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Happy National Garlic Day! 🧄🚫🧛🏼♂️
Advice on severely long boat lead time.
- Thread starter Trippy D
- Start date
I received a phone call from Bear at northstar this afternoon.
It was a pleasure to speak with Bear on the phone. Bear went above and beyond to apologize for the issues surrounding the boat and reassured me that they would make it right.
He offered to build a new boat for me, meanwhile allowing me to use the boat I have here so that I don’t miss out on the season and trips. We will be able to swap later when the new boat is complete.
I am really appreciative and grateful for his resolution to this! Its more than I expected and I’m confident these issues are the exception, not the norm.
It was a pleasure to speak with Bear on the phone. Bear went above and beyond to apologize for the issues surrounding the boat and reassured me that they would make it right.
He offered to build a new boat for me, meanwhile allowing me to use the boat I have here so that I don’t miss out on the season and trips. We will be able to swap later when the new boat is complete.
I am really appreciative and grateful for his resolution to this! Its more than I expected and I’m confident these issues are the exception, not the norm.
That's a professional and reasonable offer for this kind of customer relations issue. It's good the problem came to Bear's attention. Of course, the replacement canoe needs to be manufactured to $4,000 standards and look like a $4,000 canoe. In return, you should be as careful as possible about damaging the current canoe, which can be resold to an outfitter or as a demo canoe.
Absolutely, I’m not going to rough up the boat. I’ll use the same caution I would if i were keeping that one. Appreciate the advice Glenn!
It is what it is , Nobody is being a spin doctor. All canoe makers make blems from time to time and the real telling factor is what they do about it
I had a similar experience with a different dealer and Northstar over the last year. Ordered a Phoenix last June, paid $500 deposit and was told delivery would likely be end of July or early August. Early August came and went without word. I emailed the dealer a couple times, but never got a response. Finally in late August I got a call that the boat had come in with the wrong trim. The dealer called around to every other dealer in the Northeast, but no one had a boat with the requested trim they could trade. So then I was told I could take the trim that came in, or wait until they built a new boat for the next shipment east. I opted for the latter - because I ordered what I wanted and wanted what I ordered. That also took months and I had my emails and calls to the dealer repeatedly ignored. The boat finally came in in late October, but since the dealer is 2:15 away, I couldn't get it until early Nov as the water was already icing up. At this point it was off-season and the dealer had pretty much closed up shop. We finally scheduled a pick-up time and I was able to get the boat, and had it on the water a few times before things were totally solid.
After some great service over the phone and in person from the dealer, and over the phone from Bear at Northstar, I was really disappointed in the lack of communication. I understand that materials supply chains were backed up and there's a labor shortage, so the delays were sort of excuseable, but the degree of lack of communication from the dealer wasn't in my opinion. I thought about cancelling and trying to order from another dealer, but figured I'd just be moving myself to the back of a different line and might wait even longer for the boat to come in.
I talked to my wife about all this - she owns and operates a small business, and she encouraged me to chalk it all up to COVID and let it go, given that I did eventually get the boat I wanted. In these days of Amazon and Walmart, I try to give small business owners every benefit of the doubt.
That said, I would not have stood for getting a messed up boat after paying full price up front - glad Northstar made that right.
Regarding quality, my new Phoenix does have some interior spots where there fabric isn't perfect but had a wrinkle or two form in the vacuum. I'd heard of similar on this forum prior to ordering, and it's true. But it doesn't affect performance, and I really like the boat, so...fair's fair on that I think. But, buyers should be eyes wide open.
After some great service over the phone and in person from the dealer, and over the phone from Bear at Northstar, I was really disappointed in the lack of communication. I understand that materials supply chains were backed up and there's a labor shortage, so the delays were sort of excuseable, but the degree of lack of communication from the dealer wasn't in my opinion. I thought about cancelling and trying to order from another dealer, but figured I'd just be moving myself to the back of a different line and might wait even longer for the boat to come in.
I talked to my wife about all this - she owns and operates a small business, and she encouraged me to chalk it all up to COVID and let it go, given that I did eventually get the boat I wanted. In these days of Amazon and Walmart, I try to give small business owners every benefit of the doubt.
That said, I would not have stood for getting a messed up boat after paying full price up front - glad Northstar made that right.
Regarding quality, my new Phoenix does have some interior spots where there fabric isn't perfect but had a wrinkle or two form in the vacuum. I'd heard of similar on this forum prior to ordering, and it's true. But it doesn't affect performance, and I really like the boat, so...fair's fair on that I think. But, buyers should be eyes wide open.
