What's up with Hobie and lack of communication?

So because 'you' chose to drive 75 miles and take off work...............to meet the truck........ instead of waiting for a confirming phone call your boat had arrived at the dealer........you should be compensated ? ? ?

Actions have consequences..............grow up and grow a pair. Enough already.

ba

Yes actions and lack of actions have consequenses. Also for customers.
I would say that telling a customer that his/hers boat is on the truck is a clear confirm.

I have also suffered from poor communication within the chain of supply of Hobie.
There are several links in that chain before the boat (AI 2012 in my case) reaches my dealer in Sweden.
Due to a short season and a short vaccation the only possible planned long tour was at risk to be cancelled by a delayed delivery.
Just 2 days before I got the AI and there have been lots of communication and less of clear information within the chain of supply.

I can't blame my dealer, actually I can't blame anyone because I have not the slightest clue and no insight where it went wrong.

Because of a HEAVY leaking front hatch I still had to abort the long tour after only 3 days.
Then I had a problem to determine extacly what was causing the leaking front hatch and the right way to fix it.
And also where the rensponsibility and costs should be for fixing it.

Not before my dealer (visiting Hobie HQ in US for other reasons) took one of the Hobie staff out in their yard looking at an AI-hull and actually found the same faults I have reported to my dealer (there is a thread with pics in this forum), I got the message that it was a Hobie fault and I dared to actually trying to fix the hull. Then I knew that if I didn't succeed I would get a new hull.
I managed to fix the leaking front hatch myself and spent some money and time to do it.
Asking for some compensation I understood that costs would strike my dealer.
My dealer did everything right and actually helped me so I didn't raised the question again.

Lessons learned:
1. Next new boat will be ordered long before use.
2. Old boat will not be sold before new boat is delivered and tested out.
3. Along the chain of supply to Sweden communication will be poor.
4. There are absolutely nothing to benefit the end customer with a long chain of supply. Every middle hand have to earn money, no one will have costs (following responsibility), more can make mistakes.

At the end:

I am VERY happy with my Hobie Adventure Island 2012. An absolutely astonishing and wonderful product!

best regards
thomas

Very good advice, Thomas!

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

I had lots of communication and had the dealer confirm SEVERAL times that it was going to be on the truck and it was confirmed by Hobie. Got the phone call that the truck would be here the next day. That should have been plenty of conformation. I had it worked out with the dealer that I could unbox and assist in assembly, this is why I was to be there. I figure it's going to be my boat, I want to know how it gets assembled and open that birthday present up. I was excited to finally get it, especially after paying that much money and having nothing in my hand. Yes, around here, we have to pay for them before the dealer even orders one. No one stocks them.

_________________
Chris


2015 Tandem Island-ivory dune

I don't think you'll get a lot of support for compensation. This sort of thing happens to me all the time. It's just life. I feel fortunate to have the means to buy a TI and the luxury of the time to enjoy it. If I were in your shoes, I'd try to accept the fact that things didn't work out perfectly and move on.

https://youtu.be/vN2WzQzxuoA
http://youtu.be/0Cl7TY92rd4

This is generally a very good advice!
I wish I could follow it directly more often.
We spend to much time and energy on things that we reallly don't have to.

best regards
thomas

I believe the story is that Hobie Sales Staff and shipping crew included it in the scheduled load plan. It was not available to ship due to parts issues that day the truck loaded. We sent load documents to the dealer after the truck left that showed what boats made it and ones that did not. "B/O" (Back Ordered) is written on the lines referring to a couple of TIs that did not load. We tried... We are always sorry to disappoint.

Wait... I said that already earlier in this thread:

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)