Yamaha Screwed Me

[Hookedup]

As you guys know my Yamaha Motor Crank went and the heads are shot. The motor only had 100 hours on it due to the fact I troll with the 9.9 high thrust Kicker. Well Owasco Marine calls me today with the bad news. I should mention they have been great to deal with and are good folks. Yamaha on the other hand are butt holes. They said due to the fact I run a charter buisness my warranty was only good for one year not three like my paperwork states. So Now I am up to 4000 to 5000 in just parts no labor. They put me out of business might as well strip my gear off the boat and let it be repoed. Sorry just needed to vent.

[voorhees]

That sucks. Not the way to start off a monday that's for sure

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[Fishtheniagara]

Why won't your charter insurance cover part if not all of it?

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[ERABBIT]

Is what they told you in there ???

Yamaha Outboard FAQs

Category

--Select-- Dealers Ethanol Topics General Model Year Elimination Operation Parts & Accessories Products Service & Maintenance Warranty

Question

Where can I read about my warranty coverage?

Answer

The limited warranty statement is printed in the back of your Owner’s Manual. It explains your coverage.

[woody 184]

Its Amazing the things they don't tell you when you buy something.....

[stinger]

As you guys know my Yamaha Motor Crank went and the heads are shot. The motor only had 100 hours on it .......

Something isn't right with that picture. Yamaha needs their gonads twisted `till they say uncle.

Us weekend warriors will put 100 hours on a engine in short order and that failure has nothing to do with a "Charter" boat.

Sean,...send them a link to LOU and mention just how many potential customers are seeing this.

Also one more thought. Will Owasco Marine work something out with you on a loaner or rental engine to get you back on the water until this is all straightened out?

[rshubuck]

Wow I was not expecting that. That is some serious bull. I would like to see where in the warranty contract it states that about a charter boat is a one year waranty deal and not the 3 like advertised. If its not there I would be sueing Yamaha. Hope things work out soon.

[johnnywalleye]

well i would;call1-800 and ask for the service manager.2 after that i would want to speak tp their boss.3i would send an email to dave figurea at the post standard and explain the situation.4 if you cant find in YOUR warranty papers that because your engine is in commercial opperation that you are limited to 1 yr instead of 3 i would place a call to nys inspector general..you pay his salary ..hope this helps;;;and so long 4 now;john

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Sean,

Don't take that kind of info second- hand. You must talk to a customer service supervisor, regardless of what it says in your paperwork. That "commercial" exclusion is there in most outboard warranties-- specifically to exclude actual COMMERCIAL fishermen. Your charter business can be interpreted as commercial if they wish, but I have never heard of it for casual passenger carrying vessels. You need to tell them you need to be treated as to the industry standard. A modern "Blown" outboard at 100 hrs is completely unacceptable, and the motor was never used in the extreme conditions of the commercial food industry. DO NOT give up on this.

[AnglingAddict]

Regardless of what it was used for...it only has 100 hours on it. Period! My guess is the commercial aspect was meant for the guys who put 10 hours aday each and every day on those outboards...not someone with 100 hours over the course of 3 years...that's complete bull....

[chowder]

Sean, This is a sucky deal for sure but I think Vince has got it right. Some people will just give up when a rep feeds them a line but I can't believe you don't have recourse to some legal leverage that you can use to get this resolved to some extent. -Andy

[Hookedup]

Thanks Guys. I contacted the dealer in CT where I purchased the boat he aslo contacted Yamaha along with Owasco marine who is working with me on the boat. Both dealers show me in the computer with a three year warranty and neither one spoke to Yamaha about my charter buisness. So this after noon I get a call from the head of customer service from Yamaha who informs me they will not cover any parts or labor. He also stated they found that I had a captains Lic and a web-site so thats how they discovered my commercial use. He didn't just give this info up but after talking him in circles it came out. So they went out of the way to do an investigation to screw me. I got the official download of hours 109 on the boat. I explained to the guy if you average out the months I had it on the water since 2009 it is 6.4 hours total use of that motor a month. His words (ya and that was some commercial use you are out of warranty). It was so obvious that he knew he was working me over and he was proud of it. I had a long talk with owner of Owasco marine who is going to make some more calls for me in morning to Yamaha. Like he said with the growing list of damaged parts a new power head would be my best bet in the long run. (Big$$) What pisses me off the most is if I had known about the commercial use warranty loop hole I would of purchased an extended warranty prior to the one year mark. One good thing about my line of work is I have a lot of good friends that are attornys but going that way does not look to promising. Well so long for now it was a long day at work. Sean

[chowder]

Dam! Very sorry to hear this Sean. As a small businessman I can really identify with you on how it feels to have some stuffed shirt stick it to you. Do not give up though - it's what they count on & it costs them very little. -Andy

[dbutts]

WOW. that sounds like a fly-by-night used car dealer move, not something a major corp. would pull. be sure to blast them on facebook/twitter or any other social network you are on, they really dont like that. I know it doesnt help with the business, but you are always welcome aboard my boat.

[voorhees]

Unreal, maybe a email from everyone on this site telling them how disappointed we are and we are gonna discontinue any use and or purchase of yamaha products would help. I am sure everyone here would be willing. Could'nt hurt.

[spoonfed-1]

Very sorry to hear of your problems Sean.

I am with the majority here as far as fighting tooth and nail to get them to uphold their end of the deal.

Definately get some legal advice from your friends and make some noise at Yamaha. A lot of noise.

Go public using every tool available and let Yamaha know about it.

They really don't want bad publicity.

The squeaky wheel always gets the grease.

Best of luck.

Glen

[MarkNY]

sean, sorry to hear of your misfortune. keep the heat on them, im sure you can get them to do something. 100hrs on a modern outboard is nothing and to consider your usages as "commercial" is ridiculous. im in the market for a new outboard and will certainly take your warranty experiences into consideration when selecting brand. good luck, mark

[stinger]

Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA

1270 Chastain Road

Kennesaw, GA 30144

Sales, marketing and distribution of Outboard Motors.

Outboard Customer Relations

Exclusively for Outboards

(866) 894-1626

...how in the world did that ^^^ info end up in my post

[borderline 350]

Dear Sean,

Sorry to read about the warranty coverage problem on your Yamaha OB. All the marine engine mfg's have been using this reason,.....commercial operation.....(Mercruiser....30 DAYS!!) etc. for quite a while. You of course with a Captains License & business website will qualify as a commercial user. Also, all the big car mfg's are using all kinds of computer data off your car computer to disallow warranty coverage on engines and transmissions!! The selling of extended warranty's is very profitable for them and very expensive to you. .........All of this is no help to you with a broken engine. I have seen this situation for many years since the boat sales crash in the 1990's...a..I would talk to your engine mechanic and see if he believes the failure is due to neglect, lack of lubrication, bad fuel or whatever. Write down what they say and start pounding on Yamaha's doors for some form of warranty adjustment..... These situations take months sometimes to get anything! IN MY OPINION, all the engine mfg's are using any reason in the warranty fine print to dis-allow COVERAGE. Even the best...BMW...will pull coverage for this stuff when the cost gets prohibitive. Do hope you get something from Yamaha.

..........Sincerely,......Jet Boat Bill

[Hookedup]

Thanks guys. Final word from Yamaha today is nothing will be covered. Like you guys stated this will be a long fight that I am not going to give up on. I may not make out in the end but many folks will be sick of my e-mails and letters. I am not willing to lose the summer and the wilson tournament with no boat so Owasco marine has a power head on the way and are going to help me out with labor charges. So I should be back on the water in two week but not with out having spent some major money. That is not going to stop me from going after my money from Yamaha. I will let you know what I come up with for contact e-mail information. All of you guys are great and I appreciate the help.

[muskybob]

I would definitely contact the State Attorney General and Better Business Bureau. Make that your priority, then contact one of your lawyer buddies to review your paperwork. Keep a log of all your conversations and any paperwork received from Yamaha or your dealer. Dig in and make all the noise you can. Good luck

[Tall Tails]

I would post a thread here www.thehulltruth.com Yamaha happens to be a site sponsor and this board is a worldwide board!! It will get noticed..

[MCF]

I would contact the NYS Attorney Generals offices-Consumer Affairs division-this is the office that handles this type of situation and forward copies of all communications to them.

There used to be the BIA group-Boating Industry Association that handled stuff like this also. I would forward it to Boat US as well. A failure at 100 hours is a catastrophic failure not related to misuse unless they could document that(which I am sure they can't in your case).

[Diversion]

x2 what Tall Tails just said, that should get some response going big time.

[skipper19]

no email address gee I wonder ....yes I would desecrate their sponsored sites. 1 thing about a transom it's really easy to change brands. without good customer support they just became the worst outboard on the market .,,,and I am an owner and 1 of 8000 viewers this forum . dealers have got to be wondering about their future , without corporate support .

yes I would definitely hit their sponsored sites and reference this thread .

Mark

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