FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

Knockin Tail Lures by My Coast Outdoors

The Boat

I was going to let this slide but it has been sticking in my craw.  It is rare folks admit something that makes you pause the minute it comes out of their mouth, but in this case both ends of it admitted something that just does not pass the smell test.

I bought the new Lund from a dealer and as far as the basic transaction it was fairly good considering all the other boats I have bought.  (Though one interesting note when I mentioned using a fuel additive, he said don’t it might void your warranty.  Dude Mercury sells that product and if you read the book you might know the answer. Amazing how often folks make stuff up.)  So while it was not seamless by any means that is not the point of this post.

A week after I buy the boat Mercury has an ad on Facebook saying get a longer warranty with a new motor.  Don’t remember exactly how much but it was a couple of years anyway and I qualified.  So immediately call the dealer and say what is the deal?  Can you check on it for me?  He says he does not know anything about it but will check.  Well guess what?  Not according to the Mercury website that says they are part of the program.  He promises to check on it and of course no immediate response.

I call back a little over a week or two later to check and he has no idea.  So the salesman puts me on hold and goes to the owner and comes back with the following;

“We normally jack up the price of the boat to cover the additional warranty.” 

Think about that for a second.  Is he telling me he screws Mercury or just me?  He then tells me we will give you the deal anyway.  Good, that seems fair.  Afte a while when I had not heard from him about what they did I figured the best way was to just check with Mercury.

When I speak with them, I don’t say anything about the issue, just ask what do I have on the motor?  She tells me and I am good with it, the dealer did what they said they would.  At that point I tell the story to see if Mercury gives the dealer something and they were trying to screw Mercury or me.  But unbelievably I get the following response from the Mercury representative:

“He should not have told you that.” 

WTF?  Does that mean you know they do that and it is not a real promotion?  Is it really no skin off Mercury and your ad is just “saying.”  If memory serves me, I even asked if they give the dealers anything and she said no.  So what does this all mean?

Looking back on it I can’t get past both answers from the dealer or Mercury.  While nothing is illegal in anyway about what I learned it does not speak well of the character of either party.  The way the ad reads it is a promotion.  Buy a motor and get an extended warranty.  So Mercury is good with that practice by dealers?  And the dealer either just blew it off or is clueless about a Mercury program in which they are listed on the Mercury website as a participant.  But the dealer basically telling me we would have jacked up the price of your boat seems kind of squishy.  So you decide what you make of all this.  I call foul on both.  Let the buyer beware, but I am not sure who to watch, apparently it is both.

************The Wade Right Fishing Belt and the new Madre Sling.

For all your wading needs.

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Sorry there is not fishing to report but I wanted to put this out there.  Boils down to you can not trust anyone and I find both parties to be slimy.  But with that said it will be back on the water Monday.  Unfortunately, I have cabinets to paint and a few other things to do the next few days.  The Boss is going to be gone which would normally mean I would be heading somewhere to fish.  But duty calls and I will be responsible no matter how much it hurts.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines

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