New Hurricane owner... becoming frustrated

GEWarEagle

We took delivery of our new Hurricane SunDeck 2400 OB in early March this year. The boat is now in the shop for the 3rd time. Some of this is to be expected... punch list items but some of the issues appear to be due to lack of quality testing on our boat. We have the Yamaha 250 and it was installed on the boat at the factory, but it was placed in the wrong position, too high causing cavitation. The fuel line was also installed improperly which prevented me from fueling if the fuel ever kicked back and shut the pump off.... forget putting another ounce in. So the boat had to go in to have the engine remounted and the fuel lines corrected and a section removed. The dealer is about 40 minutes away so I'm lucky that the sales manager lives in my town and returns the boat to me each time it's been in the shop. But upon returning from the shop, I noticed that the front right bow was all banged up. It was cosmetic, just the tape, but it appeared to have happened on launch or recover of testing the boat or in the boat yard of the dealer. They didn't catch it, but when notifying them, they ordered the tape, but I do have concerns as to the durability of the tape now. We used the boat two times while waiting on the tape to come in. The first time out, the cover on the gas cap went missing... guess placing a cleat above the fuel fill wasn't such a great idea.  Then on Memorial Day weekend we were out late and had stopped for dinner. It was dark when we left and the first time we turn on our Nav Lights, the anchor light isn't operational. It's a lot of fun going by the Alabama Marine Police docks in Orange Beach at 10 pm with no anchor light on Memorial Day weekend... we were lucky we weren't stopped. When I cleaned the boat, a screw fell down into the cooler area of the stern. When I looked for where it had come from, the cross over bar on the bimini had come loose. I put the screw back in and checked the remaining screws only to find they had never been tightened.

The dealer notified me that the tape had arrived so I took them the boat on May 28 and told them that they could keep it over the weekend due to prior plans for the weekend plus I wanted them to go over my boat to double check everything. I guess I shouldn't have offered because it doesn't appear that they looked at my boat until this week. I received a message on Monday telling me that the wrong tape had been sent... yet I sent photos of the damage when reporting the problem and I was asked to send more photos to be send to Hurricane so they would know where the damage was and what to send to repair it. Now here it is getting close to the next weekend and I still don't have my boat back. Took my boat in on a Tuesday yet they didn't discover the wrong tape was sent until the following Monday... Why? Why was the wrong material sent, adequate info and photos were provided? Are the dealer and Hurricane not communicating and know that FedEx has next day delivery?

Lastly the only communication that I've had from Hurricane was a dealer survey soon after we purchased the boat and when I contacted them regarding the fuel filling problems. Other than that, nothing... not even a thank you letter. This was a big purchase for our family and we spent a lot of time making our decision and felt as if we had chosen the best boat in it's category. We're not at all unhappy with the dealer. They have done a good job in trying to keep me satisfied. I don't like complaining like this in an open forum but it's time to get this resolved.

My patience is wearing thin

AJW

In my brief experience with Hurricane, I feel that their customer service is horrible. They do not seem to want to work directly with the individuals that own their products as their response to me was to contact a dealer. The key is to find a good dealer. When I had a recent issue, the dealer that I bought the boat from basically just gave me a price to buy a replacement part. Luckily, I found another dealer that not only offered me a better price on the exact same replacement part but went to Hurricane to see if he could resolve the issue at no cost to me (I have given this dealer no previous business and they are going above and beyond to be the middle man between Hurricane and me). My outlook is much more positive now that I've found a good dealer. My recommendation is to find another Hurricane dealer. Hopefully there are multiple in your area from which to choose.

nquirk

@GEWarEagle.  First, congrats on your amazing new boat.  I'm a second time Hurricane owner (bought used first, new one 2 years later)

Its unfortunate what you've experienced but I agree 100% with AJW.  I don't see this as much a Hurricane issue as a dealer issue.  I think of my own experience the last 20+ years with GM.  I continued to work with a specific dealer because of the quality of support and services they delivered.  My last vehicle I switched dealers and without specifics, I'm switching back.  I won't let this guy change my oil.

Hurricane, like all manufacturers of cars, boats, etc rely on a network of dealers, some good, some bad, some exceptional.  Your dealer should give you quality service, and they should deal with the frustrations with the manufacturer not you.  They should thank you for your business as they rely more on you for future business.  Sure it would be nice to get that personal touch from the manufacturer, but rarely does that exist in any industry today.

I ran into many issues along the way with my new Hurricane, and my dealer here (shout out to Len's Cove Marina in Portland, ON, Canada) dealt with Hurricane, Mercury and the trailer manufacturer to get things right.  And when the manufacturer didn't step up, they did.

I hope it all gets resolved quickly so you can do what you should be doing (not writing on forums, but out riding that awesome boat)

 

 

Capt_Steve

Thanks to all you guys for the comments. It is tricky sometimes find that right line between manufacturer and dealer in taking care of issues. @GEWarEagle and @AJW ...please shoot a note to Terri in Hurricane Customer Support. She can usually make things happen. Very sorry these issues have caused this amount of stress. Most expedient path to get things like this resolved is through Terri and the dealer. Sometimes that requires some focused coordination. 

You can reach Terri at tgipson@nauticglobalgroup.com

GEWarEagle

Thanks Capt. Steve. I'll reach out to Terri

Capt_Steve

You bet, Gene...I PROMISE everyone involved wants to help you get your issues resolved quickly.