Response to Tige's CSI Survey
Before Tige’ could even send their CSI survey to us our brand new boat w/ less than 11 hrs on the motor had the transmission go out. Unfortunately for us I was transferred to a state (IL) w/out a dealer so the boat sat out of commission from July 6th – July 28th being repaired. The closest dealer to the boat is in St. Louis so now on top of being w/out the boat we also spent a ton of extra time and money driving to St Louis to drop off & pickup the boat. (2.5 hrs one-way from the boat plus 2.5 hrs one-way to get to the lake)
It has been very upsetting to spend this much on a new boat to have it out of service for almost a month of what is already a very short season in Illinois. I am not really sure there is anything any one can add but I wanted to vent and let someone know that I am very disappointed thus far with the boat and see if anyone on this board has had similar issues.
Back-story on me: I have owned a ton of boats in my life (mostly Nautiques since I was a promo driver for them @ one time. I worked for a Nautique dealer in MI and even ran a Correct Craft dealership for a year, so I know that things sometime happen but I have never had something like this happen on a brand new boat. I was really hoping that the Tige’ days of old are over. I was the SE Sales rep for KD/Blindside from 1999 – 2001 and spent some time w/ Charley Paterson and riding in his Tiges that were basically falling apart underneath him. It has been my understanding that Tige has come a long way in the last 5 years but this start has not really done anything to show me any different. Unfortunately w/ only 11hrs on the boat it is way too early to tell if the rest of the boat will hold up any better, but I now have my doubts.
The boat was supposedly ready as of July 28th but due to my schedule I was unable to pick it up until Friday Aug 1st. Now that we have the boat back the throttle is soooo stiff and hard to push forward that I am actually a little afraid to use the boat for fear of something sticking or breaking w/ the shifter cable. Strike number 3 is that the steering wheel also feels scary loose. I have called both dealers the one we purchased the boat from and the one who preformed the warranty work on the transmission and they each have a different theory as to why the throttle is so stiff. They both offered for me to call them back the next time I am setting in the boat to talk me through a possible repair but I should not have to be spending valuable lake time making repairs to a brand new boat.
I am hoping that is the dealer would have been able to water test the boat I might be a little happier right now but w/ the flooding situation around the Mississippi I understand them not being able to do water tests.
I am willing to give it one more chance and then it will be back to Correct Craft. I made the mistake of changing brands back in 97 and owned a Malibu for a year and after that debacle I swore to myself I would never own anything but Nautiques. While living in FL I also sold Malibu & MasterCrafts and still would not own either brand even @ dealer cost.
I am really hoping that I have not made another poor decision in judgment by changing brands so I hope that Tige will step up to reassure me that I have indeed made the correct purchase.
I really want to emphasize that the Tige’ dealer who sold us the boat has been absolutely great and deserves nothing but 100% from us as far as their CSI scores go. I know the St. Louis dealer will do all they can but I am not expecting miracles from them since they did not sell me the boat. I am only disappointed in manufacturing part the boat/motor that has nothing to do w/ the dealerships.
FYI: I placed all of this same info in the on-line survey to Tige and have yet to hear anything from them. If this would have happened to one of my Nautiques the dealer would have been @ my house picking the boat and I would have heard from the factory right away. I also think this would have been a similar situation if I still lived in FL. The funny thing was I called the factory to find the closest dealer and told them what happened and I never even got a “sorry to hear you are having troubles” call or a follow up call just to make sure everything was going OK.
It has been very upsetting to spend this much on a new boat to have it out of service for almost a month of what is already a very short season in Illinois. I am not really sure there is anything any one can add but I wanted to vent and let someone know that I am very disappointed thus far with the boat and see if anyone on this board has had similar issues.
Back-story on me: I have owned a ton of boats in my life (mostly Nautiques since I was a promo driver for them @ one time. I worked for a Nautique dealer in MI and even ran a Correct Craft dealership for a year, so I know that things sometime happen but I have never had something like this happen on a brand new boat. I was really hoping that the Tige’ days of old are over. I was the SE Sales rep for KD/Blindside from 1999 – 2001 and spent some time w/ Charley Paterson and riding in his Tiges that were basically falling apart underneath him. It has been my understanding that Tige has come a long way in the last 5 years but this start has not really done anything to show me any different. Unfortunately w/ only 11hrs on the boat it is way too early to tell if the rest of the boat will hold up any better, but I now have my doubts.
The boat was supposedly ready as of July 28th but due to my schedule I was unable to pick it up until Friday Aug 1st. Now that we have the boat back the throttle is soooo stiff and hard to push forward that I am actually a little afraid to use the boat for fear of something sticking or breaking w/ the shifter cable. Strike number 3 is that the steering wheel also feels scary loose. I have called both dealers the one we purchased the boat from and the one who preformed the warranty work on the transmission and they each have a different theory as to why the throttle is so stiff. They both offered for me to call them back the next time I am setting in the boat to talk me through a possible repair but I should not have to be spending valuable lake time making repairs to a brand new boat.
I am hoping that is the dealer would have been able to water test the boat I might be a little happier right now but w/ the flooding situation around the Mississippi I understand them not being able to do water tests.
I am willing to give it one more chance and then it will be back to Correct Craft. I made the mistake of changing brands back in 97 and owned a Malibu for a year and after that debacle I swore to myself I would never own anything but Nautiques. While living in FL I also sold Malibu & MasterCrafts and still would not own either brand even @ dealer cost.
I am really hoping that I have not made another poor decision in judgment by changing brands so I hope that Tige will step up to reassure me that I have indeed made the correct purchase.
I really want to emphasize that the Tige’ dealer who sold us the boat has been absolutely great and deserves nothing but 100% from us as far as their CSI scores go. I know the St. Louis dealer will do all they can but I am not expecting miracles from them since they did not sell me the boat. I am only disappointed in manufacturing part the boat/motor that has nothing to do w/ the dealerships.
FYI: I placed all of this same info in the on-line survey to Tige and have yet to hear anything from them. If this would have happened to one of my Nautiques the dealer would have been @ my house picking the boat and I would have heard from the factory right away. I also think this would have been a similar situation if I still lived in FL. The funny thing was I called the factory to find the closest dealer and told them what happened and I never even got a “sorry to hear you are having troubles” call or a follow up call just to make sure everything was going OK.
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