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PostPosted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 4:04 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 18, 2021 7:41 am
Posts: 6
Location: Austin, TX
I'm hoping that someone from Hobie (Matt Miller?) sees this and can direct me to the right place. Long story short, I pre-ordered a Lynx through Austin Canoe and Kayak (ACK) right when it was announced. My Lynx was delivered to ACK in June 2021, but it had a pretty significant hull puncture just left of the Mirage drive port. The folks at ACK pointed it out to me immediately and informed me that they'd already turned it in for a warranty replacement. They told me to take that hull in the interim and provided instructions on how it could be patched until a replacement came in. I patched it as instructed and have been using it (quite happily, to be clear). I spoke with the ACK store manager in November and he told me that he expected to get new inventory from Hobie in the early spring of 2022 from which my replacement would be pulled.

Unfortunately just before New Year's Day, I received a call from the manager of ACK telling me that the store had been sold and that all outstanding warranty claims would need to be handled by someone else. At the time he couldn't tell me who that might be, though he did say that my best bet was likely to take it up with Hobie directly. I opened a support case with Hobie via this form 4-5 days ago:

https://www.hobie.com/contact-us/

and have heard nothing in response.

For what it's worth, the closest Hobie dealer to Austin is about 3.5 hours away in Dallas. I'd prefer not to have to complete this warranty claim with a store that requires a 7 hour round-trip drive to pick up the replacement, but if that's the only way that it can work, so be it. However, minimally I'd like to hear something from Hobie on how to proceed. Matt Miller, are you able to help out here? If not, do you have any idea what I should do?


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 11:26 am 
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Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
Posts: 15026
Location: Oceanside, California
I am told by our warranty manager that dings are repaired (Hobie Warranty states Repair or Replace). This is also not considered a defect, but freight or handling damage. They do not replace hulls for that. We have the paint to match colors if needed.

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


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 11:44 am 
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Joined: Tue May 18, 2021 7:41 am
Posts: 6
Location: Austin, TX
Hi, Matt. Thanks for the response. This wasn't a ding. This was a full hull puncture on a brand new, freshly-delivered product that cost $2,700. You could see straight through the hull to the inner layers. I have a hard time imagining any other product where the stance would be, "that's a normal side-effect of delivery and/or handling so we'll take your money and patch it". I certainly understand that Hobie had to make concessions for such a lightweight hull--in this case increased full fragility--but I would think that an actual hole in the hull on delivery would exceed the threshold for what's considered a damaged product. If not, I guess that's valuable to know for when I make and/or advise future purchasing decisions.

I'm not trying to be difficult or anything, but I just don't think "it's okay; we can patch that and paint it to match" should accompany "you owe us (just shy of) $3K".


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 6:10 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 12:44 pm
Posts: 15026
Location: Oceanside, California
You can file a claim with another dealer for support on this. The puncture would be repaired because damage is not considered a warranty replacement situation. The unfortunate part here is them delivering the product as is. They could have swapped for another, repaired this one and re-sold. But since ACK is no more... it makes it more difficult still.

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


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 8:17 am 
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Joined: Tue May 18, 2021 7:41 am
Posts: 6
Location: Austin, TX
Thanks much for the feedback and guidance, Matt. I'll see if I can find another Texas Hobie dealer that is willing to take on this warranty claim.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:16 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 9:35 am
Posts: 16
Fin Factory is moving their shop from Mercedes to Mission TX
They are now open.


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