Re: Opinions on Tohatsu 18hp 4 Strokes
Tim,<br /><br />I agree that a local dealer, everything else being equal, is a better choice than a faceless company 1500 miles away...Sometimes. <br /><br />I looked back through some of my old posts for an explanation as to why people do not buy through their local dealer. Here it is.<br /><br /> INTERNETOUTBOARDS <br />Ensign <br />Member # 46496 <br /><br /> posted 23-04-2005 09:53 AM <br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />I am going to hate myself tomorrow for equating this, but.....When you buy a lawnmower at Home Depot, take it home, add oil and cut the grass, is it really anymore complicated that adding a quart of oil to an outboard? The answer is no. Some people can't take a cutting blade off of a lawnmower to sharpen it, those are the same people that bring in a 4 hp outboard to a service station to have the spark plug changed. That's the exception, not the rule. For every 50 outboards we sell and ship to a consumer in Smalltown, USA we might receive a single phone call asking a question about how to operate the engine or if something special needs to be done to use it. Out of the last 675 we sold and delivered via boxed delivery there have been 8 warranty claims filed....5 of those were for concealed freight damage that Tohatsu took responsibility for. There is just no reason to pay a local dealer to add a quart of oil and tell you not to run the engine out of the water.<br /><br />As to the rare occasion when there really is a problem....some dealers really show their character flaws, some go out of their way to help that LOCAL CUSTOMER THAT THEY LOST TO BEGIN WITH. When we have a local customer who has made a purchase from someone else come in for service we look at it as a second chance to earn their business. We do not punish them for bringing business to us. If they want a PDI done on that 5 hp that they bought from somone else....great. That's $25.00 to $50.00 in our pocket for 30 minutes of our time. Do we treat them the same as someone who just bought an engine from us? We better, if we want to gain their future business. Most of the time these people send their frends in to us. Why? Because we didn't treat them like redheaded stepchildren. <br /><br />All dealers need to take a close look as to why they have lost a sale. Was it because the consumer didn't even know they sold that brand? Was it because they didn't have that model available? Was it because they were unwilling to order it? Was it because they had it priced too high? Was it because they have a reputation for being cranky? Was it because of the final cost being to high because of sales tax? Was it because you slept with the guy's wife back in high school and he found out just as he was ready to order it from you?<br /><br />If you buy a new Ford across town from a dealer and three months later you take it to the dealer that is only a 1/4 mile from you because some silly xss sensor has failed, do you think she is going tell her service department to put you dead last? Of course not. It's not personal. Marine dealers should not make it and take it personal either.<br /><br />Having said all that...it does hurt a little when Bubba shows up with a new one in a box and you didn't sell it. But you really do have to rise above it, smile and EARN his business and goodwill for the future.<br /><br />--------------------<br />ELVIN<br />AVALONPROGROUP <br /><br /><br />Tim, you really would not believe the number of people who contact us from OTHER states that purchased their engine from a LOCAL dealer and can't get an accurate answer or help in regard to their brand new engine. Yesterday a man called me from California complaining that his new engine had something wrong with it because the parts he purchased(conversion parts from a tiller to a remote), from his local dealer whom he had just purchased it from, wouldn't fit. That dealer failed his customer....More importantly....That customer is now my customer. Not because we were less on price(we were anyway, but, like a lot of people he put a high value on a local dealer relationship), but because even with all those miles betweeen us, we solved his problem. <br /><br />There are lot's of good dealers out there. Lot's of bad ones too. And let me tell you that out of the seven big internet ***** dealers out there( And yes, we are one of those), four are complete nitwits. The other two, well...their not complete nitwits...(Does that make them incomplete nitwits?
) I guess it's just the role of the dice for most consumers.
