Hello and thanks for your time
i bought a used (1989) sun tracker 24 foot pontoon party barge in april of this year. A good boat at a good price from a person in mesa. It had been sitting for a couple of years without use because the people i bought it from had been going thru a bad time and no longer can live together.
I buy the boat and i know it needs work. I think to myself "i will take it to the factory authorized dealer to have it inspected and needed repairs none by them".
I call, action marine, 1440 w broadway road, mesa arizona, 85210.
480-649-3848. They are the factory authorized for the phoenix area. A man answers the phone and says "may i help you?" i said "i think so" and i told him the story about my recent find and he tells me "no problem, bring it on in" ok, i pull in the driveway (at the mentioned address) and stop. I get out of my truck and as i am walking toward the front door i hear a car
pull up, a man get out and from behind me i hear " can i help you?" i say to him " i'm not sure". He asks "are you looking for service?". I tell him that i am and he says "we don't do any service here" i told him that i had just called and he said that i had to go to the "other store" and that it is in the same setting " just one block north of where we are now, at 1366 w main street".
Ok, i turn around in the back of the lot, come out onto broadway road, east to country club road, and go north one block to main street and i turn west and i see action marine (1366 w main street), authorized tracker dealer. I pass the store and turn north up a side street (off main) and park. As i walk thur the (big, nice) service area i think to my self " this is the place, this is what i'm looking for". I walk into the office area i see a man talking on the phone, i wait. When he's done he says to me "can i help you?" i say "i think so" i tell him the story so far and he picks up a clipboard. We walk outside toward my boat talking about this and that, what to do, whats my name, where i live ect. When we get out by the boat he looks up and says "that's a johnson outboard isn't it?"
(well yeah, it says johnson tracker right on the engine hood) i told him "yes, it is" he then told me that " we don't work on johnson outboards here". I said "but you are the tracker authorized dealer". He says "yeah, but we don't work on johnson outboards here" so i ask him "what do i do now?". He told me that i have to go back to thier other store. "but i just came here from the other store (broadway), the guy at the other store told me to come here (main)" i told him.
Ok, i'm back at the first store, the broadway store. I pull in thur the gate and park in the back lot. I walk in the back door, the show room is full of new boats. I walk around looking at big, pretty new boats and i see a man on the phone back in a corner. When he is done i hear "can i help you?" i think to my self "i hope so" and i tell him the story so far. He says "we do no service here, you have to go to our other store".
(UNBELIVEABLE!) "what other store?" i ask." two doors east of here" he tells me. The "arizona boat store (1366 w broadway), we are all in cahoots". By now i'm thinking " what the hell kind of place is this" and that i should leave, now, but i'm three hours into this and now, finally, at the end of my ordeal. WRONG!
Ok, i pull around to the backof the show room at action marine (1440 w broadway) and go east thur a dirt lot COMMON to
"trucks only". (a used pick-up truck sales lot. One door east of action marine/broadway and between the arizona boat store which is on the N/W corner of west broadway and a short cul-de sac that ends north of broadway, i don't know the name.) i stop behind the arizona boat store and walk in the door. A young man behind the counter (rick) asks" can i help you?" i tell him the whole story and that my experiance so far has been... A nightmare. He tells me "from here every thing will be taken
care of". I think" we'll see" and i tell him that i need the brakes on the trailer repaired, so i can use it and also that the outboard needs inspection and whatever repairs done. So that i can use it too. "no problem" he says "we are busy right now, it will take seven to ten day to fix. I will call you if we have any trouble" EXCELLENT! I am a happy boater now.
Two weeks. Four weeks. No word. So i call rick and ask" how are we doing?"." we can't find this, we don't have that, i'll call you tommorro, ok?".
Ok. Wek five. No word. I call rick. And i ask him the same question "how are we doing?"., all i can get from my new buddy rick is "blah, blah, blah, blah" that the brake system is something rare and they can't find parts, i'll call you first thing in the morning, ok? Ok.
Now, i have the same brake setup on another tralier and if i ever needed a part i go to the autosafty house on I-17 in west phoenix and can buy a truck load of attwood surge brake system parts any dayof the week. So now i know my new buddy isnot being truthful. So, what to do now?
I wait a few days, nothing, no word. I call him, "rick's not here". We are now looking at week six. At this rate summer will be over before i get to the lake. Right at the beginning i told rick that i wanted to be ready before the moon was full, that i wanted to take my wife for a boat ride under the full moon. He told me "no problem". Well, that didn't happen and now the next full moon in coming around. My new buddy is not playing straight and i'm starting to get real nervous.
Ok, i start to call rick. "rick's not here, he doing this, he's doing that"."i'll call back"."l'll tell him you alled"."thank you" the next day i call and rick is not there. "well that's ok, will you give him a message for me? Tell him that i want an itemized list of all work done on my boat and tralier and that i want every used part that they take off of my boat and tralier in a box when i come to pick it up ok?" "no problem" i'm told.
Now, i'm a pain in everybodys back. No one wants to work on my boat and my new pal rick is RUDE if and whenevery i can get him on the phone.
One morning the phone rings and its rick, "your boat is ready, come and gt it", i'm told. "i'll be right there"
when i get there my boat is in the driveway out front. I hook up to it and walk in side to pay the bill. No sign of rick. The man behind the counter is ricks dad, who turns out to be the store owner. Mike randall. When it comes time to settle, i'm told the amount due is $1,600.
I was flabbergasted, i all most choked. I look at my box of parts (a small box) and i see mostly tralier parts (tail lites, 3wheel cyinders and a backing plate that is dirty, but still good, useable and a few outboard parts (waterpump impeller, a shifting rod, stater mounting bracket) i mean these guys are charging me $70.00 an hour to change tail lites. I can change a tail lite. Oh, and CASH ONLY, no checks, no credit cards. I ask why cash only and mike told me " it's because people use the credit cards and stop payment and people write checks and then cancle payment on them to".
Anyway, i have been ripped off and i want people to know about these people. I also have sent a letter to (tracker marine, 2500 e kearney, springfield, mo. 65803) and to their customer service in lebanon, mo. (p o box 552,65536) can you help me out? Point me in the right direction. Every boat person that i talk to tells me the same thing. I got took. Thats the worst
place in town to go for boat work.
What do you think?
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