Marineland Boating Center, Waco, TX

[MrMoose]

I purchased a Yamaha boat from Marineland Boating Center in Waco Texas, and subsequently brought it back to them for the first service at 10 hours. The purchase process was very efficient, and it was a real pleasure dealing with “Captain Jack”. Marineland has competitive pricing on the boats that they sell as well as on their accessories and service.

Unfortunately, the service that I received was substandard.

1. When the oil was changed, they did not follow Yamaha protocol because they did not warm up the engines before extracting the oil. I know this because they were not in possession of the boat keys when they changed the oil. One of my engines had the correct amount of oil in it, 3.8 qts, and the other engine had too much oil in it, 5 qts.

2. One of the cup holders on the rear swim deck of the boat was not draining, and to correct this, the technician stuck something down the drain hole to unplug it. After the fix, while still at the dealership, I questioned why the water was not draining out of the through-hull drain fitting (where it should have), and I was brushed off. It turns out that when the technician “unplugged” the drain line, he actually disconnected it which caused the water to drain into the bilge instead of onto the swim platform. This is a problem because the cup holder in question often gets filled with water due to its location on the swim platform. Long story short, the problem was misdiagnosed and their “fix” made it worse. After being brushed off by the service advisor, I took the cup holder assembly apart and found that the root cause was a pinched drain line. I fixed it myself.

3. I reported to the service advisor that my boat leaked such that the bilge pump would run while the boat was in the water. I was told “they all leak”. My service invoice says that they tested my boat in their water tank and that no leaks were found. They did not test my boat in their water tank. I don’t think that they have a water tank that holds a 24 foot boat. I later took my boat to another Yamaha dealer who diagnosed that my boat had some leaky thru-hull fittings.

4. Their technician cross-threaded one of the engine cover bolts when he was changing the spark plugs. I had to fix this myself by using a tap to restore the threads.

Not only would I not trust Marineland to service my boat, but I will never do business with them again. I understand that mistakes can be made, but it’s important that they are corrected. For example, they sold me the wrong anchor and wrong mooring cover, but they corrected that. They also sold me a flare/signaling kit. The kit retails for $100-$150 depending where you buy it from. On the day that I received the flare kit with the delivery of my new boat, the flares had already been expired for two years. It was their mistake. When I told Marineland that they sold me a flare kit that was expired, they did nothing to correct this. I even suggested that they did not need to give me a whole new kit, just recognize their mistake and do something to make it right, but they did nothing. This is very disappointing, especially considering that their mistake was safety related.

 

[OCMD]

Sounds like the old "MIMO" business model..."Move them in, move them out," and hope the customer doesn't raise hell and perhaps sue them for a refund, or worse, for paying elsewhere to fix their mistake. I hate this stuff. More so, because the average consumer does not have the money (for an competent attorney) nor do they have the time needed to properly put these incompetents in their places. I'm just happy I can freely stick it to these companies when they f me over, as I will be doing to American Home Shield (warranty company - rip off) this week, for (regrettably for them) f-ing me over on a claim.

 

[MrMoose]

I tried to work with them for a month regarding the expired flare kit. "I'll look into it and get back to you", "I'll try to get to it today". ... I guess that their reputation is worth less than $100. The only positive experience was the salesman, and he no longer works there. I posted my review on yelp.

 

[SeanPC]

Thanks for the write-up Mr. Moose. They're the closest boat dealership to me so was hoping I could use them for servicing by boat (once I actually pull the trigger). Might have to take it down to Austin or up to Dallas but either way will be a pain to service if I don't do it myself.

 

[Bruce]

Might have to take it down to Austin or up to Dallas but either way will be a pain to service if I don't do it myself.

Other than warranty issues, servicing the boat is easy and you will save huge amounts by doing it yourself.

 

[MrMoose]

Funny that this thread should resurface. @SeanPC, I was just at Marineland last Saturday picking up some items that had come in from my 10 hr warranty claim. In my previous post, I had mentioned that the only positive experience was my interaction with the sales person "Captain Jack" who has since left the company. Well it turns out that his son Mark has been working there since last November. Mark helped me out on Saturday. He's a stand-up guy just like his father.
It's tough giving bad reviews on a place when it has some good people in it who are caught between a rock and a hard spot (with poor leadership/upper mgmt), just trying to keep their job.
Their parts were reasonably priced (i.e. oil, spark plugs). Just beware that you're getting what you ordered... try to stay away from the expired flare kits.