Help with customer support

[Cody Johnson]

Does anyone have experience dealing with Yamaha corporate for support? There’s nothing listed on the website other than a dealership finder.

My rear radio control died in my 2017 242 limited. I took it to the dealership in Saint Charles, Mo as it’s the nearest one to me (120 miles) and they’ve denied warranty because I’m past the 12 month original warranty. I’m told that’s the Y.E.S (which I have) won’t cover this as the radio and speakers are covered by Polk for one year only and are exempt from Y.E.S coverage. Estimated cost is $700 with parts and labor. My boat was 14 months old when I dropped it off. I’m hoping to get some support or consideration from the manufacturer.

Additionally, I’m finding the dealership to be ridiculously poor in quality. They’ve had my boat for 8 weeks now and continue to dodge my calls, not return messages and now they’re telling me they damaged the wiring harness so I’m waitjng on another part. They’re telling me that coat is mine to bear because “it may have been damaged at the factory”. Steer clear of this shop! I fully understand it’s not under warranty if what they’re telling me is correct. Part of the deal, stuff breaks but their lack of communication and customer care is not acceptable to me.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

 

[jcyamaharider]

Cody good to see you here. I will tell you that your experience with this dealer is VERY uncommon. I know this dealer and my boat is actually going up there tomorrow for some warranty work. The rear remote is a known issue so they should stand behind it regardless.

 

[swatski]

If you are talking about St. Charles Boat and Motor - I'm extremely surprised, I have dealt with them over many years and know them to be are a very solid, well run business.
I have had a fair number of issues with my 2016 AR240, purchased from SCBM. Yamaha was of little help and SCBM could only do so much but they tried very hard to help. Sometimes a dealer is put in an impossible position by a manufacturer. Talk to Jerry, the owner, he is a solid guy and an upstanding citizen.
He may or may not be able to help you depending on Yamaha posture in the particular case. Keep in mind, the YES warranty is basically a joke, it covers nothing, just read the damn thing you will laugh. Yamaha uses the same YES document for all their toys, not just boats.

--

 

[Ilmmct]

Sorry to hear about the issue, here are the YES terms:

https://www.yamaha-motor-yes.com/globalassets/terms--conditions/fl-highlights_wc_11-424-rev.-6_21_11sampleonly.pdf

Look at the section for specific Exclusions Paragraph 5 ... excludes Audio.

 

[Dwrat]

No audio coverage my friend.

 

[Cody Johnson]

Cody good to see you here. I will tell you that your experience with this dealer is VERY uncommon. I know this dealer and my boat is actually going up there tomorrow for some warranty work. The rear remote is a known issue so they should stand behind it regardless.

Awesome thank you!

 

[Cody Johnson]

Thanks all for the responses. I did pick up my boat yesterday and everyone was very friendly & apoligetic for the amount of down time. $700 later as the radio works. Cleaning up for winter storage today.

Now the countdown begins to spring ‘19

 

[haknslash]

Ouch that sucks! Once they would have told me it's not covered I would have just bought the radio and installed it myself to save a few hundred dollars. I think it sells for around $530 new but you can probably find it cheaper on amazon or ebay. Those radios can fail because the volume knob does NOT have a gasket behind them which allows water to get inside the unit and rust/corrode/die etc. Personally I think Yamaha makes the mistake of mounting them so low where they get soaked as water rushes over the lower swim platform coming off plane. The remote should be higher but then again anyone in the water wouldn't be able to easily adjust things on it so it's a tradeoff. I'd take the small annoyance of no adjusting from the water than have it fail repeatedly over the years.

Watch Rob's video for what I mean....

 

[Weeb]

I lost my knob and had to get a new one so I put a dab of silicone on it so it wouldn’t fall off again. Now I’m thinking I shouldn’t have done that.