While I see your point, I was only making those statements as they apply to our dealership and also neighboring dealerships. While I don't judge people I don't know, especcially those in the same line of work, I wouldn't expect any service manager to tell a customer anything bad about the products that they sell. If he is a personal friend of yours, only then could you determine how he really feels towards a product. I don't tell my customers how I feel about their products when compared to others. I do on the bulletin boards, but those I see here on this board in particular aren't even in my region, so you guys are not prospective customers of ours.

I will tell you that I have NEVER met any fellow dealers from a SeaDoo convention, training seminar, or what have you, that sells more than Bombardier that have had anything good to say about it's products when it comes to reliability issues. So,..no,..it's not just me.

We haven't had any issues on the DS. It's all been on Traxter models. While we have had lots of problems with CV axles breaking, the main problem has been with electrical failures. The same outrageous problems that plague their SeaDoo line.

My main problem isn't with reliability, but with the corporation itself. You have a hassle with getting them to cover anything under warranty. All you ever get is a runaround, the dealer gets stuck paying for the customer's repair until Bombardier gets the time to send a Representative to your store to "investigate" the problem [which I might add, the DEALER pays for!!] Then only for him to OK the claim EVERY time. Just a way for them to B.S. the dealer out of money, thats all it is.

Then the parts situation. Everything smaller than the palm of your hand is sold in quanities of ten. Might not sound like a problem to most, but if something that costs the dealer $10.00 each and your customer lost,not broke, a special bolt, you have to order ten from Bombardier. What do you do? Charge the customer $100?? Ofcourse not. Refuse the sale?? Ofcourse not. You end up selling him the bolt and then you have $90 sitting on the shelf the lifetime of your dealership. Doesnt sound like much, but those little oddities everyday add up to tens of thousands of dollars quickly.

Then there is the sales department. Alot of this depends on your location, but still ammounts to the same B.S....Why would you ship out watercraft to dealers in DECEMBER with only 6 MONTH floor financing??
After June,whatever you got left not sold, is costing you money for each day it sits on the floor.

I dont know who Bombardier has answering their phone lines for regualr consumers, but if you are a dealer and have to talk to these guys regarding issues that pertain to business, you can't understand a damn thing they say. They have even a worse attitude when you actually try and get something done that will cost them money. A perfect example would be if they sent the wrong part that you requested.[Sometimes I wonder what kind of people are in those warehouses,..can't they read numbers??]They make the dealer pay the freight once again. Only this time you have to pay $30.00 overnight because it wasn't your customers fault and he wants to fix his boat[or quad] Saturday.

It's things like THIS, that when compared to the other guys make Bombardier appear to be [and are] the most stubborn and uncooperative company in the industry. To hell with the product, where's the business?

I know it's long, and I will leave with that. I feel much better now. Thank You. Feel free to send a copy to Bombardier. I do every week.

KNOWSALOT

 

I have also join this forum some weeks back. As earlier explained I'm from Germany and our riding is a little bit different to yours.
But for some statements which are made before I will give also some thinkings.
1. Bombardier: The DS (and Baja) are well designed quads/atv, they are stable and reliable to some extend. My personal experience are bad. I've bought a new Baja 3 months back and I have to trail the Baja three times to the dealer for repair. Secondly for such a "big" company and coming very late in this business, they have to design a reverse gear. Last the price is too high compared to other manufacturers. Spare parts are too expensive for the Bombardier quads.
2. Warrior: I've bought 2 Warriors, first in '00 with about 4000 miles on it ('99 model), no repair, no defective part nothing since having this quad, meanwhile the Warrior has about 8000 miles. In cold weather and hot weather - no problems with starting, nothing. Okay, the frames will become a little bit rosty and the plastics are not looking as new, but otherwise no problems with it. So I have put this to my wife.

The final word to Bombardier could only be speaken after 10 years availibilty in the market and having the long-time experience.

 

Knowsalot,
I feel your pain and, after your explanation, I fully understand where you are comming from. As a matter of fact I will send your reply to Bombardier and add some opinion of my own regarding their business practice. The good dealers (obviously like yours) make that kind of turmoil invisable to (us) your customers by providing quality customer service without complaint.
This would also explain why some guys on this forum get such bad service from their dealer on warranty matters. those dealers just dont want to deal with the crap from Bombardier or the losses associated with it. Good info Knows..

 

Markynark:Certainly, we all know Jimmy can make his Bombardier fly! Does Yamaha make jets?!@?

It's not like I bolted wings on it Marky. LOL

 

Sounds like you need to upgrade your dealer rating- go for platnium, it might improve your relationship with them. (Bombardier)