Buyer beware springwood marine

[MACK CHASER]

Hello fellow AUSFISH Members just wanted to pass on a recent dealing I had with Springwood Marine last September I decided to purchase a Suzuki 140hp outboard from them as Suzuki were offering 2 GMI 10 gauges if bought by end of September so I paid for the motor and I let them know I wouldnt need to take ownership of the outboard straight away as I was getting a New plate alloy boat built by Origin Boats and I hadnt finished the finalation of design with them and it wouldnt be ready till into the new year as they had other boats in the building pipeline and I was prepared to wait for a good quality boat made to my liking anyhow the first thing to happen with Springwood Marine was the booking in of my boat to get the motor fitted as already paid for this to so Steve from Origin booked my boat in on the 28/3/12 and was given a fitting date of the 16/4/12 but when the time came around Steve contacted Springwood Marine and they said they hadnt any booking for my boat to have motor fitted aparently after calls from me and Steve again he found out the person who had taken the booking and many other bookings hadnt followed Springwood proceedures for booking in boats and then this person went of holidays for 3 weeks no Apoligy for this mix up on there side anyhow I then put forward to Springwood Marine I would get Col from Origin Boats to fit my motor if they can get it up to him as he has fitted many Suzuki outboards this is where more dramas started the outboard arrived on the 17/4/12 on a pallet face down (picture supplied) the motor was already filled with oil and oil was noticed on the pallet which is a bad sign caused by way motor shipped to Col on further inspection Col noticed salistic on the engine mounts which ment motor had been fitted to another boat abit more inspection he noticed the battery leeds had been connected to a battery and the water flush port could taste salt water Col rang me straight away to let me know his findings and he wasnt going to fit it which I am so greatful as I HAD PAID FOR A BRAND NEW MOTOR NOT A SECOND HAND OR DEMO MOTOR I was pissed off how could Springwood Marine do this to me Im just so glad I decided to get Origin Boats to fit it as if the boat did go to Springwood Marine they would have just fitted this motor and I would be none the wiser to having a SECOND HAND MOTOR ( wonder how many other people get the same thing happen to them and they wouldnt know any different) anyhow i rang Springwood Marine spoke to the Manager and told him he just said knew nothing about this being sent I told him i refuse to accept a SECOND HAND OR DEMO MOTOR I had paid for a BRAND NEW MOTOR so he said he would get me a New Motor and he would look into it still NO APOLIGY so had to wait again for new motor to show up all this was mucking Origin Boats and Myself around as I had orginised my R & R to pick up the boat that week but that didnt bother Springwood Marine they didnt care then there was the missing digital wiring harness for the motor which wasnt delivered to Origin Boats when i rang Springwood they said that they had sent it and that Origin Boats had it and they must of lost it after several calls back to Springwood Marine they checked again and found they still had the harness and blamed Suzuki as the original motor they got, the harness was on back order and when they Suzuki finally sent it to them they put the wrong invoice number on it so they reckon they didnt know it was for my motor YEA YEA I thought more lies after all the other ones anyhow I would certainly never reccommend SPRINGWOOD MARINE TO ANYONE AFTER ALL THE DRAMA AND TIME LOST AND COSTS TO ME IN TRAVEL AND BOAT COULDNT BE READY IN MY R & R BECAUSE OF SPRINGWOOD MARINE STUFFUPS AND NEVER A APOLIGY FOR THERE MISTAKES JUST WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE.>:(

On the good side I would throughly reccommend COL AND STEVE AND THERE CREW AT ORIGIN BOATS IN CLONTARF for there quick pick up of these problems and helping me sort it out they are a top bunch of blokes and the quality of the boats they build are terrific plenty of attention to detail and nothing is to hard for them when you want something special designed in the boat you want ot build so if you are looking for a top quality plate alloy boat I would most certainly reccommend ORIGIN BOATS IN CLONTARF ;D

[Todddo]

Wow mate not good news, Lucky they didn't end up fitting it as you may have never found out!

[rosco1974]

mate that 140hp suzuki you got first up could of been the same motor i made them take off my kc 5 days b4 xmas as it was makin all sorts of noises on the water test when i repowered my cat....they worked on it for a full day and couldn't find the issue with it so i made them take it off.well done to col for not fitting it...more than likely a lemon of an outboard.....
cheers rosco

[TopBhoy]

Not good news but at least you spotted it before it got fitted. Maybe worth a strong but polite letter to Suzuki regarding the quality (or lack of) of customer service you received and expressing your disatisfaction?

[TheRealAndy]

I could not read this post. Learn to use some punctuation.

[Dan5]

Well i hope you bought Col a beer,

Definatly contact suzuki with your story.........I'm sure they would like to know.

[Mr__Bean]

Don't let a lack of punctuation hold you back from posting information to help others.

We appreciate hearing of your experiences, good or bad.

Darren

[AnthonyL]

Glad you got it sorted in the end, I know how frustrating it is.

I had a similar experience with a local boatyard when I bought a new boat and motor and they offered me an upgrade motor for extra $$$.

I should have picked it when there were some obvious marks on the "new" motor. Also They said there were no special instructions for running in motor and I didnt have to worry about that. Boat yard did first few services and mechanic slipped one day and said oh you are here for your 200 hr and I said no its only the 100, he says you sure and nothing else said.

I take boat to another mechanic later on after this yard charged for a repair and didnt fix the motor and the new mechanic says that there is 60 more hours on the motor than the clock.

Finally it all makes sense, they put a used motor with 60 hours on my new boat and charged me a few grand more for the "upgrade"

[AnthonyL]

Don't let a lack of punctuation hold you back from posting information to help others.

We appreciate hearing of your experiences, good or bad.

Darren

Exactly, it is not an english class.

[shy guys]

Mate sorry to here your story everyone's nightmare come true that is but your lucky origin boats picked up on it full credit to them they must actually care about the customer unlike springwood marine. I had dramas with them last year all was sorted but they did not give me a free service they offered me on following service that the owner of springwood posted up on here (ausfish) instead post got deleted. Sorry to hear you miss fortune

[Mossy247]

Dodgy as. They are not doing themselves any favours with that f@#k cluster of cockups. I don't know how they can do that, what a burglar. I would be getting a hold of Suzuki expressing my dissatisfaction for the misleading representation of suzuki products also a formal apology from springwood marine. I would of marched in got my coin back and told them to shove the used outboard up their bung holes! You would have more than a case with the office of fair trading if springwood wanted to play hardball.

[Jarrah Jack]

While that first sentence is pretty long :) it makes sense. Thanks for taking the trouble to let people know about Springwood Marine and Origin. I think what Springwood did is straight out fraud and should be prosecuted.

[WalrusLike]

...I think what Springwood did is straight out fraud and should be prosecuted.

Yep. If true I couldn't agree more. It's hard to imagine that could happen by accident.

If it was an accident they would have been bending over backwards to apologise and sweeten you till back on board with them.

But their argue and keep quite attitude seems to reveal them. It appears that they tried to steal money and engine life/quality from you. I reckon you should contact the police and ask if it's fraud.

[LittleSkipper]

Suzuki Marine Australia should be notified of this issue as they have signed on with Springwood Marine to supply outboards. I'm sure they would not be very impressed if they knew a dealership they were doing business with was falsely supplying "USED" outboards and palming them off as "NEW" outboards.

[bluefin59]

Who cares about the punctuation , not me thanks for the heads up on crap service . It will be interesting to see if spring wood come on here to defend themselves as they have done so before, on what's been said here they are not doing themselves any favors in a tough market and again ORIGIN BOATS appear to be a clas above the rest , good work boys Matt 👏👏👏

[woodchopper]

Thanks. I know where not to go for a new boat. an apology will mean nothing form scum like those blokes.

[fishfeeder]

I think I would have taken the motor back and got a refund and bought the motor else where even if it cost a little more...
I phone call followed up with an email with pictures would have been sent to Suzuki Australia and CC'd to there head office.

Springwood Marine have been around for a lot of years and to have this happen to a NEW motor is disgraceful and they need to be held accountable for there neglect. Even if they offered you a free service you would have to be MAD to trust them to touch your motor.

When they go belly up and they will with efforts like this.. I am sure there will be a post on here screaming bad economy, bad government for there reasons for closing down and in the end it will be facts like this that closed there doors.

[pipifin]

Another interesting thing is, when I read posts like this regarding shoddy workmanship, 99% of the time there is at least one person defending the "wrong do-ers" as they have had a good experience.... bottom of page 2 and still no-one sticking up for Springwood...... I guess that says it all.... Crap place to do business.

[turkeyslapper]

I could not read this post. Learn to use some punctuation.

Maybe you should learn some manners , who gives a rats about punctuation?

[Spectre]

That Fully SUX ...what a low act.
I can't believe that a supposed 'reputable'business would even think about trying to get away with that.
It defn would appear to be a case of fraud.....& as others have said Suzuki Aust should know about it real quick.
I have never had my motor serviced there & now I know why...!!!!
Hope the NEW donk is going well.

[AnthonyL]

Maybe you should learn some manners , who gives a rats about punctuation?

If I didn't use word first, I wouldn't even be able to read my own posts lol. I had no trouble reading his post, would have taken a long time to type it out so thanks.

[fisho8]

Suzuki Marine Australia should be notified of this issue as they have signed on with Springwood Marine to supply outboards. I'm sure they would not be very impressed if they knew a dealership they were doing business with was falsely supplying "USED" outboards and palming them off as "NEW" outboards.

X2 go straight to the manufacturer they need to know what their suppliers are doing to Customers I will be looking at a Suzuki in the future and I know where I will not be buying one from. And people wonder why businesses go under. This is why crap service. Word of mouth is what contributes to a businesses seccess. I would call the Owner of Springwood Marine and have a good talk to him to.

[Drifty75]

Even if they offered free services, just say sure, but I'll have them done at ******* Marine and the bill sent to Springwood...

It's good to hear stories like this, however there is "always" another side. I hope Springwood Marine come on here to try and explain themselves. (Try being the key word here)

At least you didn't get ripped fully..

Thumbs up to the guys who fitted the motor!!!

[Greg P]

Mate sorry to here your story everyone's nightmare come true that is but your lucky origin boats picked up on it full credit to them they must actually care about the customer unlike springwood marine. I had dramas with them last year all was sorted but they did not give me a free service they offered me on following service that the owner of springwood posted up on here (ausfish) instead post got deleted. Sorry to hear you miss fortune

I remember that post - after all that they did not even honor the commitment they made?? That is pissweak.

Well done Col and the team at Origin.

[Stuart]

Well as much as I hate to say it, I’m not too surprised. I have had mates that have been through the similar crap with this mob. Seems they are dodgier than peter slipper.
How can you stuff up an order for a brand new donk to a second hand motor with more hours and cosmetic damage on it than an old hooker?
Its no wonder there nickname is “Springwood latrine”.

[bf90]

hey stuart that quote of yours.. Seems they are dodgier than peter slipper.
How can you stuff up an order for a brand new donk to a second hand motor with more hours and cosmetic damage on it than an old hooker?
Its no wonder there nickname is “Springwood latrine”. mate that is just priceless hahahahahahaha thanks for the laugh I dont know if I have all the commas and full stops and things in the correct places or not, care factor is nil but I am sure the average jo blogs can understand what we are trying to get across yeah :)

[fat-buoy]

I was going to help out and edit the original post so that it has the proper use of grammar.. but after I finished I still had three commas and a full stop left over so I decided to give that idea a miss ... ;)

How dodgy is that place.. and like you said if you had not had a 3rd party fit that motor nobody would have been the wiser that it had already been fitted previously.. so the question would have to be WHY was it then taken off unless it was the dodgy pre Christmas engine... This belongs on a Shame file!!

[fishfeeder]

Wouldn't be hard to find out if its the same motor that Rosco1974 had fitted...
I am sure Mack Chaser and Rosco1974 have VIN numbers wrote down on the paper work from Springwood Marine to compare the two against..

Cheers

[nigelr]

Yeah that would be very interesting indeed fishfinder.....truly you'd have to be insane to run a business in that manner these days wouldn't you?
Mate hope it all ends well for you and great work that the dodgy donk was brought to your attention in time.

[Si]

Mate sorry to here your story everyone's nightmare come true that is but your lucky origin boats picked up on it full credit to them they must actually care about the customer unlike springwood marine. I had dramas with them last year all was sorted but they did not give me a free service they offered me on following service that the owner of springwood posted up on here (ausfish) instead post got deleted. Sorry to hear you miss fortune

i remember that issue. There was quite a few people singing their praises cos they fixed what they should have done in the first place. So they didnt give you a free service after all that??

[charleville]

i remember that issue. There was quite a few people singing their praises cos they fixed what they should have done in the first place. So they didnt give you a free service after all that??


Yeah - I remember it very well, also. I thought that good common sense had prevailed but maybe it did not.

That's a shame as Springwood Marine was a good company when it was under its original ownership. I was a very happy customer of their's several years ago.


Now, let's see. Is there a pattern here?

Sundown Marine, Leisure Marine, Mr T's Tinnies, ....


Which marine dealer will be the next to close down?



.

[TREVELLY]

I bought my boat new and when the motor (175hp Suzuki) went in for first service and I wondered why the unit never beeped at 20 hour service and was told by mechanic the 20 hour beep had been turned off at first installation and from my calcs the motor had about 30 to 40 hours on it beyond what i reckon I did - so nothing too new to some other operators unfortunately.

And yes the wonderful family business I bought it from told me the motor did not need to be run in.

Thankfully the motor has been great and is now about to go in for it's 250 hour service.

Hope your 140hp Suz gives you good service MackChaser and thanks for the heads up.

As others have said I would be very interested to see if the motor was the crap one that was previously rejected.

[banksmister]

There is also a problem that the motor mentioned is still intheir hands

Bet they try it again to some poor bugger and he won’t evenknow

[Rodpal]

Gee wizz what a sting .. and who would have thought .. glad everything has worked out for you and thanks for the heads up

Supprised origin arn't buying direct from the haines group tho as apposed to a second tear supplier on the other side of town for customer support .. anyway thanks again for the trouble you went to cos i have not and will not use or recommend springwood marine after reading your post, well done to all

cheers
Rod

[rosco1974]

got the serial numbers if a want them mate....have them on the finance paper work stating springwood marine as the supplier..let me know..

cheers rosco

[Lovey80]

got the serial numbers if a want them mate....have them on the finance paper work stating springwood marine as the supplier..let me know..

cheers rosco

If that turns out to be the case they should be shut down and licence shredded.

[shy guys]

i remember that issue. There was quite a few people singing their praises cos they fixed what they should have done in the first place. So they didnt give you a free service after all that??
When I took the boat in they asked if I had it in writing the free service I said it was all through ausfish no one knew about it

[TREVELLY]

When I took the boat in they asked if I had it in writing the free service I said it was all through ausfish no one knew about it

Mongrels!

So what happened?

Anyone interested in this one as well - first post is 10

Sorry mackchaser not trying to hijack - just looking for more of the same

[Todddo]

Ill also add here for future reference;
Springwood Marine imports their own trailers, A new ADR rule now states that all galvanised leaf springs MUST be galvanised here in Australia to be legal. All of their trailers are from China and galvanised in China, therefore not making them compliant to the ruling.

Just another reason not to go to Springwood Marine

[kind_cir]

Well I won't be going to Springwood Marine to buy a new boat now. I was looking at boats there a few weeks back and it looked like I could get a good deal too. But I don't want a good deal of problems, and I hate those that are dishonest. I will go elsewhere, thanks for the heads up.

[finga]

So who is on the list of people who should be working their rings off to rectify this problem right now.
Springwood Marine for one
Motorama Group of companies ??
Suzuki Marine Australia ??
Haines Suzuki Marine Australia ??

If any of these people do not deserve to be on the list just inform us.

The more references to the companies (who should be doing something very constructive to stamp this sort of behaviour out and make sure it doesn't happen again) the greater the exposure to the general community and the greater the chance something will be done.
Do a google with Springwood Marine and see what crops up in the first page of results.
This thread!!

Companies spend mega bucks to get on the first page of a Google. They do a fair bit to get this sort of thing out of the first pages too.
A good code of ethics is a good start.

There is no excuse for this.

Did they give you a VIN number when you paid for the engine Mack Chaser??
They should have given you a number seeing you've paid for one.
Anyone who pays for an engine should demand a VIN number. What happens to your money when/if the dealer goes bust??
Money gone.
But if you have a VIN number the engine is yours and less hassle to get.

I reckon the Mack's engine went on the back of Rosco's boat when he did his narna (The motor was there and Rosco was cranky...what to do??) and they then forgot why there was a huge sucker Suzuki sitting on the floor.
Cheers Bert

[Screamin Semen]

Thanks for letting us know about this...I will never use them after knowing about you're experience, interested to see their reply to this. Also interested to see if those engine numbers match.

I have always used Yamaha's and bought from Marine Tune at Burleigh, they have always looked after me there and I am a very fussy pain in the ass customer!

SS

[rosco1974]

didn't do my narna finga just told the finance broker that there was a problem with an outboard and i wouldn't except it and if the deal was to go ahead a new outboard had to be fitted to my kc or the deal was off...had a new outboard fitted on the back in 4hrs and water tested it soon after..mine was a 2012 outboard fitted both times

[Lovey80]

Your right Finga, a google search shows up 5th in the ranking. The first 4 are advertisements of Springwood Marine. Hats off to Col Svenson for again showing the customer service at Origin boats that many came to enjoy with the original Fisher boats. That sort of good will goes a long long way in the recreational community and it seems the opposite is just as deadly. When people start looking for boats these days, they do a lot of research on the Internet first. This for sure will cost Springwood Marine thousands down the track and will take a long time to recover from.

Cheers Chris

P.S. hankering to know if those VIN numbers match or not, if they do you have the reason why Katcaddy hasn't been so swift to get on here and defend them.

Edit: I wonder how long it will be before Kevlacat gets on the phone to Springwoods with a very big WTF phone call?

[finga]

didn't do my narna finga just told the finance broker that there was a problem with an outboard and i wouldn't except it and if the deal was to go ahead a new outboard had to be fitted to my kc or the deal was off...had a new outboard fitted on the back in 4hrs and water tested it soon after..mine was a 2012 outboard fitted both times
Thanks for that clarification.
You did something vastly worse then going off your narna.
You threatened them with a lack money. Probably worked better in the short and long term :D

Cheers Bert.

[rosco1974]

they ordered in 3 new 140hp for fit up that week b4 xmas..lucky it wasn't the counter rotating 1 that had the issue

[Tailortaker]

When I took the boat in they asked if I had it in writing the free service I said it was all through ausfish no one knew about it
I remember reading that thread to and also remember the promises that they made,, what a joke that they couldn't follow through !!!
This thread is what people need to save themselves from costly mistakes.
Cheers TT

[shy guys]

Mongrels!

So what happened?

Anyone interested in this one as well - first post is 10

Sorry mackchaser not trying to hijack - just looking for more of the same

When the post was up they sent out one of the service guys that sorted the oil that was over full and was told i would have a free service on my 100h service i took it in they asked if i had it in writing i said it would of been but the post was deleted. The lady at the service desk said why do you think you have a free service i told her that they lost my warenty book and just gave me a new one and stamped that they did the pre delivery check, 20h service and the 50h service she replied what's wrong with that. I told her yous have only ever done one service on my outboard and that was the 50h so when you buy a second hand car and it hasn't been service for a 100000 Kim's and the dealer goes stamps the book that would be ok her reply no it wouldn't.they did give me a hour free labour so I only paid for 4 hours labour so a big saving im not a idiot I know how long it takes to service a outboard I ended up just paying the money for the service nice as pie $580 for a 100h service I didn't want to go back there but a mate of mine talked me into it but a swear to you that's the last time I step my foot into there yard

[AnthonyL]

they asked if i had it in writing i said it would of been but the post was deleted.

Oh geez so they didnt end up coming through for you either after publicly promising it on ausfish. That is really low, no way they will last much longer doing sh"t like that.

[TREVELLY]

Thanks for clarity bro.

Really SUCKS!! >:(

They do deserve this publicity

[LittleSkipper]

I sincerely hope "CUNNINGHAMS MARINE" are taking notes?

[Humdinger]

thank for the info i was going to go there to order a 200 for mine . i think i will just give them a wide berth . thanks you may have just saved me a lot of hassle

[MACK CHASER]

79241Hello fellow Ausfish members sorry about the punctuation mistakes will try to do better this post haha but I'm no english major, anyhow I will be emailing Suzuki Australia about the service by the Springwood Marine dealership and also will be emailing the Motorama group to let them know what happened, also I will try and post a picture of the serial number that is all I have as when I agreed to buy the motor of Springwood Marine I did it all over the phone and when they emailed the agreement to me it did'nt have any VIN or S/N on it as they had to order it in before the end Sept so I could get the 2 GMI 10 Gauges Suzuki were offering free, so I signed the agreement paid the money and even after paying the money for the motor I asked for a receipt so I knew it was all good and they had received the funds I transfered to there account the email I got back from them said there receipt machine had broken down but the funds had gone through ok, I still have never received a paid invoice mmmm this sounds dodgy now that I think about it. I also would like to let you all know Origin Boats is a Suzuki agent but I purchased my outboard before( wish I hadn't now) I had even made up my mind on the boat after doing research on the 140hp Suzuki and Suzuki were offering the 2 GMI gauges for a limited time and when I searched the Suzuki site Origin Boats didn't come up as a dealer now I know they do deal direct with Suzuki to supply them with there boats. Anyhow after I email Suzuki and Motorama about the issues I have I will let you all know what they have to say about the issues, cheers and safe boating to you all can't wait to pick my new rig up next week and take home to North Queensland and get some serious fishing in.

[braders83]

Sorry to hear about you getting stuffed around mate.
I subscribe to QFM and Bush n Beach (like many on here no doubt) and I see Springwood Marine ad's all the time. Talking to the wife about a new boat at the moment, I show her the pictures etc etc to gain half a smile or half an interest. Needless to say i will be sticking well clear of these Springwood Marine scammers. Maybe this is a bit extreme but i'm not that real keen on suzuki now either! I've always had yamaha's and they've been great and their dealers have been great too (that i have dealt with). It's just a shame that bad experiences like this tend to sometimes shape our own views or perceptions on things, rightly or wrongly. I would have definetly gone to Springwood to have a chat to them just because of all their advertising that i see but not now - not a chance.
Anyway mate good luck - hope it all works out - and thanks for sharing with us all.

[winston]

Is this not the best time ever to buy a boat/motor? Most the dodgy dealers go bust so that those that can offer good old fasioned service and value for money are the only ones left in business. Great time and boo on those dealers that think that the GFC has passed. Go the internet and especially knowledge sharing sites such as this. Cheers Winston.

[Rodpal]

Is that really the way the donk turned up?? she must have been an absolute ballzy move loading her up for delivery thinkin ah they'll never know ..!!

My 175 suzi from the haines group turned up in a steel crate inside a suzuki box marked lifting points and which way up plus tear off plastic wrap over the covers etc .. no way of mistaking her for anything but brand new

That isn't just fraud man that is an absolute joke .. the guys out the back couldn't have been aware of the dealings out front unless they just simply sent it to the wrong planet ..

[rumy1]

Wow, now I wonder if my 140 was new ????

[fisho8]

I sincerely hope "CUNNINGHAMS MARINE" are taking notes?

:oooookkkkaayyy Little Skipper whats the go there. Seeing as though Northside Marine no longer sell Merc's I am having to go here now to get mine serviced to keep the 5x5 warranty having 2 years to go. I got an engine fitted by them 2 years ago on my old boat and had no dramas. Is there something we should know here. If you don't want to share the issues here can you please PM me as to what happened. Thanks mate.

Cheers Mick.

[mull dog]

:oooookkkkaayyy Little Skipper whats the go there. Seeing as though Northside Marine no longer sell Merc's I am having to go here now to get mine serviced to keep the 5x5 warranty having 2 years to go. I got an engine fitted by them 2 years ago on my old boat and had no dramas. Is there something we should know here. If you don't want to share the issues here can you please PM me as to what happened. Thanks mate.

Cheers Mick.

If there is a problem start a new thread and make sure you justify your comments like Old Mate has done on this one

[Lancair]

Reading this makes me glad I got crap service from Springwood Marine when I first went in there looking. I walked around the yard and showroom for a good 15 minutes, meanwhile 3 staff sat inside ignoring me. Fair enough one was on the phone most of the time I was there but . . . I left and went to view other boat yards. Came back a couple of hours later, same thing, not one person even acknowledged I was in the yard, despite climbing in and all around a 2nd hand boat I was interested in. I figured if they couldnt be bothered to even try to get a sale, their after sales service will be worse. I left and ended up purchasing new from down the road.

[WalrusLike]

Reading this makes me glad I got crap service from Springwood Marine when I first went in there looking...

Me too. Exact same scenario. Lucky I was annoyed at them.

[Rodpal]

got the serial numbers if a want them mate....have them on the finance paper work stating springwood marine as the supplier..let me know..

cheers rosco

How is that scenario playing out mate, any updates, did someone sign a delivery docket stating delivery of a new DF 140??

cheers
Rod

[MACK CHASER]

Hi Rosco I posted a pic of the serial number did it match to yours

[dan sheard]

I've been in communications with springwood marine about buying a new 50hp 4 stroke from them. Lucky I did'nt sign anything.
Cheers Dan.

[Dicktracey]

Me too. Exact same scenario. Lucky I was annoyed at them. They deserve to be prosecuted.
I was stupid enough to go in there 3 times looking for a new boat lucky sales service was as good as what has happened here !
spent my 60k on real customer service.

[Axl]

That is unbelieveable I wonder how many times they have done this before. You certainly owe the boys at Origin a beer for picking that up. There must be some sort of law around this you should take them for all you can.

[Peter4]

Nearly 4,000 views of this thread now.

Impossible to calculate the amount of potential business they have lost because of this thread.

No business can behave like this in 2012 and expect to survive...

[IcyDuck]

Hard to imagine anyone would have the hide to do this, especially when there is a third-party like Origin Boats involved. I'm glad it was picked up and all sorted out. This forum proves it definitely does not pay to run a business like that as, based on many responses, they have lost a lot of potential business - now and in the future.

[thelump]

Hi Rosco I posted a pic of the serial number did it match to yours

Hey mate I dont think your picture worked. The first ones did but the one of the serial # is a no go.

[WalrusLike]

I am going to swim upstream here...

My belief may not be popular, but I fear that we are overestimating our powers here a bit.

None of us here are likely to use this mob now, but I reckon we would only be a small percentage of their customer base.

If you really want to hurt their sales you would need to involve the media. I could be wrong.... I often am.

[Screamin Semen]

I am going to swim upstream here...

My belief may not be popular, but I fear that we are overestimating our powers here a bit.

None of us here are likely to use this mob now, but I reckon we would only be a small percentage of their customer base.

If you really want to hurt their sales you would need to involve the media. I could be wrong.... I often am.

Even if everybody here is a small percentage it is still tens of thousands of dollars they are going to lose....alot more than what it would have cost them to give him the new engine he paid for!

SS

[astro66]

I am going to swim upstream here...

My belief may not be popular, but I fear that we are overestimating our powers here a bit.

None of us here are likely to use this mob now, but I reckon we would only be a small percentage of their customer base.

If you really want to hurt their sales you would need to involve the media. I could be wrong.... I often am.
only thing is that being a fishing forum almost everyone one here has or will buy a boat/motor/gear ....how much advertising would you have to do to find the same amount of target people in normal media???? plus the fact of everyone here telling there fishing mates...10 fold

[Si]

so whats Springwoods marine side of the story. Have they given a response to this or to you Mark Chaser? just curious thats all.

[Katcaddy]

Guys this has got totally out of hand, i own Springwood Marine unfortunatley i have been away hence the late reply. let me tell you the facts, the engine that was sent to the boat builder was in fact fitted to a Kevlacat and had a slight noise, the fact that this was a twin rig accentauted it when the other engine was so quite however we had it checked by Suzuki and it checked out ok, it was a liitle tight, but in the interest of customer satisfaction we swapped it. We then sold this engine as a demo engine at a reduced price to a client up North and when the truck arrived to pick it up our parts people loaded up the wrong engine, they sent him the new one, they then sent the Demo engine to the boat builder by mistake, when we were alerted we very quickly ordered a new engine and dispatched it. There was no way that we would try and do something shonky, blind freedy can see that this engine had been fitted to another boat and wouldnt try to insult someones intelligence in convincing them it was new!!!! its a shame the boat didny come down here for fitup as it would have been picked up staright away and can assure you it would not have been fitted to this boat. The end result for us is that the customer up North has a brand new engine, i now have the demo engine back in stock, we have a customer who thinks that we have tried to decieve him and the kevlacat owner who we did do the right thing by also trying to wind people up. I can only apologise for the mistake and a genuine mistake it was and i am sorry that this has inconvenienced people. Its such a shame that some Ausfish members love this sort of stuff and its unfortunate that these same people are not quick to praise us when we do something good. Its a shame that the customer that now has a new engine by default is'nt an Ausfish Member because im sure he would have a different view.
Again i apologise any inconvenience and can assure you that we did not try to do the wrong thing. I would welcome a call from any member if they want to discuss this.

[Toddy_again]

If a bit of PR work had been done in the first place do you think this post would be here?

I dont.

Toddy

[Basstones]

Hmm now the thread has got interesting. +1 to watching this for information to base future purchases on.

It's good we have springwood marine on here to reply now, but the fact it's been confirmed it was a used motor is a bit off. I'll be curious if the invoice reflects that w/ VIN's as discussed. Even if it was a genuine mixup though, it sounds like the customer service, or lack of, is appalling.

[WalrusLike]

I reckon I am willing to accept your explanation of events and can see how that could of happened. If true you have really got the crappy end of the stick.

Still a few outstanding issues though....

* The manager didn't do you any favours when he refused to apologise initially.

* There's someone here who believes you guys owe him a service. I don't know the details but it sounds like a broken promise.

* Theres a couple of us who had money and intent, but got no service in your yard while looking for a boat.

Having said all that, I wish Springwood Marine well.... You no doubt are employing a number of people and I support local businesses whoever I can.

If you addressed the issues I mentioned you might go a long way to restoring your good name here. I thank you for your reply to this topic... Hope all concerned get a good resolution.

[fisho8]

If there is a problem start a new thread and make sure you justify your comments like Old Mate has done on this one

Mate I asked this guy a question I have not had a problem with them but if there is one I want to know about it. Hence the reason I asked him to PM me if he did not want to post anything up in this one. I really do not need to start a whole new thread about it.

[MACK CHASER]

I'm find Springwood reply not real good as his salesman told me the motor serial number he was sending to Origin Boats which is the same number I took a photo of and the same salesman told me it would be on a pallet on frame not in box so can you tell me Springwood Marine how it can be still a mistake lies lies and more lies why would he tell me the serial number of a demo second hand motor if it was a new outboard and still never received any apology at any time with the book in to fit the motor the new motor issue or the harness issue so tell me Springwood Marine how do you explain this

[fisho8]

I reckon I am willing to accept your explanation of events and can see how that could of happened. If true you have really got the crappy end of the stick.

Still a few outstanding issues though....

* The manager didn't do you any favours when he refused to apologise initially.

* There's someone here who believes you guys owe him a service. I don't know the details but it sounds like a broken promise.

* Theres a couple of us who had money and intent, but got no service in your yard while looking for a boat.

Having said all that, I wish Springwood Marine well.... You no doubt are employing a number of people and I support local businesses whoever I can.

If you addressed the issues I mentioned you might go a long way to restoring your good name here. I thank you for your reply to this topic... Hope all concerned get a good resolution.


Well said mate.

[fisho8]

Guys this has got totally out of hand, i own Springwood Marine unfortunatley i have been away hence the late reply. let me tell you the facts, the engine that was sent to the boat builder was in fact fitted to a Kevlacat and had a slight noise, the fact that this was a twin rig accentauted it when the other engine was so quite however we had it checked by Suzuki and it checked out ok, it was a liitle tight, but in the interest of customer satisfaction we swapped it. We then sold this engine as a demo engine at a reduced price to a client up North and when the truck arrived to pick it up our parts people loaded up the wrong engine, they sent him the new one, they then sent the Demo engine to the boat builder by mistake, when we were alerted we very quickly ordered a new engine and dispatched it. There was no way that we would try and do something shonky, blind freedy can see that this engine had been fitted to another boat and wouldnt try to insult someones intelligence in convincing them it was new!!!! its a shame the boat didny come down here for fitup as it would have been picked up staright away and can assure you it would not have been fitted to this boat. The end result for us is that the customer up North has a brand new engine, i now have the demo engine back in stock, we have a customer who thinks that we have tried to decieve him and the kevlacat owner who we did do the right thing by also trying to wind people up. I can only apologise for the mistake and a genuine mistake it was and i am sorry that this has inconvenienced people. Its such a shame that some Ausfish members love this sort of stuff and its unfortunate that these same people are not quick to praise us when we do something good. Its a shame that the customer that now has a new engine by default is'nt an Ausfish Member because im sure he would have a different view.
Again i apologise any inconvenience and can assure you that we did not try to do the wrong thing. I would welcome a call from any member if they want to discuss this.


If you cannot cop feedback then don't be in business. My suggestion would be to have a look at what people have said here if you have not already don't take it as a personal attack and put measure's in place to make sure this does not happen you are a big enough business to be able to do it. I agree everyone makes mistakes and yes we are only human but it is the other issues people have brought up here that may need some attention Feedback and word of mouth is what helps keep a business going you of all people should know that It does not matter how big you are. I work for a big company and talk to people everyday in my job any feedback get's passed onto my manager and get recorded and taken seriously and measure's are put in place so it does not happen again. I would have a look at the bigger picture here mate and not just this issue.

[Jarrah Jack]

No body wants to see a good business go down, its up to you Katcaddy to make sure you run a good business.

What do you say to the guy who you promised, on here, a free service which never eventuated. I would say you owe him a cheque for the cost he had to pay or your word is nothing.

[AnthonyL]

Sorry I dont fall for this line, there is no way in hell its an accident. I think its an attempt to make an excuse so that it puts the subject to rest.

Its very similar to last time someone from here got a bad service from Springwood Marine, the owner got on here and promised to fix the problem. The only problem that got fixed was the thread was removed so that obviously helped Springwood Marine. The poor guy ended up paying again for his services which 100's or`1000's of people on here read.

I have never purchased anything from Springwood Marine after a good mate of mine got ripped off for a boat he bought and warned me off them. First thing he said when I was looking for a boat, dont buy off Springwood Marine.

I am sure there will be some false offer to the disgruntled customer in swap for the thread to be removed. The thread should stay to warn others, being conned leaves a bad taste in your mouth I know.

[Stuart]

The biggest failure or undoing of any business is there lack of customer service and there poor handling of customer complaints.
There is such a thing as 'customer revenge' only because they cant get satisfaction from the company involved.
They are left with only one means of venting and its sites like this and many others.
If it had of been dealt with promptly and proffesianlly then it would have never esculated to this level or made it onto the pages of AF.
Mistakes liek this happen to many busniess but its the way they are dealt with that can bring a busniess to its knees.
It seems there a poor salsmen culture running in this busniess and as the saying goes, "you are only as good as the people you employ".
If you can take anything from this SM then it would be to train the salsmen to a much higher standard than currently is in place.
Thats the problam with good service, customers tell maybe 1 or 3 people. Deliver a bad experiance then he will tell 12-15 people.
To make this bad experiance even worse, they take to the internet such as has been done here.

Stu

[fishin_till_late]

From what I've seen at my local dealer a brand new Suzuki will come on a metal crate in a Suzuki cardboard box. When my old man's boat was at the dealership before fit up the salesman showed us the motor in the corner still packaged as it came from Suzuki.

[charleville]

I have to say that as a past, very happy customer of Springwood Marine, and one who has always leapt to their defence on any negative post about them on Ausfish over the years because of my very satisfactory dealings with them under their previous ownership, this whole matter and the other matter referred to by 20ran really troubles me.


I recall the previous matter to which 20ran referred and indeed, I recall praising, in that thread, the very generous response by Springwood marine's owner in which he offered the subsequent service to be free as compensation.


That I read that such offer was not honored and that I read that the post was deleted so no evidence of the offer was able to be found, I find this very troubling.


So I have just looked at Katdaddy's posting history and I find that there are nine posts in total but not the one offering the compensation that I and others recall in relation to the troubles that 20ran was having at the time.


What goes? How can this be? Where did that post go, Mr Ausfish?


None of us wants to see boat dealerships go under. There is always grief suffered by lots of people when that happens, including people who have lodged deposits on new boats or who are awaiting cheques due to the sale of consigned boats (ref the recent issue in relation to the Leisure Marine collapse). In another thread, I read that Cunningham's Marine has gone into receivership today so things are obviously tough in boat dealer land.


However, when you see a couple of these sorts of threads about alleged shonky behaviour emerging, even a previous active supporter of the dealership like me in forums like Ausfish, must start to wonder about the adage about where there is smoke, there is fire.


A few minutes ago, I emailed a mate, who is overseas on holidays and who had been considering placing his boat on consignment with Springwood Marine, to have a good think about whether he really wants to do that in the light of all the smoke that this dealership seems to have around it. There was nothing defamatory in my email; I just alerted him to this thread plus the fact that Cunninghams have apparently gone under and what it means when a dealership goes under if they are holding a customer's funds in any way.


I wish that I could leap to the defence of Springwood Marine like I have in the past but I have been getting my boat serviced at a closer dealership for the past three years so I have no current knowledge of their performance.


I am puzzled. I want to believe that they are a good company like I remember them to be but these matters are very disturbing to me and accordingly, I shall be sharing that perspective with my friends unless some more reassuring trends emerge.


.

[Todddo]

Would also love a response to what I wrote about your trailers and how they do not comply with the current ADR regulations.

[cormorant]

Hi

Glad to read both ( well 3) sides. Always hard when relayed on a forum as the tone of discussions that have happened can't really come across.

Got a question . What is a tight motor, how does Suzuki check it ?

If it was just a case of running it in wouldn't it just go in the test tank for 2 hours at various revs to loosen it up? Head noise, crank exhaust or injection noise? If it didn't quieten down then there was a issue? I ask as many motors have noise and survive warranty periods but it doesn't mean they are right just because electronic diagnostics don't show anything when at low hours. It is all about the full life of the motor and why it wasn't picked up by tank testing on initial install.

"fitted to a Kevlacat and had a slight noise, the fact that this was a twin rig accentauted it when the other engine was so quite however we had it checked by Suzuki and it checked out ok"

[Horse]

I don't like the sounds of this. I have too tell you that I am suprised that Springwood Marine have survived so long as their customer service has been very poor for some time now. I find Katcaddy's explanation reasonably unbelievable and if this is a measure of their quality control I would not like to be involved with them in any way. I'm not sure whats worse, the incompetence or the dishonesty.

[Stuart]

When you consider how much deposit these marine companies ask for these days, one would have to consider whether they may loose the lot if the company goes arse up.
I understand this isn't on topic but it does show that your money isn't safe with the business your dealing with.
Its easy to say in hindsight but after the last 5 years of companies going belly up and often taking peoples hard earned with them that people still hand over many tens of thousands in deposits or progress payments. When ever I buy a new engine it has to be on the floor or at lest on the premises and until its fitted to my boat no money will change hands.
Its often easier said than done but that's my approach. There my terms, if you want the sale and my money.
Its a one way street with most marine businesses. I mean they want you to have faith in them by holding your money and that they will deliver.
But how about the business showing faith in the customer coming back to pay in full on delivery of the product.
The marine industry Australia wide is the wild west at best. No matter how much paper work you have, receipts with vin numbers, if they fold and take your coin then its going to be a bloody hard fight to get it back if at all. Until legislating is introduced to better protect the consumer we will continue to see people loose there hard earned money.

[Lancair]

As I posted earlier, I left Springwood marine and bought from down the road.
That purchase was not without problems though. I wont repeat all the issues I had but they were numerous. Some may recall the thread that was going on here about them. That thread was brought to the attention of the manufacturers general manager and subsequently the owner of the business. (same company, manufacturer/dealer) It got me the results that SOULD have been automatic. In fact it probably got me better results as I had at least $1500 worth of extra's added as compensation for the mistakes and time lost while they were put right (oh . . . and to have the thread removed from here. ;) )

[Drifty75]

As I posted earlier, I left Springwood marine and bought from down the road.
That purchase was not without problems though. I wont repeat all the issues I had but they were numerous. Some may recall the thread that was going on here about them. That thread was brought to the attention of the manufacturers general manager and subsequently the owner of the business. (same company, manufacturer/dealer) It got me the results that SOULD have been automatic. In fact it probably got me better results as I had at least $1500 worth of extra's added as compensation for the mistakes and time lost while they were put right (oh . . . and to have the thread removed from here. ;) )


They shouldn't be buying the deletion of opinions and discussions about them... They could simply ask that you posted up the finishing details and how they responded towards the end...

Instead they want the unbeknown's to not know anything at all and fall into the same trap... Hoping they don't get caught again . Keep the discussions, even if the problem is resolved, however if it is resolved, then that should be posted in the thread to finalize it for peoples references in the future.

Personally, the actions of Springwood marine has not shown me any hint of loyalty to their customers, and if I'm spending a heap of money, I expect service and honesty.

To the owner of AUSFISH, don't delete this stand up for your community and keep the discussions fair, allowing the retailer to defend themselves to the customer, and potential customers of the future.

[bluefin59]

Pretty poor attempt at an explanation and this post will hurt them but I am sure it will be deleted the same as fisher2 threads and look what happened to that loser ,and who came out on top , funny it's the same blokes who made the call to tell the motor owner that it was dodgie . Good work ORIGIN BOATS for coming up trumps again with fair and honest business dealings I can't speak highly enough of these guys from what I have seen and the dealings I have had with them , great work guys👍👍👍👍👍Matt

[mod2]

I would like to remind everyone this is a G rated site. Keep the profanaties out of the discussion or the thread will be closed and deleted.

[Drifty75]

Yeah, sorry... I get a little heated in my discussions..

Thx for editing and not deleting.

:)

[Alchemy]

I would like to remind everyone this is a G rated site. Keep the profanaties out of the discussion or the thread will be closed and deleted.

Sounds like you're setting it up to be deleted? The responsible thing to do if people are using inappropriate language would be to edit their post and issue them a warning. That way all the relevant info remains in the public domain.

Regards,
Dave.

[SunnyCoastMark]

I would like to remind everyone this is a G rated site. Keep the profanaties out of the discussion or the thread will be closed and deleted.

Yeah, I don't think threatening to delete this post - (given the questions being asked about a previous threads deleting) - is the smartest thing to do....:-?

[SunnyCoastMark]

C'mon Springwood Marine - you have to reply here. No B.S. - if you have stuffed up - then man up and cop it sweet. If your manager has lied through his teeth - same deal - fess up and make it right.

Your professional integrity is on the line here......

...the truth will set you free.................... Amen to that!!;D

Mark

[mod2]

Perhaps some may choose to look at the bottom of post #92...I did edit the post.

[Jarrah Jack]

Edited posts or not there aren't too many forums, actually none that I know of, who would let this run the way it has. I can understand the mods getting jumpy. We've been getting a fair go and even if the lot was deleted the knowledge is out.

[Yellowjack]

If I was a mod I would make this thread a sticky.

#Vote Jack for Mod 2012

[rosco1974]

yep same vin number as my paperwork.....in regards to springwood marines post i didn't wind any1 up and will be personally speaking to gary in regards to this matter and also bringing up a issue i have with them which still isnt fixed after the fit up of the motors...they have had 3 goes at it so far and it keeps resurfacing ...and the part of the changed my motor in good faith or whatever he said is a load of crap...rafe from springwood marine didn't want to take my boat back to the workshop after the watertest when i didnt except the outboard..it was only when i wouldn't sign the dealer delivery paperwork that it went back on the trailer and back to sprinwood marine i notified the finance company that arvo that the motor failed my water test.i rang the finance company the next day and said the finance would be canceled if a new motor wasnt fitted....will be ringing you on thursday gary to discuss the problem i raised with you and rafe 1 week after the fit up of the outboards...
cheers rosco
p.s i will not go into detail about my issue with springwood marine...will give them 1 last chance to fix it

[TREVELLY]

Best not deleted JJ - best kept for search engine to find in future.

This thread hasn't been from what I have seen a lynch mob, but a fact finding mission based upon people's experiences not here say.

Many have asked the same questions and would like to hear the answers including what 20ran experienced - you offer something - you honour it - damn unAustralian if you don't.

[ranga7]

Ill also swim upstream somewhat and defend S.M as a bussines owner myself. Goodie ive never had a dislike post. Firstly sorry for your bad luck Mack Chaser i really hope it all works out for you. I dont think the owner and his business should be crucified because some drop kick employee has stuffed up the shipping. Thanks to some red head women and her clown offsiders business and most other industries in our great country are stuggling big time, businesses where i live are closed down every week. This thread could potentially cost the owner hundreds of thousand dollars which will obviously make some of you happy, fair enough, the boots been put in lets move on. Again sorry Mack hope it works out mate suzukis are awesome.
LEST WE FORGET

[Katcaddy]

Some of you seem to enjoy this, the accusation has been made that you have paper work with a serial number, show me or I will prove you to be a liar however never let the truth get in the way of a good story. And Rossco, I look forward to you calling me. Well done mate, you obviously are missing something in your life, look forward to catching up. It's about time you guys had a good look at yourselves, what I do know is that intelligent people make their own decisions and are not influenced by slander!

[Tailortaker]

Some of you seem to enjoy this, the accusation has been made that you have paper work with a serial number, show me or I will prove you to be a liar however never let the truth get in the way of a good story. And Rossco, I look forward to you calling me. Well done mate, you obviously are missing something in your life, look forward to catching up. It's about time you guys had a good look at yourselves, what I do know is that intelligent people make their own decisions and are not influenced by slander!

He has a photo of the serial number so who is the liar, and fact is not slander

[Tangles]

I also doubt this thread would last so long on other sites,

and Ranga7 i think that like most things, everything in a business comes from top down, that defence of dont crucify me as an owner because its a fault of a 'drop kick' employee is just plain wrong and head in the sand stuff ( i get enough of the Captain Shultz routine from our pollies)... i thought a boss was always responsible for their employees...and i gave you a well deserved dislike.... you seem to look at employees as drop kicks, they are the ones who help build businesses

mike

[cobiaman]

Katcaddy, just wondering about the free service that was promised for 20ran that never happened?

[rosco1974]

nah mate just want my boat fixed for good not just a quick fix as said to your salesman ...and if you want me to bring my paper work with me on that serial number i will be happy to do so its right here beside me as i type this...not missing anything in my life mate i fish when i want and life is great...

[TREVELLY]

Simple questions KC require simple answers unless you are trying to wind us up to get this thread deleted?

[bluefin59]

Ok let's see the photo of the vin number on the motor in question and the paperwork with the vin no on it that roscoe has then that will settle it I guess so bring it on if it's the same you have some explaining to do Katcaddy...Matt p.s I still wouldn't have anything to do with springwood marine after the failure by them to honor the agreement they came to with the other fella or can you explain that as well Katcaddy as I saw that thread as well .....Matt

[AnthonyL]

Simple questions KC require simple answers unless you are trying to wind us up to get this thread deleted?

Exactly what he is trying to do.... Disgusting way to treat customers.

[bluefin59]

Ok roscoe take a photo of the vin on your paperwork and post it if you don't mind , then we can all make a honest appraisal as to who is telling an untruth but I do believe you totally and if it matches it is worthy of finding out if they can be charged with some sort of fraud ...Matt

[oldie]

pretty sure this time of night and evening before anzac day way too much amber sports drink and passion in the air, just remember we all still alive an breathing eh, and thats not saying that this situation does not need rectifying, just seems thread is getting personal.

[rosco1974]

if only oldie have only had 4 beers mate and light beer at that,going fishing tomorrow morning...never have a big nite b4 i go out fishing...big night on the piss for me means a day in bed the next day...must be getting old...

[oldie]

me too mate taking my young fella out tomoz only up the river keen for some flat head fillets


if only oldie have only had 4 beers mate and light beer at that,going fishing tomorrow morning...never have a big nite b4 i go out fishing...big night on the piss for me means a day in bed the next day...must be getting old...

[dan sheard]

Boating/fishing/water sports should be an enjoyable time,
Just give people what they pay for.
Cheers Dan.

[rosco1974]

if i get some macks will swap for some flattie fillets...one of my fav eating fish

[Steeler]

The only mistakes are those that people are not prepared to put there hand up and rectify.

Cut the BS fix the issues and everybody move on with there lives.

[oldie]

i'd be up for that mate, mackeral is a family favourite, but flatties are sweeeeet!! i just shattered cos i fished the Pirtek challenge last week mystery fish prize was 65.1cm and mine was 66cm!! missed out on 4k couldnt get much closer and i let the fish go, so going to try find her tomorrow hahah


if i get some macks will swap for some flattie fillets...one of my fav eating fish

[Spaniard_King]

When you consider how much deposit these marine companies ask for these days, one would have to consider whether they may loose the lot if the company goes arse up.
I understand this isn't on topic but it does show that your money isn't safe with the business your dealing with.
Its easy to say in hindsight but after the last 5 years of companies going belly up and often taking peoples hard earned with them that people still hand over many tens of thousands in deposits or progress payments. When ever I buy a new engine it has to be on the floor or at lest on the premises and until its fitted to my boat no money will change hands.
Its often easier said than done but that's my approach. There my terms, if you want the sale and my money.
Its a one way street with most marine businesses. I mean they want you to have faith in them by holding your money and that they will deliver.
But how about the business showing faith in the customer coming back to pay in full on delivery of the product.
The marine industry Australia wide is the wild west at best. No matter how much paper work you have, receipts with vin numbers, if they fold and take your coin then its going to be a bloody hard fight to get it back if at all. Until legislating is introduced to better protect the consumer we will continue to see people loose there hard earned money.

So Stuart, you wander in and order a 250 hp and say see ya next week to pick it up. What if ya get cold feet??

How much do you think your mistake is going to cost that dealer if he can't sell that engine in these current economic times??

No wonder dealers are going broke with people like you around

[Steeler]

Yep good point SK, wonder how many people realize to return an item like that if at all possible would incur a return delivery fee and restocking fee. A business asking for a deposit to cover these costs is not unrealistic at all.

[Lovey80]

Ah the good old Slander threat. Guys and girls, please do not do anything that may get this thread shut down. If you don't give a reason for the Mods to shut it down AND it does get shut down, you know right there that it was closed because of threats of a civil action by a certain business owner.

Now back on topic: Let me see if I have things straight here please let me know if I have sorted the chaff from the hay.

1. So a while back an irresponsible comment by a forum member caused Katcuddy to crack it. That was absolutely justified in they eyes of many. That thread by Tin Can Marlin is still alive on the forum and IMO, if any, was justified in being deleted in full.

2. An issue was raised on the forum about the treatment of a member (20Ran) and Katcuddy did the right thing and sorted the issue ASAP, which included the offer of a free service, all in public and gained some pretty good kudos from many for the way it was handled. As a result, the thread got deleated because all parties were happy. BUT after the fact, the offer of a free service was reneged on........ I guess I am slandering here because now there is no proof that the offer was ever made.......just a few hundred members memories of reading it, a well sue me.

3. Rosco1974 refused to take delivery the outboards as he wasn't happy with the nosies coming for the outboard and it was returned to the dealer to check after refusing to sign the paperwork even though he was told it would be sorted at first service if still there by salesman.Sorry not that gulable...next day thursday he rang the finance broker and said he would cancel the finance if motor wasn't replaced with a new 1 after being told by salesman a mechanic had been working on it all day which was to 1 pm and couldn't find the problem,needed authority from suzuki to remove head,( as said by salesman) .....who would want this motor.. A new motor was fitted thursday and predelivered on friday befor another watertest which he was happy with and is still happy with...still has an issue with springwood marine with a boat problem.

4. The thread starter Macks pays for a brand new 140hp Suzuki and his boat builder books it in for fitting weeks In advance. On fitting day, boat builder is told Springwood Marine knows nothing about it. A new engine is "ordered" (no appology) and due to the owner of the engine having taken time off asks for the new engine to be delivered to the boat builder so the fitting can be done ASAP. The manager quotes the VIN number of an engine that was refused MONTHS earlier, to the customer that has paid for a NEW engine. The "new" engine is delivered to the boat builder lying face down on a pallet with oil dripping out of it. (this is where it gets interesting because surely it would take a complete moron to deliver a "new" engine to the boat builder whilst lying down on a pallet with Sikaflex all over the mounting points). This engine turns out to be exactly the same engine that Rosco1974 had refused to accept because he thought it was dodgy. So owner blows up and demands a new engine to be delivered (no apology ). This engine turns out to be exactly the same engine that Rosco1974 had refused to accept because he thought it was dodgy. New engine arrives without a wiring harness, owner again has to chase it up and is told it WAS delivered with the new engine. After a bit, Springwood Marine realises they have stuffed up AGAIN and they actually do have the wiring harness and it was never delivered in the first place AND still no apology....all the while the owner of the engine has wasted his week off work, chasing around for something that should have been done properly in the first place instead of fishing.

Have I got this right so far?

Macks
Rosco
20 Ran

Please PM me if I have got ANY of this wrong so I may edit my post.

Edited to paraphrase Rosco for clarity.

[Lovey80]

So Stuart, you wander in and order a 250 hp and say see ya next week to pick it up. What if ya get cold feet??

How much do you think your mistake is going to cost that dealer if he can't sell that engine in these current economic times??

No wonder dealers are going broke with people like you around

SK I don't think the problem here is dealers or customers. The problem is solvency laws that are in place. If dealers were required to run trust accounts for customers deposits so they didn't get screwed and contract law allowed dealers to keep those deposits if tyre kickers pulled out of the deal, all of this would never come about.

[Midnight]

Gaz,
I have had Stuart manufacture custom gear for me 3 separate times now, and have never paid, or been asked too, until the goods were completed to his, and my, high standard.

People who are confident that their work will be accepted by their customer don't need the cash up front.

I have read this thread from start to finish, I have no interest in Springwood Marine, (in fact I have only been in their yard once, and the sales men ignored me in the yard also so I walked out), but it certainly would appear that they are not doing too much right in this small industry.
The owners second reply smacks of arrogance, and ignorance of how to survive in a service industry. In the current economic environment, I would be doing all I could to provide service that would have people singing my praises.

Bad news travels fast.......

I hope the mentioned issues get resolved to the customers satisfaction, and that SM can regain a good reputation.

Cheers,
Myles

[fisho8]

Some of you seem to enjoy this, the accusation has been made that you have paper work with a serial number, show me or I will prove you to be a liar however never let the truth get in the way of a good story. And Rossco, I look forward to you calling me. Well done mate, you obviously are missing something in your life, look forward to catching up. It's about time you guys had a good look at yourselves, what I do know is that intelligent people make their own decisions and are not influenced by slander!

Hahaha wow you are not doing yourself an favours mate. I really think you need to take a hard look at your business and what is going on around you. With an attitude like yours it is no wonder the industry is struggling seems to me you are lacking something in life "Good Business sense" time's are tough yes but it is how you respond to an issue with an attitude like this is. I know there is alway's 2 side's to a story so and you guy's work with really thin margin's but this is the industry you are in. It is no wonder people are looking overseas now to buy a boat. All I will say is let's get this over with. I am a big supporter of te aussie boat market. If I was the owner of your business I would have pulled this thread up ages ago and sorted this instead of reacting the way you are when someone has a dig at you about some thing that has happened within your business. Makes you wonder how and what went on to let it get this far.

[Ausfish]

2. An issue was raised on the forum about the treatment of a member (20Ran) and Katcuddy did the right thing and sorted the issue ASAP, which included the offer of a free service, all in public and gained some pretty good kudos from many for the way it was handled. As a result, the thread got deleated because all parties were happy. BUT after the fact, the offer of a free service was reneged on........ I guess I am slandering here because now there is no proof that the offer was ever made.......just a few hundred members memories of reading it, a well sue me.



The post in question was deleted due to allegations made and no reply with evidence being given by the requested time.

As far as we were aware the offer of a free service had been made and honoured.

The post has been reinstated
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?180487-Springwood-marine-problems

Posts are never completely deleted, they are just not visible by everyone.

[SunnyCoastMark]

So Stuart, you wander in and order a 250 hp and say see ya next week to pick it up. What if ya get cold feet??

How much do you think your mistake is going to cost that dealer if he can't sell that engine in these current economic times??

No wonder dealers are going broke with people like you around

Geeze Gary - let's not make this personal. Stuarts viewpoint is a valid point. In this day and age you take a huge risk paying either a substantial deposit - often Many 1000's of your hard earned and saved $$$ or in full for an item such as an outboard motor.

WE have all heard the stories of lost deposits and dreams going down the drain because of businesses going bankrupt - often after taking payment for goods that they knew the customer would never see.

You can't get insurance for that - your money is just gone.......

I am a manager for a large trailer company and we take deposits for special orders/custom work. However something stock standard - we can always sell to another customer if the orginal customer reneggs. - That's just retail 101

If you run your business not trusting customers - you won't be in business very long.

Mark.

[rosco1974]

lovey , i refused to take delivery the outboards as i wasn't happy with the nosies coming for the outboard and it was returned to the dealer to check after refusing to sign the paperwork even though i was told it would be sorted at first service if still there by salesman.sorry not that gulable...next day thursday i rang the finance broker and said i would cancel the finance if motor wasn't replaced with a new 1 after being told by salesman a mechanic had been working on it all day which was to 1 pm and couldn't find the problem,needed authority from suzuki to remove head,( as said by salesman) .....who would want this motor.. A new motor was fitted thursday and predelivered on friday befor another watertest which i was happy with and am still happy with...not a motor issue with springwood marine its a boat problem

[TopBhoy]

Makes you wonder how and what went on to let it get this far.
In the previous thread with the the free (now renaged on) service, I got villified by some for suggesting that the unverified stamping of a blank logbook for services not provided was not good practice or process and I questioned the companys entire attitude. I didn't consider the free service on its own to be sufficient. Things happen for a reason and sadly the events which have occured in this thread come as no surprise!

[SunnyCoastMark]

Some of you seem to enjoy this, the accusation has been made that you have paper work with a serial number, show me or I will prove you to be a liar however never let the truth get in the way of a good story. And Rossco, I look forward to you calling me. Well done mate, you obviously are missing something in your life, look forward to catching up. It's about time you guys had a good look at yourselves, what I do know is that intelligent people make their own decisions and are not influenced by slander!

Yeah - way to defend your business, with professional integrity - NOT!! Mate, you are not doing yourself any favours here. Stop beating around the bush and do the right thing. you need to make a sound business decision here - not an open slather personal attack. - Get the emotion out of it and deal with the issues.

You haven't even addressed the issue of renegging on old mate with his free service - that would be a good place to start.

[charleville]

I might have to go out and get some chips and plonk. With a whole public holiday in front of us tomorrow and which happens to have the worst boating weather this week, this thread is gonna be a beauty tomorrow.


;D;D;D


.

[Lovey80]

The post in question was deleted due to allegations made and no reply with evidence being given by the requested time.

As far as we were aware the offer of a free service had been made and honoured.

The post has been reinstated
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php?180487-Springwood-marine-problems

Posts are never completely deleted, they are just not visible by everyone.

Thanks Steve, fantasic response. I thought that it was deleted on request from 20ran.

[SunnyCoastMark]

Just an interesting Cut and paste from a post by Katcaddy back in 2008:--

I would like to thank TCM for his apology, i also appreciate the comments of other members be it good or bad. A number of our staff are members of this site and contribute on a regular basis so you can imagine thier concerns when they read the thread, apart from bieng a business owner i also fish and have been a big supporter of this forum, if at any time a member has an issue with our business i welcome them to call me direct, we will never get it right every time however if we stuff up please let me know and i will personally take care of it. Thanks again to TCM for his apology, i am going to let the matter rest and go fishing.

I would really hope that you remain true to your word in "appreciating the comments of other members be it good or bad" and in fixing stuff ups personally

I guess we will see.

Mark

[shy guys]

As I have said they sent out a mechanic the day he offered the free service they said that the next service would be free it was not to be they gave me a free hour service. I can post up my receipt that I paid for the service. I never wanted the post to be deleted but I never wanted a free service either just wanted it done properly. I can show you my service book as well where they have stamped they have done all the servicing to my motor and pre delivery which Cunningham marine did. I think that is wrong but what do you do I'm not fussing but I have herd a lot of bad things about the company so I dropped the subject moved on and now will never step a foot in there yard or ever recommend them to anyone burnt once never again and plus there service desk lady was rude as to me from the start but when I went to pay for the service that avo they were all nice as punch to me but still had to pay for the service

[Katcaddy]

Rosco I know you have paper work with that serial number on it, I thought Mac chaser said that his paper work had that serial number on it, my apologizes to Mack chaser. Look forward to seeing you on thursday Rosco.

[WalrusLike]

Um, I am a bit confused now... Did SM do a shonky or not?

If the serial numbers match does that mean it was deliberate? I honestly don't know, and am hoping someone can clarify for this befuddled observer.

I still lean towards believing it was a honest mistake. But my mind is open.

Katcaddy I am going to give you unsolicited advice you can take on board or ignore. It's not a criticism it's a honest attempt to assist.

Your posts are not clear. This last one could be read as a good intended communication or as a veiled threat. I honestly don't know which.

In emails and posts you have to go the extra mile with using extra efforts to be polite and clear. Written words don't have the tone and body language that spoken does and so context must be explicitly supplied.

If I was a media advisor ( I am not) I would advise that harm is happening here to your business and you need to clearly and openly address all the points raised in this thread. It's not a good idea to just sort it out one on one anymore.

I only say all this because I want the best for your business, the boating public, and your employees.

[PADDLES]

i'm with you Mr Walrus, I simply can't see a long standing business risking it all and knowingly sending someone a used motor when they had purchased it to be brand new and unused. They even knew it was going to a reputable boat builder who would know what he was looking at. Surely there's no way they would be that silly. I guess the only person who can really verify the story is the guy up north who scored himself a brand new motor for a demo price. So I too think it was a genuine mistake that is simply highlighting some issues with the storage and despatch procedures at Springwood Marine, and is probably nothing more sinister than that.

[Boat Hog]

What would I do if I was trying to 'offload' an allegedly shonky engine as brand new?

Well I'd put it on a Suzuki packing stand inside a Suzuki packing box after having the oil drained and the mounts cleaned and touched up like new. I'm sure most dealers would have a pile of stands and boxes out the back or a new motor they could take out of the box/stand and re use. Also, they would have someone about with the skills to do a little touch up job. Easy.

It's one thing to accuse a dealer of being shonky. It's a totallly different thing to accuse them of not only being shonky, but to be incompetent at it! Leading me to think that this dealership is not that shonky in their practices. Badly opperated - maybe? Poor inter-staff communication - probably.

I feel that Springwood Marine has given a plausible explaination for what is a total stuff up - actually a monumentally stupid stuff up! Not everyone can afford to employ Rocket Scientists - mistakes happen.

Not associated with Springwood Marine in any way. Just my point of view.

I hope this matter is resolved to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

Cheers,

[hilta1]

Didnt want to comment on this but have decided to, I am interested in the observations of some customers as i thought i was the only one recieving poor service, i have been thinking of selling my kevlacat 2400 and dropped in there in December to let them have a look, salesperson was going to contact me, waited patiently till Febuary hadnt heard anything so rang and sent a couple of emails heard back to one of the emails to cut a long story short have been told lots of people looking for a kevlacat but still no other contact back to me, I wasnt (and definetly not now) prepared to leave my boat in there yard to sell on consignment as i have heard to many stories about other organisations going bust with your goods etc. isnt it funny that if you want to order a new motor or boat you have to pay a deposit because they dont trust you but you are expected to trust them and stick your boat in there hands without a deposit???? and i am not singeling sw out for that i mean any boat sales yard!! Regards Mark

[truth stretcher]

...............................

[tunaticer]

I suggest that any and all of the persons concerned in this matter either print out or save a copy of this thread.
Too much has been said, factually or surmisedly, that could lead to future consequences. I think this thread may soon be removed from viewing do to the mounting number of allegations.
I think the time has passed for a happy solution to all.

[Katcaddy]

Guys, please, it was an honest mistake, as one earlier thread has said, if we were trying to deceive or do something illegal we would have done it a lot smarter, it was sent on an open cradle with sika all over the mounts. Two mistakes were made, the first being that our people sent 2 engines to the wrong customers and the second mistake was not fixing it immediately, not a good excuse but I was away and our staff I think went in to panic mode and were not sure how to handle it. That's a problem I now need to fix internally and the buck stops with me and I except that.
We employ over 20 people and at times mistakes happen and most people except that however its how quickly we rectify the problem is how we are judged and that's fair. To suggest that we are shonky or we have tried to defraud someone is ludicrous, our reputation is of upmost importance to me and to my family who all work in the business. I can only apologize once again and hope that this gets put to bed once and for all. As a footnote, some of the threads here have been posted by opposition dealers who should have a good look at their own businesses.

[Marlin_Mike]

I think the mods should lock this thread, and therein will end the innuendos, accusations, truths/untruths. It should be left between the parties involved now, not an open forum. I would urge the mods to lock the thread and end this saga.

Mike

[WalrusLike]

I reckon what Katcaddy says seems reasonable. Mostly when you suspect skulduggery it's actually just stuff ups.

Given the nature of Internet usage and the unfortunate name of the thread, I wouldn't be unhappy if the mods renamed it to 'Springwood Marine Misunderstanding' and put a note at front saying a reasonable explanation for mistake is given later.

I hope it doesn't harm the business and affect people's livelihoods. If I need anything in future I will give Springwood a go.

I had a tiny business for a short time that went belly up... Given the current economic climate lets try and support local.

[charleville]

I think the mods should lock this thread, and therein will end the innuendos, accusations, truths/untruths. It should be left between the parties involved now, not an open forum. I would urge the mods to lock the thread and end this saga.



Mike, I disagree. I think that so much brand damage has been done to Springwood Marine in this thread and the previous one that no one will be convinced that all is well with that dealership unless we all see proof.


As I have stated earlier in this thread, I have been a great supporter of SM as evidenced in the other related thread but now even I am not convinced that this dealer currently earns the reputation that it once had.


Locking the thread would be like holding out a pendulum and trying to assure us that it will return to centre without our seeing it happen.


It is in the interest of the dealer principal to not have this thread locked and to exhibit in a very open way how the concerns raised here are dealt with.


I could not recommend the dealership to my mates at this point in time, given all that has been written here. I want to "see" proof that all is well. Honest mistakes are OK but the tone of response last night and the vitriol of people who claim here to be unhappy customers don't sit well with my perceptions of what a good dealership says and does and the customer goodwill that results thereof. Its reputation ought to be such that advocates defend it and I have not seen too much customer advocacy on behalf of Springwood Marine in this thread.



.

[Jeremy]

never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
You have the right of reply on this site. Everyone know there are two sides to every story and we want to hear yours. Several allegations have been made. You have partly clarified one of these. We are all waiting for you to tell us your side regarding the other allegations. So what actually happened?

[Stuart]

Spaniard King,

If you or any boat outboard dealer goes broke then that simply proves my point even more.
I don’t have any faith in the marine industry as it stands today. With the many businesses that have gone broke owing not just money but also undelivered engines and hulls, you question my attempt to protect my money that I have worked my arse off for. If a business can’t afford to support stock then they simply aren’t a viable business and your money isn’t secure. We watched the debacle that was fisher 2 and all the deposits that were never paid back, outboards that were also paid in full and never delivered. Therefore, If my paranoia offends you then I will now buy my new Honda from someone else. I have to say this sort of thing pisses me off when the customer or potential customer is made to be a scapegoat as being the cause of the industries pathetic demise. I’m sure that one customers lack of deposit will not and should not end a business, that coffin was nailed close some time before that sale. I have never questioned your integrity but some how you have labeled me as the typical customer who sends businesses broke. Just like Springwood, you have done yourself no real favors

[Stuart]

almost 10,000 veiws and 10 pages of posts, cant be doing any good SM.

[fishing111]

I think that a boating novice could detect that the motor delivered was not new, so I'm reasonably sure that SM would have made a mistake, although that doesn't for one second excuse the customer service that appears to have been dished out. As some have already noted, the owners remarks really do amaze! Family purchased a new boat from them around 6 years ago, and lets just say we have not set foot back in there since! I am amazed that business owners, not singling out SM, do not recognise the importance of customer satisfaction, and customer service. How many times can you go to that well, that is finding first time buyers?

[Spaniard_King]

Geeze Gary - let's not make this personal. Stuarts viewpoint is a valid point. In this day and age you take a huge risk paying either a substantial deposit - often Many 1000's of your hard earned and saved $$$ or in full for an item such as an outboard motor.

WE have all heard the stories of lost deposits and dreams going down the drain because of businesses going bankrupt - often after taking payment for goods that they knew the customer would never see.

You can't get insurance for that - your money is just gone.......

I am a manager for a large trailer company and we take deposits for special orders/custom work. However something stock standard - we can always sell to another customer if the orginal customer reneggs. - That's just retail 101

If you run your business not trusting customers - you won't be in business very long.

Mark.

Mark, Do use a trust account for your deposits?????

I assume not, well why not ??

I would gladly use a trust account if it was requested but guess who would be paying the costs involved.

I guess I am still in buisness because I too have nothing to hide or hide from :)

[hilta1]

Hi Garry, i am in business as well so i do understand what you are on about, But unless the boating industry is governed under a different set of rule and regulations than the rest of Australia, i think the Deposit bit isnt worth asking for!! i am fairly shore that if the customer demands his deposit back because he is unhappy to go ahead dosent give you the right to keep the deposit? It is more of a good will thing, and realy if you have a 30 day trade account surely the motor etc wouldnt be charged to you before it arrives to you? there fore you have at least 30 days and up to 60 days to fit the motor and recieve payment? As i said in a previos post i am just a little scepticle as to who i hand money out to as a deposit in todays market, and by no means do i mean anything against you. Regards Mark

[bluefin59]

Deflection by innuendo and still no real answers or the truth other than someone made an unintentional mistake and no answers about 20rans free service , a lot of smoke and mirrors here by Katcaddy to make out it is somewhat ok you have to be kidding . Never would I recommend Sundown to anyone . And while we are at it Having a dig at spaniard king is certainly not what this thread was about if starting up trust funds is what you think then start a thread to put your case Stuart and having said that your idea has merit but getting personal with Gary on this thread is uncalled for and sure to have this deleted or at least closed and then the TRUTH will never be revealed . Also in the time I have been on aus fish Gary has been one of the most helpful blokes on here and offer advice on this site gratis . Katcaddy who are the position dealers who are here that you speak of because that seems like a cop out but I guess that's the way this has been leading to since the beginning? Matt 😏😏😏

[bigjimg]

After wading through all the accusations and he said this they said that,my thoughts are these.
Someone didn't get their free service,I would of spoken to the owner and verified before service took place.
Next,someone recieved an outboard and took it for being passed off as new.I reckon was just a big error,but is pissed off because sorry wasn't said.At the end of the day a new outboard is being fitted to the boat so really noone is being stiffed.Issues are now customer service,but these can be resolved,are we not adults.Katcaddy has given his speech and there are members giving their two bobs worth that are not directly involved the way i see it.I reckon SM are now on the receiving end of a witch hunt.I don't give a rats if i get a spray,but as someone who has had bad service before from all types of dealings move on ,let the parties involved work it out by themselves with SM.Poor service and unsatisfied customers is nothing new,I could go on about several businesses that members here rave about,I've moved on.Everyone needs to get over it.I'm done.Jim

[Marlin_Mike]

After wading through all the accusations and he said this they said that,my thoughts are these.
Someone didn't get their free service,I would of spoken to the owner and verified before service took place.
Next,someone recieved an outboard and took it for being passed off as new.I reckon was just a big error,but is pissed off because sorry wasn't said.At the end of the day a new outboard is being fitted to the boat so really noone is being stiffed.Issues are now customer service,but these can be resolved,are we not adults.Katcaddy has given his speech and there are members giving their two bobs worth that are not directly involved the way i see it.I reckon SM are now on the receiving end of a witch hunt.I don't give a rats if i get a spray,but as someone who has had bad service before from all types of dealings move on ,let the parties involved work it out by themselves with SM.Poor service and unsatisfied customers is nothing new,I could go on about several businesses that members here rave about,I've moved on.Everyone needs to get over it.I'm done.Jim

Look out Jim, you might get soem dislikes mate. I expressed my opinion an hour ago and have had 4 dislikes since then. Bloody savage lot in here soemtimes, like the romans barracking for the Lions against the christians.............LMAO.......who gives a rats Toss anyway like you said JIm.

Mike

Mike

[Steeler]

Hi Garry, i am in business as well so i do understand what you are on about, But unless the boating industry is governed under a different set of rule and regulations than the rest of Australia, i think the Deposit bit isnt worth asking for!! i am fairly shore that if the customer demands his deposit back because he is unhappy to go ahead dosent give you the right to keep the deposit? It is more of a good will thing, and realy if you have a 30 day trade account surely the motor etc wouldnt be charged to you before it arrives to you? there fore you have at least 30 days and up to 60 days to fit the motor and recieve payment? As i said in a previos post i am just a little scepticle as to who i hand money out to as a deposit in todays market, and by no means do i mean anything against you. Regards Mark


And if he does not settle his account within 45 days he may very well go on stop. In the future if he decides to open an account with a company how do you think that credit reference check will go down, not real good when the reply is 60+ days settlement.

If he does not sell that motor within 60 days then what ????.

You make it sound all too simplistic.

Essentially if the item you are after is a stock item then no deposit required but if you wish to purchase something that is not a stock item then a deposit is not unreasonable.

I can tell you now it is very easy for a dealer to be stuck with a bill for several hundred dollars should they get stuck with an item where a customer has changed there minds.

I can't believe some of you blokes on here want to stick it up a fella SK in this case who does more in a week to help others on here at no cost than some of you will do in your life time FFS.

[Jarrah Jack]

Someone didn't get their free service,I would of spoken to the owner and verified before service took place.


He did, on here, you can read it. 20ran took Katcaddy at his word and didn't even mention it when it wasn't honored, until this came up.

Katcaddy I really hope you can clear this one up as well so we can move on.

You've got some valuable feedback to give to your staff and they should be thinking hard about the businesses that are going bust and doing their utmost to see that you're business is the best. There may be some quality staff from Cunninghams looking for a job.

[fishfeeder]

I have a question for SM..

The motor from Rosco's boat that had some issues, was the problem fixed and was the next owner notified in writing what had been done to his NEW motor ???
I would think there would have to be information handed over to the next owner that there was a problem with it and what it was..

Just curious as to how all that is handled.

Cheers
Brett

[Stuart]

Deflection by innuendo and still no real answers or the truth other than someone made an unintentional mistake and no answers about 20rans free service , a lot of smoke and mirrors here by Katcaddy to make out it is somewhat ok you have to be kidding . Never would I recommend Sundown to anyone . And while we are at it Having a dig at spaniard king is certainly not what this thread was about if starting up trust funds is what you think then start a thread to put your case Stuart and having said that your idea has merit but getting personal with Gary on this thread is uncalled for and sure to have this deleted or at least closed and then the TRUTH will never be revealed . Also in the time I have been on aus fish Gary has been one of the most helpful blokes on here and offer advice on this site gratis . Katcaddy who are the position dealers who are here that you speak of because that seems like a cop out but I guess that's the way this has been leading to since the beginning? Matt ������

I would say read spaniard post again, he made an accusation against me. Again per my post, I never called his reputation into question. This is the problam with posts, you can read them but still get the facts wrong. Most threads like this one nearly always turn to shit. I wont bother posting on this topic again.

[hilta1]

Steeler, You OBVIOUSLY Did not read all my post???? If you had of i especialy put down the bottom so there was no mistake that i was NOT having a crack at Spaniard!!! So please get off your high horse!!! and keep your ffs to your self!!

[dan sheard]

Has anybody been out fishing?????
Cheers Dan.

[hilta1]

Good point Dan! cheers

[terry71]

Has anybody been out fishing?????
Cheers Dan.

Everyone's already out fishing just not on the water :-)

[ozlongboarder]

Great read guys.....thanks!

So who is this conveniently mysterious guy who lives "up north" who got lucky with a new motor at a demo price. The skeptic in me thinks this sounds a little to convenient.

However, it could actually be true. I mean the line from SM about an honest mix up could actually be the truth. If it is, it sounds like a cluster #### and when you consider all the other responses of poor customer service its entirely plausible that the staff at SM could be capable of such a mistake.

The ball is in SM's court to turn this around and fix the damage from spreading further.

Also, Congrats to Ausfish and its Mods for letting this thread run.

[cormorant]

Guys
What does the words "demo motor" bring to mind ;D

To me it means a motor that was on a test or demo boat owned by the marine company , in their control , running fine and all good. .

To me it does not mean a motor that has a rattle or requires head off work. That is a warranty return failed motor to me. Does that get written in the service book? Remind me never to consider a marine demo motor if this what the industry considers OK. At least with evinrude you can do the dealer login a see all warranty work on any motor by serial number along with all upgrades, updates recalls etc required and done.

"the engine that was sent to the boat builder was in fact fitted to a Kevlacat and had a slight noise, the fact that this was a twin rig accentauted it when the other engine was so quite however we had it checked by Suzuki and it checked out ok, it was a liitle tight, but in the interest of customer satisfaction we swapped it. We then sold this engine as a demo engine at a reduced price"



Rosco1974

" i refused to take delivery the outboards as i wasn't happy with the nosies coming for the outboard and it was returned to the dealer to check after refusing to sign the paperwork even though i was told it would be sorted at first service if still there by salesman.sorry not that gulable...next day thursday i rang the finance broker and said i would cancel the finance if motor wasn't replaced with a new 1 after being told by salesman a mechanic had been working on it all day which was to 1 pm and couldn't find the problem,needed authority from suzuki to remove head,( as said by salesman) .....who would want this motor"


To draw a parallel a demo car is one used by the dealership. They have staff cars which are used by head office staff and family that are rotate for sell off and special event cars like used for the Olyimpcs sold after the event.

Guess if I was in the marine industry I could call the cars that are used in celebrity challenge after stickers off and a panel of 5 straightened at the F1 a demo with only 500km on the clock

[TREVELLY]

Does look like the two big ticket items for this thread were sorted with motors but boat issue to be resolved - may see it in another thread but doubt it after this one - reckon it will be fixed.

I still see poor ol 20ran was unfairly brushed aside and treated as a little guy, with promises that were never honoured or explained, but don't blame 20ran for moving on.

Ausfish thanks for letting the thread take it's course.

Forum dudes well done for not losing it and making it a slanging match to be deleted - not easy when provoked and at the end of a day after a beverage.

I don't think anything was unfairly said and if anyone takes the time to read this entire thread they can make up their own minds well enough.

[Bull]

I have followed this thread from the start and my comment would be.
If it was an honest mistake by the guys working in dispatch which could of happened. I cant see or understand how Mack Chaser had the serial number for the Motor that came off Rosco's Cat sent to him as the new motor in question. I think if it was a dispatch mix up Mack Chaser would of gotten the paperwork and serial number from the motor that was sent up north.
Just my thoughts.

Cheers Brett

[bluefin59]

My understanding from reading macchasers original thread is he ordered a NEW motor but he wanted the special gauges deal for free at the time so my point is how do you mixup a new and a second hand motor , of what has happened is not bodgie it's totally incompatent .Matt

[BM]

Similar situations have occured with large dealers in Melb being caught out passing off engines as new when they weren't. Not making a statement pro or against SM, simply commenting on events that have occured down here.

[fat-buoy]

I was also a little curious when the word "demo" was used... I would have thought that if I bought a demo motor it would have been one the dealer has used to show people how good they are when running etc.. not one that a customer has had an issue with and has been removed from the back of their boat.. that is not a demo.... otherwise we all have demo motors on the back of our boats until the warranty period ends.

As a customer (on the Sunshine Coast) I would be taking heads off if I paid the amount of money it costs for a new motor these days and was then confronted with a second hand job with possible issues and a line of somewhat questionable actions.

For me the worst thing is that the actions of the dealer cannot be proven to be a mistake or otherwise... the whole serial number scenario is very disconcerting though?

Will be continuing to watch this thread closely.

[stue2]

Guys, please, it was an honest mistake, as one earlier thread has said, if we were trying to deceive or do something illegal we would have done it a lot smarter, it was sent on an open cradle with sika all over the mounts. Two mistakes were made, the first being that our people sent 2 engines to the wrong customers and the second mistake was not fixing it immediately, not a good excuse but I was away and our staff I think went in to panic mode and were not sure how to handle it. That's a problem I now need to fix internally and the buck stops with me and I except that.
We employ over 20 people and at times mistakes happen and most people except that however its how quickly we rectify the problem is how we are judged and that's fair. To suggest that we are shonky or we have tried to defraud someone is ludicrous, our reputation is of upmost importance to me and to my family who all work in the business. I can only apologize once again and hope that this gets put to bed once and for all. As a footnote, some of the threads here have been posted by opposition dealers who should have a good look at their own businesses.

A Family business can be tough.
Defending your family is one thing. Disciplining them without offending can sometimes be very difficult or even imposible. Believe me, I have seen it all happen many times before.

[Katcaddy]

Guys, for your info, Mack Chaser did not get the serial number of the engine in question.

[MACK CHASER]

Garry yes I did Gyula told me the serial number and how it was packed over the phone the day it was to be sent to Origin Boats I asked why not in box told me it was taken out look Gyula in the eye an ask him the question you most certainly knew what motor was going to Origin Boats my main beef is the way I an origin were treated by your staff never a apology what so ever

[TopBhoy]

Similar situations have occured with large dealers in Melb being caught out passing off engines as new when they weren't. Not making a statement pro or against SM, simply commenting on events that have occured down here.
Were there any prosecutions in the case of these large Melbourne dealers or was everything swept under the carpet?

[AnthonyL]

Similar situations have occured with large dealers in Melb being caught out passing off engines as new when they weren't. Not making a statement pro or against SM, simply commenting on events that have occured down here.

It happened to me too and the boatyard is now out of business.

[finga]

What I can't believe is there is no-one in the whole place (with a staff of over 20) who could not have made an on the spot decision in these matters when you were away Katcaddy.
Mobile phone? E-mail?
What would happen if you had the misfortune of having a heart attach and were out of action for months on end?
Someone must be able to make the big decisions whilst your not there. Is there someone there who can make the same decisions when your not there?

So Katcaddy...how does this all work?
What procedure has to be followed through if I order a new engine off you people?
Start from me wanting to order an engine to me been happy with the engine on the back of the boat.
What paperwork trail has to be laid down to make sure I get what I paid for?
If I place a deposit on an engine, or pay for one outright, is the engine I've ordered, or brought, ordered straight away?
Are you issued with a VIN number when you place an order for an engine?
Am I allocated a VIN number for my engine as soon as the engine gets to your shop or before?
If I place a deposit how long is it until my engine gets to your establishment?
How long does it take for me to get a VIN number?
If I pay for a motor (as old mate has done) does the motor I brought simply sit in the workshop until I'm ready for it?

In short.....When am I issued with the VIN number to my motor I have paid for?

Everyone there has the same name on their shirts. Springwood Marine.
It's not a person who has stuffed this up. It's the company.
Quality control is a big issue if the story is believed.
What internal quality control do your people have to follow to make sure this type of insistent does not happen?
How many engines (over 25hp) would you send out for other people to fit in a day/week/month?

Demo is short for demolition not demonstration by the sounds.
As mentioned....was a written report to the work done to the 'demo' motor sent to the customer who actually brought it?
I too think describing that motor as a 'demo' was a 'stretch' of the truth. It was more like a re-manufactured or repaired motor.
Wouldn't it be funny if 'demo' boy popped up :)

Bloody hell there's a lot of questions.
And I'm afraid I'd be asking every one of them if I placed an order for an engine (new or secondhand) from anyone (Except my old mate Gary that is).

Cheers then
Alfred.

[BM]

TopBhoy,

No prosecutions that I am aware of. Pressure gets applied and a solution is forthcoming under threat of further action. One dealer in particular has done these sort of things numerous times.

Anthony,

The business I was referring to down here is still operating.

Cheers

[finga]

Something I just thought of in relation to the numbers.
How come one bloke got engine numbers in the paperwork and the other bloke didn't?

As I said before. So many questions.

Cheers Alfred.

[terry71]

so many questions , very few answers ...........

[Katcaddy]

It appears that it wouldnt matter what expalantion we made in in relation to this matter some of you guys just delight in finding fault and thrive on it. We run a reputable business and will defend our reputation, its obvious that some of you do not have your own businesses and its obvious you have never made a mistake for which i applaud you. we spend a lot of time and money supporting this industry, sponsor fishing competitions, sending mechanics out all hours of the night to keep rescue boats running (for no financial return) and time spent on weekends helping customers out, you wonder why we bother but you know what, there are enough good people out there that deserve it which makes up for it, ill bet that most of the guys that have had the most amount to say either have never had any dealings with us and probably live too far away to do so. i have no intention to continue trying to reply to these threads as it appears that it makes no difference, guilty until proven innocent it appears and you know what, innocence doesnt make for a good thread does it? Keep the thread going guys and enjoy, and for all the experts that have all this advice about running your own business that dont currently, have a go, you at least might have some empathy, but its the Australian way isnt it, lets cut down the tall poppy. Katcaddy signing off.

[Stuart]

Yep, trial by fishing forum. Many people on this site have lost boats, engines and lots of money to dodgie companies that disapear overnight due to no fault of there own, not suggesting you will. So you have to forgive us all if we look at this and think, where have we seen this happen before. I have had piss poor service at SM and no I wont be back. I run my own busniess and yes, its dam hard. Your right though, you cant please all your customers but you should at least try your hardest. Going that extra mile will quite often give you a customer for life. There has been something around for many years, its called the fishing telegraph and its still working today, good or bad.

[bennykenny]

i recently bought a small motor from springwood marine, and while i had a reasonably pleasent experience on the purchase side of things, this thread has made me think twice about returning for the service side of things. i cant see why an owner of a buisness would get into a debate on a public forum with over 100000 registered members. Some of whom may have been future potential customers, viewing a thread like this will turn them away weather you are in the right or the wrong Katcaddy, it makes no difference, i may just have to take the extra 15 minute drive to the next Merc dealer for my services.Cheers BK

PS if you google springwood marine this thread comes in at number 5 on the first page, not a good look for SM

[geoffmck]

TopBhoy,

No prosecutions that I am aware of. Pressure gets applied and a solution is forthcoming under threat of further action. One dealer in particular has done these sort of things numerous times.

Anthony,

The business I was referring to down here is still operating.

Cheers

Hey BM, I have a new bmt package on order from a large dealer in Melbourne and reading some of these posts makes me worry my new Etec might not be new? How will I be able to check?

[cormorant]

Hey BM, I have a new bmt package on order from a large dealer in Melbourne and reading some of these posts makes me worry my new Etec might not be new? How will I be able to check?

Geoff - ask the dealer for the printout of the ECU showing hours and updates as it will also serial number etc. It will show when motor was first started, current hours , error codes etc. Takes their mechanics 2 minutes when doing the install to do this if they know as all they have to do is hit the print button and have it stapled into your log book . Just ask. Ask at every service to have the full copy of the printout for your records.
Check serial number with paperwork and stamp on motor before you settle.

That record of when fitted and original owner , originating dealer ,updates, etc is held on the Evinrude database and avaliable to all dealers for warranty enquiries and for update checks etc.

Cheers.

Edit - here is a picture of a basic printout of a etec.
http://www.etecownersgroup.com/file?id=1286125

[BM]

Hi mate,

Firstly, don't fret! PM me if you want to give any further details as obviously publicly isn't the way to go.

To protect yourself, prior to accepting the package request the serial number of the engine in writing (email is a legal document) and you can cross check that serial number with the manufacturer and they will verify who that engine was supplied to and when it was supplied and any other relevant info pertaining to that engine.

Regards

[charleville]

Geoff - ask the dealer for the printout of the ECU showing hours and updates as it will also serial number etc. It will show when motor was first started, current hours , error codes etc. Takes their mechanics 2 minutes when doing teh install to do this if they know as all they have to do is hit teh print button and have it stapled into your log book . Just ask. Ask at every service to have the full copy of the printout for your records.
Check serial number with paperwork and stamp on motor before you settle.

That record of when fitted and original owner , originating dealer ,updates, etc is held on the Evinrude database and avaliable to all dealers for warranty enquiries and for update checks etc.




Cormorant, that is excellent advice. Many thanks for that.


However, what a shame it is when Joe Citizen has to resort to doing that because dealers cannot be trusted.


.

[TREVELLY]

KC don't think for one minute people will choose you because they are close to you geographically and will not drive to you if they are further away.

I live 10 minutes from Cunninghams marine but due to my experience and impressions I drove 1500km to buy my new $75K BMT from another dealer. Similarly I get my services done driving twice the distance from Cunninghams to get boat serviced by someone I trust. In the past two years I have spent about $95K on my boat - not one cent at a dealer i do not want to give my business too.

With your manner you are costing your business money.

Yes, Cunninghams have gone bust and I am sure they would have stood a better chance of being in business if they grasped every opportunity to either look after people or do the right thing.

No one disputes people make mistakes - but it is what you do to remedy them that counts once admitting an error and apologising.

20ran was offered a free service on his motor but when he arrived and got the service, he was given one hour off the service fee and still had to pay $580 - if that is your idea of doing the right thing - then be blown if i would be in your yard, 2m away or 1500km away.

You were given good kudos on this forum for offering to do the right thing by 20ran previously and that is the way a thread can and should end up - but when you then wipe them like a dirty rag afterwards, when you were to deliver on your promise, expect to be judged accordingly.

You were asked numerous times why you didn't stick to your word and you chose to ignore that too - don't expect us to ignore it aswell.

[GBC]

Our offices are at Dennis Rd Springwood (Yes, private enterprise) - I've been driving past SM's door to other dealers for years.

[Jarrah Jack]

You were asked numerous times why you didn't stick to your word and you chose to ignore that too - don't expect us to ignore it aswell.

Nothing more to say.

[finga]

So Katcaddy. A really easy question to answer.
Why was a number on the paperwork to one guy and not on the paperwork to the other guy?



Some of you seem to enjoy this, the accusation has been made that you have paper work with a serial number, show me or I will prove you to be a liar however never let the truth get in the way of a good story. And Rossco, I look forward to you calling me. Well done mate, you obviously are missing something in your life, look forward to catching up. It's about time you guys had a good look at yourselves, what I do know is that intelligent people make their own decisions and are not influenced by slander!
OK. I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed BUT.......
How do you know there are no numbers in the paperwork for the engine sent to Mack as a new one?


Rosco I know you have paper work with that serial number on it, I thought Mac chaser said that his paper work had that serial number on it, my apologizes to Mack chaser. Look forward to seeing you on thursday Rosco.
Seems to me there is something different happened with the paperwork.
One had numbers (the one that was new but turned out to be a reject)
One had no numbers (the one that was supposed to be new but was a reject from dude number 1 and sent to dude number 2)

There has to be an internal paper trail to prove it was a mistake.
But one lot of paperwork with numbers and one without??
Something seems drift to this blunt chisel (I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed remember)

Cheers Alfred

[myusernam]

give the guy A break. only the business owner suffers and he cant help it if his staff make a few mistakes. He righted the wrong. IN the end he got there once he got involved so give him some credit. It's his lively hood and his name. Poor business owners must shxt everytime they go away

[Drifty75]

lol @ "signing off"...


That says to me, I quit. I've been caught red handed and I have absolutely no excuse. My bulls*&t excuse I used is not cutting it and now I must run for the hills... Hopefully the fire will die off soon and I'll be able to continue as usual.


If you actually gave a crap about your business, you would post more than a response longer than the one minute it takes to write it. It goes to show that you really don't care about your reputation because if it were my business, I would have it all out in the open, for EVERYONE to see what went wrong and how we solved it. Hoping that people would see the effort I went to fixing it.. That is of course if it was a mistake, or unless you tried to scam somebody in which case, you're screwed...

But alas, you decided to no do any such thing, instead you are elusive with your information, not answering questions, will not address issues from other users and all while thousands of people are looking at you.


Poor form....



Either way, as you've signed off of this thread now, it seems you will never get to see this...

[finga]

Poor business owners must shxt everytime they go away
And good business owners won't.

Answering a few questions may go a long way in us gaining some faith back into the buying public.
There are some doozy (but simple) questions to answer like why was the offer of a free service renegued upon for starters??
Why did one set of papers have engine numbers and another (the dodgy one) didn't??
Why was the original booking date for fitting not booked into the workshop side of the business??


They're simple questions and a good business owner would tell us why/how this happened.
A good business owner would also put pen to paper and write down what safe guards are in place to make sure the customer gets what they've paid for from time of ordering to time of been happy as Larry.

A good business owner would delegate responsibility if they knew they were going to be un-contactable over an extended period of time especially if they had over 20 employees etc etc etc.
In this case a snap decision could have been made to chuck a new motor in the ute and race up to Origin Boats so the new motor could have been fitted with near to no delays.
Col could have fitted the motor either that day or the next. Macks would not have lost his time off. Everyone happy.
A good business owner would have better quality assurance in the way things are done.
Multiple checks should have been done to make sure that this easily avoidable occurrence never would have happened in the first place.
Engine numbers to cross reference on all paperwork would be a start.
Letting the owner of the engine, that's been paid for, his engine number would give the new owner peace of mind.
To simply blame the person on the delivery dock and call him a goose and blame him/her is wrong. Who hired him/her??

A good business owner makes sure his prospective clients are happy as word of mouth is the best form of advertising.
A lot of prospective clients need to have their fears squashed by answers.
Near everyone on this forum knows of at least 3 or 4 people who have lost big money because they trusted the dealer. People have generally lost trust in dealers in the marine industry as a consequence.
Near every month there is a story of lost money due to dealer stuffing up or doing a runner.
A good dealer will tell us what they can do for us so we, the clients who want to spend money, can be guaranteed to receive what we pay for.

In this case there doesn't seem to be a simple stuff up. There seems to be a continually expanding list of stuff ups.

Good news travels fast. Bad news travels faster.

Do you also own Motorama or is Springwood Marine affiliated in any way with Motorama Katcaddy??



Why was the dodgy motor simply strapped down onto a pallet leaking oil for delivery to supposedly Northern Queensland??
That can't be real good for an expensive motor can it??

[pipifin]

What I can't believe is there is no-one in the whole place (with a staff of over 20) who could not have made an on the spot decision in these matters when you were away Katcaddy.
Mobile phone? E-mail?
What would happen if you had the misfortune of having a heart attach and were out of action for months on end?
Someone must be able to make the big decisions whilst your not there. Is there someone there who can make the same decisions when your not there?

So Katcaddy...how does this all work?


Simple..... before you order anything from anyone, enquire as to whether the owner of the company is going to take any holidays in the foreseeable future and if so, who will be handling the situation..... and if they have any holidays planned..... and so on.

[finga]

Simple..... before you order anything from anyone, enquire as to whether the owner of the company is going to take any holidays in the foreseeable future and if so, who will be handling the situation..... and if they have any holidays planned..... and so on.
And get a full medical report??

[ubdkdd]

@ Katcaddy

Whilst i am loath to comment (and i only am cause I work in business process improvement), i'd suggest you print out this entire thread and take it to a business advisor or consultant - perhaps one that specialises in marketing or improving client service business processes. While i have several, you don't need a degree to work out something is not functioning properly within your business. You have issues with client service, PR, marketing, dispatch, paper work and invoicing, servicing, communication between departments... and i haven't even read past page 5.

Properly handled, Mack Chaser should have been singing your praises by now, and everyone else thinking they had misjudged SM. Instead, you've got 13 pages of bad press that will be returned any time someone googles your business.

"Signing Off" doesn't make any of it go away and nor does blaming staff. We have 20,000+ employees - if we blamed someone every time something went wrong, we'd get nothing done. Ever.

Don't take any of it as a personal attack, cause its not. Its people expressing frustration at a let down in expectations from an industry that is close to the hearts of readers - we're all fishermen and/or boaties. Get some advice and improve your processes - make it a learning experience.

anyway... just my two cents.

[pipifin]

And get a full medical report??

And doctors certificate.

[charleville]

Wow! 15,500 views of this thread in just five days! That has to be some sort of an Ausfish record.




.

[fishfeeder]

And there isn't one nuddy photo to be seen !!
But a company sure got a good shafting....

[finga]

And there isn't one nuddy photo to be seen !!
But a company sure got a good shafting....

Not as a big a shafting as one poor bugger got who lost his well earnt time off work he was supposed to spend with his new boat.
How does he get that back?

How would that make you feel?



Wow! #15,500 views of this thread in just five days! #That has to be some sort of an Ausfish record..
I wonder how many of those views were a result of Googling Springwood Marine and finding this??

Cheers Alfred

[Homer_Jay]

@ Katcaddy

Whilst i am loath to comment (and i only am cause I work in business process improvement), i'd suggest you print out this entire thread and take it to a business advisor or consultant - perhaps one that specialises in marketing or improving client service business processes. While i have several, you don't need a degree to work out something is not functioning properly within your business. You have issues with client service, PR, marketing, dispatch, paper work and invoicing, servicing, communication between departments... and i haven't even read past page 5.

Properly handled, Mack Chaser should have been singing your praises by now, and everyone else thinking they had misjudged SM. Instead, you've got 13 pages of bad press that will be returned any time someone googles your business.

"Signing Off" doesn't make any of it go away and nor does blaming staff. We have 20,000+ employees - if we blamed someone every time something went wrong, we'd get nothing done. Ever.

Don't take any of it as a personal attack, cause its not. Its people expressing frustration at a let down in expectations from an industry that is close to the hearts of readers - we're all fishermen and/or boaties. Get some advice and improve your processes - make it a learning experience.

anyway... just my two cents.

Take note of the above post Mr SM.... you will learn a lot.

But here is my take on how things should have gone. Yes I am a business owner and I have had to deal with customers my whole working life.

"Yes, Mister Mack Chaser, after listening to your situation, I totally agree that there has been a major stuff up on our behalf. It is totally unacceptable that this has happened and I understand that it has caused you considerable inconvenience. I will personally handle the situation from here on in and I will look at our procedures to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.
Because of the inconvenience to yourself and Origin Boats, I will organise one of our staff to come and pick the boat up, bring it to our factory so we can fit the correct outboard and deliver it back you, all at no cost to yourself.
All I ask in return, is that you accept our apology."

" Thanks MR SM, that’s fantastic service, Yes I know we all do make mistakes, and I probably should not have ranted like I did, but I will be sure to tell all my friends about what a great bunch of people you are to deal with. I know a few of my Ausfish mates that are looking for a new boat, I will be sending them your way! But anyway, if you can just put the new motor on a courier to Origin, I will still get the Origin guys to fit the motor as the boat is there anyway".

............ all up cost to SM to turn a negitive into a positive and have happy customer???? Couple of hunder bucks to courier the new motor out!

This thread may have been very different.

Wasnt your excuse last time, that you were away and didnt have any idea on what was going on??
You have a major problem with your business mate.

[Crunchy]

After reading Rybak's post below have decided to withdraw from commenting...benefit of the doubt and all that, wish a reasonable reply from SM had come a lot sooner though.

Well that caused a bit of excitment for a few days anyway! Been a while since we had a thread to get all hot under the collar about. Anyone going fishing this WE?

[rybak]

Hi All, I am the sales person who sold this engine to Mac Chaser (Randall). Firstly I want to say that I cannot fathom the hearsay, opinions and rubbish that has been posted on this thread. Everyone seems to have their 2 cents worth, with no evidence or facts to back anything up. Also, we seem to have gone of the topic of the original post which was Mac Chaser receiving the incorrect engine. Gary has already replied to this and I don’t need to go into detail here again. All I can do now is supply some facts and hopefully this will clear up some of your questions / accusations.
1. The engine was sold in September 2011
2. Randall shopped around to get the best price, which is normal and understandable, who doesn’t these days. However, he went one step further and shopped us internally, playing one sales person off against another (Talk about Honesty and Trust) Despite this a deal was done
3. The engine was sold as fitted by our workshop to a newly built boat which we were told would be finished and ready for fit up late December / Early January.
4. Despite the engine being sold out of the time frame of the Boat Show, we convinced Suzuki to upgrade the pre rig to the Garmin GMI upgrade. (No charge)
5. After requesting several times over a period of two weeks from Randall and the Boat Manufacturer (Origin Boats) to supply information regarding the rig kit required (prop size, cable lengths, control box) to no avail, we had to secure the order with Suzuki to get the Garmin upgrade. So a pre rig kit was ordered.
6. Around December, I received a call requesting if we could deliver the pre rig kit to Origin Boats so they can pre cut the holes in the boat for the gauges etc. We delivered the rig kit from Springwood to Redcliffe, 2 hour trip there and back, no questions asked. (No Charge)
7. We got a phone call from the Origin Boats that the control box was incorrect. Refer point 5 why the rig kit may have been incorrect. So again, no questions asked, we sent a driver to collect and deliver the correct control box. 2 trips – 4hrs (No Charge). Mac Chaser did pay the price difference between the control boxes, we wore the Suzuki re stocking fee (No Charge)
8. Strangely at this point the boat hadn’t even started production. We were then advised there was a delay and the boat was another 3 months away.
9. Forward two months and we receive a call from Randall, that the pre rig kit is missing GMI 10 Antenna, Prop and Wiring Harness. Keep in mind that this rig kit has been sitting around somewhere for about 3 months, so our natural re action was that this was not possible. We asked if they could double check as all the parts should be there. At this stage we didn’t question why the pre rig kit had been unboxed to this extent. At this point as far as we are concerned we are still fitting and engine and pre rig kit, and the gauges were being used to pre cut the holes only.
10. On the 13th of April I receive a phone call from Randall asking why the boat hasn’t been picked up from Redcliffe? And that it was due to be booked in on Monday for fit up? I advise Mac Chaser that I have no knowledge of the boat being booked in and I check with our workshop, who also don’t have any booking on record. All bookings are recorded in a book in book. We have never experienced this problem before.
11. Origin boats contact our workshop direct, adamant that the boat was booked in. Just so everyone understands we do not book boats in for fit up if they are being built. This means that we have a booking on a maybe, as it turns out the boat was 4 months late, how can anyone be so accurate with a booking date from weeks prior to the completion of a boat??

[charleville]

Deleted this post so as to allow continuity for the two posts by rybak. We seem to have pressed the send button at the same time.

[rybak]

12. Again bending over backwards, even though our workshop is booked out 8 days in advance, I convince them to take a booking for the Tuesday / Wednesday. So this is 1 – 2 days after the supposed booking date. A 1 – 2 day delay turns into a drama, again, keeping in mind that this boat is 4 months late. I ask Mac Chaser to help us out and get Origin Boats to drop the boat of as we are under the pump.
13. I receive a call from Randall a few minutes later that Origin Boats would charge a delivery fee for the boat to be delivered to Springwood, and that it would be better if we could deliver the engine to Redcliffe for fit up. At this point we agree to deliver the engine to Redcliffe on Monday / Tuesday (Again NO CHARGE) and would re fund the fit up cost difference. Re fund was carried out with no delay.
14. Another phone call from Origin Boats that there is a missing harness. At this stage we are confused as the main focus is on a harness, and the prop and GMI Antenna have appeared and are no longer missing. They obviously find it difficult to convince us the harness is missing and that it wasn’t in the original box. Please note points 10 to 14 happened in a very short space of time.
15. The engine is delivered to Redcliffe on the Tuesday. So time frame wise we are back to square one
16. My Sales Manager receives a phone call on Tuesday regarding the engine being used (second hand). He is unsure how to reply to this and advises Randall he will look into it. Gary has replied to the next events in his previous posts, so I don’t need to go into this again, but the engine was replaced very quickly. Randall has a new engine
17. Another phone call from Randall regarding the wiring harness, benefit of doubt, I investigate this further and see what it going on. A few phone calls to and fro between Randall, Origin Boats and Suzuki with part numbers etc, I establish the harness in question is on back order. We have been accused of being liars and trying to cover things up, however, to any one that doubts this I have proof via a Suzuki Invoice to confirm the harness is on back order. Invoice number SI084525, I don’t need to post a copy of this, any one is more than welcome to come into our Dealer ship to view the original copy if they wish. We can also prove that Randall didn’t have a contract with the serial number in question, we have the original contract.
To all those asking why one contract has a serial number and the other does not is simple. When a customer takes delivery of an engine, boat, trailer etc, he/she receives the final contract with identifiers, dates, signatures of customer and sales person. Please understand that this engine sale was done over the phone and a contract was done, however, the engine was ordered 2 weeks later, refer back to point 5. So at this point there was no serial number.
A few posts back Randall says his issue is with how he and Origin Boats were treated and no Apology has been made. Gary has apologised for the mix up on more than one occasion, refer back to previous posts. I think anyone reading this will see that we have been more than accommodating.
And to answer a few more questions, people have posted and opinionated on
:They would not except an engine with oil in it - All Suzuki’s come with partial engine oil from the factory.
:They wouldn’t except an engine out of a box - If we are sending engines in boxes, it means we are selling outside of our PMA. Technically, Randall should have bought his engine in North Queensland (Talk about supporting local business?) The purchase of this engine was purely price orientated from the customer, otherwise the engine would have been purchased through Origin Boats, or the next closest Dealer to Origin Boats.
:Motorama – Motorama has no ties with Springwood Marine and hasn’t had since I have been working here, approx 8 years. So those who posted anything against Motorama, need to apologise. I am sure they wouldn’t be happy with being dragged into this.
A few posts back, someone mentions this thread sounds like a witch hunt, you are not wrong. Masses come out to complain but only the minority praise. This is human nature unfortunately. Like I said in the beginning, I will stay on topic here so hopefully some questions have been answered. It is unfortunate that people have posted they have had a good experience with Springwood Marine but after reading this thread they wouldn’t come here again.
I hope anyone reading this doesn’t think it is a personal attack on any party involved, these are the facts. A lot of this information is documented in contracts and emails between the parties involved.
One thing everyone seems to be overlooking here is that once the mix up with the engines was identified the engine was replaced with a new engine immediately.
Once again apologies to Randall for the engine mix up. Can we move on now??

[Steeler]

Cough cough

[Lovey80]

Where was rybak's post in the first couple of pages? I hope SM have learned something. All this "hearsay, opinions and rubbish" could have been averted 12 pages ago.

Although I suspect there will be some more he said she said to come, there is a real learning point to take away from this for any business owner. With this thread sitting on post 5 of a google search, how many potential future customers will read all the way to page 14 to read this?

[Triple]

So what have you done to your process to ensure points 15 and 16 do not happen again?

Also was in there yesterday and looked at nearly every boat in the yard (had time to kill and looking for a tinny) and not one person approached me to see if I required any assistance, even had employees walk past me and not even acknowledge I was there. I do not like pestering salesmen who follow you around the yard but a simple "Do you need any help mate" would of been nice from someone.
Maybe all the salesmen were too busy in the office on the net reading this thread.

[Stuart]

Well thats a pretty detailed reply. Shame it took 14 pages and 15,500 veiws to get it though. I think thats the problam with SM, they are always on the backfoot.

[finga]

So those who posted anything against Motorama, need to apologise. I am sure they wouldn’t be happy with being dragged into this.


I can't remember anyone posting anything against Motorama. I asked if there was an affiliation and that was it.
Question was not answered so raised again.

[lethal098]

Maybe Rybak should handle all of the problems that arise in the Dealership.

Well Done Rybak Your DP could learn a thing or 2 from your replies. Customer Satisfaction is a hard thing to manage but at the end of the day stand by your workers and your product and when something goes pear shaped, JUST FIX IT, at the end of the day without your customers your business does not exist. If this thread was a about good service, it would have been lucky to be one page.

Cheers Lee

[Humdinger]

It appears that it wouldnt matter what expalantion we made in in relation to this matter some of you guys just delight in finding fault and thrive on it. We run a reputable business and will defend our reputation, its obvious that some of you do not have your own businesses and its obvious you have never made a mistake for which i applaud you. we spend a lot of time and money supporting this industry, sponsor fishing competitions, sending mechanics out all hours of the night to keep rescue boats running (for no financial return) and time spent on weekends helping customers out, you wonder why we bother but you know what, there are enough good people out there that deserve it which makes up for it, ill bet that most of the guys that have had the most amount to say either have never had any dealings with us and probably live too far away to do so. i have no intention to continue trying to reply to these threads as it appears that it makes no difference, guilty until proven innocent it appears and you know what, innocence doesnt make for a good thread does it? Keep the thread going guys and enjoy, and for all the experts that have all this advice about running your own business that dont currently, have a go, you at least might have some empathy, but its the Australian way isnt it, lets cut down the tall poppy. Katcaddy signing off.

im other words f@@@k you all i don't need your business anyway
i run my own business and i could never treat a customer like he has to 2 people on here .
full of empty promise . never came through on 20rans free service either still no mention of that

[TheRealAndy]

Where was rybak's post in the first couple of pages? I hope SM have learned something. All this "hearsay, opinions and rubbish" could have been averted 12 pages ago.


Shit dude, not everyone is an Ausfish junkie!!

[bluefin59]

There appears to be more to rybacks post than meets the eye initially , he hasn't said why they really sent the bodgie motor and he posts like a true wordsmith who can make anything sound like they are right and yes it has taken too long to come up with this . He has also done a good job with trying to make mackchaser and origin out to be at fault ,you have got to be kidding !anyway you guys have done enough to cause your own problem so don't try taking us for mugs . Actually you could make Anna Bligh sound like a legend I wonder what you really do for a living ryback you don't write speeches for pollies or unions do you ,something suspect in that lot if you ask me 😉😉😉😉😉😉😉😉thanks for yor time Matt

[WalrusLike]

It looks to me as though all parties in this transaction acted in good faith and that there was a bit of a stuff up or two involved from both sides.

Springwood Marine appear to have gone the extra mile a couple of times by the sounds of it.

The PR could have been handled better.

As I said earlier.... I will give them a go on my next boat bit, to try in my own little way to mitigate any damage from this sorry saga becoming so public.

I hope all concerned end up with satisfactory outcomes and that we as boaties try and support local whenever its feasible.

[WalrusLike]

PS... If I thought someone was really trying a rip off I would be all for making them suffer. I just don't think that was the case here.

[rybak]

Hi Matt, (Bluefin59). Not sure wether to take this as a compliment or what. No smoke or mirrors, just the facts, not trying to put the blame on Mac Chaser or Origin boats, but these were the chain of events. Read into what you will. Not going to reply to any more theories etc. Like Gary said, it doesnt matter what we say it makes no difference. Thanks Gyula

[GBC]

Don't believe Garry for a second, he's proven himself to be a PR nightmare - what you've taken the time to point out does make a difference for the company you work for.

[LittleSkipper]

I think it's time this thread was put to bed once and for all. All parties involved have sorted out there issues. Case Closed!

[gunna]

All parties involved have sorted out there issues. Case Closed!

Does that include the free service ??

[Ausfish]

To me, this thread goes to show just how out of touch some businesses are with the Internet and social media and how it can be used to benefit a business.

Rather than sending me an email and stating that there are some members on a which hunt and that the thread is becoming defamatory, I would suggest that you should have done as I stated in my reply, use your right of reply on the forum and help the customer out. This was also stated on here by several members, some of which run their own business.

As I have said in my emails to you "Can you give me the exact details of which threads and what is being said that is defamatory so I can look into it." I can not find anything and I have read the entire thread, so maybe I am missing something.

I take claims of defamation and false claims of defamation seriously.

This is the third email I have had from companies in the last few weeks regarding threads on here regarding their business. Two of which have threatened legal action if the threads were not removed but have not replied when I have asked for specifics and actual evidence of defamation or the contact details of their solicitor, or in one case claiming they would be speaking to their Barrister. Two of which have decided to not use their right of reply as I have suggested to reply to the thread to clear things up and offer some customer service and resolution.

I would strongly suggest to all businesses that they take note of this thread and get with the times, if you stuff a customer around it will be told to thousands via the Internet, not just down the pub on Friday night like it use to be.

I have been running this site and helping businesses with the Internet now for over 19 years. I have spoken at Parliament House at the Enabling Australia Summit, been featured in BRW, Australian Financial Review and various other mags and TV shows around the world. I have also had the Deputy Prime Minister drop around for a chat and a few photos. So, if you need some help or advise on how to bring your business up to speed with social media please feel free to contact me.




BTW - What did ever happen to that offer of the free service?



.

[cobiaman]

I think it's time this thread was put to bed once and for all. All parties involved have sorted out there issues. Case Closed!

Im not sure anyone has sorted out their issues, especially 20ran's free service...

[Todddo]

Or why they are still selling imported trailers that do not meet ADR regulations?

[Lovey80]

Also, how exactly does a second hand engine get sent to Mackchaser? Mackchaser has stated when he rang that he was given a VIN over the phone and when alerted to being sent a second hand engine that he took a photo of the VIN which matched the one he wrote down over the phone? Have I got this wrong Mackchaser?

Also,
12. Again bending over backwards, even though our workshop is booked out 8 days in advance, I convince them to take a booking for the Tuesday / Wednesday. So this is 1 – 2 days after the supposed booking date. A 1 – 2 day delay turns into a drama, again, keeping in mind that this boat is 4 months late. I ask Mac Chaser to help us out and get Origin Boats to drop the boat of as we are under the pump.

Rybak, you keep saying 4 months "late". Mackchaser has stated from the start he purchased the engine well in advance of known completion date and advised you that this would be the case. I dont think it is fair to keep calling a custom boat build 4 months late. Also of course a 1-2 day delay is a drama, the guy has taken leave from work to finish his boat and take it fishing. A stuff up some where was going to cost him 2 days pay effectively.

[ozlongboarder]

AUSFISH!!!

Awesome reply to this thread.

Well done to you and the team once again for not being bullied to remove it.

[ifishcq1]

This not a crack at any of the parties directly involved in the events and not even all other posts but a couple were,,,,,
some of the crap I have just read though blows me away showing how the pack mentality rules where one goes for the throat and others run around nipping the heels with sharp little accusations and cynical comments with no foundation or fact, just proved to me exactly why hanging was stopped
and another thing how can anybody reasonably expect the company to be reading every forum on the net to find adverse publicity, be frigging real
doesn't seem to be a lot said about the time the boat took to get built or the fact that there may have been a communication issues between all parties
there doesn't have to be a guilty party every time but apparently some need blood
cheers

[fishing111]

I didn't like Rybak's comments about MC playing one salesman against another, or for that matter his comment about not buying his motor up north.I was of the belief that anyone can by whatever they want, where ever they want! Sounds to me like still trying to throw in a few rabbit punches. BTW there could be heaps of reasons for talking to multiple salesmen.

[Triple]

and another thing how can anybody reasonably expect the company to be reading every forum on the net to find adverse publicity, be frigging real
cheers

That point has been brought up already in regards to business these days needs to keep with the times with internet communication and social media.. Not hard to type into google your business name with "problems" or "issues" or "review" once a week to see if any forums websites have commented on anything that may need addressing.
Simply searching "springwood marine" in google shows this thread as the second link on googles first page after their own website address.

[Homer_Jay]

Shit dude, not everyone is an Ausfish junkie!!

Was good enough for the "owner" to be on here in the first few pages, obviously getting the s#!t5 with it all, the running away with his bat and ball. Tell me this wasn't the talk of the office over the last few days at Springwood Marine???
Come on mate..... I don't think anyone needed to be an Ausfish Junkie at SM to know what was going on!

[Cardy Wahoo]

Nowadays there is no excuse for businesses not being up-to-speed with social media. The marketing potential is enormous and as seen here the damage to reputations can be severe. Can I suggest that SM and indeed any business look into this currently gov subsidised training for businesses to improve their digital skills. We recognised our deficiencies and enrolled:

http://www.getuptospeed.com.au/

[PinHead]

dammit..no more popcorn in the house.

[Triple]

dammit..no more popcorn in the house.
Haha just thinking the same thing...
79388

[Ausfish]

Was good enough for the "owner" to be on here in the first few pages, obviously getting the s#!t5 with it all, the running away with his bat and ball. Tell me this wasn't the talk of the office over the last few days at Springwood Marine???
Come on mate..... I don't think anyone needed to be an Ausfish Junkie at SM to know what was going on!

I imagine that would be correct, I would imagine that they would of known about this thread fairly shortly after it was posted. I can look through the log files and see the IP address for SM and employees and know exactly when they accessed the site.

You do not need to be a Junkie to monitor Social media, I can write a program that will monitor sites and email you of any new mentions of your company name. There may even be one already out there, just google it.

This is the most popular fishing website in Australia, hence why many companies keep an eye on it and do searches for any mention of there name, good, bad or indifferent. It only take about 30 seconds a day to do a search.

As one of the companies that threatened legal action informed me, they were aware of a thread for some time but didn't worry about it as they thought it was buried. But then it started appearing on the front page of google. Why they had not tried to resolve the customers issue in the first place is beyond me.

[MACK CHASER]

My replies to Rybak thread
1. Yes did order 30/9/11
2. Yes did shop around why not work hard for my money and yes First up I got a quote from SW via email through there website on the contact us part then I rang up everyone was at boat show so ask the person who was someone different for there price out of curiousity and it was cheaper than the previous quote so dont see why I couldn't ask for this cheaper price if one person in same company gives a better price, also had prices from else where I said to SW can you match the best price which I gave as was paying cash for it not financed SW came back and matched,the ball was in there court if they couldn't match it I would go else where didn't worry me, anyhow to me if you pay for something wouldn't it just sit in a corner till you pick it up as its been paid for not on layby.
3. Yes I did say it would be late December or January but I found out other boats were ahead of mine by time I ordered of Col don't see what that has to do with it I had already paid for motor to me it could sit at SW for as long as it takes they had my money owed nothing.
4. Was told motor was already order on the 30/9/11 when i signed a contract the suzuki deal ended 30/9/11 so don't know how this is out of the time frame when I was emailed saying the motor had been ordered for me on the 30/9/11
5. Motor was ordered on 30/9/11 to get GMI 10 deal and was told to get back with details of pre rig told them on the 11/10/11 wanted binical control was told should be able to get it swapped no problem.
6. Yes did ask for Kit to be delivered to Origin in Redcliffe was told no problem as there guys go up there 1-2 times aweek for services long as it could wait till they went that way and they would drop it in I said no problem whenever you go that way so it wasn't a special trip thats for sure.
7. Yes was incorrect kit was side control not binical mmm you would think from Oct - Dec one might of thought a binical control would have arrived since told them on the 11/10/11 to go with a binical.
8.Yes boat hadn't started as other boats had to be finished before mine could start and xmas was nearly on them.
9.I called in and wanted to see the gauges and why not I had paid for them.
10. The booking was made on the 28/3/12 for the 16/4/12 I was emailed this info straight after the booking and after calls Steve found out the person whom took the booking and several other bookings hadn't done the right thing booking them all in and then this person went on holidays for 3 weeks this was why they didn't have the booking internal error honest mistake.
11. I believe Col & Steve they booked it in.

will answer other questions in next thread below

[Crunchy]

You better zip down and grab some more popcorn pinhead

[MACK CHASER]

My replies to this thread 205

12. They weren't sure they could do it by tuesday or wednesday and my concern an panick was I had got other Co workers to switch shifts with me because I thought motor was getting fitted on the 16/4 which I had allowed couple days for boat to be finished after this and I would get up there from orange where i'm working after starting my break on the 18/4 so this why after talking to Col about fitting motor for me would be garantee that it would be at least fitted by the 17/4.
13. Yes Origin would have had to charge why wouldn't they as they had heaps work to get done with other boats and mine was supposingly booked in 16/4 so they would have to pull someone of another job to run boat down to SW when the original deal was SW would pick it up when they did one of there trips to redcliffe for servicing so it wasn't out of there way as long as it wasn't a special trip that's why I thought they would pick it up on the 13/4 as was told they usually go up there monday friday yes refund of fitting was paid.
14. Harness was missing as finally agreed on this.
15. Engine was delivered on Tuesday (used one though)
16. Yes I rang manger and told him was not going to accept the motor and I asked for my money back but he said they get me a new motor so let it go at that.
17. Yes I never got any paper work as I had said before last time I asked back in October 2011 the invoice machine had broken down but they had received all the money I transfered and I only have what I heard over the phone when I asked Guyla the serial no of the motor being sent to Origin on the day it was being taken up there was told over the phone the s/n and how it was packed being told was on pallet and on frame not in a box so still trying to work out how the mistake happened if this s/n was from a demo/second hand motor already sold and sent up north to someone wouldn't have thought i'd be given a demo/second hand s/n if it were to be new motor. With the paperwork on contract have a email from SW saying motor was ordered on the 30/9 so don't know why your saying was ordered 2 weeks later to me that's your problem if you hadn't ordered it on the 30/9 like you told me in a email. Yes and I still feel the same about being treated badly as no apology personally to anything but will get over it to me it's not good business practice on SW behalf but that' my opinion. Why should I have bought motor up north where I live plenty people buy boats down south and get whole rig fitted out and take it back home and I don't have time to as my work doesn't give me much time off as I work away so it was easier to get whole boat fitted out down here and take it home north load it up and go fishing than wait take hull home organise a motor get it fitted and then go fishing.

Anyhow these are my replies can't wait to pick up the boat next break and get it north and head to the wild blue yonder and catch some nice REDS yea ha.

[ubdkdd]

and another thing how can anybody reasonably expect the company to be reading every forum on the net to find adverse publicity, be frigging real


Its not about being across every forum on the web. Its about being involved in those that are directly related to your industry and target market.

Take BOAB boats as an example. They are on the forum regularly, posting reports from clients, giving condition reports and generally sharing information about what they are doing. The use the forum to connect with boaties and fishermen knowing that occasionally, one of us might want/need to hire a boat. They use the forum to build brand awareness and market positioning. And i guarantee that such involvement has generated them business.

What businesses like SM (apparently) fail to understand is that the people on this forum make up 80% of their business - ie fishermen and boaties that live in SEQ. You cant run a Brisbane based boating business solely relying on people from the burbs waking up one day and deciding to by a boat. It is us, fishermen and people with boats, who come online to talk and discuss boating that drive such businesses.

And that is the opportunity presented by social media. Target markets for firms like SM are concentrated into a very small, easily accessible groups. Any marketing done here is highly targeted and potentially highly effective. It dumbfounds me that when i open Ausfish, i see random google banner ads for insurance, and holidays to Wellington. I should see ads for businesses like SM!

But rather than build relationships and future customers, SM chose to throw up a barrier of antagonism, and doing so doesn't benefit anyone.

[AnthonyL]

I own my own business and do restoration work, fires, floods, disasters etc. I did a flood job for an old fella 7 months ago, this guy had carpet that hadnt been cleaned in 20 plus years.

Well tonight old fella calls and says he thinks a missed a spot can I come back and redo that area. I think he has obviously spilled something on it, if I really did miss a spot he would have called before now lol.

I can tell him nicely I didnt do anything wrong, he isnt on the internet to give me bad reviews. I am going to go back and redo it for him to keep him happy cos even tho I know I didnt do the wrong thing he will always think I did if I dont go back and make him happy.

[fisho8]

This not a crack at any of the parties directly involved in the events and not even all other posts but a couple were,,,,,
some of the crap I have just read though blows me away showing how the pack mentality rules where one goes for the throat and others run around nipping the heels with sharp little accusations and cynical comments with no foundation or fact, just proved to me exactly why hanging was stopped
and another thing how can anybody reasonably expect the company to be reading every forum on the net to find adverse publicity, be frigging real
doesn't seem to be a lot said about the time the boat took to get built or the fact that there may have been a communication issues between all parties
there doesn't have to be a guilty party every time but apparently some need blood
cheers


Ifish I have a problem with people pretending there is nothing wrong and making an apology to the forum and not the customer. Yes a mistake was made but he is not grasping the fact that there are other issue'sin the business like poor customer service. I admit no business is perfect and yes I do not own one. But if I did I would take this feed back not as a personal attack or taking the easy way out and saying shit about the tall poppy syndrome or as I call it "Head up your ass syndrome"ask yourself this question....Why has such a simple issue in your eye's exploded into a thread like this. Everyone has put their 2cent's worth in ( aswell as myself) and their opinion's on this matter. All of us here are passionate about the way the aussie boat Industry is going. Everyone is entitled to give feedback/opinion’son the issues within a business weather they own one or not. What hope does the aussie boat industry have when you see someone who takes things as a personal attack when thing's go wrong and basically just thinks everyone is jealous of their success. I really do not think any business in OZ can afford to be this complacent. Espeically when they are now competeing on a world stage.:-?

[LittleSkipper]

It's almost as if people :gossip: just keep on feeding off of this thread? :argue: Here fishy fishy!!

[Jarrah Jack]

It's almost as if people :gossip: just keep on feeding off of this thread? :argue: Here fishy fishy!!

You don't get it, the thread is evolving into something entirely different to the start and giving people who don't often post a chance to have a say on something that concerns us all.

[TopBhoy]

Excellent posts Ausfish; thank-you.

I want to avoid sounding like a broken record but I would like to find out Rybaks view on 20ran's warranty logbook being lost but a blank replacement being stamped when the work was not verified. Stuff ups and human errors I can accept, it has happened to everyone but deliberate cover-ups are simply wrong which destroys trust and reputation. This was a biggie for 20ran with his 1yo engine and he was badly treated overall. I work in the verification and validation field and falsifying records is a big No No - it creates a reputation and mistrust!!!

[braders83]

Thanks Ausfish for your post 221.
It was a refreshing read!
I wouldn't get too caught up in legal threats you receive. Talk via email is cheap, getting high-quality lawyers at $500-$1000+ an hour to actually instigate something is another thing. Especially for them to be told as an end result they don't have a case and be $20k out of pocket. Ouch!
Spot on with your comments about social media. Could this thread be the Kony of Ausfish??

[Lovey80]

Shit dude, not everyone is an Ausfish junkie!!

If I owned a business that was directly related to the largest forum in that business, I would consider it would be business suicide not to visit it at least 3 times a day. Let alone not being one of it's largest sponsors.......No excuse for the result of this.

Shit dude it's 2012!

[finga]

I thought it would be handy to have both sides of the coin in the one place. It just makes it easier to compare the stories.


Hi All, I am the sales person who sold this engine to Mac Chaser (Randall). Firstly I want to say that I cannot fathom the hearsay, opinions and rubbish that has been posted on this thread. Everyone seems to have their 2 cents worth, with no evidence or facts to back anything up. Also, we seem to have gone of the topic of the original post which was Mac Chaser receiving the incorrect engine. Gary has already replied to this and I don’t need to go into detail here again. All I can do now is supply some facts and hopefully this will clear up some of your questions / accusations.
1. The engine was sold in September 2011
2. Randall shopped around to get the best price, which is normal and understandable, who doesn’t these days. However, he went one step further and shopped us internally, playing one sales person off against another (Talk about Honesty and Trust) Despite this a deal was done
3. The engine was sold as fitted by our workshop to a newly built boat which we were told would be finished and ready for fit up late December / Early January.
4. Despite the engine being sold out of the time frame of the Boat Show, we convinced Suzuki to upgrade the pre rig to the Garmin GMI upgrade. (No charge)
5. After requesting several times over a period of two weeks from Randall and the Boat Manufacturer (Origin Boats) to supply information regarding the rig kit required (prop size, cable lengths, control box) to no avail, we had to secure the order with Suzuki to get the Garmin upgrade. So a pre rig kit was ordered.
6. Around December, I received a call requesting if we could deliver the pre rig kit to Origin Boats so they can pre cut the holes in the boat for the gauges etc. We delivered the rig kit from Springwood to Redcliffe, 2 hour trip there and back, no questions asked. (No Charge)
7. We got a phone call from the Origin Boats that the control box was incorrect. Refer point 5 why the rig kit may have been incorrect. So again, no questions asked, we sent a driver to collect and deliver the correct control box. 2 trips – 4hrs (No Charge). Mac Chaser did pay the price difference between the control boxes, we wore the Suzuki re stocking fee (No Charge)
8. Strangely at this point the boat hadn’t even started production. We were then advised there was a delay and the boat was another 3 months away.
9. Forward two months and we receive a call from Randall, that the pre rig kit is missing GMI 10 Antenna, Prop and Wiring Harness. Keep in mind that this rig kit has been sitting around somewhere for about 3 months, so our natural re action was that this was not possible. We asked if they could double check as all the parts should be there. At this stage we didn’t question why the pre rig kit had been unboxed to this extent. At this point as far as we are concerned we are still fitting and engine and pre rig kit, and the gauges were being used to pre cut the holes only.
10. On the 13th of April I receive a phone call from Randall asking why the boat hasn’t been picked up from Redcliffe? And that it was due to be booked in on Monday for fit up? I advise Mac Chaser that I have no knowledge of the boat being booked in and I check with our workshop, who also don’t have any booking on record. All bookings are recorded in a book in book. We have never experienced this problem before.
11. Origin boats contact our workshop direct, adamant that the boat was booked in. Just so everyone understands we do not book boats in for fit up if they are being built. This means that we have a booking on a maybe, as it turns out the boat was 4 months late, how can anyone be so accurate with a booking date from weeks prior to the completion of a boat??


12. Again bending over backwards, even though our workshop is booked out 8 days in advance, I convince them to take a booking for the Tuesday / Wednesday. So this is 1 – 2 days after the supposed booking date. A 1 – 2 day delay turns into a drama, again, keeping in mind that this boat is 4 months late. I ask Mac Chaser to help us out and get Origin Boats to drop the boat of as we are under the pump.
13. I receive a call from Randall a few minutes later that Origin Boats would charge a delivery fee for the boat to be delivered to Springwood, and that it would be better if we could deliver the engine to Redcliffe for fit up. At this point we agree to deliver the engine to Redcliffe on Monday / Tuesday (Again NO CHARGE) and would re fund the fit up cost difference. Re fund was carried out with no delay.
14. Another phone call from Origin Boats that there is a missing harness. At this stage we are confused as the main focus is on a harness, and the prop and GMI Antenna have appeared and are no longer missing. They obviously find it difficult to convince us the harness is missing and that it wasn’t in the original box. Please note points 10 to 14 happened in a very short space of time.
15. The engine is delivered to Redcliffe on the Tuesday. So time frame wise we are back to square one
16. My Sales Manager receives a phone call on Tuesday regarding the engine being used (second hand). He is unsure how to reply to this and advises Randall he will look into it. Gary has replied to the next events in his previous posts, so I don’t need to go into this again, but the engine was replaced very quickly. Randall has a new engine
17. Another phone call from Randall regarding the wiring harness, benefit of doubt, I investigate this further and see what it going on. A few phone calls to and fro between Randall, Origin Boats and Suzuki with part numbers etc, I establish the harness in question is on back order. We have been accused of being liars and trying to cover things up, however, to any one that doubts this I have proof via a Suzuki Invoice to confirm the harness is on back order. Invoice number SI084525, I don’t need to post a copy of this, any one is more than welcome to come into our Dealer ship to view the original copy if they wish. We can also prove that Randall didn’t have a contract with the serial number in question, we have the original contract.
To all those asking why one contract has a serial number and the other does not is simple. When a customer takes delivery of an engine, boat, trailer etc, he/she receives the final contract with identifiers, dates, signatures of customer and sales person. Please understand that this engine sale was done over the phone and a contract was done, however, the engine was ordered 2 weeks later, refer back to point 5. So at this point there was no serial number.
A few posts back Randall says his issue is with how he and Origin Boats were treated and no Apology has been made. Gary has apologised for the mix up on more than one occasion, refer back to previous posts. I think anyone reading this will see that we have been more than accommodating.
And to answer a few more questions, people have posted and opinionated on
:They would not except an engine with oil in it - All Suzuki’s come with partial engine oil from the factory.
:They wouldn’t except an engine out of a box - If we are sending engines in boxes, it means we are selling outside of our PMA. Technically, Randall should have bought his engine in North Queensland (Talk about supporting local business?) The purchase of this engine was purely price orientated from the customer, otherwise the engine would have been purchased through Origin Boats, or the next closest Dealer to Origin Boats.
:Motorama – Motorama has no ties with Springwood Marine and hasn’t had since I have been working here, approx 8 years. So those who posted anything against Motorama, need to apologise. I am sure they wouldn’t be happy with being dragged into this.
A few posts back, someone mentions this thread sounds like a witch hunt, you are not wrong. Masses come out to complain but only the minority praise. This is human nature unfortunately. Like I said in the beginning, I will stay on topic here so hopefully some questions have been answered. It is unfortunate that people have posted they have had a good experience with Springwood Marine but after reading this thread they wouldn’t come here again.
I hope anyone reading this doesn’t think it is a personal attack on any party involved, these are the facts. A lot of this information is documented in contracts and emails between the parties involved.
One thing everyone seems to be overlooking here is that once the mix up with the engines was identified the engine was replaced with a new engine immediately.
Once again apologies to Randall for the engine mix up. Can we move on now??


My replies to Rybak thread
1. Yes did order 30/9/11
2. Yes did shop around why not work hard for my money and yes First up I got a quote from SW via email through there website on the contact us part then I rang up everyone was at boat show so ask the person who was someone different for there price out of curiousity and it was cheaper than the previous quote so dont see why I couldn't ask for this cheaper price if one person in same company gives a better price, also had prices from else where I said to SW can you match the best price which I gave as was paying cash for it not financed SW came back and matched,the ball was in there court if they couldn't match it I would go else where didn't worry me, anyhow to me if you pay for something wouldn't it just sit in a corner till you pick it up as its been paid for not on layby.
3. Yes I did say it would be late December or January but I found out other boats were ahead of mine by time I ordered of Col don't see what that has to do with it I had already paid for motor to me it could sit at SW for as long as it takes they had my money owed nothing.
4. Was told motor was already order on the 30/9/11 when i signed a contract the suzuki deal ended 30/9/11 so don't know how this is out of the time frame when I was emailed saying the motor had been ordered for me on the 30/9/11
5. Motor was ordered on 30/9/11 to get GMI 10 deal and was told to get back with details of pre rig told them on the 11/10/11 wanted binical control was told should be able to get it swapped no problem.
6. Yes did ask for Kit to be delivered to Origin in Redcliffe was told no problem as there guys go up there 1-2 times aweek for services long as it could wait till they went that way and they would drop it in I said no problem whenever you go that way so it wasn't a special trip thats for sure.
7. Yes was incorrect kit was side control not binical mmm you would think from Oct - Dec one might of thought a binical control would have arrived since told them on the 11/10/11 to go with a binical.
8.Yes boat hadn't started as other boats had to be finished before mine could start and xmas was nearly on them.
9.I called in and wanted to see the gauges and why not I had paid for them.
10. The booking was made on the 28/3/12 for the 16/4/12 I was emailed this info straight after the booking and after calls Steve found out the person whom took the booking and several other bookings hadn't done the right thing booking them all in and then this person went on holidays for 3 weeks this was why they didn't have the booking internal error honest mistake.
11. I believe Col & Steve they booked it in.

will answer other questions in next thread below


My replies to this thread 205

12. They weren't sure they could do it by tuesday or wednesday and my concern an panick was I had got other Co workers to switch shifts with me because I thought motor was getting fitted on the 16/4 which I had allowed couple days for boat to be finished after this and I would get up there from orange where i'm working after starting my break on the 18/4 so this why after talking to Col about fitting motor for me would be garantee that it would be at least fitted by the 17/4.
13. Yes Origin would have had to charge why wouldn't they as they had heaps work to get done with other boats and mine was supposingly booked in 16/4 so they would have to pull someone of another job to run boat down to SW when the original deal was SW would pick it up when they did one of there trips to redcliffe for servicing so it wasn't out of there way as long as it wasn't a special trip that's why I thought they would pick it up on the 13/4 as was told they usually go up there monday friday yes refund of fitting was paid.
14. Harness was missing as finally agreed on this.
15. Engine was delivered on Tuesday (used one though)
16. Yes I rang manger and told him was not going to accept the motor and I asked for my money back but he said they get me a new motor so let it go at that.
17. Yes I never got any paper work as I had said before last time I asked back in October 2011 the invoice machine had broken down but they had received all the money I transfered and I only have what I heard over the phone when I asked Guyla the serial no of the motor being sent to Origin on the day it was being taken up there was told over the phone the s/n and how it was packed being told was on pallet and on frame not in a box so still trying to work out how the mistake happened if this s/n was from a demo/second hand motor already sold and sent up north to someone wouldn't have thought i'd be given a demo/second hand s/n if it were to be new motor. With the paperwork on contract have a email from SW saying motor was ordered on the 30/9 so don't know why your saying was ordered 2 weeks later to me that's your problem if you hadn't ordered it on the 30/9 like you told me in a email. Yes and I still feel the same about being treated badly as no apology personally to anything but will get over it to me it's not good business practice on SW behalf but that' my opinion. Why should I have bought motor up north where I live plenty people buy boats down south and get whole rig fitted out and take it back home and I don't have time to as my work doesn't give me much time off as I work away so it was easier to get whole boat fitted out down here and take it home north load it up and go fishing than wait take hull home organise a motor get it fitted and then go fishing.

Anyhow these are my replies can't wait to pick up the boat next break and get it north and head to the wild blue yonder and catch some nice REDS yea ha.

Both sides of the coin.
Similar stories with one been more believable in my mind.
One story full of 'accidents' like receipt machine not working and the wrong motor sent to the wrong place and misplaced loom and wrong binnacle and.....
Throw in the saga of the free service, the service book stamping fiasco, the fitting of the engine booking in mix up, the differing purchase prices from two different salesmen in the same place (how can you have a bidding war against 2 salespeople in the one place?) and the signing off of Springwood Marine's owner....that's enough for him.
You can make up your own mind.

[shane450]

Note to self NEVER buy a demo motor :)


oh and give the guy you offered a free service to a refund , your word is important ......

[ifishcq1]

well fish08 why have a crack at me when people go off half cocked, making opinions without hearing both sides, which was my original point I did not imply that Mack was wrong at any stage and I didn't say SM did everything right
you may need to read slower so you can understand
like I said all info needs to be on the table before any informed comments can be made
I am not taking sides, did you read that? and from what I get reading every post there is fault in every direction not just one way as you would spruke
I do not stick my head in the sand on any issue, but I try to make sure I have an idea of what's going on before I join the hanging party

[tomdisk]

Hi all,
You know I have been living 32 years in Aussie now and I still get annoyed with trades businesses and companies who promise to do things come out to give quotes start a job , finishing a started job etc you get the drift ;(
After reading this post over the last days I must say SM made mistakes but because of the time frame involved plausible mistakes who have been mostly rectified .
Everybody got their engine in the end didn't they ?
So no passionate apologies where made sort of so what ?
Get on with it and get of their backs I reckon , the way you guys are going soon you have to go to Sydney or Melbourne for a boat ,motor , or fishing reel .
Come on guys their is one way of crucifying a business or just coaching them into a better for us business in the future .
I have known all of the guys at SM for over five years and bought a boat there a few years ago , I own my own business and deal with a lot of people on a daily basis .
I make mistakes and always try to rectify them but you can't please everybody you know.
I can tell you that Gary is a truly decent guy that has been in business for many years because he has been fair , and has not ripped of people like some of you seems to think, YOU DONT LAST LONG if your a crook.
Just wanted to get this of my chest .
Other than that I think this forum is great for info on boating and fishing , keep it up;)

Tom

[lethal]

I can tell you that Gary is a truly decent guy that has been in business for many years because he has been fair , and has not ripped of people like some of you seems to think, YOU DONT LAST LONG if your a crook.

Tom


Hmmmm.... i took my 9year old boat to springwood marine to get a trade price and a cash sale on a boat in their yard, was offered $1500 as a trade price. Went home and put it on boat sales and collected $9000 cash in 24 hours (still underpriced) and i bought a boat privately.

Lee

[tomdisk]

That's because any boatyard in the last two years hasn't got a chance to sell a boat that quick ana reach that amount of people as you get on boat sales ;) plus you don't have the overheads at home hey .
Anybody could have told you that you can't expect a comparable price point in a boatyard with private sales

Tom