Great service from Yamaha - The Hull Truth

Joel K · 06-29-2006, 12:41 PM

I recently took my boat and motor, a 150 hpdi, to my Yamaha dealer to have an electrical problem fixed. The dealer could not find the problem and called Yamaha to send a service rep. Within one day! a rep drove up from Kentucky to Michigan to work on my motor. In two and a half days my motor was fixed, it would have been sooner if parts were available. The rep carries some parts but needed to ship an injector driver next day air. The rep called me each day to let me know of the progress and the when fixed tested it on the water with me in the boat. He told me he would not leave town until my motor was running properly and I was 100% satisfied. That is great Service.

The problems were a bared coil wire and bad injector driver. He also replaced the O2 sensor, fuel stainer, plugs, bore scoped the cylinders, replaced the seal on the vst tank and gave me a hat. The dealer had replaced the wiring harness while chasing the problem. This was all done at NO COST to me and my motor is out of warranty. Total parts cost about $3200.00

I am very pleased with my service experience and I will only be purchasing Yamaha products in the future.

Ray KSUSA3 · 06-29-2006, 02:09 PM

Dang! Are you the dealers son-in-law?

I hope I never need service from Yamaha, but its good to know its thats good.

Major Woods · 06-29-2006, 02:12 PM

That's the way it should be, glad you got treated right!

iron banks · 06-29-2006, 02:14 PM

Glad to hear you got some great service from yamaha. Just one word of caution, when you declare that you will only buy yamaha's you limit your possibilities and give a large corp the ability to get fat and lazy

fairgame · 06-29-2006, 02:35 PM

Unbelievable, I have been having just the Opposite experience. I have TWO engines on a brand new boat with issues and Yamaha first claimed it was not a warranty issue (it is, they just didnt want to acknowledge it). After some battles and alot of anger and calls to customer service, they are now saying they will work on them under warranty but that was 3 weeks ago and they typically dont call me back and have yet to find someone or somewhere to work on my boat. Sorry but unless something major changes I will not be doing Yamaha again. Is your friend the freaking president of Yamaha or what. I was waiting patiently but that kind of thing just jerks my chain.

After running Yamaha for 4 years this is the first issue I have had and So far: Yamaha Service is the PITS.

colliwh · 06-29-2006, 03:00 PM

Glad you had a good experience........and I think you had some KEY words in your story. Your DEALER ran with the ball and contacted Yamaha and requested the help. So many times we have seen it with every one of the engine or hull manufacturers where the buyer had a problem.....when to their dealer.......and got virtually no help at all. Then went to the OEM and got little reaction. The OEM's will respond to dealers MUCH faster than to any individual............we buy one or two, the dealer buys dozens..........doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out who gets the juice on that deal. So.......not getting the reaction you want to your problem????? Don't let your dealer whine and pass the buck on you.........camp out on HIS a$$ until you get the issue resolved. My dealer has ALWAYS gone the extra mile for me...........glad yours did too!

fairgame · 06-29-2006, 03:18 PM

Colliwh, has my issues pegged. I would sleep MUCH better at night if a dealer(mechanic) like yours was available around here. I have a bunch of the pass the buck types around here. Heck, appearently even Yamaha cant get one to work on the motor. Sure would be nice to see the Yamaha Service Rep show up and get it done.

fairgame · 06-29-2006, 03:21 PM

Just for an example, there are 1,100,000 pictures of (my boat) with (the engines) with the issues circulating around the U.S. and Yamaha Service will hardly call me back. LAME.

Joel K · 06-30-2006, 12:41 AM

For those having problems with Yamaha service: After my dealer called Yamaha they were told that a service rep would be in Michigan in 1 - 1 1/2 weeks. The dealer told me to call Yamaha customer service myself and explain to them that I had a problem that could not be diagnosed and to be very nice about it. I called yamaha cust. service at 866-894-1626 and spoke to a guy named Marty. I explained my problem and told him other than that I was very pleased with my motor. I also told him that I had a cottage rented for the 4th and I told him that with out my boat, the vacation would be worthless which is true. While I was talking to him he stopped one of his supervisors that walked by his desk and asked about the reps schedules. He informed me that the rep in the next closest area may be available. I then spoke with him some more and was very nice and complimenting on Yamaha products.

That day the Ohio rep after finishing a job in Kentucky was told to drive up to Michigan and work on my motor.

I don't know if it's luck or just from being very nice and having a great dealer. Also the dealer had 15 calls logged into Yamaha while they were trying to find the problem and lots of money in wiring harnesses replaced. Like I said in my original post I will continue to buy Yamaha proucts unless the quality or service goes to $hit.