Walker Bay Warranty: Sunburnt RIB Tubes

The key here is the expectation set for the consumer vs the expectation that the manufacturer feels is reasonable. Jackson, I appreciate your participation here. This is exactly what this forum is intended to do. Your post brings to mind a few questions.
1) In normal use, not covered, or stowed, what is the life expectancy of a PVC tube?
2) Were is this communicated to the consumer?
3) in light of the fact that boats, and their accessories are exposed to UV constantly, and, in most cases, storage limitations will mandate that your product is left in an exposed situation, is there any consideration for this, or information provided to the consumer in the way of proper care and storage instructions?
4) Not knowing the specifics of how this customer maintains his equipment, when dealing with issues like this, does Walker Bay's warranty department take factors, such as the overall condition and care of the product prior to failure, into consideration when applying warranty coverage?
5) Last but not least, the tone of your post gave me the impression that the matter is closed in the opinion of Walker Bay. Based on the experience that has been related here, it sounds like there are customer service issues that have not been addressed. Is this standard operating procedure for Walker Bay? Or, is there additional follow up going on behind the scenes?

[svHyLyte]

Rather than continuing to waste time screwing around with Walker Bay, it might be easier to simply repair the boat. See http://www.allinflatables.com/shopping/paint/ . Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for PVC to die in the sun and I suspect Walker Bay's owner's literature probably makes mention of that somewhere, and the required care and maintenance, but I suppose most would over-look that until things started to get "sticky".

FWIW...

s/v HyLyte

[mike d.]

steve i am having the same prob. with brig i bought new at show 5 yr warranty. a little over a yr later this tan/brown stuff started to become visible on the tubes (PVC) and the attachment points for the rope/handholds and or lock mounts etc. spent a yr argueing about the prob. i thought the boat was rotting from sun exposure he said finally i had/have an algae growth on the boat and to was the boat with (toluene) which i did three times in two weeks . guess what it's backkkkkk! the dist offered me new attachment points for the oars etc. but won't budge on the tubes. i have to pay for prorate on warrenty which is now 3 yrs. so don't bye brig. he even told me that the hypelon would have the same prob. because of all the diesel fumes from the other boats. and as far as the 303 protectant is concerned i put that on after the first cleaning and it seemed to make the what ever it is come back faster. like in two or three hours. this boat is only used in summer in northeast U.S.A. and stored after a full scrub and cleaning and sealing a ventilated storage facility, ie: no sun light etc. to cause a problem.
i should have done my home work and looked at the other brands and spent a little more to not have to deal with this

[opsailor]

As a general comment, I have been working with Walker Bay (Brad Jackson) over the past couple of months on a nagging problem with my new Genesis (hypalon). They have always returned calls and emails, and are right now in the process of making my dinghy "right" through our local dealer. So far, they have exceeded my expectations, including the performance of the Genesis.

[David M]

Steve,
Sorry to hear about your problems.

I would sell it for what you can get and buy a better product from a different manufacturer. There are plenty of dinks that don't rot in the sun so soon. Take it as a valuable lesson learned. I don't think it is worth the hassle to fight with these people at this point. They appear to have the upper hand with the warranty. If it is any consolation, you just warned thousands of boaters about this product.

Manufacturers that do not give you a fair warning about weaknesses in their products or refuse to correct a premature failure eventually suffer the consequences through word of mouth.

[Steve Pope]

Thanks for the remarks David, you are right, it is frustrating though as in the booklet that is displayed with the Walkerbay RID's here in NZ (printed for America though) they specifically mention a 5 year warranty extension on the PVC tubes and a 10 year extension on the Hypalon, I have the booklet here in front of me. There is no mention of pro rata etc. If they are prepared to give a 5 year warranty extension then surely that should be considered the minimum life expectancy.

[GMac]

Anything more from Smart Marine, Steve?

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by mike d.

steve i am having the same prob. with brig i bought new at show 5 yr warranty.
i should have done my home work and looked at the other brands and spent a little more to not have to deal with this

Mike,

I bought a Brig RIB in 02 or 03 but I specified Hypalon. They make both PVC and Hypalon. Mine's still going strong.

[Steve Pope]

Hi Grant, I've had nothing more from Smart Marine other than I put in my reply to Brett Jacksons post.

[Steve Pope]

Progress of sorts!! one forward 2 backwards. I guess after Brad Jackson saw my posts to this site the message has been passed on to a Cassidy Thomas at Walker Bay. Her First email asked if the issue had been resolved satisfactorily. She mentioned that she had had contact from Mark Musni several months ago but were awaiting hear from me. I guess the emails I sent on their online question form must still be circulating in cyber space somewhere if they didn't get them, although the earlier ones got through. I didn't have the email address of <export@walkerbay.com> Which is actually one of the main reasons that I posted here in the first place to see if anyone knew where I should email to after getting no response from Walkerbay International.
So I reitterated the main gist of the problem, the only change is that after I had spoken with my lawyer 3 months after paying the extra $1000.00 for the Hypalon tubes I contacted Smart Marine and they came back with a swap offer of PVC tubes and a free cover if I removed the hypalon ones I had refitted to the dinghy and returned them. This entailed a 5 1/2 hour drive Well I turned this offer down as the replacement tubes were the same material as the failed ones and when, not if they failed there would not be any further replacement as Smart Marine weren't going to stock them any more.
I received a second response this morning from Cassidy She expressed her regrets at my dissatisfaction with my Walker Bay International experience, basically she is saying that all the warranty info in the Walker Bay booklet is for America only, (no definitive statement in the booklet saying that) so why is it displayed in New Zealand? There are 56 Countries mentioned in this booklet as having dealers / distributors, I'm sure that Walker Bay customers reading that brochure would be like me and think that the Warranty info includes everyone that buys a Walker Bay Product. She said that the relevant info would have been on the warranty registration card and/or the owners manual. We received neither of these from Smart Marine, I was told that the sale was registered on the computer at Smart Marine and that was all that was needed.
I will print the last 2 paragraphs from Cassidy:
Unfortunately, at this time there is nothing more we can do with respect to this issue. The follow up was simply out of common courtesy due to the comments you had posted on the blog, about Walker Bay, and the lack of response, which is completely false.

Walker Bay strives, on customer service, quality and performance of all our products. However we also strive to educate our customers on purchasing the correct products for the correct location, and usage. Our web site specifically recommends Hypalon fabric where there is a high amount of UV exposure.

So there you have it BUYER BEWARE, READ the small print even if it ain't there.
Don't go to the shop to buy without going to the web site first, silly me trusting the nice salesman.

[GordMay]

Interesting dichotomy:
Great customer service- Walker Bay:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...bay-19749.html

[Talbot]

Sounds like if you want good service, buy in USA

If you want to be shafted buy elsewhere.

Luckily in UK they have a cheap low value court procedure that can be used for stuff by filling in an on-line form. Lawyers are not necessary, and a judge will listen an then make a decision.

[sandy daugherty]

Further, when you brought up the New Zealand Consumer Guarantees Act, you probably caught a lot of people in the U.S. off guard. They would need to find out their legal obligations, and decide if they want to stay in the New Zealand marketplace. Your request turned into a legal question, involving several attorneys on both sides of the pond, and completely out of the hands of the warranty folks.
A five year extended warranty on a PVC boat is a crap shoot. Marketers in the US count on more than half their customers forgetting they have it, not being able to find the receipts, or selling the boat before they have to produce a fix. Go ahead and start legal proceedings; you will probably win, at more than the cost of the boat. It will force WB to deal with the bigger issue, and probably no longer supply PVC product to your market. You were expecting Hypolon performance anyway; now everyone will have to pay for it.

Beligerance begets beligerance. You turned down their offer. Its no longer on the table. It all makes me rethink my attitude towards extended warranties.

I'm very sorry first that the dinghy failed, second that discussions failed, and third that you are left out of pocket and seriously disgruntled. I only hope you got some good use out of it.

[opsailor]

I posted here a while back indicating good cooperation and positive support from WB was underway. Well, it's all over and WB has made everything right and done more than I could have expected. My local dealer (Fair Winds in St Augustine) picked up my Genesis, repaired it with parts supplied by WB, and delivered it back, all cleaned up.

[witchcraft]

Yikes.... If a customer enquires about turning the Walker Bay's in our stores into RIB's, I certainly as a matter of course would make them aware of the difference between the tube types. I have found it is always worth ascertaining how a client intends to use the item, what its storage will be like etc.. When offering an extended warranty I am almost always treated with suspicion but I always explain what we offer how it works and the full one time cost.
I am considering showing this thread to my employer so they can check a little more closely into the issue and investigate any similiar difficulties.
Fair Winds
SV Witchcraft