My frustrating Evinrude Warranty saga

[jessemyers]

Back in 2016 I bought a Ranger Z522D with an Evinrude 250 HO G2. At the time Evinrude was running a sales promotion offering 7 years BEST warranty coverage - which should have given me warranty coverage until March of 2023.

For some backstory, I purchased my boat/motor from a dealership that in 2016 was a Ranger dealer. This dealer was primarily a Yamaha partner for outboards, however also offered Evinrude, and my salesman was on Evinrude pro staff even. Shortly after I purchased my boat, that dealer changed their product portfolio and dropped Ranger in favor of Skeeter, and stopped offering/servicing Evinrude.

Fast forward to last fall: I took my G2 to the dealer (Lockeman’s in Detroit – A Platinum Dealer) for the 5 year/500 hour service before putting it away for the winter. I was surprised to hear from the dealer that my warranty showed it will expire in Evinrude's system March 2021, and not 2023. Lockeman’s called Evinrude to try and get things sorted out. Evinrude’s warranty department required “documentation” that the original selling dealer had, and Lockeman’s did not, so they could not help. I tried to contact Evinrude myself and supplied the following documents.

1. Evinrude official sales promotion brochure from 2016 showing the 7 years BEST coverage if new G2 was purchased before end of March 2016
2. My Bill of Sales showing I purchased the boat/motor (including reference to serial numbers) March 3, 2016
3. Build sheet showing “Includes all manufacturer promotions”

The root cause of the problem is that the original dealership did not file paperwork correctly with Evinrude to arrange for the 7 years BEST coverage as part of the sales promotion. The issue that is keeping me from being able to get this solved quickly and easily is that the Bill of Sales did not explicitly call out “7 years BEST coverage”. If the dealer had listed that explicitly, Lockeman’s could have sent Evinrude a copy of the Bill of Sales from the original dealership and I think the warranty term would have been adjusted.

So since October, I have been pushing and calling Evinrude customer support, my original selling dealership and salesman and also getting help from Lockeman’s where I can to try and get the extra 2 years of warranty I am supposed to have added in Evinrude’s system. So far I have ran into nothing but dead ends. Evinrude is standing firm that they require “the dealership to contact Evinrude warranty department, and supply documentation stating I should have 7 years BEST coverage”. The original dealership and salesman says they are helping and trying to clear things up, but it has been weeks with no resolution. The original salesman is also saying things that I believe to be untrue like “I don’t think they will give you the 2 years because they are out of business now”. All the discussions I have had with Evinrude at various levels/departments support that the original dealer just needs to send in the paperwork.

That is the end of my rant. A very frustrating situation that is looking more and more like I am going to be shafted out of 2 years of BEST warranty coverage I should have. I am left trying to decide if it is worth trying to get a lawyer involved to force the original dealership to somehow compensate for the 2 years of warranty I did not receive.

Lesson Learned: When you get manufacturer sales promotions, insist they are explicitly listed on the Bill of Sales, even if it seems 100% obvious at the time. A general reference to “all offers included” is not enough.

[ChampioNman]

Do you have a case number registered in the system? If so go to the dealership and get the original salesman and yourself on the phone with Erude and let Erude tell the salesman what is needed to get you the extra two years. Hope this helps.

[omcforever]

.

[jessemyers]

Do you have a case number registered in the system? If so go to the dealership and get the original salesman and yourself on the phone with Erude and let Erude tell the salesman what is needed to get you the extra two years. Hope this helps.

Good suggestions, which I have tried, but no success yet.

There are/were two case numbers. One first opened by Lockeman's, and then a subsequent case number opened by me as follow-up after Lockeman’s claim was denied because they did not have access to the required “documentation”. When Lockeman’s claim was denied by Evinrude warranty department, Lockeman’s advised me to contact Evinrude customer service direct.

I have requested a conference call with Evinrude Customer Service and warranty department with the original dealer, and they denied because the Evinrude warranty department is a dealer only contact, not for customers direct like myself – even in conference call.

I have also asked the original salesman from dealership to have a conference call with Evinrude Warranty department initiated by the dealer, and they have not yet accepted the request. In the meantime I have sent them in writing exactly what Evinrude needs for documentation, so it should be easy for them to execute, if they will take the time to follow up.

[JoePA]

If Evinrude tries to get back into the "outboard" market, none of this builds confidence in the company. In the past they always seemed to go above and beyond to make things right, not sure why now they aren't taking care of the customer.

[jessemyers]

If Evinrude tries to get back into the "outboard" market, none of this builds confidence in the company. In the past they always seemed to go above and beyond to make things right, not sure why now they aren't taking care of the customer.

I'm on the fence here.

Evinrude could surely look at the situation, and say "yes, for sure with the documents you have you should have had the 7 year BEST, its obvious, and fixed now. Thank you for your purchase(s) and being a loyal customer". I sort of expected that when I contacted them - based on how good Evinrude had been in the past.

But I also see the perspective where this whole thing could be cleared up easily by the original dealer if the spent 30 minutes-1 hour working on the problem with Evinrude's Warranty Department (which is dealer access only).

[posmallie]

Did you get an Evinrude warranty card in the mail following your purchase? I got one that explained all of the limitations, which I tucked away for future reference. Perhaps you have something laying around that you forgot about?

It is hard to believe that a dealer would not help you on this, considering they know you are likely to buy another boat in the future. If they don't get it figured out for you, I would post a detailed 1 star review on Google for them, and post about it on every forum. I have a decent idea of what dealer you went through based on what you have posted.

[jessemyers]

Did you get an Evinrude warranty card in the mail following your purchase? I got one that explained all of the limitations, which I tucked away for future reference. Perhaps you have something laying around that you forgot about?

It is hard to believe that a dealer would not help you on this, considering they know you are likely to buy another boat in the future. If they don't get it figured out for you, I would post a detailed 1 star review on Google for them, and post about it on every forum. I have a decent idea of what dealer you went through based on what you have posted.

I looked through my old paperwork earlier this week. I found some cool stickers I forgot I had, but nothing that would help the warranty situation.

Maybe the dealer sees me as a "ranger guy" and thinks I would not every buy what they offer now that they sell Skeeter? Its pretty surprising to me. Specifically for this particular salesman, who has always taken care of things well in the past. In fact I bought a 621 from him at a different location. That was my boat before Ranger offered the Z522D. So I certainly would have hoped that my salesman would have seen me as a potential future customer, and kept the service bar high since I found him when it was time for me to buy the Z522D. Then again, he may be very near retirement, and does not see any return for effort in helping me in this situation. Who knows?

I am careful so far not to badmouth the dealership or anyone involved, because the situation has not completely run its course yet. I do intend to leave honest reviews on google, facebook, etc. once the situation is concluded.

[MikeF]

Then again, he may be very near retirement, and does not see any return for effort in helping me in this situation. Who knows?

I doubt his integrity would be retiring also.

Sounds like he never had any if his help/effort is tied directly to any kind of return to himself.



Salesman are just that, salesman, period.

Your sale is just part of a suggested qouta, regardless of how warm and fuzzy you may have felt at the time of purchase time.


Interesting that Evinrude would require a piece of paper for bona fides for the extended warranty.

You have proof of purchase and time of purchase and the actual engine. What more could they want?

[ChampioNman]

The yes paperwork is missing.

[SEAHORSE]

Most promotions usually gave the dealer the option of offering the customer the choice of an extended service agreement or a reduced price on the motor. That is likely why Evinrude needs proof of the type of sale. The dealer is also the party that has to correctly handle the extended terms with the factory within a specified period of time as designated by the promotion requirements. The factory does not know if a customer chose the extended service agreement unless the dealer "tells" them by filling out and turning in the proper forms.

[Huey]

+1 and this is on the selling dealer. Not only what Seahorse said, but some dealers also do not commit to promos that are run from time to time by all OEM's.

[jessemyers]

Back in 2016 I bought a Ranger Z522D with an Evinrude 250 HO G2. At the time Evinrude was running a sales promotion offering 7 years BEST warranty coverage - which should have given me warranty coverage until March of 2023.

For some backstory, I purchased my boat/motor from a dealership that in 2016 was a Ranger dealer. This dealer was primarily a Yamaha partner for outboards, however also offered Evinrude, and my salesman was on Evinrude pro staff even. Shortly after I purchased my boat, that dealer changed their product portfolio and dropped Ranger in favor of Skeeter, and stopped offering/servicing Evinrude.

Fast forward to last fall: I took my G2 to the dealer (Lockeman’s in Detroit – A Platinum Dealer) for the 5 year/500 hour service before putting it away for the winter. I was surprised to hear from the dealer that my warranty showed it will expire in Evinrude's system March 2021, and not 2023. Lockeman’s called Evinrude to try and get things sorted out. Evinrude’s warranty department required “documentation” that the original selling dealer had, and Lockeman’s did not, so they could not help. I tried to contact Evinrude myself and supplied the following documents.

1. Evinrude official sales promotion brochure from 2016 showing the 7 years BEST coverage if new G2 was purchased before end of March 2016
2. My Bill of Sales showing I purchased the boat/motor (including reference to serial numbers) March 3, 2016
3. Build sheet showing “Includes all manufacturer promotions”

The root cause of the problem is that the original dealership did not file paperwork correctly with Evinrude to arrange for the 7 years BEST coverage as part of the sales promotion. The issue that is keeping me from being able to get this solved quickly and easily is that the Bill of Sales did not explicitly call out “7 years BEST coverage”. If the dealer had listed that explicitly, Lockeman’s could have sent Evinrude a copy of the Bill of Sales from the original dealership and I think the warranty term would have been adjusted.

So since October, I have been pushing and calling Evinrude customer support, my original selling dealership and salesman and also getting help from Lockeman’s where I can to try and get the extra 2 years of warranty I am supposed to have added in Evinrude’s system. So far I have ran into nothing but dead ends. Evinrude is standing firm that they require “the dealership to contact Evinrude warranty department, and supply documentation stating I should have 7 years BEST coverage”. The original dealership and salesman says they are helping and trying to clear things up, but it has been weeks with no resolution. The original salesman is also saying things that I believe to be untrue like “I don’t think they will give you the 2 years because they are out of business now”. All the discussions I have had with Evinrude at various levels/departments support that the original dealer just needs to send in the paperwork.

That is the end of my rant. A very frustrating situation that is looking more and more like I am going to be shafted out of 2 years of BEST warranty coverage I should have. I am left trying to decide if it is worth trying to get a lawyer involved to force the original dealership to somehow compensate for the 2 years of warranty I did not receive.

Lesson Learned: When you get manufacturer sales promotions, insist they are explicitly listed on the Bill of Sales, even if it seems 100% obvious at the time. A general reference to “all offers included” is not enough.

As of yesterday my warranty expiration error has FINALLY been corrected by Evinrude. It was a frustrating process, but I am pleased that it worked out in the end. I started working on getting the issue fixed in October 2020. It finally resolved once someone at the selling dealership agreed to work with Evinrude to resolve. Once they agreed to help and started working on it, it still took about 6 months of them bird dogging Evinrude to get it fixed.

But I am happy to say it has all ended well, and Evinrude is honoring the extended BEST coverage that was a sales offer when I purchased by G2 back in 2016.

[Bassmeister]

Good deal, but it should never take pulling hen's teeth to get what a pays for.....

[SEAHORSE]

Glad to hear that your tenacity paid off for you

[mactlman]

[IFish4Bass]

Glad to Hear that Evinrude stepped up on this. I have not had any issues with my G2 including basic services, but I put a lot of that on a great Dealer I use that is a Platinum Evinrude dealership. Unfortunately the Original dealer caused all this headache for you by not doing their job correctly. Glad you got it worked out!!

[1BADAIR]

finally

[BigFishSteve]

Great news. Congrats.

[fly by night]

Happy for you! Your persistence paid off.