Getting Factory Advice?

S

saltspring

New member
Can anyone share their experiences trying to contact C-Dory and what was successful? I sent the email below to them twice over the course of the last 2 weeks using the email address they suggest on their website. No response.

I have to say that I am somewhat disappointed by both the issue I am having and the lack of response. The phone to the parts and warranty department seems to be on VM all the time. I bought the boat partially on the promise of a great service and quality. I don't want to start another c-dory quality rant, but I would like some constructive ideas.

Fortunately my local dealer, Sportcraft, has indicated that they will do the repair if I bring it in and my experience with them has been great. I would, however, like to get the factory take on what the issue might be and make sure that the root cause is addressed.

Any suggestions or ideas

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Dear C-dory

I writing in regards to a problem that I am having with my 2007 19 Angler. I appear to have some kind of leakage that is resulting in water accumulating in the stowage hatch under the v-berth. I do not use the hatch much, however, after a summer of usage I opened the hatch to find that about a quart or more of water was sloshing around in it. I have subsequently dried the area and found that I can feel substantial moisture on the starboard side if I reach back from the inside of the hatch to the compartment with foam flotation. This is the area underneath the v-berth decking. These is no moisture in the v-berth area on the deck where the mattress sits.

My only conclusion is that there must be leakage through the rubrails into the boat. The problem, or at least the moisture, seems to be limited to the starboard side. Can you please advise on how to proceed, I would like to remedy this situation as soon as possible.
 
There are some companies that are phone-centric and there are other companies that are email-friendly. My observation, FWIW and not based on personal experience, is that at C-Dory e-mail runs a very distant second to phone for effective communication.
 
Hi Saltspring,

Check for a PM. I assumed the recent slow-down would allow the factory to improve their follow-up to customers; apparently this isn't the case. I hope there will be some information in the PM that will help.

No one wants to feel ignored. Especially after you have plunked down a large sum of money. So this isn't construed as bashing, to their credit, when you can pin them down and get a response, we were able to resolve our warranty issues.

Having a good dealer is a real plus.

Good luck,
Jim B.
 
Email responses are scant at best. It's best to call, and you will need to call several times.

The very best bet is to have the dealer making the calls. This seems to get the fastest response from my limited experience.
 
The best way to contact C-Dory is to call Rich or Bret Reynolds on their cell phones. They have each posted here with their numbers, it should not be too hard to find.

On edit:

Rich Reynolds
C-Dory Marine Group
Vice President/Owner
253-839-0222 Office
253-205-9925 Cell
richreynolds@c-dory.com
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I got a couple of great PMs with numbers that may work. As I said my service from Sportcraft has been great, they are responsive and have always answered questions.

My main concern was speaking with c-dory about the problem and understanding the possible causes. It strikes me as strange when a brand new boat has a leak. I don't just want to throw a couple of tubes of 4200 on it if there is a better way!

Thanks for the suggestions and I am sure that I will get to speak to c-dory soon. Maybe I'll come to the factory dinner and get the tour.
 
If your Ford or Chevy had a problem, would you contact the factory to get help??????????
NO, you would go to a dealership to rectify the problem and the dealer would be the intermideary to the factory.
if you bought the car used from a private party, would you call the factory for help, NO
If your furnace quit in the middle of a snow storm, would you call the Factory, NO, you would call your service department at the dealer who sold it to you.
If your Bayliner had a problem would you call the factory ??? probably NOT, you would go to your DEALER.

The dealers are put in place to be the go to guy for help. we cannot expect the factory to be there at our beck and call.
A few years ago that was not the case with C-Dory, as they had a retail showroom and were a dealer and service center. that has changed with the closing of the retail sales department and has shifted to their dealer network. So if you are having a problem, call your DEALER, that is what they are there for
 
Well thanks for the thought Roger, but in this case I think the answer is YES I would expect to talk to the factory. WHY else would they PUBLISH a warranty email on their WEBSITE and have a PHONE NUMBER for warranty questions?This sets an EXPECTATION. Beck and call? I'd settle for a response , and YES I am going to my DEALER this is more to let c-dory know that their brand new boat leaks and maybe they want to address that for future customers. I have never heard of a company with a product like this that did not want customer feedback. That is product management 101. By the way I was happy to spend 15 MINUTES on the phone with their marketing firm answering their questions after spending $30K with them.

If I had bought a boat that did not have a reputation for being a bit different from an Bayliner I may be more likely to accept your argument. Instead I paid a premium for a boat and one of the reasons I did that was to get better service and have insight into the problems. If I wanted a bayliner I would have bought that and a Chevy.

This is not a mass production item and equating it to a Chevy is lame argument. I can tell you if you buy a higher end airplane like a Lancair or a Cirrus you certainly DO call the factory when there is an issue.

Look, I really did not want to start another rail on the factory session, I thought I made that clear in my original post. I love my boat, I love the product and I wanted some productive insights.
 
I had a reason to call the factory recently, due to a very conspicuous part of my 22 Cruiser that was missing since I purchased it slightly used about a year ago. It did take a couple of calls over that many weeks, but when I did get through, using the factory contact number from their web site, I spoke to the parts manager, John, and I had the requested items in 3 days. SleepyC will now look like a real C-Dory,

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Back in the beginning days of C-Dory when I and Rodger on SENSI bought our boats (1983) there existed a kind of loose knit fraternal organization of the company owners and C-Dory boat owners.
I bought my boat at the factory from Mr. Toland the designer of the C-Dory boat and father of Mark. He personally took me, my father-in-law and my two little boys as well as his two little grandsons out for a test drive. He told us of the goods/bads of the design and the expected performance. I was convinced. It was a great experience.
An order was placed. Several months later Mark called me to say my build date could be moved up to next month as an order had been cancelled. We drove down in Aug.83, to pick up our new boat and Mark personally checked it over, took my check and we were off to Alaska. When a few problems developed I called him and it was handled that day. I needed new fenders for the trailer and he sent them to me that day.

Those days are LONG GONE fellow dory owners. I am really sorry to see it but the boating world marches on. C-Dory has been sold, merged with other companies and is now run/managed/owned by folks that are up to there a-- 24/7 in alligators with problems, manufacturing deadlines etc Employees that are not worried about your problems but are worried about coffee break, lunch time, 5 PM going home time and weekend.
With the number of boats out there they can no longer do the personal things like immediately returned phone calls/e-mails and at the factory warranty repairs like we used to enjoy. They are now likened to the GM of the boating world like someone else said.
Let the dealers help us out, communicate problems to the factory and soothe our little egos. I don't like it either but that is how it is and will be.
Happy holidays......... :xtongue
 
Cool. I think everyone is right on target here.

Yep, If I were a factory and someone paying non-entry level prices for a boat is having water issues, I would want to know about every one of them.

Yep, They have to be very busy up there with all the changes in dealerships and employees of late. And, have heard one of the old hands who works with the dealerships is back in the house and that should be a good thing for the C-Dory owners and dealerships.

Yep, that is Rich's cell phone number as published and the last time he and I had email contact this was his email: richreynolds@c-dory.com I sent him an email as to let him know of your issues, both the water and the contact.

Yep, some of the issues of late have been caused by QC issues, and less than true ready product going to the MANY dealerships now. So, maybe, they are focused on putting out quality hulls, that the dealerships can just sell after their work on rigging....if it did not come from the factory ready-rigged.

Yep, I had a Yamaha question that I needed answered on Monday, a day that the dealership was closed this time of year...so, I called the factory, and in less than 30 minutes, had my answer. Did not like the 20 minute wait on hold waiting for a humanoid to answer, but hey...good solid straight from the factory feedback in less than an hour. That ain't bad and the speaker on this cell phone allowed me to continue to play on the C-Brat site while waiting. Just for kicks and grins, the Yamaha 115 four stroke electronic motors use 5 of the 25 amps coming off the altenator, giving a net result of 20 available to charge the cranking batteries and/or other batteries depending on how our boats are rigged. But then, Yamaha is more like Chevy than C-Dory and I would not expect a 30 minute response from C-Dory, nor a two week one, but within a few days maybe...? I don't know.
 
I appreciate all the advice, here is a quick update. I took the boat in to Sportcraft and as always they were friendly and responsive.

Tim said they had pulled the rubrails off two other boats and fixed the leaks so they knew the drill and could get it done no problem. I expect that I will be back in business inside a week.

As far as the factory goes I understand and appreciate their challenges. I think that they have an amazing product and a great brand. The decision to buy this boat was in large part because of this brand image and anything that they can do to maintain it is in their best interest. This site was a big part of it, there is certainly the feel here looking through the posts that the boat owners are behind the company and I'd like to hope that it will always be that way. As we all know the boats are amazing and everywhere I go with it in the water or on the trailer people ask about it and want to know about the company and the boat.

I hold no ill will to the factory folks, just would be nice to have that contact and feel that they wanted to hear from me and how their product is performing. With dealers like Sportcraft they certainly have good support.

Thanks again for the advice and help.
 
I have been trying to contact the factory as well. I did send a couple e-mails to reynolds with no reply so I started calling the tech services number posted on the factory website. Each time I got a recorded message so I hit "O" and got a receptionist. Frank is the person who is supposed to handle the tech help calls. After two calls over a couple weeks he did return my call to my cell phone but it was off for a few hours during the height of the storm. Just my luck. So now I have a couple more calls in. Originally I called about my rubrail as well. The end of the starboard rail was pulling away from the hull and I was going to see how they wanted me to handle getting it fixed as it is a 2006 boat. Water seeping through the inside paint on the hull is no big surprise to most of us on here. I finally did the repair myself as my dealer was EQ and I didn't feel like traveling 5 hours one way for something that seemed pretty simple. If you were to see how those rails are fastened (or almost fastened) you would all be pretty disappointed. In my case at least the last three pop rivets never actually penetrated the hull. They were grabbing a little meat on the outside surface of the hull. When I went to pry the rubber strip out of the track I kept getting rivets pulling loose. I ended up going through the wiring boot to install a bolt on the rear, and large sheet metal screws on the others but I have a feeling this repair is not long term so I will probably open it up again after it warms up and do it more solidly. But I was really disappointed in what I saw. I too have leaking in the rivets alongside the berth. Pretty amazing to see moisture bleeding out of your hull. Not much but it is there.
 
Guess I was lucky as my phone calls were always answered and problems solved to my satisfaction. Never tried the E mail route.
My 19 also had water invading the storage space under the bunk. The leak came from the anchor locker drain hole. The "clam shell" was removed and the hole under the "clam shell" was found to have been drilled and not sealed properly. Gel coat was applied to all uncoated areas in this hole and the "clam shell" reattached. No leaks since that was done. Diagnosis and operation were performed by Three Rivers Marine in Crystal River, FL.
 
Sometimes, with recurrent problems, I expect the factory to contact me. In this case there obviously was a rash of poorly installed rub rails, enough so that they should have, in my opinion, taken the initiative. It's only because of the repeated messages on this site that I checked mine, and found them to be loose. "Oh, well" is not an appropriate response from the factory or from the C-Brats, in my opinion.
 
I had a problem with my hour meter. It stopped working. I called Wefing and they gave me a number to C-Dory to call. When I called I got a recording and I left a message and my phone number. About three days later I got a return call. I explained my problem and about a week later I had a new hour meter in the mail.
 
Jim... Did that leave you speechless....or did that pretty smiling Blonde get you??

C-Brats: WOW... What a platform of information. That is one of the best things about this site. We share the good, the bad and the ugly of our vessels. A lot of owners groups just talk about the good, which in my mind keeps any boat from improving, and, prevents other owners of similar boats to take a look at theirs too. The largest room in any person, family, home, organization and/or business....is the room for improvement.

Helping each other from this site is special. I like that. That is what we should all do. We all have something to learn from the next member. Lord knows we are from a very, very diverse crew of owners. That is only in our favor when we work together.

Talk on the street is some of the more experienced folks have returned to the C-Dory factory. Those following this site, and many links on it have to realize the operational tempo at the factory thru these days. You do not stop a train that has it's weight rolling with a snap of a finger. As we all know, some things have had the factory train shaking a bit on the tracks. But, hopefully, they have her slowing down, some folks in place, possibly a new mission statement for business posted on the walls, and all those who work there, working to put out quality boats, with quality workmanship being the expected and appreciated norm.

My take on it all today is let's see what the folks following Scot's lead at the factory produces of late. These were once a very well built boat, a bit higher priced for the quality and I feel there is a good chance that is soon to return.

Let's back them all we can... and see what they turn out.

I never can recall a day when I went home and stated..."Honey...I did poor quality work today and I am happy about it...!!" But, I know in my heart of hearts, there were for sure days of my career that my tempo was not what it could/should have been, and the quality of my work was not it's best. Fortunately, on just about every one of those days, I worked within a team, a focused team, all focused on quality work and a common goal...and due to that team, the quality coming out the other end on those days was good too. Maybe this has been missing, but maybe it is returning to the factory now?? Time will tell.

Let's support the team... and thanks for the many hours of help and ideas folks on this site have helped me with to make my boats better and more enjoyable. I had a nice talk with a C-Brat friend the day before yesterday. We agreed, that as adults (giving us both the benifit of the dought here :mrgreen: ), our friend base group is made up of C-Brats and boating friends. That is nice. I enjoy traveling the country having a blast with our C-Brat Cult/Family. I have a friend coming into TN this week from Alaska...and what fun we will have on the waters this week.

Grab a C-Brat and go have fun!!

Byrdman
 
Hi Byrdman,

No, I got rambunctious - my response was intended to be a PM to Marty, and I couldn't find a way to just delete it. One of those "duh" moments.

I hope the factory has great success and that these boat continue to be produced for a very long time. However (and there's always one of those, isn't there), they have a long ways to go to win back my support and trust. We now seem content that if we call the factory and get a return call in THREE DAYS that we are getting good support? And all the problems with rubrails and anchor locker drain tubes that have been documented for years... and still continue? The factory went from making 6 boats per month to around 25... this is not an incredibly huge number.

In our business, we could do a mailing to our client list (much larger than 25 per month) in a couple hours, and it was an easy task. If a client called with a problem, we didn't wait three days to call them back. Sorry, but that reeks of indifference to me. My dealings with the factory recently to resolve warranty issues were incredibly frustrating... everything on my list got done, but only with repeated calls and e-mails on my part (and that was with me doing my own work). Over 2 months from first contact to resolution - not stellar customer service in my opinion.

Brother Byrd, you have a great attitude. And I think I could present a reasonable argument that I am quite a supporter of these boats, as well. A good reputation is something that takes time to build and must be continuously worked at to maintain. Indifference, on the other hand, is recognizable immediately... and will quickly erode a reputation. When even a dealer can't get a response from the factory to find out if they are still a dealer, there is a real communication problem.

If the factory doesn't want to respond to e-mails, they should remove that contact information from their website. If they intend to not return phone calls for THREE DAYS, they should let people know that on their recorded voice mail. There are certain expectations about what we expect from businesses who are competing for our dollars. I think we deserve better.

Respectfully,
Jim Bathurst
 
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