A few months ago we decided we would buy a boat. We looked at a few used Mastercrafts and Malibus and finally decided it was worth the significant extra cost to buy a new boat because, although we have been on numerous friends’/family’s boats over the last 15 years, we didn’t really know much about the mechanics of a boat. It was a reasonable assumption that if we spent the extra money for a new boat that we wouldn’t have to worry about anything going wrong for a long time, and if it did we would have a comprehensive warranty to cover any problems.
So after much research and Jonathan thinking back on his childhood when his father owned a Tige and he and his friends learned to wakeboard on a Tige, we decided a new Tige would be perfect. We went to Eagle Marine in Fort Worth to look at the R20, but unfortunately weren’t really happy with the color/option combinations of the boats on the showroom floor. After looking at tige.com, we were excited to find out we could custom order a new Tige and choose our own colors and options. And this is just the beginning of when we started questioning our decision to buy a new Tige. We called Eagle Marine the next day, and Ken said I must have been mistaken because we couldn’t special order an R20. I looked online again, and then called a dealer in Houston, who confirmed we could special order an R20. So perhaps Ken just didn’t want to bother with a special order and really wanted us to buy the bright orange R20 that’s still sitting in his showroom floor– and at this point I almost wish we had done that.
So long story short, we did order a new R20 from Eagle Marine. We picked all of the options we wanted, signed a contract, paid our deposit and went home happy. The next day we received a call that a depth finder wasn’t included and would cost another $550. Then the day after that we were told we couldn’t get the stereo remote on the back of the boat, as we had ordered. At this point, we were skeptical and nervous as to why this wouldn’t be known by our sales rep when we placed our order.
Fast forward to the day we picked up our boat. I talked to Ken several times, and specified with him that we have never driven a boat ourselves, trailored a boat, parked a trailer, etc. He said it would be best if we came on a weekday because we could spend as much time as we wanted during our test drive, so we both took a vacation day on a Wednesday. I told Ken we would be there at 10am, and at 9:50am I received a call from Ken asking where we were because “we are on a extremely tight schedule today”. I told him we were 10 minutes away as planned, and once we arrived at Eagle Marine we were hurried through our test drive. If you are spending $55K on a boat that you custom ordered, I don’t think it’s acceptable to be rushed through a test drive. We hoped we learned enough before we left Eagle, and then Ken insisted that we save his cell phone number so we were comforted we would have an expert resource at our disposal if anything should go wrong.
So first time out on the lake, after wakeboarding for 15 minutes one of our friends was knocked in the head by a wakeboard that was secured in the racks. The bracket that attaches the racks to the tower detached and luckily our friend didn’t require any immediate medical assistance because he noticed what was happening right away. He had only a small gash on his head, but our brand new boat now has numerous scratches. We were able to recover the board and bracket, and figured it must be a crazy fluke that would never happen again, so we strapped our second board to the rack on the other side. We tried calling Ken several times on the cell phone that he gave us plus Eagle Marine’s main number but no one answered even though it was during business hours. Thirty minutes later if would you believe it the same thing happened on the other rack, but now two boards are swinging and smacking against the boat. After retrieving our boards we figured this was another crazy accident that should have never taken place so we decided to call it a day.
We were driving back to our dock at approximately 20-25mph and the boat completely stopped. We checked everything possible and read all of the troubleshooting sections of the Tige manual with no avail. We called Ken on his cell phone and again there was no answer. Luckily we also had Ben’s (Tige’s owner’s son) cell number and he answered immediately. He walked us through numerous checks and tests and eventually we discovered it was a fuse that was loose. If it hadn’t been for Ben answering his phone and being so willing to help who knows how long we could be stranded out there!
We got back to the dock, trailered the boat to storage, cleaned it, and parked it. We finally were comfortably sitting at the dock restaurant and Ken called us back (about 5 hours after we originally called him). I explained everything we went through on our first day on the boat and was shocked by the reception I received. I don’t work in sales, but I know if you sell someone something that they are unhappy with you apologize, even if the issues aren’t directly your fault. Ken seemed like he was annoyed that I had contacted him. He said “well just bring it in on Tuesday” and when I told we work and can’t just drive an hour each way he didn’t really say anything. I asked him how this could have happened and he said something about the screws hadn’t been put in the tower correctly at the factory. When I told him there were no screws in our tower and asked how long the repair would take and he said he had no idea. I then told him about the engine quitting in the middle of the lake, and he said “well the boats are built by humans so mistakes can happen”.
There was nothing else to do but laugh off this statement. My computer, cell phone, refrigerator, and even our cars are made by humans, but I have never bought anything brand new and had any problems, let alone such a terrible experience that my sales rep didn’t seem to care about.
PS. Jonathan worked in the auto industry for 6 years and every time he sold a new vehicle the customer was asked to fill out a satisfaction survey, which directly affected bonuses, dealership, and whether or not people could keep their job.
So after much research and Jonathan thinking back on his childhood when his father owned a Tige and he and his friends learned to wakeboard on a Tige, we decided a new Tige would be perfect. We went to Eagle Marine in Fort Worth to look at the R20, but unfortunately weren’t really happy with the color/option combinations of the boats on the showroom floor. After looking at tige.com, we were excited to find out we could custom order a new Tige and choose our own colors and options. And this is just the beginning of when we started questioning our decision to buy a new Tige. We called Eagle Marine the next day, and Ken said I must have been mistaken because we couldn’t special order an R20. I looked online again, and then called a dealer in Houston, who confirmed we could special order an R20. So perhaps Ken just didn’t want to bother with a special order and really wanted us to buy the bright orange R20 that’s still sitting in his showroom floor– and at this point I almost wish we had done that.
So long story short, we did order a new R20 from Eagle Marine. We picked all of the options we wanted, signed a contract, paid our deposit and went home happy. The next day we received a call that a depth finder wasn’t included and would cost another $550. Then the day after that we were told we couldn’t get the stereo remote on the back of the boat, as we had ordered. At this point, we were skeptical and nervous as to why this wouldn’t be known by our sales rep when we placed our order.
Fast forward to the day we picked up our boat. I talked to Ken several times, and specified with him that we have never driven a boat ourselves, trailored a boat, parked a trailer, etc. He said it would be best if we came on a weekday because we could spend as much time as we wanted during our test drive, so we both took a vacation day on a Wednesday. I told Ken we would be there at 10am, and at 9:50am I received a call from Ken asking where we were because “we are on a extremely tight schedule today”. I told him we were 10 minutes away as planned, and once we arrived at Eagle Marine we were hurried through our test drive. If you are spending $55K on a boat that you custom ordered, I don’t think it’s acceptable to be rushed through a test drive. We hoped we learned enough before we left Eagle, and then Ken insisted that we save his cell phone number so we were comforted we would have an expert resource at our disposal if anything should go wrong.
So first time out on the lake, after wakeboarding for 15 minutes one of our friends was knocked in the head by a wakeboard that was secured in the racks. The bracket that attaches the racks to the tower detached and luckily our friend didn’t require any immediate medical assistance because he noticed what was happening right away. He had only a small gash on his head, but our brand new boat now has numerous scratches. We were able to recover the board and bracket, and figured it must be a crazy fluke that would never happen again, so we strapped our second board to the rack on the other side. We tried calling Ken several times on the cell phone that he gave us plus Eagle Marine’s main number but no one answered even though it was during business hours. Thirty minutes later if would you believe it the same thing happened on the other rack, but now two boards are swinging and smacking against the boat. After retrieving our boards we figured this was another crazy accident that should have never taken place so we decided to call it a day.
We were driving back to our dock at approximately 20-25mph and the boat completely stopped. We checked everything possible and read all of the troubleshooting sections of the Tige manual with no avail. We called Ken on his cell phone and again there was no answer. Luckily we also had Ben’s (Tige’s owner’s son) cell number and he answered immediately. He walked us through numerous checks and tests and eventually we discovered it was a fuse that was loose. If it hadn’t been for Ben answering his phone and being so willing to help who knows how long we could be stranded out there!
We got back to the dock, trailered the boat to storage, cleaned it, and parked it. We finally were comfortably sitting at the dock restaurant and Ken called us back (about 5 hours after we originally called him). I explained everything we went through on our first day on the boat and was shocked by the reception I received. I don’t work in sales, but I know if you sell someone something that they are unhappy with you apologize, even if the issues aren’t directly your fault. Ken seemed like he was annoyed that I had contacted him. He said “well just bring it in on Tuesday” and when I told we work and can’t just drive an hour each way he didn’t really say anything. I asked him how this could have happened and he said something about the screws hadn’t been put in the tower correctly at the factory. When I told him there were no screws in our tower and asked how long the repair would take and he said he had no idea. I then told him about the engine quitting in the middle of the lake, and he said “well the boats are built by humans so mistakes can happen”.
There was nothing else to do but laugh off this statement. My computer, cell phone, refrigerator, and even our cars are made by humans, but I have never bought anything brand new and had any problems, let alone such a terrible experience that my sales rep didn’t seem to care about.
PS. Jonathan worked in the auto industry for 6 years and every time he sold a new vehicle the customer was asked to fill out a satisfaction survey, which directly affected bonuses, dealership, and whether or not people could keep their job.
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