He took it to the dealer and they said that it was a bad GPS puck and he continued to use the boat the rest of the year. Should he have crawled around to see if there were more issues or take the word of a Yamaha dealership?
Trust but verify. It's an easy set of checks to look at connections with your own eyes. Voltmeters are super easy to use. A quick set of eyes on the problem might uncover something someone else missed. Why wouldn't you?
They've had his boat for months and hasn't received an update from the dealer or Yamaha, so is your suggestion to go get his boat back that is still under warranty I assume and fix the problem his self?
Yea, if I didn't hear back for MONTHS on end, and was getting shitty communication, I would have pulled the boat from them as soon as I could. There is no excuse for poor communication. Delays happen and should be taken with a grain of salt. In the end, if you aren't getting traction, why keep doing the same thing? Also, I didn't read it as the boat was sitting at the dealership for months on end, even if it was. Isn't it the off season, and wouldn't it have just been sitting in storage somewhere else? I'm not sure what the actual problem is there, aside from poor communication from the dealership and Yamaha corporate. Honestly......over a GPS puck, I wouldn't expect weekly updates. I would expect to hear NOTHING until it shows up and is ready to be installed.
Sorry Yamaha customer service and a lot of their dealers suck. I don't care if you own a value boat or a top of the line boat, shouldn't you expect the same customer service?
Nope, you certainly shouldn't. Again, setting expectations is important. If I buy a KIA and I take it in for service I don't get a loaner. If I buy an Audi, I expect the loaner, and better service. Same applies here. Same applies to my bicycle brands. I bought a value brand bike that is used. I don't expect to get the same customer service from the manufacturer as I would from a custom Ti framed bike. Why would I? What other industry works where you get top tier performance from a value brand. You get what you pay for.
Perhaps I'm lucky (while also clearly having different expectations), but my local dealer has been fair, easy to talk to, easy to work with, and generally a pleasurable experience overall anytime I have to interact with them. I have no experience calling Yamaha corporate, so I can't comment there.
Also Yamaha may be considered a value boat by some people, but they aren't priced like a value boat anymore.
What other boats are in this price range that have these spec's? It's not about what people consider a value brand, it's about where they are positioned within the industry based on price and features. You get a lot of boat for your money with a Yamaha, but you don't get a premier dealer or manufacturer network. They are simple vessels that are relatively easy to work on, so it works for them. Sure they're a lot of money to purchase. Isn't everything expensive now? Just because it costs a lot of dollars doesn't mean it's the top of the line best you can get with the best service and the best components, just means it's expensive.
Maybe I'm just different and expect a company to stand behind their product.
Aside from poor communication, what could the dealer and Yamaha have done to make this situation go any better? If they're waiting on parts they're waiting on parts, they probably don't have the buying power to push the seller to get parts any sooner than anyone else. It's not like they've broken something, or installed multiple wrong parts costing time on the water. It really appears that OP is upset that they didn't call him once a week to tell him they're still waiting for parts and give him a warm fuzzy. What expectation isn't being met here?
