yamaha extended warrenty question

H

hank heise

New member
Hi

I had some questions about the Extended warranty that I have with my 90 horse Yamaha 4 stroke. I have a 22 foot C Dory bought in December 2005. The extended coverage is to 12/29/11. We live in North Fort Myers FL. In June we went to the boat to go fishing and the motor would not tilt down or up.

I called our dealer, Bulldog Boatwerks in Fort Myers and they came and picked the boat up. They said it was in the tilt / trim system and should be covered under my warrenty. They started work and found corosion in the tilt / trim. Yamaha told them that corosion was not covered. I paid and it was fixed but I wrote to Yamaha's president. No answer so I wrote again. Got a call from someone called Wilke who had the "power of the president" to handle problems. He went on to say that corosion was not covered. I asked why and he said it was probably galvanic from leaking electric current. I told him that we were not allowed to plug in at our private marina. He went on to say that the seal on the unit was not covered. He also said that he had talked to my dealer and gotten an explanation but no evidence. I found out that he only asked for my phone number. I complained and eventually he said that I had a choice. If I took my 130 dollars now he would not help if my fuel system became messed up. He said Yamaha only gave each customer 1 good deed.

Long explanation but my question is, has anyone hit such a lack of customer service from Yamaha? I feel like I was talked down to and that he (Wilke) needed a refresher course in customer service. I was unhappy that he showed a lack of candor as far as what he talked about with my dealer and that he did not feel they were acting in Yamaha's best interest.

I look forward to any thoughts on this and some suggestions on how to proceed. At this time I am thinking of writing again and pointing out to the president some of the inadaquacies of his staff.
 
Terrible customer service!!! :evil:


How about an e-mail campaign by C-Dory owners, both Yami and non-yami owners that can get this new Brat some compensation. I'll write a draft e-mail or some other more erudite Brat can write it that we can all copy and send along with minimal effort on each our parts.

Hank, do you have mailing addresses or better yet, e-mail addresses for the folks that slighted you?

Here's a cause that we can all deal with (no politics here Pat...)

Charlie
 
Hank , you have actually done well and Yamaha is currently the only motor company we see any goodwill from . Used to be Honda owned the " goodwill crown" and they were nothing short of amazing in what they would do for dealers and customers .They have changed dramatically and Suzuki has tightened up as well . Its a sign of the times . Most problems with motors these days are fuel related and that's definitely not covered by anyone and its always "goodwill" if it is . If Bulldog picked up your boat , that is above and beyond service to begin with . I'm sure Dave's employees don't do that unpaid,and the insurance and vehicle and trailer to even be able to do that costs a pretty penny these days .
As an important aside , what people refer to as warranty [post factory warranty] is actually by definition a service contract . Its insurance . GE is the underwriter of Yamaha's YES warranty and Cornerstone is the provider of Suzuki "gimmie six" .
In Florida you have to have an insurance license to sell it .
We sell FPC warranty on boats that I think it has value for [Ranger Tugs] but we don't push it . If the dealership has an F&I person [finance and insurance , the last person you meet in a car deal or big boat dealership purchasing experience on the money side], they make their living selling those products and the loans .
If your connecting rod exited your block , you would likely have been covered without question. They [service contracts]are geared toward major failures .
Hope that helps .
Marc
 
I am sorry for your issues.

What caused the corrosion? I have not sure what happened?

What is covered? I have not seen the coverage for Yamaha but several for appliances, computers, cars etc. The sales staff really hawk them but start asking details like who, what,where, service dept location, turnaround time, a complete copy of the terms, etc, they fall short and take for more than 3 minutes they run out of answers and pass you off to a toll free number. Of the ones I take the time to read, most are too vague or broad IMHO, that is they lack substance. I suppose your extended warranty was part of the purchase and not separate sale.
On the flip side and fairness of Yamaha, where do I find a copy of the extended warranty? I would like to read it.
If they violated the terms, you can contact Better Business Bureau, State Attorney General Office and file a complaint. It might not solve your problem but it will be documented. Lastly but should be first, I would contact them again and document the date and time, contact person and employee ID number and ask them if are a Yamaha employee, if not who is their employer, where they are location, read them the warranty coverage then contact Yamaha HQ by email. I would ask them if your call is being recorded and the how long will it be kept. If they record your call then you can too. They are supposed to inform you and receive verbal approval but sometimes they forgot so always. There are federal laws on recording telephone calls and you can check them online

To answer your question, yes I had several issues but now I am better prepared and post them online like you to check with others

Best of luck
 
We had an elec problem battery not charging (voltage regulator) I took it in to a Yamaha dealer they told me up front If it was somthing besides the voltage reg it would be my dime not Yamaha's It ended up being the voltage reg they took care of it .

The problem with boats in salt water and marinas the corrosion and galvanic action can cause major problems I had my boat up in tenn. this summer when we took the boat out of the water it had started to put little blisters on the trim tabs with elec at docks you can have minor or major elec leaks (fatal).it could have been from friends dock or someone elses ? I guess it pays to bring the boat out of the water at least once a month to check it out if there is elec going to the dock or if you keep it in salt water just my observation
 
Hi

I appreciate the comments so far. My thoughts were that the corosion was inside the housing for the tilt trim. Nothing else was coroded so the seal must have been bad. At the marina we don't have electric for each boat and because we are on private property, a co-op we pay less for dockage but don't get the amenities at a more commercial marina. So I don't think leakage is the reason.

I was upset with the lack of understanding by the Yamaha rep. It was as if he was god. I always thought that the customer had some rights but not here.

I did pay my dealer for hauling the boat, fixing it and I did some additional things like cleaning the bottom while it was out of the water. Since we live in FL i do not need to winterize.

I received the warranty at time of purchase, it was a choice of a reduced price or a extended warrenty. I chose the YES contract.

There was a question on what is covered. It states it is not an insurance contract. It covers the breakdown or breakage or failure of a covered part caused by a defect or faulty workmanship from the manufacturer making that part incapable of preforming the function for which it was designed. It does not cover gradual reduction in operating performance caused by wear or tear where a failure has not occured. Amazing but that is it. It leaves a lot for interpretation by Yamaha. So my logic doesn't match theirs and it seems like tough luck. The entire agreement is on one 81/2 by 11 sheet of paper - one side. In the base warrenty the parts are listed and the power tilt trim is covered. There is a statement that seals are not covered but if the seal goes then the tilt trim goes. Around and around.

I look forward to any further suggestions and I will write to them again to express my concern over their lack of customer service and the lack of candor, mis truths stated, in a conversatiion that nerver occured with my dealer.
 
I was upset with the lack of understanding by the Yamaha rep. It was as if he was god. I always thought that the customer had some rights but not here.

Sorry about this action, too
I think I spoke not emailed his Charm school colleagues yesterday,'
I called ATand T DSL again on why customers receive the best deals and current customers only see their bills increase and what is the cost of DSL without a land line. She didnt explain the policy read me the deal again. ATandT universal credit card holders can receive 10% off their ATandT telco services and she didnt know anything about it. I called cc company and just signed up new customers only. I emailed cc office and my simple question will be answered in 14 -16 business days.

Sorry for venting

What caused the corrosion ? Was it electrical related to stray electrical current? Does anyone check for stray current and what do you use? I have DVM but have not purchased a reference electrode
 
Hi,
If corrosion is not covered and if corrosion caused they problem I think Yamaha does not have to sugar coat anything. Some people get uppity about the not warranty verdict call and can induce less than possitive reactions from factory representitives. I'm not saying that happened here. The public can be tough to deal with and the ecomony has effected the way everyone does business. People have to understand salt water is an extremely corrosive enviroment. For that reason I flush my motor and have added a fresh water faucet to my cockpit from my twenty gallon fresh water tank with a 50' coil of hose to wash off brakes, the boat and to empty my water tank in my boat before leaving the launch ramp. I coat wheel studs with never seeze, steel brake lines with marine wheel bearing grease. When I get home I wash my whole boat and trailer with soapy water and regrease all the fittings on the motor. About twice a season I remove the cowlings and spray the whole motor down with W-D 40. I flush out my raw water wash down and run my dink motor in a bucket of fresh water. I would not leave a boat in salt water as for me at least I can't take care of it they way I think it ought to be taken care of. Yeah, I'm anal about it.That being said I think Yamaha dealers and owners ought to make sure vunerable items are looked at and dealt with before they cause and out and out failure. Right or wrong I was taught to raise the motor and put up the tilt lock and retract the tilt cylinders all the way to prevent corrosion on the cylinders them selves. Sorry for your troubles but I don't think any manufacture will cover corrosion related issues. I've owned four Yamaha's and they have all been excellent so far. The two I sold a 1995 high thrust 10hp and a 1997 115hp Saltwater two stroke are still running strong.
D.D.
 
The main point IMHO was the attitude.
I got same thing Saturday from ATT b/c I was charged $5 convenience fee when you pay your bill by credit card on the phone to an ATT rep and it is not my fault my payment was lost in the mail but somehow cashed earlier according to the credit union. It would be nice if the customer was informed of the add-on fees upfront.
 
Keep in mind that the extended warranty may be overseen by Yamaha, but some of the decisions may not be Yanaha's. Contacting the president of the company is jumping over the heads of many customer reps, who may have been able to handle the problem.

Really, handling day to day warranty problems is not the pervue of the company president. He's got bigger fish to fry, and he has trained people who can handle issues like this. Sometimes jumping over all of the other people makes some assistant to the president have to go through a bunch of steps that could ahve been handled easiliy by others. So that assistant may get a bit testy having to handle an issue that isn't under his or her normal area of activity.

Corrosion and fuel issues are not covered by the warrantees, not the factory warranty, not the extended service contract.
 
Hey DD , the truly anal will coat their motor with Boeshield or Corrosion Block or Corrosion X heavy duty . Fluid Film is acceptable as well . WD 40 don't cut it .
Also the tilt locks really only for working on repairing the corroded trim and tilt unit or for mooring .Not recommended for trailering . Try these bits of American Ingenuity for storing hyrdaulics in the retracted position .
Marc
 
Hi,
Marc, I was speaking about the tilt locks being used for boats left in the water as you mentioned for folks mooring out boats. For trailing I use a carpeted piece of 2x 4 with a lagbolt with a fender washer that holds a piece of chain into the end of the 2x4 with a caribiner type clip to an eye on my generator bracket. I have a couple shallow holes drilled into the sides of the 2x4 so the points on my motor housing sit in them while I lower the motor down to keep pressure on the 2 x4 to keep it in place. The chain and the carinbineer keep it from being part of some ones windshield should things go wrong. I've used WD-40 for years with no ill effects. I'll pick up some Boeshield. You can teach old dogs new tricks, you just have to keep saying the commands over and over.
D.D.
 
Hi

I appreciate the comments that I got. I will write to the regional office in Atlanta and not to the corporate office. I still think that Yamaha is wrong in their conclusion and their sentiment that this is my fault but like many have said they win the arguements easily. I will keep my thoughts to the lack of candor ( telling me he had a conversation with my dealer when he really only called to get my phone number) and that created doubts about all that he said.

I also would like your feelings on another aspect. The offer was that I could take my favor now and get reimubursed now but not get the benefit of the doubt in the future. My feeling is that with the way things are going I might be better taking my reimbursement now and not guessing on the future. Again, any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks again for your input.
 
Not related to corrosion at all, but Yamaha did very well by me when I damaged the lower units on rocks in Florida 2 winters ago, which led to counter-rotating props being installed backwards, which led (possibly) to gearshaft damage. They could have refused any warranty work but instead picked up the bulk of a $8,000+ repair job. I am sure owners of other makes can cite similar tales of satisfaction, as well as dissatisfaction. But FWIW I am currently a satisfied Yamaha customer even though I do lust a little after the Suzuki performance.

Warren
 
Back
Top