Sea Ray Quality and Customer Service

ajcjr

New Member
Mar 1, 2015
28
Long Island, NY
Boat Info
15' 310 Sundancer
Engines
Twin 350 Bravo III
Hi, Anyone else feel Sea Ray quality has come down. A friend of mine and myself both have 2015 boats (310 Sundancer & 350 SLX w triple outboards) and we were discussing boats with another friend and at the same time we both said dont buy a sea ray and started discussing other brands to look at.

On both of our boats we have the same stuff breaking year after year, crappy quality and engineering on parts that you use mostly all the time while on the boat. After paying good money for the boats we still cant believe the "bayliner" quality of these boats.

Add to the fact Sea Rays customer service is terrible and dealing with MarineMax is even worse. I called customer service back in May to complain about some items and the service from Marine Max, the customer service agent said she will get on them to have everything fixed. Well its September, stuff is still broke (poor marine max employees have no help and the bosses only care about Azimuts), plus the customer service agent at Sea Ray has me go to her voicemail and doesnt even return calls now.

So just curious if any former owners moved onto other boats and what would you recommend, i have had a few people ask me if i would recommend them and i say NO.

Also if anyone has an email or contact for the head of customer service at Sea Ray, id love to talk to them.

`AC
 
I purchased a 2018 SDX 270. The boat is nice looking, performance is strong, the layout is terrific, the quality - hmmmmmm, not so great.
So far it is all little things.

http://clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/2018-sea-ray-build-quality-review.88579/#post-999824

Recently looked at Chaparral and Cobalt. Chap seems a bit better, Cobalt appears much better.

Well may be Sea Ray will see where their quality has gone and make some changes in the future. I have a feeling they are not worried much since they do not respond well to phone calls lol.
 
Well may be Sea Ray will see where their quality has gone and make some changes in the future. I have a feeling they are not worried much since they do not respond well to phone calls lol.

If you go on the Chap forum, you will see posts exactly like you started this thread with....

Bennett
 
What issues specifically are you talking about? Are they Sea Ray issues or vendor issues, like pumps, for example?

I've noticed quality going down hill on products in general. I don't have confidence that a pump is going to last 15 years, like a previous one might have.
 
The person u are leaving a message for might have been terminated. ITs a problem. They had some great people .
Marine max has always been terrible. Sadly they were the only show in town if u wanted a searay. One of many mistakes Searay made.

Rob
 
Never had a problem with their customer service. Always got prompt answers for questions that were on an older boat. My take on quality is 80's not so good. 90's were better. Early to mid 00's I think are best. Today's models seem to try engineering in durability and lack good old heft and substance.Thinner and lighter. Components are definitely not as durable.
Many more electronic systems that seem to fail or have design issues.
 
Sea Ray has always been the boat for me. But I do see what you are talking about.

Had a new 2011 260 DA for 5 years and now have a 1998 290 DA and it just feels better all the way around. Older ... yes .. but it seems to be a more solid boat.

On customer service ... Erwin Marine in Chattanooga has been top notch for anything warranty related and getting items repaired on the 2011 on SeaRays dime after the warranty expired was hassle free.

Request for info via the SeaRay website has also been pretty quick.

Lets hope after the dust settles all will be well.
 
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I Read these posts about current model sea rays and i am surprised. Ive only owned pre 2007 models and the build and quality on these boats have always been very good. My Current 2007 48da has held up very well. I do replace parts and bits as the boat is 11 years old, probably the same parts that the majority of all builders use. You shouldn’t have quality issues on a 2015. As Robski said, MM is a big problem. However Customer service for Searay has always been top. I needed a diagram on how to remove the salon AC and they sent me the engineering drawing on how to do so, with in minutes. Not sure as they wind down that this will still be available though. Sux for them to give up the Yacht line.
 
I hope that you get your issues resolved.
Call me fortunate but ... I've always been impressed by being able to get someone on the phone at the Sea Ray factory (Customer Service) when I've had an issue. And I've always had good success with Marine Max, sometimes I've had to go around some folks to find someone who cares (at MM) but I have many good contacts at several of their locations that are always willing to help out.
I'm currently shopping for my next boat and am really not considering anything but a Sea Ray at this point.
 
My 2015 230 SLX, bought new, has pretty good build quality. I had a leaking power steering pump that was fixed under warranty. One of the compartment latches (plastic) broke which is annoying but not a huge deal. Other than that, quality and reliability have been good. Upholstery, fiberglass, trim all seem to be solid and well-built.

There are a lot of Cobalts around where I live and they seem to have better gelcoats, but actual fiberglass and fitting quality seems to be about the same. At least based upon my personal observations. And I love wraparound windshields like on my SLX.
 
I have a dock friend that has a 2008 330DA...it is a beautiful boat and loaded down with every option Sea Ray offered that year including 8.1L engines.....

he has told me more than once he feels my 2001 340DA just seems to be better built and more 'solid' than his boat.....

cliff
 
I have had good experience than with Sea Ray customer service. I have had the opportunity to interact with them 4 or 5 times over the past 6 months as I needed information as I was purchasing a used Sundancer and subsequently parts information. Each time I have received accurate information within 24 hours of submitting a request. My most recent request was time sensitive so I went through Sea Ray customer service and also through my local dealer parts department. The parts guy came back to me within an hour and gave me the sea ray part information and cost, and also the OEM info so I could go through them directly. Sea Ray customer service came back with the same info the following day. I also got a phone call from a broker from my local dealer (who I didn't buy through) because he saw my request to customer service and wanted to make sure I was getting taken care of. This was all on a used sea ray that I bought through a broker in another state. So far, 100% satisfied.
 
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This is my second Sea Ray. Both were bought used.
I contacted Sea Ray customer service several times seeking info for my old boat over the many years I owned it and they were always great to deal with.
I’ve contacted them twice over the last year or so about this one and they were very helpful.
My only real experience with MarineMax was when I bought this boat from them up in Westbrook Ct.(they took it in in trade, not as a brokerage boat) and they were very fair with me. They were tough throughout negotiations about a few things I wanted, but once they agreed to do them they were great throughout the process and did everything they said they would do.
I’ve gotten some really bad feedback about the local MarineMax here on Long Island, but to be fair, I’ve also gotten some really great feedback about them too.
 
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I asked an electrical schematic question this morning using the customer service form on their website. It was a very specific question around power take off points and inverters since the owners manual didn't really show it clearly. Tech support emailed back answers within 90 minutes of asking.
 
I have a friend with a 2016 510. The stringer separated from the hull the first season. Sea Ray had to cut open the hull near the bow to glass it back up. Hyannis Marine is sitting on a 2017 or 18 60 something fly. Sea Ray had to buy it back from the purchaser. It was the first attempt at a pod drive on that model and it wouldn't get up on a plane. They spent days testing it to figure it out. Finally they took it back.
 
I have a friend with a 2016 510. The stringer separated from the hull the first season. Sea Ray had to cut open the hull near the bow to glass it back up. Hyannis Marine is sitting on a 2017 or 18 60 something fly. Sea Ray had to buy it back from the purchaser. It was the first attempt at a pod drive on that model and it wouldn't get up on a plane. They spent days testing it to figure it out. Finally they took it back.

"Hyannis Marine is sitting on a 2017 or 18 60 something fly. Sea Ray had to buy it back from the purchaser. It was the first attempt at a pod drive on that model and it wouldn't get up on a plane. They spent days testing it to figure it out. Finally they took it back."

This sounds odd. How did it get up there in the first place?
 

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