Bass Pro Shop Tracker Tahoe Q3 Review
July 2, 2003
A MUST READ for any prospective shoppers who are interested in a purchase from Bass Pro Shop or a Tracker Tahoe Boat. BEWARE this is what happened to me……
THE PROBLEMS
This is my review and transaction with Tahoe Sports Boats and Bass Pro Shops. I recently purchased a brand new 2003 Tahoe Q3 I/O off of the showroom floor from Bass Pro Shop in Memphis Tennessee. I had to wait a couple a days for the boat to be prepared and checked. I picked up the boat on a Wednesday. Upon arrival and run through there was a loose wire under the steering wheel that caused the “Master Power” to not work. The wire was supposedly fixed. I hooked the boat to the truck and proceeded on my 100-mile drive back home. I was told that the boat was in water-ready condition. The following Saturday morning I started the 130-mile drive to the closest lake. I backed the trailer down the ramp to put the boat in the water. Next I tried to start the boat. It would crank but would not turn over. I verified all instructions to be sure that I was not missing something and found that I was doing everything right. Upon further investigation, I found that the wire under that dash, which was supposed to be fixed, was loose again. That still had no effect on starting the boat. I called Bass Pro Shop and talked to their service man. After a while of checking things out we came to the conclusion that the timing was off in the engine. He had me adjust the distributor cap to correct the timing. The boat started right up and idled great. I am ready for the water, right? WRONG!!! After finally loading the boat in the water I discovered two additional problems the first being that the steering was reversed. When I turned the steering wheel to the left the boat went to the right and vice versa. The second problem with the boat was that it would never plane the water and made a loud clicking noise, like a bag of nuts being shaken around, when the throttle was about half the way open. Called the Bass Pro Shop again and ended up spending a total of 3-4 hours on the phone with them. They said all that could be done was to bring it back. What a wasted weekend. Let’s recap the problems and then I will tell you how they treated me.
1. Wiring was loose when I picked up the boat causing no “Master Power”.
2. Timing was off when I launched causing the motor not to start.
3. The steering was reversed cause the boat to travel in the opposite direction.
4. When throttle was opened more then half there was loud clicking causing no horsepower.
THE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
I returned the boat back to the dealer that Monday night, and stated that I understood that things go wrong but not that many things and that I wanted a new boat. I didn’t feel that I should be forced to take that lemon back. Come on it was supposed to be a brand new boat and look at all the stuff wrong with it. I was told that they could not make any decisions and that I would have to talk to the boat manager Thursday. After seeing what all was wrong with the boat the salesman felt bad and said that the manager would get a hold of me Tuesday. Tuesday came and went with no word from the manager. I had to talk to the salesmen who said that they would have the manager call me Wednesday. At 5:00 PM Wednesday another salesman called and said that he had talked to the manager and they offered the fixed boat back to me. Okay I had already told them that I did not want that particular boat back. I told them that if it was fixed and they had faith in the workmanship then they should have no problem in giving me an extended warranty for the time and trouble that the boat had caused. They did not have the authorization to okay that and said the manager would have to talk to me. I had left numerous messages with him earlier in the week and even left voice mail. No returned calls. Finally later Wednesday night he called me and basically said that I could either have the boat back and they would give me a $200 gift certificate for time and trouble or they would refund me the money. All I wanted was a new boat…nothing more nothing less. I just wanted what I had purchased. I gave them a week and a half to either get me a new boat or refund the money. They said they did not have enough time to get another boat and that it would be better if they just returned me my money. Now what king of customer satisfaction is that? Even though he said they wanted me as a customer he sure in the hell didn’t act like it. Needless to say I got a refund and lost about $400 in travel expenses because either Tracker Boats or Bass Pro Shop doesn’t have any kind of quality control. I will NEVER purchase anything else from any Bass Pro Shops.
If you have any question please contact me at cathey29@hotmail.com and I will be happy to help you in anyway possible.
