Bad Dealer or Salesperson Stories??

I have read several entries about bad salespeople and dealers and I thought a comparison would be interesting. Note, this is not to bash any particular boat manufacturer or their boats, but to provide some insight into what a dealer and/or salesperson should or should not do.

I purchased a 2004 Mobious LSV last January/February. Great boat, great salesman, great dealer. I am very pleased with my boat. However, now that I own a boat, I have become a boat information junkie. I love to look at other boats, understand how they are built, understand their features, and look at the changes from 2004 to 2005. That being said, my son loves to go to Texas Ski Ranch for the sliders, kickers, etc on the cable lake. Now, let me preface this with the fact that I know absolutely nothing about the reputation of the Mastercraft dealer there. However, while my son rides, I like to wander thru the showroom, looking at the X-2s, X-10s, X-stars, etc. Last month I was approached by a lady salesperson who was very nice upon approach. She asked me if I was looking to buy and I told her, upfront, that I was just admiring the boats, that I had recently purchased a new 2004 Mobius LSV,was very pleased with it and was not in the market. Since there was no one else in the showroom, she decided to accompany me on my stroll looking at the boats. No problem so far, but when she asked me if I had any questions, I mentioned that I had heard about the 2005 X-2 having a new throttle by wire system. She had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Her response was that the dealer did not have a 2005 yet and when it comes in their mechanics go over the boats and then tell the sales folks what is new. I find that absolutely ridiculous. As a salesperson, I would sure as hell know at least what the media and the manufacturer were saying about the boat rather than waiting to see one myself.

Next, she took it upon herself to tell me how poorly Moomba constructs boats and how far superior Mastercraft was. She not only blasted Moomba on their boats, but blasted Moomba because they don't build their own boat trailers. This, knowing I own and am happy with my Moomba. I'm in sales and every salesman I know, knows you don't go negative to make your point. I can tell you, based on her overall knowledge of the boats and her bashing Moomba to try to make her point, she would be the last person I'd consider buying anything from.

(Message edited by wakeshoe on September 21, 2004)

Wakeshoe, I know what you are saying. When I first started looking into buying a boat 3 years ago I was dead set on a Mastercraft. However, the people I dealt with at my local dealer were total pricks. There was a few in there that were pleasant, but samething you said they would absolutely insult the other brands. I just did not find that very professional at all.

When looking at boats this last year with my best friend we found the same attitudes. Oddly enough Mastercraft (California Skier) was the only dealer not to talk bad about another dealers. They agreed how nice the other boats are but informed us on there product, as they should.

Had the same problem when I bought my boat back in 99.

Mastercraft sales rep was okay. He wasn't really into bashing other boats but he did say "You won't be happy with that boat" when I mentioned looking at Moombas and Tige's. He had nothing bad to say about Nautiques.

Supra/Moomba guy was very nice and would have bought from him if I had chosen that brand.

Tige' sales rep was cool but a little defensive about Tige's. Granted this was in 99 and Tige' still wasn't considered same quality as the big 3 even though Tige' people thought they were.

Malibu sales rep bashed all other products over the phone and was annoyingly arrogant. I never even looked at Malibu due to that and I really like their boats. If he had been pleasant to deal with I may have bought one.

Nautique sales rep was best of them all. He had nothing bad to say about other brands and went out of his way to treat us well and demonstrate the boat. Took us out wakeboarding with a couple extra friends. We wound up staying out there almost 3 hours and he didn't even know if we were going to buy or not.

That Malibu guy had no idea he was talking to someone ready to spend 40k on a new boat. The Nautique guy assumed nothing and earned a sale.

We just purchased a Malibu from Paradise and our salesman (Chris) couldn't have been nicer or more informative. He did a great job in "selling" his product but never at the expense of the other boat manufactures. He actually pointed out some of the nice features of CC's and MC's. I thought that was incredibly big of him to not only be so knowledgeable about his competition but to talk about the benefits and let his customers decide for themselves.

I know this thread is supposed to be about bad experiences but I figured I would let everyone know about my positive experience.

At the boat show in 2003, we were going back and forth between the Malibu, Mastercraft and Tige booths (Nautique was just too expensive). The Malibu and Tige dealers were great, but our local Mastercraft dealer is not. Every time we went to the Mastercraft booth, we were talking to one of the imported sales guys from elsewhere who was just brought in to help with the boat show. The Mastercraft dealer should have realized that we spent all 3-4 days at the show, and that we were serious buyers, but he never came over to introduce himself. The other sales guy had tried to get the dealer to come over, but he didn't.

Anyhow, we made our decision, and went with Malibu. After we made the decision, we went back to the Mastercraft booth to tell them that we bought the Malibu (and weren't going to be buying a Mastercraft). The dealer finally decides to come over and introduce himself, finds out that we bought a Malibu, then proceeds to blast Malibu! He tells us that the boat is going to sink on the test drive and crap like that. He tried to get us to come out and test drive a Mastercraft! He wouldn't give up. In contrast, when we told the Tige guy, he was very gracious in his defeat. I would consider a Tige again, but I would never buy a Mastercraft from this dealer.

my dad and uncle walked into a dealership and offered cash for a boat and the salesman wouldnt knock a dime off the price tag. the reply was pretty much....you see the price tag, thats what it costs.

Matt moss, was that in memphis. We had good luck with both dealerships, malibu and mastercraft.
btw thanks for throwing a big raley and what looked like a ts frontroll about a month ago. My cousins who have never seen wakeboarding thought that was awesome. We were in a black malibu that is in my profile.

I am at the age in my life where myself, and a lot of my friends are purchasing boats in the $35,000-$55,000 range. One thing rings true with all of us: If you go to the Mastercraft/Malibu dealers in Sacramento, you will be unhappy.

I know there are plenty of people that are happy with their sales and service, but of the last 5 of my friends to purchase boats, none of them have a positive thing to say about that conglomerate.

Brief list:
-Purchasing a $48,000 boat, with Perfect Pass and an expensive stereo, only to be told Perfect Pass is back ordered for 3 months(a complete lie), and then waiting 4 months to replace the faulty CD Player.

-Purchasing a $38,000 Custom Weld fishing boat on a Thursday, taking it to Shasta on Friday, then waking up Saturday morning with 2 feet of water in the bottom of the boat. (At least that problem only took a week to fix.)

-Being told a price on the phone, putting down a $10,000 deposit, then having thousands of dollars tacked onto the price the second they realize you have enough cash to write a $10,000 check.

-Buying a boat, then taking it to the lake and realizing it didn't include a plug, then being forced to drive all the way back to the dealer to get the plug.

-Taking your boat in for trailer service, then coming back to the dealership early to find your boat getting "Top Secret" shaft and gel coat work because it's been dropped.

-Taking your boat in for warranty work on the alarm buzzer, waiting two weeks, getting the boat back with a grease stain on the carpet, then taking it out on the river only to have the alarm buzzer start ringing two minutes into the trip.

-When I was first considering a VLX, the Malibu dealer's Sales Manager constantly talked trash about Mastercraft, and kept telling me the X2 was being discontinued after 04. Funny thing is, he NEVER ONCE mentioned the VLX being all new in 05, and was obviously lying about the X2 being discontinued.


I'm pushing 300 hours on my 04 X2 after 4 months, and will likely be trading it in for an 05 VLX or X2 sometime before the next season, but it definitely won't be from a dealer in Sacramento.

Come to Reno. I just bought a 05 VLS from Premier Truck and Marine and had a great time. The Sales Manager (Rob) and Salesman (Bob) were great to deal with.

Did a demo with Bob and he pointed out what he thought was cool on the boat and you could tell he loved his product. Never over sold and I think I bothered him more than anything. Also got a great price on the boat. Less than what I see some people selling 04's for.

Taking it out to the lake this weekend for maiden voyage!!

I would recommend anyone to give them a call or stop by. Tell them I sent ya.

"my dad and uncle walked into a dealership and offered cash for a boat and the salesman wouldnt knock a dime off the price tag. the reply was pretty much....you see the price tag, thats what it costs."

Everybody thinks that cash is king. But you have to consider the dealership gets the money either way, either the bank writes them a check or you do. Plus when the facilitate the finacing they get a cut of the yield spread. So they actually make less on a cash deal.

unfortunately, in hindsight, i've never met sleezier salesmen, in any industry, than the guys i purchased my boat from. they call and call and call to sell the boat and then after you buy the boat they drop you in the water and you never hear back from them regarding service for the longest time. Above all, and my blood pressure still goes up when i think about this, about a week after i purchased the boat i got into it with the owner of the shop regarding a screw up they made and to make a long story short, he (the dealership owner) ended up calling me a "CHEAP Fu@&" to my face because i refused to swallow the cost of their mistake regarding a tear in the vinyl. He literally said those words, after having just thrown down $35,000 on a boat. talk about wanting to scrap! i haven't spoken or gone back to those guys once since that day and they haven't called me either. A month later, when my girlfriend's parents were in the market for a boat, knowing what i had gone through, they approached this dealership (i'm reluctant to name the shop) where i had this bad experience and expressed interest in buying a boat. As soon as they got a little close to a deal on a Centurion, they told the owner what i had told them about my experience at his dealership and said they would never purchase that prospective boat because of what i had gone through, and they used my name!! You know that owner remembered my name at that point for sure! You know those guys were bummed and i hope they realized the negative effects of poor customer service because that's what it comes down to, truly.

Now i'm good, i take all my boat biz to the guys at Mid State Marine in Paso Robles and they take great care of me! my 2 cents.

Love my boat , Love the Brand (Malibu) , service dept is great , but would never buy from the dealership again or should I say certain sales guy? My buddy had same bad things to say.....zero customer service skillz. But when your the only game in town you got it made.

Filled out question card very honest amd sent to Malibu, never called to see what was up ( shame on Malibu ).........My next boat will be SAN............The dealer in Riverside I hear is killer.

hey joe ...I picked up my boat from Ski World in pleasnton...a short drive from you ...everything they promised was done and done on time..very happy and recomend them highly!!!I looked at a certain other dealer in the area...backed out of the deal because of there attitude, very glad i did..ski world# 925-460-6233

chris - that is an awesome boat and thx for the compliments. it doesnt really matter where it happened, i just was throwing the story out there. i dont have a problem with the specific dealer i am referring to so there's no point in giving them a bad rep. i just know that my dad went somewhere besides that dealer, bought the same exact boat for less money....and the boat he got had a tower and less hours.

J french - so offering cash cant even get you 50 cents off the listed price?

do most dealers negotiate at least a little bit? or do most of them have a price and stick with it?

Jude, I did buy my boat from Ski World. In fact, I'm pretty sure you were there buying your X9 at the same time I was picking up my solid red X2.

If I buy another MC, it will definitely be from them. It's worth the two hour drive.


That other dealer you went to is the same ownership as both the Malibu, and Mastercraft dealers in Sacto. They will never see my business.



(Message edited by Joe 788 on September 22, 2004)

I purchased my boat from Ski World in pleasanton as well. Great experience - great group of people. Talk to Tony... He will give you "Tony Bucks" to spend in the proshop after you buy your boat.

MOST boat salesmen are somewhere below used car salesmen and just above whale •••••

To sum up my points, salespeople/dealers that:

1. Don't bother to take the time to know there own products, then
2. Bash other boats/manufacturers to try to enhance their own product, should

...find some other career - you give salespeople bad reputations. Based on the responses, there appears to be plenty of bad salespeople/dealers in the boat industry. Unfortunately, also based on various discussions on the wakeworld bulletin boards, the bashing of boats other than the one you personally own may be synonymous with many boat owners, boat salespeople and dealers. Is it just something about boats??

I just purchased an 04 xstar from ski world...great people.I did how ever have some problems.So far all has been taking care of.The boat is currently in Santa rosa ski world.I have nothing but nice things to say about these guys so far...but I havent picked the boat up yet.As far as ski world in pleasenton.NEVER DO bussiness with UDIE or whatever his name is. That ASS**** will never get my bussiness at all.I will go so far as to say if I ever cross paths with him he will never see it coming. Scott Owner of both shops is a GREAT guy and bent over backwards to rectify the situation.I will always tell people to talk to him.I will keep all informed on how well SR ski world cleans up others mess.

I bought a malibu and the dealer sucked. I dont feel like going into detail, but the service sucks and they dont back up any of the ••••••••• breaks even when under warranty. We had to call malibu's headquarters to get them to grant the warranty. All in all, bad service and customer support. I still want to upgrade to a vlx, but not from this dealer.

Being on the sales side...yes one "problem" can potentially spoil the "good" things that happened prior to...just human nature it seems. We all are human and mistakes and oversights can/do happen...but it is how the "problems" are rectified by the dealer and customer...and it is a two-way street.

Marine salepeople are at times thrown into being just below a (insert your favorite here), but I don't believe that is fair. If you talk to enough dealerships, do your due dilligence on brand and dealer, you will come to know who you want to do business with. Establish a relationship with your dealer/salesperson upfront, prior to purchase. Do not just "buy the deal" but the dealership as well, and do not just "buy the sale" but the salesperson as well. Marine manufacturing and sales can certainly be improved, but a good dealership/salesperson is in reality the consumers greatest advocate. We rely on high customer satisfaction to maintain our reputation and credibility which is so difficult to gain, yet so easy to loose.

So find a dealership who holds paramount:
1. customer service
2. professionalism
3. product knowledge, and
4. working together with the customer to make the "buying experience" and their continued satisfaction after the sale.

Gotta say folks...I bought a new VLX from Ultimate Water Sports in San Jose, and Devin, the sales guy was top notch. These guys have ALL gone out of their way to help me in any way possible. Most of the sales guys ride (including Kyle at the front desk) and they will not bash other manufacturers. They know what kind of product they have, adn the Malibu boats pretty much sell themselves. The financing department is great, and they are a quick turnaround with service (which is omproving i hope). These salesmen know their boats...and they know their competitors boats. Ask any question and they have the right answer (or will find it for you). I have dealt with these guys all summer, and if you want a new VLX...call Devin at Ultimate in San Jose. You WILL NOT be disappointed.