CENTURION & Sterling Marine Awesome Cust. Service

I just wanted to share some positive experiences I have had with Centurion (Fineline) since I purchased my boat new in late 2002. I have a 2002 Hurricane. My boat had some minor issues after I bought it. I had ballast pumps going bad or sticking and some other problems that needed tending to. I ended up taking it to the local dealer (not where I purchased the boat) on several occasions to have these things and others that had come up fixed. I was given the run around no less than 6 times with this dealers service dept. on a variety of issues. I was down during prime season last summer (missed the 4th of July and several weeks when I was told on numerous occasions that I’d have the boat back). Following that I had some prop damage due to a rock jumping in front of me (it was a bad summer) after the 4th time in for service (still having pump and fuel filter issues) and this same dealer tried to pull a fast one and put a 3 blade back on my boat trying to tell me this is a better prop than the OJ 4-blade my insurance company paid to fix!!, yada yada, said he replaced the pumps except I marked them to make sure this time. Sure enough the same pumps came back to me… These guys couldn’t even diagnose a bad Fuel Filter that was causing a fuel starving problem after 4 visits to their shop!

Anyway, I got all these things resolved, because I got Centurion/Fineline involved after I realized what an unbelievably dishonest and frankly, incompetent shop this was. The guys name at Fineline is John Beaudry and he is the BOMB! As an example, I asked John what could cause this starvation issue, and he immediately said it sounds like a problem with a fuel filter and sent me a new one in one day. I immediately put it on and that was the fix. The shop hadn’t even bothered to call for help in diagnosis. John recommended an alternate service dept. (Sterling Marine - Jacob) and they are and have been extremely honest and forthright and fix my boat when I need it fixed. As long as the maintenance is standard, the boat is in and out in no time. I have had some issues with my Faria gauges and John was incredibly helpful in taking care of these and now is still being helpful with info on changing more gauges and installing PP in my boat. These guys are the epitomy of customer service in my book and I felt they deserved some good press in a public forum. Another example of this is today I asked John if it would be a big deal to order a rocker switch direct. His first response was “What’s your address? I’ll put it in the mail.” How frigging great is that!!!

Anyway. Sorry for the long post…but I had to give props to these guys. These are only a couple out of the many times I have had good service and help from Fineline. I don’t think anyone in this industry can still consider their service to be sub par (I never felt that pain from them..EVER). I know I’m not the only Centurion owner that is totally satisfied with the helpfulness and customer oriented attitude coming out of Fineline’s Merced, CA plant.

HATS OFF TO FINELINE AND STERLING MARINE!!!

Scott,
Where is Sterling Marine? The reason I ask is because there is a Sterling Marine in Denver that handles Centurion, your profile says your in California. I am just wondering if the the two are related dealers?

Scott, that is really good to hear. congrats on your experience and especially the service from Fineline. i'll note John Beaudry as a contact in case i need to talk to Centurion directly.

John Beaudrey is the man he takes care of everyone so good. Hats off to John. i don't care what boat you buy you will have issues. and people like John and jacob at sterling are what make happy successful boat buyers. people like them make the saying "best day was when i baught the boat best day was when i sold it" not true boating is supposed to be fun and they help keep it that way

It would take me for ever to write a post to state how pleased I'am with Centurion. I'm sure most of you read all my post. It really makes me feel good to know that have their 100% support. I don't have to worry about nothing. They have truly bent over backwards for me.

P.S. John thanks for being helpful we really appreciate it.

Scott,
Is there a reason you didn't name the local shop you had problems with? I'd like to make sure that my boat doesn't end up there. Good to hear you're being taken care of.

Rod,
Yeah. I don't like to bash people in a public forum like this. It can get out of hand and then I start getting phone calls... If people have questions, they can feel free to shoot me an email or PM. Those guys know who they are. They read this board and wboarder.com.

Sterling Marine Center is in Rancho Cordova, CA, just east of Sac. I don't know if they are related to the one in Colorado. I doubt it. This place is family run.}

Wow. I wish I had that experience with my dealer/fineline. I had a horror story as well with my Centurion - the dealer run around, not fixing issues etc... (I'll even name em - Cope$Mcpheters (aka Ultimate Water Sports)) I wish I had been able/known to contact Fineline about the troubles.... I just assumed the dealer was the last straw.
As such, I got rid of my troublesome 2001 E-Lite V-drive for a Mastercraft X30 - and am SUPER satisfied with Ski World USA in Pleasanton / Liquid Wrenches in Livermore for there service and care (the only thing to go wrong with my Mastercraft was a fuel system recall - that took two days to fix).....
Regardless of the boat, the dealer makes/breaks the experience.

Jason,
That truely is a bummer. Sorry you had those issues. I wouldn't completely agree with the dealer comment though. There's always someone that has more authority that can get something done. In this case, it was the manufacturer and they've gone way above and beyond in my opinion.