Rancho - Capital Water Sports - NOT!!

Now its not my style to put folks on blast. But Capital Water Sports, Rancho Cordova has earned this one. If you have your boat serviced at the Rancho location, or are thinking about a boat there, check this out and judge for yourself.

Getting my Merc (Black Scorpion) serviced right is a hard decision, because i'm picky. Last week I took my Sanger to Capital Water Sports for a very simple repair; just replace the impeller.

$129 later, I'm good to go. $105 (1 hour labor), and $20 part. So we haul the boat up for a week long vacation on Don Pedro. EPIC lake btw.

Day 2 I notice i'm bilging like crazy, every 15 mins or so. I pop the engine compartment and can hear water dripping. I haul the boat over to Fleming's Marina and the mechanic troubleshoots it right away. When Capital Water Sports changed the impeller, they didn't seat the seal right so the water pump fitting is leaking. They pull it out, sure enough the seal got pinched during the installation.

New seal $4, and one hour labor $100 - $104 and i'm out the door enjoying my vacation. Here's where Capital Water Sports falls flat on their face.

When I get back into cell coverage, I call them and say, "hey, you guys installed an impeller last week but didn't seat the seal right. Can I get reimbursed for the cost of fixing your repair?" Fair question.

Now there's 100 right answers to my question:
1. Sure, we messed up we'll reimburse you.
2. We'll split the difference and reimburse you half.
3. You have $100 credit with our store on your next service.
4. You have one hour free labor with our store on your next service.
5. add your own positive outcome.

Instead, Capital Water Sports says "no", we're not reimbursing you anything. In fact, you SHOULD HAVE called us and we could've worked it out with the mechanic. My response was, you SHOULD HAVE fixed it right the first time!

Needless to say, I won't be going back to Capital Water Sports in Rancho Cordova. In times like this when folks in the Service Business are scrounging for customers, I would expect more.

Now that I'm off my soapbox, anyone have any suggestions (or comments on this post) on where I should get my Sanger serviced? I don't mind paying a fair price for a job done right.

We are new, but myself and my lead Tech have a combined 45 years in the industry.

Sacramento Performance Marine

916-373-2233

I thought they were out of business...are they still around?

I second the whole thought they were out of business. I bought my Tige there new in 2006 and had my service done there as well, service was fine but when I took it in for warranty work NOT SO GOOD OUTCOME. The screws that hold the hindge on the locker had numerous screws that stuck through the board and punctured through the vinyl, they said I needed to cover the labor and Tige would take care of the new vinyl. No way was I going to cover either! I had to call Tige (Tony) myself and they finally agreed to cover it all. Also none of my lights work except the one on top of my tower, CWS said they would take care of that along with the 12 volt outlet that doesn't work. I live almost 2 hours away and scheduled the work to be done, I told them once they had it not to rush and just keep it indoors or covered ( rainy season).

They had my boat for almost two weeks, drive my diesel fuel sucking truck back up to pick it up. The vinyl was replaced but still had the same too long screws in the hindge and my four year old son stepped on them. None of the electrical had been addressed as well. The entire interior was soaked and my pioneer deck was destroyed! F in pissed at this point. I would have left it for them to fix but they were closed by the time I got there to pick it up. This was last year and WILL NOT GO BACK!!!!! Kevin is a good guy but this is crappy. If you see this Tony (Tige regional sale manager) tell me where I can take my boat to resolve these issues, I know you remember me.

Troy, I feel your pain as you can see. I bought my first boat from them (Ben is an awesome salesmen, u the man bro) but next time I will shop the dealer as well as the brand. Now I know why everybody says the dealer makes the difference.

Sorry for the piss and moaning, but blame Troy he got me started

American Power Sports, Rancho Cordova on Pyrites... should be just down the street. They sell Supra boats, but will work on anything. I have had good results with them, ask for Sean he owns the place. (916)635-4644

They worked on a boat and never tested their work? They should be out of business. Your lucky
it only cost $104 cheap education.

this is why so many are going the DIY route.

Interesting, I have always taken both my Tige's there and have had nothing but great service. How much time have you spent going in and talking with them? I use to go there two times a month to say hello and simply just talk with them. Who did you talk with? Who did your repair in the service department?

David
So you have to suck up to the dealer to get good service? Its not so much they muffed the job
[It happens] its the response when they were called. I don't know them and don't want to.
A good dealer can make a bad boat good or a good boat bad.

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quote:

this is why so many are going the DIY route.

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Definitely. That's what I do.

Often a dealer is judged solely by the quality of their mechanics. I have made it a habit to watch a new shop's mechanics at work and look at their shop ie: clean organized ect.. before I let them work on my boat.

I also speak to the mechanic and get his name and make a decision at that point. I try to make sure that a specific mechanic does the work and ask for him by name the next time.

The last time I left my boat without doing this I got burned on a ballast system upgrade.

Often warranty work can be done by other brand boat dealers if it is mercruiser say. They wouldn't be able to work on trim items but they could work on the engine but check first with Mercruiser to make sure they really are authorized.
Just a thought.

Michael, if you call that sucking up, then you might want to look into why you post on this sit. Do you network with people on this site or do you suck up? I would think that you network with people and find out things that can be done to your boat or improve your riding.

Going to the dealer is networking. Getting to know who services your boat is not sucking up. It's called finding out if you can trust them with your boat. I have bought two boats from the same dealer, have had two different sales people help me, and today, I walk into that store, every single person there knows who I am. If that is sucking up, then I am guilty but again, I call it networking.

As I have said before, I have never personally have had any issues with their work and Pat and Thomas have been great when I have warranty items to take care of.

I also do a lot of DIY stuff to my boat (impeller, installation of additional hand rails, winterizing, ...)

Pat half assed mywarranty service. Happy to hear somebody has something good to say though. I'm not bashing just stating my experience. I know if Ben was still there he would have made sure my boat was taken care of, just sucks since its a two hour drive each way to try again to resolve the issues when they should have been resolved the first time.

They did do one hella good customer apprieciation weekend at Rollins Lake. See I give credit where credit is due

DIY FTW.

Then no one to blame but yourself.

I didn't buy my boat at CWS. Therefore, I have no relationship or commitment with them. I'm too busy and have no intent to spend time going there and getting to know folks who service my boat. When I go to Jiffy Lube to get my oil changed on my rig, they tell me the price, do quality work, and I pay them.
Same thing holds true here. If I take my boat somewhere for service, I will pay your price, but expect CWS to do quality work. Let's not mix apple/oranges. My point is simple. I paid CWS for a job, they messed up and didn't fess up. I don't care if you're fixing boats, pole dancing, or whatever, that is bad business.
I have a buddy who's finally in the market to buy a Tige, can I with a straight face recommend him to CWS based on my experiences with them? No way.

David
I not trying to piss you off. I thought you were saying that if Troy had spent time hanging out at the dealer [networking] the repair wound have been done correctly. Its not that a mistake was made its the way it was handled after the problem was discovered. I'm sure they have lost customers in the future because of this post.
Not to mention Troys business. All over a $100
dollar repair.

Michael, no he does not need to sit at the dealership. I was simply trying to explain that he could have spend more time talking with them. I can also see that he was south of Sacramento and needed his boat serviced because someone in the service department made a mistake. There are other things that Troy could have done to prevent the issue also but again, I don't go to these extremes when I obtain my boat after service either.

CWS is closing their doors from what I understand and they are selling their inventory at a lose. The service department IMO is great and I hope the best. It's sad that this happened to Troy.

I wasn't pissed and I do see what you are saying now.

David,
put a little more meat on that bone for me. What more could I have done to prevent this? I'm not understanding that....

What I think you should have done is call CWS on a landline when you were at Fleming's and have their mechanic talk to CWS and tell them what was wrong. This would have let CWS know prior to the work that it was really necessary.

Then maybe CWS could have paid Fleming Direct or maybe that's wishfull thinking.

Hopefully you paid CWS for their work on your Visa card if you did then by all means dispute the charge.

If you really want to go further take CWS to small claims court after sending them a demand letter. It will cost them more in time and hassle to go to court than it's worth so they may pay you. Or ask them to give you an equal amount in store credit and get a fat sac or something on them.

Additionally, don't just tell them you are going to take them to court. That's just an idle threat dealers hear all the time.

Actually file the paperwork it's cheap, you can do it yourself (with the exception of serving them) and you can recind it if you get paid.

Troy, who did you talk to and who said "No"? Was it Pat or Thomas? There is a saleman there that you could have been talking to also. You might need to talk with Tom the owner about your issue. Walk into CWS and talk with them in person.

To prevent this, you could have put a Fake-a-lake onto your intake. But again, I wouldn't have done that either if I just received the boat back. That would have been preventive maintenance.

CWS is responsible for sure, but I think you might want to walk in during the week and talk with the owner Tom. $.02

Cool David. Thanks everyone for the info/advice.

Calling CWS on a landline may have been a good idea. They said the same thing. I didn't call em, I didn't know what the leak was about until the mechanic troubleshooted it. So ya, that wouldve maybe yieled better results.
My response to them was fixing it right the first time wouldve been nice too. Obviously I could banter back-forth about perfect world scenario how it shouldve been handled, but I keep going back to their response once the problem was identified, to duck their head in the sand and claim no liability.

Philosophically we can agree to disagree. Your point about calling Mastercard and speaking with Tom is noted. I work in Livermore so walking in isn't an option I can take.

I got some pretty good feedback on this string.I prolly won't go the sue route, its really not about the money, but the service. I clearly won't be going back there anymore, nor recommending them to anyone.

Sounds like they may be going out of business, so its just the same anyway.

I totally agree with what Troy is saying about service. CWS might be "good guys" and David may have networked well and be happy, but I have seen mostly complaints about them. I do know a guy that had his newer Tige serviced there and they left 2 of the 4 transmission support brackets bolts in the bilge because they didn't spend the time fit the bracket after the alignment so all 4 bolts would go in and they just left them. I'm not surprised to hear they pinched the o-ring on Troy's boat.

A quick update: I spoke with the owner "Tom" over at CWS. Tom suggested that I could have pulled my boat from Lake Don Pedro up to his shop in Rancho Cordova (during my vacation) to have the repair done. Wow.

He also stated that CWS will be out of business in 60 days. I agree with Michael, this was cheap education, CWS can keep the $104.

I keep hearing that the sales is closing but the service or some guys from service are going to continue. Maybe you should give them a second chance Troy!

I agree with deltadave. Just found out some info. I sent you an email to the email in your profile.

When I had my Sanger, I would search Craigslist for a mobile mechanic and watch the service in front of my house. After the first time, I did it myself. Sorry to hear about your experience!

These days I don't think it matters where you go, there is a good chance someone will mess your boat up.

When I first got my boat (used) I took it to West Coast Correct Craft to get a full service (which I normally do myself). I get it back take it out on Folsom and it wouldn't even start. Minor fix but I had to take it back in and luckily I was not on a weekend trip somewhere.

Recently I take the boat to Larson's after hitting a log on the river. I get it back with the center windshield clip broken and the boat was dirtier than it has been since the day I bought it. After 6 weeks all I keep hearing is the replacement clip is ordered. Nothing mechanically wrong but the customer service Sucks.

So the two times my boat has been in the shop both times I was not happy about the service.