Coty Marine NJ/Contender poor customer service

[capemaychef]

Well I think after spending the money we did on a brand new Contender we should have ZERO problems...well from the get go it's been one debacle after another and NO ONE Not Coty nor Contender wants to step up and take care of their mess...I love our boat but it hasn't been 100% right since we took delivery....

We took delivery of our boat in 2008 and from there it began...upon delivery the boat looked like it just came off the buidling blocks...not detailed not even cleaned...the boats light in the TTop never worked, we never got dock lines, safety gear, anything...the lady who sold us the boat personally went to a local marine store to pick it up for us...in our contract we had the Promo Y.E.S to get us through 2014 under warranty...well last year I realized that no one has sent in our Warranty card...upon talking to Yamaha I found out Coty never sent it in. So I've called Coty about 20 times thusfar about this and I always get "oh this person is out, or this person deals with warranties, or this person does that or is on vacation"...I FINALLY got through to someone who handles warranties and they said "ok I don't know what happened but in your contract it says you have it so you have it...I will get back to you the first week of the year"...well it's January 20th, so I call on the 18th to talk to the person...to get "oh she isn't in until tomorrow or the next day"....so I call today..."oh that person is on winter leave and everyone is at the NY Boat show I'm just filling in...you need to call back next week"...

We were supposed to have a full tank of fuel, we recieved 1/2...our first year we had a Crack in our port fishbox...and I immediately contacted Contender and they tried to set up a way for me to get my boat up 100 miles north to get it taken care...our engine trim unit got eaten away last year and something still isn't right with our electrical system (yamaha made good by supplying a free unit)...

So for an "upper tier" boat we are getting the customer service or the care of a bottom of the line boat...at this point, after over 50 phone calls to various people, 2 years of trying to get something figured out, no one seems to care...Coty is about is useless as anyone...and Contender isn't far behind in my opinion. I've contacted their North East Representive, and it takes days before I hear anything then it's forgotten about again until months later...

At this point I'm ready send the boat through the glass window and let them deal with it all...it isn't worth the frustration. Obviously I can't do that because I don't have a trailer but my point is still....

I should have went to Cardinal Joe and got a 24' Cape Horn or a 23' Regulator...

I do love our boat...but the customer service is the worst I've ever been apart of...there is no service and they won't have another customer in the future that's for sure....


So where would you go from here? The boat is fine and in working condition but for the money we spent we shouldn't have any of these issues...not to mention it only has 120 hours on her...

Mary Inman has gone above and beyond what she has needed to do...still 3 years later and no longer working for coty she is still concerned calling, emailing people helping us out. If coty/contender cared like she does there would be no issue.

[bigfish4me]

That sucks chef.....Hopefully the phone call to Coty from Cardinal Joe helps, Mother Mary is a pretty cool chick and probably knows more about contender boats than most who own them......it could be worse, you could have bought a world cat with a leaky hatch


I would personally be more pissed about putting only 120 hours on a new boat in 3 years and living locally......Just messing with ya man I know you work some crazy hours..., good luck and the sqeeky wheel gets the grease, too many people just write of their losses and fix issues them selves because they dont want to loose time on the water.....averaging 40 hrs a season I would skip paying for a slip and buy a trailer....face it slipping the boat cost you the trim unit more tha likely from a stray current at the dock and 3 seasons worth of lip fees could have paid for a trailer and you could have gotten the boat up to them to have the fish box issue fixed....Conteder did try and remedy the problem but you were unable to tranport it because you chose to spend a pretty good chunk of change on a brand new boat and no trailer to go with it. I realise your main beef is with Coty, and you are not getting the support from the factory you expected.....BUT the factor did make an effort to remedy the crack issue. I dont own a contender and have never been on one but they do look like nice boats......if your going to own a boat you have to either have very deep pockets or be good with a wrench, we do most of our own work and its always something new......luckily there are great forums like this and on the BB to get information from professionals in the business or guys that have been throgh the same thig as you.

Again Good luck man, dont quit and stay ontop of them like S.G advised on BB.

[Capt. Jon Tennant]

a "worldcat lemon" style thread on kingfishconnection would probable get some major attention in front of their #1 target market.... the tournament kingfishermen..... matter of fact, i'm pretty sure the owners of yellowfin, invincible, as well as contender frequent that forum quite offen.

[seapower]

Folk's keep buying those "upper end" boat's? In my opinion all you're buying is the name, for what???? I'm not knocking your decsion on buying your boat, but there are soooooo many boat builder's out there that back up their product. I personally wouldn't want to own 75% of the "upper tier" boat's that folk's are so crazy about on these board's.
One thing I would seriously consider next time (before you lay down the cash), is to talk to some guy's that are in the repair business about what "they" consider are good boat's and power. After all they all will need work at some point. Talk to someone that has to cut into the hull's (for repair) and let them tell you what is REALLY there. Again not picking on you, but your complaint's are just wayyyyyy too common. You're relationship with the guy that does your maintainence work should be rock soild and I would listen to him. Frank

[bigfish4me]

Mary Its well documened how you went above and beyond for Carl on the BB, your a class act Mary.....it seems the root of the problem lies on Cotys hands....and the fact that you severed ties wiht them after only 6 months must speak volumes for their business practices.

[tolbard]

This post make me wonder how manufactures pick the dealship they allow to carry and sell their product. Just be very thank full Mary is around.

[capemaychef]

Mary, you gained not only a customer but a true friend with me...you need not apologize, you are a true class act and everyone who comes in contact with you says the same thing. You're far better off without the hassle of those clowns. \

Mary with all the crap back and forth with coty and yourself and contender you're the only one who steps up and cares and wants to make it right. That means a lot to me and I hope everyone else...sure it is your way to make income and I wished you got more commission from our sale I wish you got all of price actually because no one cares more about their customer than you.


As for Contender...I've heard some shitty things about the company I don't know if it's true or not...there is no arguing they are a well built solid boat...I love our boat...I've said it a million times...it's very fuel efficient...it's fast...i don't need to do 50mph holding on for dear life...it's a true fishing machine...I can run to 40 off if I want or fish for flounder in the back in spring...it's the perfect boat for me...

I just hate that Coty screwed them over and is a true **** show of sorts for a "dealer"...they don't care about their customer and it's very very clear in their lack of care regading my issues.

So moving forward...everything is documented...my best friend is a lawyer...and I have people behind the issue who know what their talking about and been with me from day 1 so I am very confident that the boat will be right...

[Mako 36]

Mary, you gained not only a customer but a true friend with me...you need not apologize, you are a true class act and everyone who comes in contact with you says the same thing. You're far better off without the hassle of those clowns. \

Mary with all the crap back and forth with coty and yourself and contender you're the only one who steps up and cares and wants to make it right. That means a lot to me and I hope everyone else...sure it is your way to make income and I wished you got more commission from our sale I wish you got all of price actually because no one cares more about their customer than you.


As for Contender...I've heard some shitty things about the company I don't know if it's true or not...there is no arguing they are a well built solid boat...I love our boat...I've said it a million times...it's very fuel efficient...it's fast...i don't need to do 50mph holding on for dear life...it's a true fishing machine...I can run to 40 off if I want or fish for flounder in the back in spring...it's the perfect boat for me...

I just hate that Coty screwed them over and is a true **** show of sorts for a "dealer"...they don't care about their customer and it's very very clear in their lack of care regading my issues.

So moving forward...everything is documented...my best friend is a lawyer...and I have people behind the issue who know what their talking about and been with me from day 1 so I am very confident that the boat will be right...

You had it right when you said Regulator.

But thank you for letting the rest of us know who to avoid.

[BigSteads]

Doesnt suprise me one bit.

Mary remeber when you made my offers to Coty on capemays old Albemarle and they laughed at me? LOL now they still have the boat and have it listed 2-3 years later for what we were potentially paying for it back then.

F'em

[LuckyLady]

Doesnt suprise me one bit.

Mary remeber when you made my offers to Coty on capemays old Albemarle and they laughed at me? LOL now they still have the boat and have it listed 2-3 years later for what we were potentially paying for it back then.

F'em

Yeah Carl and I still laugh at them still having it, thats about the only thing that keeps us laughing, every time I drive by I get a good chuckle