Contacting B&G for warranty?

[DougMc]

Does anyone know how to contact B&G for warranty replacements? The dealer (West Marine Pro) gave me a phone number to call. I've been on hold for a total of more than 7 hours failing to get an answer before either being cut off, or something else got in the way.
They have a glacially slow queue. It's excruciating. I advance maybe one place every 45 minutes or so. I've made it to 2 in the queue after 2.5 hours, then got cut off...

Any ideas?
thx.

[DougM]

I can emphasize with what you are going through. About a month ago, my mastervolt inverter charger, just off warranty, failed. I spent many hours on three separate occasions on the queue to talk to someone. I emailed service. Left messages.

Zero response. Helpful folks on this forum said they had the same experience, since Mastervolt was bought by the same owner as B&G (Brunswick, I believe). I ended up buying a Victron to replace it, after consider that brand and cheap chinese.

My guess is Brunswick is another private equity company figuring they can chop expenses everywhere (including service and warranty), drop expenses, up the bottom line temprarily and boost stock price. Execs probably catch bonuses while it lasts

Its a shame. They were good brands. Too expensive now that they are essentially throw-aways when something goes wrong.

Hope the marketplace pays attention and disciplines them and they get it and provide the service that owners need.

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by DougMc

Does anyone know how to contact B&G for warranty replacements? The dealer (West Marine Pro) gave me a phone number to call. I've been on hold for a total of more than 7 hours failing to get an answer before either being cut off, or something else got in the way.
They have a glacially slow queue. It's excruciating. I advance maybe one place every 45 minutes or so. I've made it to 2 in the queue after 2.5 hours, then got cut off...

Any ideas?
thx.

We have recently been through what you need to do, and are conflicted about the process. On the one hand the wait to get through to someone who can help is insane. You call as soon as the phones open in the morning, and you wait ALL day to get through. On the other hand... once we DID get a person on the phone, the support was excellent.

Try to do as much as you can by email, at least you don't have to wait hours...

And here is a secret trick... when the phone menu runs through options, select the "Dealer" option. That queue moves faster, and the tech answering has no idea which queue you have been waiting in...

So... in summary in my experience the people on the phone lines are knowledgable and helpful, have flexibility with rules, and will guide you through the process. Brunswick just needs to budget for a LOT more tech support staff if they want to keep customers happy. But don't hold your breath...

There is so much they could do to make this better, or just a bit less painful. And I REALLY feel sorry for the poor guys who have to take a call from someone who has been on hold for literally all day...

[DougMc]

Well, I finally got through. I tried to be the first to call in the morning and ended up about 2nd in the queue. So, I had to wait a mere 30 minutes, which was trivial in comparison to previous attempts.

My case was simple to handle. A simple warranty replacement/RMA, which somehow makes it even more irritating that the process is so impractically difficult.

Doug

[RoadRacer]

I’d been trying since May to get B&G tech support to resolve an H50 handset issue. Many hours listening to the nasty elevator music and queue status. Most frustrating was 5 hrs on a Friday with “you’re next in line” only to be disconnected at 5PM![emoji36]
Finally got through and did receive good support from the rep.

[DougMc]

After finally getting through, I did received RMA instructions for my WS310 masthead unit. This thing died after 3 months of a 3 year warranty.

Now, I see that (in capital letters, and underlined) the replacement will only be warranted for 180 days...

That does not seem at all fair...

But, my main complaint is still the ridiculous way they limit access to the warranty support system. It seems borderline deceptive to say the device has a warranty, then make it almost impossible to actually make use of it.

[DougM]

Originally Posted by DougMc

After finally getting through, I did received RMA instructions for my WS310 masthead unit. This thing died after 3 months of a 3 year warranty.

Now, I see that (in capital letters, and underlined) the replacement will only be warranted for 180 days...

That does not seem at all fair...

But, my main complaint is still the ridiculous way they limit access to the warranty support system. It seems borderline deceptive to say the device has a warranty, then make it almost impossible to actually make use of it.

it really seems to me that,given the extreme difficulty in getting warranty service, they are no longer a credible option for relatively expensive marine electronics.

[Gone Gypsy]

SailingHarmonie has it figured out! While trying to get tech support BEFORE buying B&G we fell into the multi-hour queue and disconnect trap. Then twice used dealer option and found ‘reasonable’ wait and great support. B&G dealer support is a different group but they do not care if a non dealer gets through. Good support!