Beware Manitou Warranty-Resolved

[badmoonrising]

... but I checked with Sun Tracker regarding me putting strakes on my boat.

They told me that ANY welding done on the boat without their prior approval would void the warranty.

Just food for thought if anyone's considering doing any work on their boat if it's still warranty.

Yep, I talked to Tracker when I had my Party Cruiser during the Tap Fins debates. Malcom insisted his product didn't void warranties so I call the factory and asked for a rep. Welds not done by an authorized dealer void the log warranty. Period.

From the pics, there's no way I could see if it was an impact or quality issue. Have it looked at. If it is impact related, it's covered under your boat insurance policy.

[Ray Jr.]

Dan, Sorry you are having this issue with Manitou. But I can say for certain you won't regret getting a Premier from Winnisquam. We absolutely love ours. And Winnisquam is a first class operation, They are great to deal with and always have treated us very well.

[MH Hawker]

I would think this needs to be moved to the...Manufacturer Reviews... so others can form their own opinions. Personaly Manito is now off of my short list to consider when buying a new boat next year.

[Bryden24shp]

I guess I better jump in here.
Dan, those nose cones ARE the 2nd design, Barracuda nosecones. You can tell because the nose cone has the re-inforcement tab welded to it. Those nosecones are indestructable. The first design, did not have the re-inforcement tabs welded to the nosecones and were not press rolled, (the grooves), they are still used on the VP series hull. I had an incident on my 2007 Xplode, with the older style nosecone. The starboard nosecone was oil canning. I was on a beach and called Manitou and they could hear the oil canning over the phone. The next thing I knew, my boat was at the factory getting the first of the new style Barracuda's on it. Plus they winterized, shrink wrapped and stored the boat for me over the winter. All at no charge. I live 400 miles away from the factory. The next spring they delivered back, all but the last 50 miles. I had some small item warranty claims after that and they took care of every single issue, no questions asked. I got aquainted with alot of people at Manitou and went on to do some work with them, back when the SHP, in its rough design was being smoothened out, into the jewel it is today. Very well built and bulletproof. After alot of playing around and modifications, with Manitou at my side, I was running in the mid to high 60's with no tube problems at all. And I beat the ever loving crap out of the boat, trying to break it. So we would know todays SHP would be indestructable. They are top notch, professionals, from the President to the guys back on the assembly line. And because I went to Premier, does not change my opinions on either company, Premier has just as strong business ethics. The only reason I went to Premier was because we had need for the S-Series, had Manitou felt the S-Series design would be marketable for more clients than myself, I would have had my name on the first one out the door. And let me tell ya, I all but begged them to build one. Actually, I did beg!
Dan, send me your before and after repair pictures you sent to Teresa and Greg. I can't guarantee I can do anything, I'm sure that the guys in Lansing looked them over very well... But it doesn't hurt to have a Go Between sometimes.
PM me for my at home e-mail address.
And yes, I agree, this should go to the review section.
Bryan

[ishoot]

Many to reply to here...

Nautical: An excellent response and I could not agree more with everything you say! Yes there are those out there who abuse, break, then claim warranty. This is why the area rep could easily review this situation by looking at my boat and making a judgement call. As you can see Manitou won't even bother doing that. They are convinced I hit something. Now if I had hit something I can assure you a simple call to my insurance carrier would of taken care of the problem but the fact is I didn't hit anything!! Why can't they send the area rep to confirm?? How much would that honestly cost Manitou??... I bet a lot less than the sales they have lost because of this thread! How much do you think this thread has cost them in just one day??

Granpa Redneck: You old son of a gun! I had no idea you were on this site! You can attest to how well Premier treats their customers on our lake even though we have no dealers physically on the lake!! Do you think Premier / Winnisquam Marine would make you buy a trailer or rent one to bring your boat to them for a warranty issue. Please tell everyone here how ridiculous that is and how well you have been treated thus far!

Bryden: I have spoken to you quite a few times in the early years about props and stuff! I followed a lot of what you did for modifications with a lot of anticipation. First off I am quite aware that the nosecones I have are their second design. As I stated in my original post the flawed nose cones were on 2007 year models and earlier. So I guess they are not perfect and make mistakes... Maybe they made a mistake on my center nose cone??... I have one question for you... If Manitou is so great with their warranty, why won't they send the area rep for a visit to see my boat and make a determination?? Surely if there was abuse the rep could easily see it and if the rep said to me, "hey it looks like you abused it and here is why" I would live with it. Please explain your thoughts on why they refuse to do this.

All: I didn't mention this in my first post but I had another warranty issue with the bolster on my captains chair seat when the boat was just a couple months old. Because their dealer owed them money for boats on the lot they refused to ship the warranty replacement bolster seat that I desperately needed. After contacting the area rep (Craig Jorgesen?) I finally got my seat ONE YEAR LATER! The rep confirmed that the dealer owed Manitou money and Manitou was refusing to ship anything even warranty parts to the dealer!! So to hell with the customer warranty when the dealer owes them money??!! This is one dealer who dropped the Manitou line.

The choice is yours people... Manitou has simply not been there for me when I needed them, will they be there for you?...

Dan

[lakerunner]

Manitou, why won't you look at his toon? He want's to be sure it is safe for his family.

[Nautical]

Dan, where are you? What dealer is this you're talking about?

[slingshot]

Dan:
First off, I feel for ya bro. HOWEVER, at the risk of getting flamed here I have to side with the manufacturer in your case. I’m afraid you blew it big time when you had a non-authorized dealer take a torch to your toon. Had you taken your boat to an authorized dealer, in all likelihood, this wouldn’t be an issue. You say that all you want is for a factory representative to come out and inspect your boat for safety reasons. From a company standpoint, there is nothing that representative could tell you that wouldn’t in some way put the company at risk for litigation. For example, let’s say he gives your boat a clean bill of health even given the unauthorized work and the nosecone fails and injures you and/or your family the next day. Now the company is screwed and you could litigate. As it stands now, you simply voided your hull warranty when you had the work done on your boat so the factory washes their hands of the matter. From a safety standpoint, your best bet would be to replace the entire faulty pontoon or have the factory effect repairs at your cost. Just say'in.

[ishoot]

Dan:
First off, I feel for ya bro. HOWEVER, at the risk of getting flamed here I have to side with the manufacturer in your case. I’m afraid you blew it big time when you had a non-authorized dealer take a torch to your toon. Had you taken your boat to an authorized dealer, in all likelihood, this wouldn’t be an issue. You say that all you want is for a factory representative to come out and inspect your boat for safety reasons. From a company standpoint, there is nothing that representative could tell you that wouldn’t in some way put the company at risk for litigation. For example, let’s say he gives your boat a clean bill of health even given the unauthorized work and the nosecone fails and injures you and/or your family the next day. Now the company is screwed and you could litigate. As it stands now, you simply voided your hull warranty when you had the work done on your boat so the factory washes their hands of the matter. From a safety standpoint, your best bet would be to replace the entire faulty pontoon or have the factory effect repairs at your cost. Just say'in.

Blew it??... Not quite. O.K. lets just pretend for a minute you are 100% correct... Why didn't Manitou simply state that what you said in their post??... "My hull warranty is now void because I repaired the leak to keep my boat from sinking / falling apart"...

Let me tell you why in case you didn't read it in Nautical's post, the Magnuson / Moss act protects us all from that kind of warranty B.S.! They don't have a leg to stand on.

The question remains, will they be there for you when you need them???...... Why chance it??

Dan

[Bryden24shp]

Please explain your thoughts on why they refuse to do this.

I have no idea. Thats why I am offering to try to help you out.

[Bamaman]

Dan: You were doing good to find a marine dealer that actually knew how to weld aluminum. I would think most TIG welders are in independent welding shops, and even then they're few and far between.

After going to the boat show and looking at pontoons/tritoons, it's obvious that there is a great variance in the quality of toon welding within the industry. And you are right about the safety issue that a boat can take a serious beating by the water.

Hang in there.

[ishoot]

Please explain your thoughts on why they refuse to do this.

I have no idea. Thats why I am offering to try to help you out.

P.M. Sent.

Thanks for the offer!

Dan

[Bryden24shp]

Got the pics, will compare to my file pics and go from there...
Thanks Dan!

[slingshot]

Dan:
First off, I feel for ya bro. HOWEVER, at the risk of getting flamed here I have to side with the manufacturer in your case. I’m afraid you blew it big time when you had a non-authorized dealer take a torch to your toon. Had you taken your boat to an authorized dealer, in all likelihood, this wouldn’t be an issue. You say that all you want is for a factory representative to come out and inspect your boat for safety reasons. From a company standpoint, there is nothing that representative could tell you that wouldn’t in some way put the company at risk for litigation. For example, let’s say he gives your boat a clean bill of health even given the unauthorized work and the nosecone fails and injures you and/or your family the next day. Now the company is screwed and you could litigate. As it stands now, you simply voided your hull warranty when you had the work done on your boat so the factory washes their hands of the matter. From a safety standpoint, your best bet would be to replace the entire faulty pontoon or have the factory effect repairs at your cost. Just say'in.

Blew it??... Not quite. O.K. lets just pretend for a minute you are 100% correct... Why didn't Manitou simply state that what you said in their post??... "My hull warranty is now void because I repaired the leak to keep my boat from sinking / falling apart"...

Let me tell you why in case you didn't read it in Nautical's post, the Magnuson / Moss act protects us all from that kind of warranty B.S.! They don't have a leg to stand on.

The question remains, will they be there for you when you need them???...... Why chance it??

Dan

I don't know why Manitou chose to word it as they did but they did say that yours was not a warranty issue.

As to the Magnuson/Moss act; essentially, a company can't void their warranty when the warranty claim is completely non-related to to any other work you may have had done on your boat. For example, let's say after you had the work done on your nosecone your sink in your boat stops working because of a faulty pump. Manitou couldn't come to you and say they are not obligated to fix your sink because you had unauthorized work done on your nosecone. But, If you had some electronics installed and in the process of wiring it up you inadvertently caused an electrical situation that caused the pump to fail then Manitou would be within their right to deny the claim. In your case, the work you had done on your nosecone is directly related to your claim which is faulty welding on the nosecone.

From Manitou's viewpoint, who's to say that you didn't tag a dock hard and caused the welds to crack. Knowing that such a crash wouldn't be covered under warranty, you have the hull repaired at your own expense. The next time you take your boat out the nosecone or welds fail but this time you file your warranty claim and try to stick it to Manitou for the repair which was ultimately caused by your hitting the dock and not faulty welds at their factory. I'M NOT SAY YOUR DID THIS! But, there are people out there that would.

[ishoot]

[/quote]From Manitou's viewpoint, who's to say that you didn't tag a dock hard and caused the welds to crack. Knowing that such a crash wouldn't be covered under warranty, you have the hull repaired at your own expense. The next time you take your boat out the nosecone or welds fail but this time you file your warranty claim and try to stick it to Manitou for the repair which was ultimately caused by your hitting the dock and not faulty welds at their factory. I'M NOT SAY YOUR DID THIS! But, there are people out there that would.[/quote]

Hi Slingshot;

The problem with what you are saying is I am NOT looking for any reimbursement money for repair so I am not trying to "stick it to Manitou". I honestly could care less about the money! The welds have been repaired at my cost and I have no problem with that, I don't want the nrepair money back. The only thing I have ever wanted and have repeatedly stated so in my emails to Manitou is...

#1. Why do the structural welds keep cracking?

#2. Is the boat safe for my family?

This is all I want Manitou to answer. Manitou is not saying to me, "hey, you had someone else repair this so your warranty is void" they are saying without even looking at the boat that the welds are cracking due to user error / impact even though they admit they can't be certain without looking at it! O.K. send someone to look at it, inspect it and tell me that and I will live with it, I may not like it but I will live with it. They don't want to lift a finger to help. The dealer they had on my lake dropped them, another dealer that was 20 miles away also just recently dropped them. Where does that leave me?? They have an area rep, why not utilize him?

All I want is a safe boat. I live on an island and this boat is my main source of transportation. I really don't feel I am asking too much especially when all other manufacturers and especially Premier go out of their way to assist their customers on my lake.

Thanks!

Dan