Quite an experience buying a new 26M a few months ago...

[aquaone]

I put down a deposit on 26M that was already on the dealer lot. Ordered lots of options. I was told it would be ready in two weeks. Sound too easy? Yeah it definitely was too easy. Then some of the options became backordered from the 3rd party supplier who was attending a boatshow. Three weeks later, I showed up to see how it was coming along. We had a moderate rain the night before. Nothing out of the ordinary. Topside, all the manuals were left in the cockpit. They were soaked and shot. I go down in the cabin and find about 1/2 gallon of water that had collected on the floor in the head. I looked up and clearly saw the drip stain coming from the port side window on top of the deck near the forward hatch. I went topside and an inspected these new windows and it looked like the guys who caulked it at Macgregor did so on a Friday afternoon or Monday morning. It was sparse. I later learned the other windows had sparse amounts of caulk/glue behind them too. So I told the dealer and his help about the problem. Took a rag, wiped up the water, wrung it out multiple times and left the damp rag crumbled up in the cabin to show them exactly where the water was falling. Came back a week later, found out no one had fixed the problem as my rag was still there along with the defective window. By the way, the headliner material attached to the daggerboard wall had dried glue that oozed its way from behind the fabric during the installation. That was unsightly too. How do you go about fixing that without turning it into a big job?

After multiple delays and excuses.....I told the dealer that I would not take delivery of that boat. He kept telling me that they could address issues 1-2 months after I bought it and then I could bring it in and they would take care of the annoyances. He agreed with my cancellation and said that he could deliver the boat to another customer that had pretty much the same options ordered. That's why you buy a new boat, to avoid problems, not fix them after the fact. Do you think that would hold up if you were buying a new car? "Gee, come on in and we'll fix the problems on your NEW car in a month or two." People would say, "Yeah right," and be out of that showroom in a hurry.

So, he's still holding my deposit and tells me he's about to take delivery of a couple new 26M's the next day and if I want I could check them out (for satisfaction of course). Hopefully we could start over. I showed up, there was a semi trailer on his lot dropping off a blue one and white one. The driver is about to leave. The dealer is putting accessory boxes in each boat. I did a quick look over. I yelled out to the dealer, "I think you want to stop that truck driver....now." I told him there was a huge gash on the boat. Initially, he thought I was kidding. I told him, "No way." So he yells out, stops the truck from pulling away. Driver jumps out agitated. We went up to the white hull and there was hole the size of a baseball in the starboard bow area. Not all the way through but the gel coat was completely gone. Somebody probably jammed the mast near there and unfortunately it was jabbed right into the bow. The dealer thanked me and told me it would have been harder to file a claim with the shipping company once he pulled away. So I go up into the cabin on the other one. Mostly everything looked ok except for one thing, there was a 2 foot gash in the (plastic?) mirror on the starboard side. It looked like somebody might have scraped their watch across it. It was clearly apparent and unacceptable. I jump off the boat, explained the problem in the other boat and he said, "Well, you can bring that in within a month or two and hopefully we'll have the replacement mirror then for you."

That did it. I just could not win. He later refunded my deposit and I wound up buying a used 26X. I just could not rationalize spending around $35,000 for a new boat with problems from the get go. They have a word for that.....defects?

What I want know is how they could let it go from the factory? In the case of the headliner, it looked bad. In the case of the mirror, the installer knew he marked it up. Why didn't he just change it right then and there? The quality control (on these boats) was on vacation? How else do you explain it?

[richandlori]

If you want ot understand...take a trip to the Mac Factory and SEE how the operation is run....then you will have no further "questions" as to why and how!

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

An amazing story

Anyway, your choice of a Mac-X is a good one. We've been happy with our '99 "X".

[opie]

My 1999X is great. Congratulations!

[Paul S]

we had quite an experience (search archives) when we bought our 04M too. rejected first hull, second one we got had a lot of issues too. Motor had no warranty (no USA warranty) . Uninstalled accessories, scratched gelcoat, etc. Looked like a 10 year old boat.

Seemes like a crapshoot how each hull will look upon delivery.

Still the best value out there, but it shouldn't be that stressful buying a boat.

Paul

[baldbaby2000]

I had issues when we bought ours new but your experience is definitely worse. All of my issues were with the dealer. Mainly not doing a good job putting our options in and giving us a motor that didn't work right at 5000 feet. I must be lucky on the boat itself. I haven't found any significant quality issues there.

I'm not sure that these problems are unique to Macgregor. My boss bought a brand new 30 foot Vista motor cruiser to take up to Alaska. Lots of stuff didn't work right. Everything from the radar to the GPS to the generator. While up there the interior started falling apart. It's strange that a person can buy a new car and everything is right when you drive it away. Buy a new boat and there's always a problem and the same options get installed differently everytime. Maybe if we could get Japanese boats we wouldn't have these issues.

BB

[aya16]

My boat was in great shape except the wax that was still on the hull.

But to be fair here of the thousands of boats Mac makes most are
in great shape when they arrive at the dealer I suspect because all the people I know that took delivery were for the most part happy.

Now no one should assume that because of what I wrote that there are no problems out there,and no one should take from what was said about the problems some one else had implies that all dealers are bad and all macs are junk.......

[delevi]

My dealer personally goes to Costa Mesa every week to pick up a boat from the factory. I thought that maybe he's being cheap, trying to pocket the freight charge, less his gas, but perhaps this gives him a chance to inspect the boat prior to taking delivery. Anyway, mine was in perfect shape. They install all options hands on, right at the shop, no backorders, no nonesence. The motor installation was top notch too. I have complained a few times about my dealer not wanting to honor too many warranty issues, claiming that anything that ever broke was my fault. I must say, however, that after reading this stuff, my dealer seems pretty good.

Leon

[James V]

aquaone

How else do you explain it?

I would say a bad dealier. When I had signed the papers for my boat I saw and helped unload 2 boats off a trailer that came in. The outsides did not have any real problems and the inside of the one that I inspected was in good condition. My boat was sitting at the dealier for over 1 month before I took delivery. The boat was as I expected it. Not a high gloss finish but it was good for what I paid for it and what I wanted to use it for. A great deal overall.

I have had no problems with it and I have put over 1800 sea miles on it, 8 weeks on the water in 10 months.

I used to prep new cars and would find things wrong with them and they would be fixed before the owners would see the car. The dealier should have fixed the problems.

[Divecoz]

Wow! I bought my boat from Bill who advertises on this board "Boats4Sail"
My Boat was spotless and, when done, ready and in my hands . . . TTBOMK which even now is not alot, the boat was perfect!
Sad to hear that Roger or someone at the Factory is not concerned with the Quality ,but seems to focus only on Quanity! How on earth did he ever get that big aka 35000 boats with this kind of hit or miss .
As others have said , its all about th dealer. NOW I ASK YOU ?
Who was the dealer??? We all no doubt would like to know .

[aquaone]

As much as I wanted that new 26M (seeing it and liking it at the Boat Show, viewing the video and all beforehand), I'm quite content with the used 1999 26X that I picked up. I've had a lot of fun in the short time I've it.

In hindsight, with that 26M buying experience from that dealer, I think it would be fair to say that he was responsible for some of the problems. As they say, "S--- happens" and you have to deal it. Things aren't perfect and dealers are there to smooth things out when taking delivery from the factory. It's not a perfect world. I understand that. All the people involved are only human and they have a business to run and so forth. The thing I was diappointed about was the having to deal with all the issues. Buying new and paying a new price, I wasn't expecting it.

With that said, can't wait to get the 26 X out within the next month or so.

[Catigale]

Kudos to you guys...that kind of experience would have made me walk and go a different route.

Art Reiders delivered a perfect boat and left me with 5 years of smiles and memories...fair Tides Art, RIP.

[Frank C]

This thread needs to reside along side the earlier one about, "What makes a Good Dealer?" My dealer experience was excellent too, but Gene Arena's not here any longer. He made it just like buying a new Chevy, but seems that's not always the case.

If I wanted a new 26M, I think I'd call Boats-4-Sail in the mid-West to book the deal. Then I'd pay Bill to fly to CA for the delivery!!

[ssichler]

Auto manufacturers have extensive prep checklists for their dealers to follow. I'm wondering if MacGregor has a similar list or just doesn't care about customer experience after the boat rolls out of their lot.

[mtc]

Auto manufacturers have extensive prep checklists for their dealers to follow. I'm wondering if MacGregor has a similar list or just doesn't care about customer experience after the boat rolls out of their lot.

That's the most reasonable. If you've read the recent Wiki post, (sp?) it points out that due to the demand for the M, the factory stopped production on everything else.

With demand comes compromise. Wal-Mart, any fast food place, etc.

You get what you pay for. The factory makes 'em to move 'em. I knew what I was getting myself into, and could have decided on the 1980 Hunter 30, or the very expensive Corsair . . . but my M is doing just fine. Exactly what I wanted and she's shaping into a very capable boat.

At the end of the day - It's all up to the dealer. I'm still trying to resolve issues.

I’m actually thinking of becoming a dealer myself.