Commander Boats in Corona/Perris WHAT A JOKE!!!

Ok you have to hear this to believe it, total disrespect for a customer. Now I know Commander boats would not be your traditional wakeboard boat, but this story is so blatently wrong in how they treated a customer, I had to tell it here, oh and I hope to post it on other sites too.

My good friend drops $45K on a custom Commander 22 foot open bow jet boat. He ordered it early this year at the LA boat show. Was told the boat would be ready in 4 to 6 weeks. Well we have all heard that and it takes closer to, if not more than 8 weeks, ok no biggy.

He picks up his brand new boat in late May early June and is actually very happy with it, but now is when the fun uggggg I mean nightmare begins. after owning the boat for a couple of weeks he makes an appointment for the 20 hour service, in advance. The 20 hour service is supposed to be a drop off in morning pick up in afternoon deal, especially when you have to make an appointment well in advance. Well he gets there to drop off his boat, 10 days before the 4th of July and is told it would be there a day or two because they were slammed with the 4th of July rush. Ok not the end of the world.

Now for the 4th of July he has plans to go up north with a group of friends, hotel reervations are made, slips have been rented, etc etc. The trip has been in the works for 3 to 4 months.

Well 5 days into his boat sitting at the dealership, he is told they have not touched it, at that time he lets them know if they can't get to it by the 4th, he will just come pick it up. He didn't want to risk his boat not being ready for the big weekend just to get a 20 hour service, that is one of the reasons he brought it in 10 days in advance! Well he calls daily from then on and can you believe it, they get the boat ready in time "for him to pick up on Thursday the 3rd in the afternoon!!! The night he is trying to leave he has to fight 50 miles of holiday traffic to the dealership to pick up his boat, so he can hit the road for his 7 hour drive" messing up his whole planned schedule to get out of town. Now here is where it gets ugly.

He shows up at the dealership at 5PM on Thursday to pick up his 30 day old boat. He pays and is told to go out front to pick up his boat. Well he goes out front, no boat, is told to go out back, no boat, is told to go to the side, no boat. Now nobody has a clue where they put his boat. After 30 minutes of checking they have 2 or 3 guys scratching there heads looking for his boat. Nobody can remeber where they put it, and one guys goes as far to say that he hasn't seen it for days. Guess what?!?!?! THE BOAT WAS STOLEN FROM THEIR SERVICE CENTER!!!!

Now my friend is stuck there until after 8PM filling out a police report and knowing his weekend and most likely summer is ruined. So he aproaches the owner of Commander Boats and asks if he will do anything for him. By this time my buddy is stuck with the hotel fees, something like $500, slip rental fees, has purchased all the beer, food, everything they were bringing has been packed, not to mention he had $2500 in personal stuff on the boat, the kids are waiting to leave for a holiday weekend at the lake with family and friends. The whole works, the owner says sorry can't help you, doesn't offer anything at all and to make matters worse, he turns his back to my friend and walks in his office, closes the door in his face and attempts to sell another boat to another customer.

My friend is floored, they don't offer to cover the boat with their insurance, in fact tell him he is S**T out of luck. Don't offer to cover any of his fees for the vacation, don't offer if he recovers his boat to fix any damage for free, don't offer if he does not recover his boat to sell him a new one at a discount, don't even offer an apology! Nice going Commander Boats in Corona and Perris California.

So now he has to wait 30 days to see if the boat is recovered, to date it hasn't and he has a week left to go. August 2nd being 30 days, his own insurance is going to cover the boat, but he is not sure yet if they will cover the full cost, or a marked down cost because of depreciation. "it was only 30 days old" His insurance company is then going to go after Commander's insurance company to pay up, probably a 50/50 chance they will have to. But in the end Commander might end up paying anyway, and alienate a once happy customer at the same time.

So August 2nd if he is lucky he will get his money, and if he goes with the same kind of boat he will have to wait another 6 to 8 weeks for it and you guesses it, loss of his whole summer of boating. Where I know he had other plans, reservations made for additional trips etc.

I told him he needs to walk accross the street to Tige' Watersports in Corona, where they value their customers and get a real boat!

So sorry to be so long winded, but he really feels like he has been victimized twice in this deal, once by the low life leach sucking thieves, and by the low life leach sucking Commander Boat ownership and managment. With them turning their back on him and slamming the door in his face, I hope this public blast makes him feel a little better about the situation and let's all know what kind of dealership they are.

seeya

Sorry to hear that. Maybe when it is all cleared up, he should walk across the street to Tige'. I know Tige's are not the most popular boat on this site, but I can assure you that he would never be treated like that at their dealership. Tom and Daniel are outstanding salesmen and their service department is second to none.

commboats@aol.com

Thats to long to read, I am over it.

But if it was an essay contest I am sure that you would do well.

That just sucks! I thought Commander Boats had a pretty good reputation too. I guess I was wrong or confused. Go to California Skier and buy a Master Craft. Sometimes the service dept can seem a little short and grumpy but I have to say they work hard to zip my boat in and out of there shop when it's in for service.

Island Marine in Corona and get a SSV

I bought a boat from Island Marine. I would not, under any circumstances, buy another! Sorry! Others have better luck, that I understand. Just my opinion.

Yeah sorry about the lenght of my post LOL

I am partial to Tige's, because of my great experience with them, and it tied in, since they are literely accross the street from each other, but all boats mentioned above are great boats and would fit under the, buy a real boat quote!!

Now, this is just me thinnking here, but I can see some kind of legal action here. The dealer has him schedule his boat in for a few hours for service, so he is supposed to drop the boat off in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon. Then they don't call him to let him know they can't get to it on his scheduled day, so he arrives and has to leave it due to service shop overload. Sounds like to me that once the dealer tells him he will have to leave it, that the dealer assume responsibility for it, and is thus liable if it is damaged or stolen. I know we have several lawyers on this site that could provide advice about whether legal action would be benificial here, but I certainly think so. Heck if a woman can get millions for spilling coffee in her own lap, then your friend should be able to get satisfaction through legal channels.

Commanders suck, watched one delaminate and sink in about 50 seconds at about 80mph at the Ventura off shore race a few years back. I agree with Chris it sounds actionable

You are probably right, and I agree with your comments. I am going to bring up your points to my buddy, thanks.

I am going to try to talk him into a wakeboard boat. Why you would want a 22 foot open bow jet boat is beyond me. Yes they have a high top speed, but so what, that is realy all they are made for they and they also guzzle gas by the tank full. For the same price he cold get a very nice wakebaord boat and not have to wait 8 weeks or more for it, I know one of his coments was that jet boats are safer with no prop. But as we all know inboards are pretty damm safe with the prop under the boat.

The lack of a prop may be a little safer but the higher top speed capability and no skegs under the boat make the Commander much more dangerous than an inboard.

I bet his insurance is a lot higher on that jet boat, too.

I bet your right too, good point on the other items.

To me a Wakeboard boat is so versatile compared to his stolen boat. In the case of my Tige' 22I with the Taps it's even more versalite, especially if you like to ski on occasion. "we don't" but if you do it has a respectable ski wake, or should I say lack of wake. With the Taps on Wakeboard setting it throws a respespecable wakeboarding wake, though I am waiting delivery of some sacs from letsgoride.com to enhance it even more. An extra 1200 pounds shouldn't hurt LOL

sometimes a jet boat is nice to have if you are in the blythe area, shallow water in all.

commanders do suck, if your goin to get a jet, ultra has a 21 w/ wakeboard options

I think that will turn out the best thing that ever happened to him. Getting shod of that dealer so earlier in the piece will make his life so much better.

I wonder if the police are taking into consideration that Commander is a manufacturer, and maybe the scenario is like the boat that was "stolen" was actually resold with a new HIN?

Just out of curiosity, why would you want to drive 50 miles to get the boat serviced by the manufacture? Why take it to the manufacture vs a local service center? I know if i did't have a local dealer, I would take it to a service center for basic maintance.

Jeff, interesting point.

I don't know why he took it to the manufacturer, my guess is that is the local service center as far as Commanders are concerned. Plus here in Orange County you have to accept the fact that most of the service centers are located in Riverside or Corona anyway. Or it might have been a warranty thing, that he has to take it to an authorized Commander service center for the 20 hour service. Who knows.....I will update you in a few days with what happens, the 2nd of August is the 30 day mark.

Commander (and other custome builders) really don't have dealers. It's all one operation, owned by one guy. Think about this:

Your friend drops his his boat off at the shop for service one day. A few hours later, another guy comes in looking for a boat in stock, because he's gotta have one for the 4th. He sees your friend's boat and says he's gotta have it, makes a ridiculous offer. The floor salesman either screws up, and doesn't think about the boat not being dealer stock, because it's so new/clean, and makes the deal, or just goes in to the manager and says that he's got a customer who either wants to buy this other customers boat cash on the spot, or he's gonna walk. The manager has the salesman tell the customer it's a deal, and it'll be prepped and ready tomorrow, with a new trailer, because obviously that trailer is shop/showroom trailer. They grind off the HIN, and issue a new one, glass it in. Put the boat on a new trailer, make new docs. and the deal is done, except for figuring out how they are gonna tell your friend about it. It must have been stolen, yeah that's it, stolen!

Jeff, anything is possible. I wouldn't put it past them with the treatment he has received, when the owner or manager turns his back on you to go lock himself in his office to sell another boat. It looks like the are pretty aggresive!

I will pass this on to my buddy and he can mention it to the police. Of course how do you prove it if it did happen? I guess float the possibility to the police, then if a pattern develops, down the road they would be caught, again if they are doing it to begin with.

Hey do you ever get out on the backwater, headin there this afternoon for a session.

In addition most merc cruisers dont need service until 100 hours now. I know that is the case with my 2002 Black Scorp. I showed up for my 20 and they said I didn;t need it, checked the manual and 100 is the first.

I'd love to...I usually head out there one of the weekend mornings, and one evening after work each week. Just sold my boat, have to wait 6 weeks for the new one to arrive. We have a wakeboard club meeting tonight @ 7. If you get a chance, stop by our Learn to Ride day on Saturday. It's at the 22000 Village Way Drive (private residence, half a block past Holliday Harbor). Just walk around to the back yard!

Jeff,

a buddy and I are heading to the backwater on Saturday "tomorrow" at about 7 - 7:30 AM. For a 3 hour session, if you would like to join, you are welcome. We are looking for a third right now.

The learn to ride, what time is it at? I might stop by, it depends on another commitment I made. It might fall through, if it does I will definetely come by.

Learn to ride day starts at 8:00am (sorry, I'll have to miss your set tomorrow, but thanks much for the invitation), and runs until everyone learns to ride (may be the whole day) . An article came out in the Press Enterprise that generated a lot of interest, we are expecting a ton of people!

That is great, I will try to stop by after our set.

Cheers

Jonathan,

I'm sure the cops could get records to see who these shysters sold boats to after he dropped his boat off with them, go check them out these boats, and if one just happens to look exactly like your buddy's stolen boat, then I'd say they got the smoking gun.

Man I came across another board on hotboat.net. Someone took my post here and started one over there with it, they have 88 posts to the thread, they are wacking Commander around big time LOL it is pretty strange to come across your own thread, after the fact, that you didn't start, and everyone has commented on. Here is the link if you want to check out the fun. LOL

They get pretty crazy over there LOL

http://forums.hotboat.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=005285