Sadness

[GypsmJim]

I have heard bad stuff about MarineMax before. Also, whether you buy a yacht or an RV or whatever, there are always stories to be told about sucky dealers that won't work on their product if you didn't buy it from them. However, what does that have to do with Searay's decision to drop the yacht line of boats?

 

[Chris-380]

I just purchased this 370 and was researching marinas to start a relationship with for service work here at the Lake of Ozarks, a good friend of mine bought a Harris TriToon from Marine Max and always talked about the great VIP Parties Marine Max invited them to, then I saw that Marine Max had a tie to SeaRays and thought it would be great to have that connection. I called them and the service manager told me they will only work on 2009 or newer Sea Rays, I said if I had a 2009 or newer SR I wouldn't need a service center, his response was sorry I have customers waiting.

I was terrified as I thought OMG here is a dealer that doesn't want to work on a MNF they rep.... thank goodness I found this site as it has renewed my excitement around this new to me boat.

FYI, I also found a local marina, Berger's Marina, at the Lake of Ozarks that is now in I believe their 3rd generation of operating at the lake and they are fantastic, I won't even buy gas from Marine Max.

that's odd, marine max is currently working on a 2000 380 DA..... I take it you spoke to Tom, he has been super helpful to me. But I do know they are busy

 

[jrybak]

I have heard bad stuff about MarineMax before. Also, whether you buy a yacht or an RV or whatever, there are always stories to be told about sucky dealers that won't work on their product if you didn't buy it from them. However, what does that have to do with Searay's decision to drop the yacht line of boats?

I reviewed the other post on this thread and the discussion around SeaRays choice to bring MarineMax between themselves and the final consumer was perhaps a poor choice as MarineMax may not been loyal to SeaRay like a final consumer could be. I felt my recent experience with MarineMax was a relevant example of how I was treated by MarineMax.

As an additional example showing that SeaRay’s choice to allow MarineMax to represent their brand may have been a poor one is the delta between the communications I had with each MarineMax and SeaRay. I had a very responsive and detailed communication with two separate SeaRay employees while doing some pre-purchase leg work, I felt like they went above and beyond to answer my questions while MarineMax did/was not.

In short ...

My Call to MarineMax = Poor Customer Service

My Call to SeaRay = Great Customer Service

Conclusion... perhaps if SeaRay didn’t allow a company without loyalty to represent their brand/ image maybe they would still be in the yacht line of boats.

IMO

 

[jrybak]

that's odd, marine max is currently working on a 2000 380 DA..... I take it you spoke to Tom, he has been super helpful to me. But I do know they are busy

Wish I could say the same as I was hoping it was going to be a small group / family type relationship with them as a dealer of SeaRays and the fun stories I heard about the events they host for their clients.

Did you buy your boat from them?

 

[Chris-380]

Wish I could say the same as I was hoping it was going to be a small group / family type relationship with them as a dealer of SeaRays and the fun stories I heard about the events they host for their clients.

Did you buy your boat from them?

Marinemax was the broker, not their boat. But the other odd thing, they had serviced (by records) this boat off and on the last 6 years... I will ask them about that policy of only servicing 10 year old boats and see what they say. It's an odd thing.

They do seem busy, if you have more service work than you can handle, maybe that's what a company does, instead of growing, they limit what can come in.... I don't agree with that approach, but I will ask this week

 

[iBoat Skipper Doug]

.....the "average" new boat sold is a 19 or so foot I/O bowrider...

I grew up in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin where the Mercury outboards and sterndrives are manufactured. I keep in touch with high school friends that work there. At one time, sterndrives were made in Ohio, but not for a long time.

From what they tell me when seated on a bar stool at a local supper club, drinking a Old Fashioned, is the number of workers on the sterndrives continues to decline. Outboards, particularly larger horsepower outboards, are taking more of the blue collar workforce.

Over the last 10 years, sterndrive production volume has slowed and this past year, that trend continued to a increased degree.

So, people are buying new motors, but the growing majority of them are buying outboards.

Also, bowrider sales are down. Those buyers are choosing pontoon boats or boats with center consules but that’s another story which could explain some of the sterndrives to outboard trend.

We can debate why, but we can’t deny new mercury motor sales are mostly outboards and less are choosing sterndrives.

 

[jrybak]

Marinemax was the broker, not their boat. But the other odd thing, they had serviced (by records) this boat off and on the last 6 years... I will ask them about that policy of only servicing 10 year old boats and see what they say. It's an odd thing.

They do seem busy, if you have more service work than you can handle, maybe that's what a company does, instead of growing, they limit what can come in.... I don't agree with that approach, but I will ask this week

super I would like to hear back as it was offputting.

 

[GypsmJim]

I grew up in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin where the Mercury outboards and sterndrives are manufactured. I keep in touch with high school friends that work there. At one time, sterndrives were made in Ohio, but not for a long time.

From what they tell me when seated on a bar stool at a local supper club, drinking a Old Fashioned, is the number of workers on the sterndrives continues to decline. Outboards, particularly larger horsepower outboards, are taking more of the blue collar workforce.

Over the last 10 years, sterndrive production volume has slowed and this past year, that trend continued to a increased degree.

So, people are buying new motors, but the growing majority of them are buying outboards.

Also, bowrider sales are down. Those buyers are choosing pontoon boats or boats with center consules but that’s another story which could explain some of the sterndrives to outboard trend.

We can debate why, but we can’t deny new mercury motor sales are mostly outboards and less are choosing sterndrives.

I grew up with a little OB boat and always wanted to get a "real" boat with an I/O. When I finally could afford one we bought a good one and kept her for 35 years.

Two years ago I traded my little fishing boat for a brand new Whaler, equipped with a big 4-stroke Merc OB. The performance, fuel efficiency and delightfully easy winterization made me want to go back to OBs again.

Still in pristine condition after 35 years, we traded her in last year for a brand new SeaRay. Naturally, she's equipped with a Merc OB. No more bellows, universal joints, gimble bearings, sucking out oil, adding anti-freeze, etc. for me. We enjoy having more room in the boat, and I think the OB just looks cool, but my real reason for the switch was the maintenance.

 

[GypsmJim]

I reviewed the other post on this thread and the discussion around SeaRays choice to bring MarineMax between themselves and the final consumer was perhaps a poor choice as MarineMax may not been loyal to SeaRay like a final consumer could be. I felt my recent experience with MarineMax was a relevant example of how I was treated by MarineMax.

As an additional example showing that SeaRay’s choice to allow MarineMax to represent their brand may have been a poor one is the delta between the communications I had with each MarineMax and SeaRay. I had a very responsive and detailed communication with two separate SeaRay employees while doing some pre-purchase leg work, I felt like they went above and beyond to answer my questions while MarineMax did/was not.

In short ...

My Call to MarineMax = Poor Customer Service

My Call to SeaRay = Great Customer Service

Conclusion... perhaps if SeaRay didn’t allow a company without loyalty to represent their brand/ image maybe they would still be in the yacht line of boats.

IMO

I guess I'm confused about SeaRay's relationship with MarineMax. I see they represent and sell boats made by a half dozen companies, one of which is SeaRay. My personal local dealer also has multiple locations, covering a good part of the state. They also sell other boat brands.

I think most boat companies sell to "dealers" that distribute to the consumer. I don't think you can buy a boat directly from any manufacturer, but I might be wrong.

So, what is the unusual link between SR and MM?

 

[jrybak]

https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile/HZO

 

[PlayDate]

I guess I'm confused about SeaRay's relationship with MarineMax. I see they represent and sell boats made by a half dozen companies, one of which is SeaRay. My personal local dealer also has multiple locations, covering a good part of the state. They also sell other boat brands.

I think most boat companies sell to "dealers" that distribute to the consumer. I don't think you can buy a boat directly from any manufacturer, but I might be wrong.

So, what is the unusual link between SR and MM?

There are Marine Max folks on this site that may provide more color than I can. I can tell you that Sea Ray started with a robust SR Dealer Network, then in the early 2000s there was a significant downturn in the boat business in the US. Many of these exclusive SR Dealers went under and Sea Ray signed a non-exclusive deal with Marine Max.

That deal helped lift both companies up in the US market. Marine Max also solved the service and warranty issues for Sea Ray. Over time however, Marine Max took on other more profitable product lines from other manufacturers opening the door to sell Sea Ray customers non Sea Ray boats. This impacted the over 40' customers more so than anyone else.

So, Marine Max grew and Sea Ray became unprofitable to Brunswick. Brunswick tried to sell SR but there were no takers so they kept it and stopped building boats over 40' which is the guidance they received from Marine Max.

Sad story.

 

[Chris-380]

super I would like to hear back as it was offputting.

Spoke to marinemax LOTO about the 10 year rule. And basically, if they haven't worked on the boat in the last 10 years, they don't. If they have, they will continue to. He gave some reasons, about what has been altered on older boats, what is wearing out as far as seats, canvas etc.

He said, since they have worked on this one, they would continue.

He never said they had to do all th work, just "if marinemax has worked on it in the last 10 years, we will continue to work on it"

Anyway, your info is pretty accurate

 

[jrybak]

Spoke to marinemax LOTO about the 10 year rule. And basically, if they haven't worked on the boat in the last 10 years, they don't. If they have, they will continue to. He gave some reasons, about what has been altered on older boats, what is wearing out as far as seats, canvas etc.

He said, since they have worked on this one, they would continue.

He never said they had to do all th work, just "if marinemax has worked on it in the last 10 years, we will continue to work on it"

Anyway, your info is pretty accurate

Wish it wasn’t so, however I found a better solution, Berger’s Marina for Mech and Waves n Wheels for Electronics.

All my new Garmin gear has arrived and Waves & Wheels has already started the install. Check out their installs!!

http://wavesandwheels.net/

 

[Bridog]

Spoke to marinemax LOTO about the 10 year rule. And basically, if they haven't worked on the boat in the last 10 years, they don't. If they have, they will continue to. He gave some reasons, about what has been altered on older boats, what is wearing out as far as seats, canvas etc.

He said, since they have worked on this one, they would continue.

He never said they had to do all th work, just "if marinemax has worked on it in the last 10 years, we will continue to work on it"

Anyway, your info is pretty accurate

That's some business model. Can you imagine walking into your local WallyWorld and being told you couldn't shop there because you haven't shopped there before. Crazy!

 

[Chris-380]

That's some business model. Can you imagine walking into your local WallyWorld and being told you couldn't shop there because you haven't shopped there before. Crazy!

LOL, I don't need to worry about that, avoid Walmart like the plague.

LOTO is a different lake than almost any inland. It's over the top, boats made for the ocean and gulf, 55-60' cruisers so many go fast boats, insane. I don't know where they get their money, but it must grow on trees.... so many newer boats, why mess with more headaches when you are already busier than they can handle?

 

[Bridog]

Yeah things don't always apply to boats, especially in popular boating destinations. Not uncommon for marinas to only work on boats they've sold and keep there. I was at boat show yesterday and my MM salesman said they are having their best quarter in boat sales, EVER. Must be doing something right.

 

[jrybak]

Yeah things don't always apply to boats, especially in popular boating destinations. Not uncommon for marinas to only work on boats they've sold and keep there. I was at boat show yesterday and my MM salesman said they are having their best quarter in boat sales, EVER. Must be doing something right.

IMO Our current economy is why MarineMax is having their best quarter, the questionable decision by SeaRay to bring MarineMax into their customer relationships may never have happened if this economy was happening in the late early 2000s.

Poor customer service generally comes back to bite ya in the end.... see what I did there, lol.

I am new to the big boat boating world, been a fishing / skiing/ hunting boat guy my entire life from my grandpas old run-about Tri-hull to an Astro fish n ski/ Ranger bass boat then to a $40k WarEagle Jonboat and in all that time I have been in and out of many marinas river and lake, worked with many mid Missouri repair facilities on water and off, to the best of my memory can’t recall having such a poor customer service experience, in fact I would say boaters in general are some of the friendliness folks you could find, always willing to help a fellow out it seems. MarineMax may be having their best quarter and the LOTO is for sure unlike many other inland lakes, but there won’t be a single person that I speak with about boating that won’t hear about my experience with them.

On a side note an example of great customer service, I spoke with Berger’s Marina service manager yesterday and they too are having their busiest start to a season this year, and his response to me asking about the the ETA on finishing up the rest of the de-winterization, pulling my boat out for them to install the new swim platform and to allow for the out of water portion of the survey,

“When do you need it by, we will make it happen.”

Finding a company, vender, subcontractor, entity, with that type of attitude is how loyalty is built, find that type of attitude in an human, find a job for them and a way to hire them and never let them leave.

Great quote: If you take care of your employees, you will never have to care of your customers.

IMO MarineMax is taking care of MarineMax.

 

[Chris-380]

I am glad you found a shop that you are happy with. I have found a few over the years, but just as many I would never go back to also