiving a general inspection from a Manitou rep. I had heard nothing but good things about Manitou up until this point and am a little disappointed. A company should stand behind its products and by the side of the customers that spend their hard earned and most of the time substantial amount of money on their products. Like I said before its not like the OP has requested brand new Tubes or anything extravagant. He simply wants a rep to look at his boat. Im quite positive that pontoon boat manufacturers are doing quite well and can afford paying a rep for a day to inspect the boat. I would be willing to guess that South Bay, Bennington, Premier etc. would do this even if I called them and said " I hit a dock" and would like someone to look at the structural integrity of my boat to ensure my families safety. The power of word of mouth is a big deal. My .02