In January, 2001 my wife and I traded in our 13 year old Tracker Magna 17 for a brand spanking new Lund 17' Fisherman. While I really liked the Tracker, I decided spending well over $1000 to replace the transom didn't make a lot of sense. We decided to buy what we determined to be a high quality boat, one that would take us in to our retirment years. The new boat was ready for the 2001 season, and it appeared to be fabulous. The boat was well over a foot wider, and more stable, and the ABS hull gave me another 5 mph on the top end. We took the boat to Canada on vacation for two weeks. One day after coming in from fishing, my wife asked me if I saw the side of our boat? I said "no why?". I had about a 3' by 2' section of the side of the boat scratched to a degree where it took the paint off. It literally looked like somebody took a garden claw to it. The boat had gotten scratched up when I got my son's musky bait out of a fallen pine tree, the same way as I had done for over 30 years with two other boats that I have owned without getting them scratched up.
When we returned home, I contacted the dealer, telling him that there must be a problem with the paint. My new Lund boat looked worse in 13 days on the water, than my Tracker did after 13 years of use. He told me to contact Lund, which I did. Lund took approximately two months, and a subsequent visit back to the dealer, to tell me that they decided to fix the boat under warranty. They told me that they would come down and pick-up my boat (550 miles one way), then they would strip it down to bare metal, and repaint the entire boat. I told them that I would be willing to drop the boat off at the factory on my way back from Canada in October (about month later). I was told that would be great, and that they would be expecting me. I dropped the boat off at the factory in New York Mills, Minnesota after my fall Musky fishing trip to Lake of the Woods. Lund immediately started inspecting the boat and then called the paint supervisor from the plant. They tested the paint by scoring it and using adhesive tape to test adherency. They began questioning whether they were going to cover it or not. As far as I was concerned the dealer was convinced there was a problem, Lund told me that they would take care of it, that should have been it. I fully expected them to test the paint, but not question as to whether they were going to go through on what they told me, or to look at me like I wasn't telling the truth about how it happened! The Quality Manager, asked the paint supervisor, in front of me, as to whether it should be covered under warranty or not? Fortunately the paint supervisor said he thought so.
It took probably four e-mails to find out when the boat would be done,
and how I was to get it back. I was told over a month after
I dropped the boat off, that if everything went perfect, it would be at
least 7 weeks until it would be started, as my boat wasn't in their plan. Furthermore,
I was told that it was the customer's responsibility to pick up the boat.
I sent them several more e-mails telling them that they had
said they were willing to pick it up, I assumed that they would at least
bring it back. Well, I was notified right before Christmas that
my boat was ready. I had to drive 1,100 miles (round trip) to
pick it up in the middle of winter. They did do an excellent job on the
repair, but only repainted the scratched area and not the whole boat as
I was originally told.
I should also tell you that John Unsworth, owner of Sunset Cove Camp, told
me another guest of his had the exact same model and year of boat as mine,
and the paint on his boat became overly scratched through no apparent mistreatment
as well. This entire story is exactly what happened, I have
not embellished or otherwise distorted the story. On one-hand
my wife and I both feel that we were not treated as we expected and feel
that Lund was less than cordial. On the other hand, they did
fix the scratched area on the boat under warranty. What do you think?
Click the mailbox to e-mail. Last updated on ... March 20, 2002