Sea Ray outsourcing their Customer Service?!?

C

CaptnSteve

New Member
Sep 24, 2021
2
Boat Info
2008 Sundancer 310
Engines
377 MAG MPI Bravo III
Hey everybody, hope you’re well! I was wondering if anyone has had any poor experiences calling the customer service line at 865 971 6250 and receiving less that satisfactory responses from the representatives you’ve spoken with. I noticed after repeatedly calling in for a gel coat number it seemed to be the same guys answering after I made 3-5 calls (Ian, Larry, Keith). Would always get the response that I would need to reach out to my dealership even for such simple information, which left me scratching my head. Dealerships have been nuts with everything going on but just got an interesting gem from my local MarineMax rep after they followed up on the gelcoat. Apparently since the pandemic, SeaRay and Boston Whaler have outsourced both their Customer and Dealer Support to a company called Compass Marine Services in Sarasota. Did a little research and looks like it’s a small business in North Sarasota, nowhere near the factory in Knoxville even though it’s got a TN area code. Per my dealer it’s basically a call center, and glorified answering service where the employees have little to no Marine knowledge/training and the dealerships are even running into issues with routine parts orders due to the incompetence of the outsourced company. Just was curious if anyone else had run into issues when reaching out and also just wanted to inform everyone. Pretty disturbing to hear SR is putting our trust and well being of our babies in the hands of CS reps who don’t know what they are taking about. Love my boat but might be time to reevaluate the brand when I go to get my next boat as much as I’ve been a loyal SR customer for over 30 years. Just was dissatisfied hearing that SR would gamble their reputation just to save a few bucks and was curious if anyone else had heard anything similar/had similar experiences! Happy Boating everybody!
 
CaptnSteve said:
Hey everybody, hope you’re well! I was wondering if anyone has had any poor experiences calling the customer service line at 865 971 6250 and receiving less that satisfactory responses from the representatives you’ve spoken with. I noticed after repeatedly calling in for a gel coat number it seemed to be the same guys answering after I made 3-5 calls (Ian, Larry, Keith). Would always get the response that I would need to reach out to my dealership even for such simple information, which left me scratching my head. Dealerships have been nuts with everything going on but just got an interesting gem from my local MarineMax rep after they followed up on the gelcoat. Apparently since the pandemic, SeaRay and Boston Whaler have outsourced both their Customer and Dealer Support to a company called Compass Marine Services in Sarasota. Did a little research and looks like it’s a small business in North Sarasota, nowhere near the factory in Knoxville even though it’s got a TN area code. Per my dealer it’s basically a call center, and glorified answering service where the employees have little to no Marine knowledge/training and the dealerships are even running into issues with routine parts orders due to the incompetence of the outsourced company. Just was curious if anyone else had run into issues when reaching out and also just wanted to inform everyone. Pretty disturbing to hear SR is putting our trust and well being of our babies in the hands of CS reps who don’t know what they are taking about. Love my boat but might be time to reevaluate the brand when I go to get my next boat as much as I’ve been a loyal SR customer for over 30 years. Just was dissatisfied hearing that SR would gamble their reputation just to save a few bucks and was curious if anyone else had heard anything similar/had similar experiences! Happy Boating everybody!
Click to expand...

Try this # (321) 449-8628
 
Customer service and the ability to reach a knowledgable person was a strong point at SR.
 
I received a super quick and very helpful email response from Sea Ray earlier this year when inquiring about transom capacity...
 
So, my takeaway is that email is the preferred method. 'Good to know they're still out there, even if they're not the ones on the phone.
 
They do prefer an initial contact be made by the email portal on their website. The reason is that their data is stored at the plant level, with some centralized access to main frame info like build sheets, master vendor lists etc. When you email Customer service, they immediately assign the request to the Customer Service folks who handled the inquiries for your boat. If you call Customer Service in Knoxville with questions on a 610DA, for example, you are going to be delayed at the best or worse, dissapointed because Knoxville has never seen a 610DA nor is any build info for the 610DA located in Knoxville.

One other point, the 321 area code furnished in a post above is for Customer Service at the Sykes Creek plant. Those will be big boat folks but they are professionals and will likely give you a contact number for someone more than a rookie in the Tennessee plants.
 
fwebster said:
They do prefer an initial contact be made by the email portal on their website. The reason is that their data is stored at the plant level, with some centralized access to main frame info like build sheets, master vendor lists etc. When you email Customer service, they immediately assign the request to the Customer Service folks who handled the inquiries for your boat. If you call Customer Service in Knoxville with questions on a 610DA, for example, you are going to be delayed at the best or worse, dissapointed because Knoxville has never seen a 610DA nor is any build info for the 610DA located in Knoxville.

One other point, the 321 area code furnished in a post above is for Customer Service at the Sykes Creek plant. Those will be big boat folks but they are professionals and will likely give you a contact number for someone more than a rookie in the Tennessee plants.
Click to expand...
No longer Frank - The email is routed to a local Marine Max (or authorized area sales) and they then call. For many of us our enquiry is of the more technical/complex which the sales at MM can't answer and the question ends up with a sorry can't help. Happened to me twice in succession. Once for vinyl seat material source and once for water tank dimensions. Worse yet for the larger SR's MM is not prepared to answer any questions.
 
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