Quote:
Order through your local hobie dealer and drop ship from a centralized national warehouse to your home.
We call that a "drop-ship" order. Been doing it for as many years as I can remember. Not even Ford does that I'd bet. certainly not the manufacturing plant. At the minimum they have distribution warehouses.
Guys, we have been over and over this idea for many, many years. Once we take over the parts business direct... there goes the need for a dealer... and with it the opportunity to sell new boats. Laser has been heading that way and I can tell you, the end result is not positive for sailors.
The parts catalogs
are online (pdf)... no, not a Hobie Factory shopping cart. We have not found a way to manage the complexity involved in internet sales due to dealer territories and agreements let alone the international aspect. It is not at all simple. We take an order and email it to a dealer... they may not fill it in a timely basis. We take and order and ship for them... they may have had some or all of the stock on hand. They don't get a chance to talk to you about possible changes to your order or what is maybe new. You order the wrong thing...
We don't have the staff to support hundreds of dealers and all of their customers. We have to have some layers. I can tell you that I have a lot of direct inquiries already, and in season, it is a hand full. I don't have 45 minutes to talk someone though the right shackle to order... but we do anyway. That is time we should be spending supporting dealers... to support you.
I'm sorry some feel that the Coleman, Tony era or Hobie Cat Europe have something on us here at Hobie USA these days. I can tell you by personal involvement... I think that is 100% wrong. This company is as good as it has ever been (better) in designing, producing and delivering quality product with great support. It's essentially much of the same team since the Coleman days too. We have turned this company around and are here today because of good choices in products and dealer / sales structure.