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Headliner repair (Warranty Coverage Thread)

Straight from Kip Combs on 1-24-07

http://checkmate-boats.com/forums/showpost.php?p=406855&postcount=26

OK......i knew this would start sometime i guess it's now. Yes new owners should be taking over in the next few weeks. It is still not finalized as far as change of ownership. But if everything goes as planned it will happen in the next few weeks like i said. Doug Smith is the majority owner of the new ownership. Nothing but positive changes moving forward.....no changes in processes IE: all gelcoat paint schemes, no changes in construction materials or prosess ( hand layed ) , new graphic's, new buckets and upholstery mods, new windshields, and like coop said .....much more advertising, all new web site, logo's, clothing,etc.Most importantly to you the customers.... our dealer base should double or triple in the first year! Me and my brother Mike are still going to be here in the same capacities as before plus some new duties. Even Bill will be here in some fashion , yet to be determined. New ownership will stand behind warranty of boats still under warranty....and may even expand and improve the warranty itself. Alot of things to be desided at a later time. It is very cool that you guys care enough to ask questions .....and your input was / is always welcome before and moving forward ! I will keep you guys ( this site ) updated as information comes to lite.
 
That's a lot different than "as a courtesy".

"As a Courtesy" means you didn't think you had to do it, which means you may not for someone else.
 
Man all this warranty talk is starting to bum me out!

It would be so easy to put this thing to rest if Doug Smith finally made an appearance here and set the record straight. (Don't leave it up to Kip) I know the guy's busy but come on......everyone takes a lunch hour.:bigthumb:

You would think that he would be very excited to have a chance to meet so many diehard Checkmate fans. Come on Doug, let us in on some of your ideas, changes and plans.....we deserve it.

In the past I wouldn't even consider buying anything but a Checkmate. I loved the fact that they were made in small numbers and not mass-produced. I would rather buy my stuff from the "Five and Dime" stores than a "Wal-Mart".

I for one I'm looking at purchasing a new Checkmate within a couple of years.......I will watch this thread extremely close.
 
All I’m saying is that thru my experience with Checkmate, (previous and new company) if they say they are going to do something they do it. So looks like Joe (Seamate) is good to go. And I’ve bought 3 new Checkmates myself, 2 of those from Doug. He seems like a stand up guy, although their does seem a need for some clarification on wether or not the pre-Smith boats are covered???

-Craig
 
He was turned down on his headlinner repair at first. Then all the ruckus started on this forum thread. Thats the only reason why they agreeded to fix it, is to com the thread down. If nobody would have said anything he would have been shafted.
 
I understand that by Doug buying Checkmate he only will warranty boats he has buildt since he took ownership...he wouldn't want to get sued for someone else's work. If a transom were to break or some other problem on a boat that was made previous to his buying the company, it's out of his control. Why would he pay for something he had no control over. He should not have too. My question is...what about those who bought 2006 and under if they have a 10year warranty on a hull (and as a customer, I bought the warranty) will Mr Combs back it up his product? I'm guessing no why should he ... he has his money and retired! My brand new 2006 Checkmate has huge cracks in the transom and i have to chase Mr. Combs down to see if he will pay for it? lol this will be fun!
and by the way Doug Smith WILL NOT WARRANT ANY 2006, 2005 and older i have talked to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Hi Everyone,

I understand this is a sensitive as well as important topic that needs to be aired out.

But having multiple threads going at the same time about the same issue just causes confusion for everyone.

So please keep debate related to warranty issues and how they are effected by the ownership change within this single thread.

I have already closed out the other two threads that were going and posted forwarding links to this thread.

-Chris
 
I guess this is the way Doug Smith is going to do Bizz. Pee on everybody else that bought one already and lets worry about new buyers. And getting his boat ready for a photo shoot in a magazine.

I guess somebody that needs a hull fixed will have to hall his monkey butt to court.
 
I'm pretty sure Doug Smith does'nt care about the customer.All he cares about is filling his pockets with money and not honoring warranty issues.I might be out of line here,but I've been following this thread for a couple weeks now. All I see are lame attempts on Checkmates part to resolve this.The whole bring the boat to the factory for a headliner repair dont cut it with me. Doug should have found out what exactly what was wrong with the headliner from the customer and if it is a warranty issue send someone to him to fix it.A headliner cant take to long to fix ,so pack your tools and take a trip.Why make the customer watch his boat ride off into the sunset for a silly HL. Dougy needs a class in CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!:pissed:
 
Joe, Did Checkmate tell you they weren't going to fix it before or after you told them you were going to have it fixed, and will be sending them the bill?
 
I've talked to Doug, Dean, and Kip on this. A 10 year hull warranty is not a bow to stearn everything warranty. THAT is only for 1 year. So most of you '06's are out at this point anyway. And the '07's amount to a handfull of owners. The 10 year warranty is on the hull, not the headliner, or anything like that.

You can bitch about this all you want to but, I want you to think about this. Where would you all be without Doug Smith? Think about that, how good would your warranty be without him? Checkmate Boats is done, its gone. The new company is Checkmate Marine, if Doug hadn't bought the company you would not be able to get windshields, interiors, rubrails, new hulls, ANYTHING. It would be over. Done.


And another thing, warranty work has a procedure, it is either fixed at the factory, at a dealer, OR at an autherized service center, AND must be PRE APROVED.

If you think that Checkmate will send one guy out to fix your boat, your mistaken, no boat company would. If you think they would pay the bill, if they offered to fix it at the factory first, then when the season is over you decide to just have it done and send in the bill. Your mistaken as well, no boat company would. If it was my company, and you did that I'd tell you to go "pound sand". And that, most likely is how this thread started.

I'm the guy that brings some of the warranty boats back to be fixed, if I can. And I know several of you that have had warranty work done, and its been taken care of. I've watched warranty work be done in front of one of our members here on his boat while I talked to him at the factory.

Just remember, at least there is someone at the factory that you can call about warranty issues. And if it wasn't for Doug, that number would have been disconected.
 
younger99 said:
I understand that by Doug buying Checkmate he only will warranty boats he has buildt since he took ownership...he wouldn't want to get sued for someone else's work. If a transom were to break or some other problem on a boat that was made previous to his buying the company, it's out of his control. Why would he pay for something he had no control over. He should not have too. My question is...what about those who bought 2006 and under if they have a 10year warranty on a hull (and as a customer, I bought the warranty) will Mr Combs back it up his product? I'm guessing no why should he ... he has his money and retired! My brand new 2006 Checkmate has huge cracks in the transom and i have to chase Mr. Combs down to see if he will pay for it? lol this will be fun!
and by the way Doug Smith WILL NOT WARRANT ANY 2006, 2005 and older i have talked to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Was that a hypothetical comment, or do you have huge cracks in your transom?

And, I would think Checkmate Marine would absolutely be responsible for everything unless that's why he renamed the company. Maybe that was a legal move. When Chrysler was bought out a few months ago, you can bet they honored all of the existing warranties. The only way I've ever heard of getting out of warranty claims is when a failing company is bailed out by another company with specific provisions for that.
 
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younger99 said:
I understand that by Doug buying Checkmate he only will warranty boats he has buildt since he took ownership...he wouldn't want to get sued for someone else's work. If a transom were to break or some other problem on a boat that was made previous to his buying the company, it's out of his control. Why would he pay for something he had no control over. He should not have too. My question is...what about those who bought 2006 and under if they have a 10year warranty on a hull (and as a customer, I bought the warranty) will Mr Combs back it up his product? I'm guessing no why should he ... he has his money and retired! My brand new 2006 Checkmate has huge cracks in the transom and i have to chase Mr. Combs down to see if he will pay for it? lol this will be fun!
and by the way Doug Smith WILL NOT WARRANT ANY 2006, 2005 and older i have talked to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

So lets see some pictures of the boat, and the cracks.
 
coop i agree ,and disagree ,the one thing you left out is your n others jobs ! ! i like hearing that youve picked up customers boats for warranty work which i feel should of been done if seamate was goin that route . boating is an expensive lifestyle i'd be upset if i owned a newer mate
 
zstevens said:
coop i agree ,and disagree ,the one thing you left out is your n others jobs ! ! i like hearing that youve picked up customers boats for warranty work which i feel should of been done if seamate was goin that route . boating is an expensive lifestyle i'd be upset if i owned a newer mate
Click to expand...

Jobs, yes, definately that too. Although I know some that didn't stay.
 
HE AGREED TO BRING THE BOAT BACK TO THE FACTORY AND THEY SAID THEY WOULD NOT FIX IT.

FROM THE ORGINAL THREAD=== THIS IS WHERE ALL THE RUKUS STARTED

In late July, Checkmate and I agreed that if they could not find one of their dealers to fix my boat, I would trailer the boat back to Ohio at the end of my boating season, and it would be repaired at the factory.

It is now mid October and the NEW CHECKMATE of Doug Smith does not feel as though they are responsible for this defect. They assure me that my 10 year hull warrantee would be honored (I am not so sure!), but this doesn't seem to be a big enough issue.

IF THEY WOULD HAVE JUST LET HIM BRING THE BOAT BACK AT FIRST LIKE THEY SAID THIS THREAD WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED.

For the people who are catching the tail end of this thread Checkmate has agreed out of curtesy to fix the headliner on his boat now.
 
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You can defend (CHECKMATE MARINE) if you want,but the way I see it.They handled this poorly.I work in service and I know the need to put these small fires out in a hurry before this happens.You can't make every customer happy,but you should at least try.When its all said and done word of mouth can kill a company.You can do a million good things and nobody notices,but screw up once and the world will know.I don't recommend telling customers to pound sand it's not to good for business:sssh:
 
The old Checkmate warranty used to be (as I remember it), one year bow to stern, and 10 years on the hull itself. I believe the warranty was transferrable to one subsequent owner.

The warranty on the hull was actually increased from five to ten years in the mid 90's, again, from what I remember. I'll try to look through my brochures when I get home and see if I can figure out in what model year the warranty was improved.

From what I'm reading here via third party reports...

It would seem (to me at least) that the argument being put forth here by the new ownership, is that all the warranties from the Comb's era of Checkmate are NOT the responsibility of Doug Smith or Checkmate Marine. And I would assume the legal basis for this position is, that Checkmate Marine only purchased the assets of the old Checkmate and it is therefore a separate corporation and legal entity.

Perhaps I've got it all wrong I dunno...

So if that's the case, (I would guess) if you own a "Checkmate Marine, Doug Smith era" Checkmate, you're covered by the new company's warranty. If you own a Comb's era Checkmate, than you're not covered by a warranty - or at least by one that Doug Smith and Checkmate Marine are responsible for.

So it would seem that Smith is taking the position that anything Checkmate Marine does is on a "good-will-gesture" basis only, but have no legal responsibility to do so.

Perhaps I'm off track, but that seems to be what I'm reading.

Some kind of official company statement by one or both of the parties of Checkmate Marine and the old Checkmate company might be in order here.

People deserve to know the true facts and they should hear them first hand.
 
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