Woodsy
04-24-2002, 04:00 PM
Hola Compadres...
I need to post this to warn others of the bad business practices I experienced over at PERFORMANCE TRAILER in Lake George, NY. Last May I bought a trailer from them for my '97 22 Classic. I drove from Chelmsford, MA to Lake George, NY to pick up this trailer. Its a standard dual axle steel frame trailer, painted black with yellow pinstripes to match the boat. But I digress. When I picked it up and plugged it into my 97 Dodge Ram 2500 with the factory towing package the brand new trailer had a ground fault. When you stepped on the brakes, everything else lit up dimly, except the brake lights they went out. Well, the owner of Performance Trailer, a very gruff individual named Bill, swore up and down that the fault was with my truck, not his trailer. Well, I wasn't satisfied with that response as I had just towed my '89 18 Classic to meet her new owners the week previously. He promptly backed up one of his trucks to the trailer and plugged it in. Same result. Now I am getting more than a little ticked off. Billl & his assistant then proceeded to rewire the trailer right in front of me. Guess what? Same result. Bill is back to swearing up and down that this problem is with my truck, not his trailer... although he can't explain why his truck didn't work either. Well, time was running short if I wanted to go & get the new 22 Classic before the marina closed, so with no lights, I hooked up the trailer and left, with Bill's assurance that once the problem was discovered, that IF the problem was with his trailer he would make it right, although he was pretty darn confident (smug would be more like it) about the problem being with my truck. Well, about a month later, after not being able to find this problem myself, the truck & trailer went to my mechanic. My mechanic proceeds to look at everything and it all looks right, right color wires to the right connections. I told him what Bill said, about it being in the trucks wiring. He agreed it was a possibility and proceeded to check the wiring harness of the truck. 4 hourslater, still no luck finding the problem. He replaces all of the connectors on the truck, thinking maybe a connector is shorting out somehow. Still the problem persists. He hooked up his snowmobile tralier to my truck, and all the lights worked fine. That brought him back to looking at the trailer again. He starts pulling the lights off one by one and looking them over really closely. He found the problem when he got to the tailights. The wires were the right colors molded into the wrong spots. My mechanic, cut the wires and swapped them around and PRESTO... the lights worked properly!! Finally!! So then the mechanic hands me the bill $250, $200 in labor, $50 for the connectors etc, that he replaced. I called Performance Trailer the next day and spoke with Bill. Of course, being the arrogant person he is, he did not believe me. I told him to go to the stockroom and get a BRAND NEW set of lights. He begrudginly agreed to do so, commenting that in his 14yrs of making trailers, this has NEVER happened. Well, he pulled the lights and they were molded wrong. He claimed he had produced about 80 trailers since I had picked up my trailer. He also told me had to go make some phone calls so all of his dealers would be aware of this issue. I asked him about my mechanics bill, and he told me he would get in touch with WesBar ( the MFG of the lights) and get back to me. I have called PERFORMANCE TRAILER every few months or so, trying to follow up on this issue. I did not want the $50 in parts covered, just the $200 in diagnostic labor costs. My close friends here know how busy & hectic things have been with my dad's accident etc. Well, today I call PERFORMANCE TRAILER again. The receptionist answers the phone, and I asked for Bill. When I explained the situtation to her to refresh her memory, and asked for Bill, she told me the following message.... The lights are NOT covered by our warranty. If I have a problem with the lights I should take it up with the manufacturer. I was furious to say the least. Nor would Bill come to the phone. What type of customer service is this. You need to remember that this trailer is still under the 1yr warranty and it was defective when I picked it up. I also saved them a ton of aggravation & warranty claims when I discovered what the cause of the problem was. But I guess thats not worth my $200 labor claim to PERFORMANCE TRAILER. I called WesBar today, and have already heard back from one person. I am expecting a phone call from thier QA engineer sometime today or tomorrow. They are at least making an attempt to resolve the issue. Too bad about PERFORMANCE TRAILER. I have recommended them in the past to several people who ended up buying one for thier boat. I will no longer recommend them, and quite frankly, I will be negative about them to anyone who cares to listen or who is searching for a trailer. Although the trailer itself is well built, their customer service sucks!! So to Bill, I hope you read this here or over on OSO.. feel free to respond! Though I seriously doubt you will. If this cosat him just one lost sale, then I will be happy.
Woodsy
PS: Those of you who know me, know its not about the $200. I have spent that picking up a bar tab.... its the principal of the issue, the promise to make good on something, then the REFUSAL to do so...
PSS: Sorry for the LOOOOOONG RANT!! I'll make it up to you all at AOTH!!
I need to post this to warn others of the bad business practices I experienced over at PERFORMANCE TRAILER in Lake George, NY. Last May I bought a trailer from them for my '97 22 Classic. I drove from Chelmsford, MA to Lake George, NY to pick up this trailer. Its a standard dual axle steel frame trailer, painted black with yellow pinstripes to match the boat. But I digress. When I picked it up and plugged it into my 97 Dodge Ram 2500 with the factory towing package the brand new trailer had a ground fault. When you stepped on the brakes, everything else lit up dimly, except the brake lights they went out. Well, the owner of Performance Trailer, a very gruff individual named Bill, swore up and down that the fault was with my truck, not his trailer. Well, I wasn't satisfied with that response as I had just towed my '89 18 Classic to meet her new owners the week previously. He promptly backed up one of his trucks to the trailer and plugged it in. Same result. Now I am getting more than a little ticked off. Billl & his assistant then proceeded to rewire the trailer right in front of me. Guess what? Same result. Bill is back to swearing up and down that this problem is with my truck, not his trailer... although he can't explain why his truck didn't work either. Well, time was running short if I wanted to go & get the new 22 Classic before the marina closed, so with no lights, I hooked up the trailer and left, with Bill's assurance that once the problem was discovered, that IF the problem was with his trailer he would make it right, although he was pretty darn confident (smug would be more like it) about the problem being with my truck. Well, about a month later, after not being able to find this problem myself, the truck & trailer went to my mechanic. My mechanic proceeds to look at everything and it all looks right, right color wires to the right connections. I told him what Bill said, about it being in the trucks wiring. He agreed it was a possibility and proceeded to check the wiring harness of the truck. 4 hourslater, still no luck finding the problem. He replaces all of the connectors on the truck, thinking maybe a connector is shorting out somehow. Still the problem persists. He hooked up his snowmobile tralier to my truck, and all the lights worked fine. That brought him back to looking at the trailer again. He starts pulling the lights off one by one and looking them over really closely. He found the problem when he got to the tailights. The wires were the right colors molded into the wrong spots. My mechanic, cut the wires and swapped them around and PRESTO... the lights worked properly!! Finally!! So then the mechanic hands me the bill $250, $200 in labor, $50 for the connectors etc, that he replaced. I called Performance Trailer the next day and spoke with Bill. Of course, being the arrogant person he is, he did not believe me. I told him to go to the stockroom and get a BRAND NEW set of lights. He begrudginly agreed to do so, commenting that in his 14yrs of making trailers, this has NEVER happened. Well, he pulled the lights and they were molded wrong. He claimed he had produced about 80 trailers since I had picked up my trailer. He also told me had to go make some phone calls so all of his dealers would be aware of this issue. I asked him about my mechanics bill, and he told me he would get in touch with WesBar ( the MFG of the lights) and get back to me. I have called PERFORMANCE TRAILER every few months or so, trying to follow up on this issue. I did not want the $50 in parts covered, just the $200 in diagnostic labor costs. My close friends here know how busy & hectic things have been with my dad's accident etc. Well, today I call PERFORMANCE TRAILER again. The receptionist answers the phone, and I asked for Bill. When I explained the situtation to her to refresh her memory, and asked for Bill, she told me the following message.... The lights are NOT covered by our warranty. If I have a problem with the lights I should take it up with the manufacturer. I was furious to say the least. Nor would Bill come to the phone. What type of customer service is this. You need to remember that this trailer is still under the 1yr warranty and it was defective when I picked it up. I also saved them a ton of aggravation & warranty claims when I discovered what the cause of the problem was. But I guess thats not worth my $200 labor claim to PERFORMANCE TRAILER. I called WesBar today, and have already heard back from one person. I am expecting a phone call from thier QA engineer sometime today or tomorrow. They are at least making an attempt to resolve the issue. Too bad about PERFORMANCE TRAILER. I have recommended them in the past to several people who ended up buying one for thier boat. I will no longer recommend them, and quite frankly, I will be negative about them to anyone who cares to listen or who is searching for a trailer. Although the trailer itself is well built, their customer service sucks!! So to Bill, I hope you read this here or over on OSO.. feel free to respond! Though I seriously doubt you will. If this cosat him just one lost sale, then I will be happy.
Woodsy
PS: Those of you who know me, know its not about the $200. I have spent that picking up a bar tab.... its the principal of the issue, the promise to make good on something, then the REFUSAL to do so...
PSS: Sorry for the LOOOOOONG RANT!! I'll make it up to you all at AOTH!!