I bought a new trolling motor.........

[Skulley]

I bought a new trolling motor.........a Minn Kota for $389.99.? A 65AT that they are closing out at Cabela's.? It is a 24V, 65 lb thrust All Terrain.? They are being replaced in 2006 by the new Edge.? That runs $519.00.? It is 24V, 70lb thrust.? I have 65AT motor on my boat now.? Thought it would be a good idea to have a spare.? It is a real good 24V economy motor.? Dependable.? Couldn't pass up the price.? The one I have on the boat now I will pull off and take in for a warranty adjustment/checkup before the 2 Year Factory Warranty expires in July. Who services Minn Kota Motors? I hear Wonderland Marine does.? I will put the new one on the boat and start the season with a new motor.? ??

I need a new fishfinder for the bow of my boat.? Any suggestions from the forum.? I like Hummingbirds but am always interested in other opinions.? What are some of you other guys and gals using??

BD? ? ?

[dhuff]

Yes wonderland Marine does service these motors.  However you better have a long time to wait for it.  I had mine go down last summer that same exact motor and I took it in well about 4 weeks later I got a call to come get it.  So having a spare is a lifetime.  And when I talke to the minn kota service department they told me that since it was under warranty wonderland would just bill them.  Well they needed a 90$ deposit from me or else they wouldn't work on it.  I contacted both when it got done about getting my $90 back and I NEVER DID!!!!!!!!!!!  Minn kota told me that they werent supposed to charge me.  So i will let you be the judge on that one.  Good motor though I love it  works really well for me.

[DOWD]

I have returned 4 trolling motors to Cabelas this year. If it breaks they will exchange it. Thye are great about the return thing. Just keep your receipt.

[Skulley]

A spare is always a good idea.  The one on the boat right now is in good shape and works good.  I originally bought it at BPS.  I just want it to get a once over before the warranty expires.  I was just looking for a place to take it.  I don't know about Wonderland now.  I will call them first and maybe look up any other place nearby to take it. 

BD   

[djkimmel]

Taking any fishing equipment in to a repair place in Michigan in the summer will take a lot longer than taking it in this time of year. You can always ask before you go how far out they are wherever you take it. I've had real fast service at several places and real slow from the same places.

It depends on the time of year, how well they know you and how you work things out with them. I've always asked questions and been willing to compromise when things seem reasonable and most of the time, they work out as well as can be realistically expected.

Wonderland has been in business a long time. I expect that means they have the satisfied customers to sustain that longevity. Case-by-case, there may be differences, but one thing I've found is that we anglers have a lot of time pressure on us in our short Michigan season and so do the marina's and repair places.

Communication and the willingness to compromise during the busy season are key to a successful relationship with a repair facility.

dhuff, I don't know the whole story in your case and I'm not trying to pick on you personally. In general I just find that we anglers don't follow through sometimes in a way that could best resolve a dispute that usually turns out to be some kind of miscommunication or misunderstanding. That may not be your case at all, but I've seen that happen so many times. I try to help when I can.

The other issue with posting a comment like yours is that whomever you talked to at Minn Kota may have not been accurate in their representation of the situation - that person doesn't have to deal with you directly like the marina does. Maybe they did know the situation correctly, maybe they didn't.

What I would prefer in cases like these that I find out about is that we try to work it out directly first with the marina. Maybe the situation could still be resolved if gone at a certain way. I'm sure you'd rather have you $90 back it that is an option than be dissatisfied with Wonderland. I'm also sure Wonderland would much rather have you as a satisfied customer than a dissatisfied one.

Again, not picking on you - this is a just a good opportunity for me to talk about this whole subject about resolving issues within this industry in a way that everyone comes out as best we can instead of having dissatisfaction that may possibly be avoidable. I will help anyone whenever I can - especially if your issue is with one of my sponsors, but even if it isn't (like Wonderland - I don't have any official relationship with them) and I think I can help. I will try.

Normally, I will keep my offers and comments like this private to any of you when I think I can help change a situation to the better, but we are all still working our way through improving the way we relate and take care of challenging situations - so please forgive me dhuff this one time using your example. I write abou this kind of thing a lot because I want to improve things for everyone. There's too much fishing to do in too short a season to not do everything we can to make the most of it. Thanks,
Dan

(And contact me if you want to talk about this further privately - I will try to help if I can anytime I can 517-882-8902 in the evenings if you ever want to call.)

[dhuff]

Hmmmm.  Sorry about that one I didn't mean to sound like I was slamming Wonderland or anythign. I guess it was the way I stated it.  I totally understand that anyplace is going to take a lot of time during that time of the season.  I know they are one of the only Minn Kota repair shops for a long distance.  So I was just trying to tell him that if he takes it there expect to wait about that long for it to be done.  I didn't mean to soudn as if I was slamming them for the four weeks, not my intention at all.  I was happy that they did get my motor fixed and fixed correctly.  The only thing I was unhappy with was the $90 I just wish both parties I talked with actually sounded as if they knew what was going on.  Minn kota told me as long as I had a proof of purchase that the motor was under warranty that it would cost me nothing and all bills would be directed twoards Minn Kota.  Then when I went to wonderland they seemed like they had no knowledge of that.  So I paid the $90 and when I got my motor both sides seemed to not know anything about who gets what.  I called back and forth a few times and got the same thing so I just got tired of it and gave up.  Again, I admit part of that is my fault for not trying to get everythign figured out before hand but I had to have my motor ASAP so I had to get it in there and trusted what each side told me.  I will also say that I am a very happy customer with Wonderlands parts department they have been the only ones in this whole area that have been able to have parts for me and in stock.  There prices were also better or should I say way better on a few parts than some other dealers.  So i will continue to use wonderland.  I was just trying to let UAWBD know to expect it to be there for some time and to make sure to know about his warranty.  And if he didn't have the time to wait that long for it he might want to find another place that may not be so busy.

I appologize I was kind of in a hurry when I posted so I didnt' take the time to fully explain in my previous post.

[djkimmel]

Thanks for that nice clarification. I will normally ask privately like I say when I'm curious about something. I really do mean I will help if I can. Some businesses may not want me butting in, but sometimes I can help.

And of course, with all the experiences we've all had between us, we can continue to help each other too.

This is tricky on these Internet things as we've discussed because we don't see or hear expressions. I know what I'm thinking (usually ), but what I'm thinking doesn't always come out in what I type no matter how hard I try. Boy, have I learned that more than once the hard way.

I've learned the hard way how much can be done either way by comments on the Internet and the after affects. During the bass season issue, I definitely made a few people not like me at all. I almost got kicked off one forum even by the owner. I really prefer to not go down those roads. Lose-lose. All I can do is try to do the best I can.

As far as our summer, I'll never forget poor Don and his trolling motor repair efforts at his Gratiot shop - wow, being close to Lake St. Clair, he was always getting 'emergency' repair jobs. He even did one for me once. Good thing he took one day off a week. Talk about a challenge!

[MBell]

I've never used wonderland for anything, so I have no experience with them.  With that being said, from my experience I would send it to somewhere that does a lot of trollingmotors.  For me the biggest delay in tm repair is the availability of parts, the places that do more volume tend to carry a bigger inventory of parts.  I've been using tacke service center down in indiana the last few years, they have been great for me.  I had a similar situation to dhuff, it ended up just being a miscommunication between the dealer and the manufacturer.  The trolling motors are getting better these days so these problems should become less frequent, my best advice would be to buy a spare especially with our short season it can be worth it.  Also, if you ever find yourself discussing warranty issues with the manufacturer never utter the words "lake erie".  Dan, hope I was careful enough just trying to help a fellow angler.   
-Matt 

[djkimmel]

Very nice - especially the advice about not mentioning 'lake erie' - to many of the boat manufacturers in particular, 'lake erie' is a 4-letter word. I think they think we are all crazy... but what are you going to do? The fish are out there. Someone has to go get them...

"Lake Erie? No. Never heard of it."

[McCarter]

I just dropped my Minn off at Wonderland on Saturday.  They dont have much going on up there right now, so If your going to do it, do it now.

I am not worried about taking it to Wonderland.  I realize they have has some problems in the past with service but they have made several changes over the past year and it sounds like they have a great system for gettin r done now. 

I know a bunch of guys at Wonderland personally.  And even if i tried, i dont think there is a bad thing i could say about anyone up there.  On top of that, its hard to find a group of guys who are passionate and understanding about fishing and fisherman.  Give em a shot, or at least give them a call.  They can order parts for yours at the same time as mine and then if something does go wrong and we dont get them back, at least we can fish together and take turns rowing at trolling motor like speeds

PoorBoy himself

[stackenem]

I took my boat in last march to Wonderland for some motor work and they got me fixed up in a very reasonable time frame. First time it wasn't right but I took it back and they got right on it and took care of the problem.

[Skulley]

My plan was to take my motor into Wonderland before the season starts.  Like within the next month.  I know they get busy come April.  I was going to put on the new motor and take the one on the boat currently for a little warranty tune-up.  I had heard Wonderland was pretty good.  I have gotten parts for my Minn Kota there in the past.  They were terrific.  Thanks for all the input gentlemen.  I will do that within the next couple of weeks.

BD     

[fishon1219]

I heard in a recent meeting at wonderland that they wrote around 5700 service orders last season. If you compare that to the number of days in a season that works out to about 15 orders a day. So, you can see they are real busy there. As poorboy has said they have made some changes to their service department and I am sure it was for the better. I was with poorboy when he dropped his off and they did ask for his purchase receipt for warranty repair, but it was decided that since he drove it onto a rock pile it was a non-warranty situation.

[Skulley]

I got that new trolling motor put on the boat today after work.  I am going to call Wonderland on Monday, but I think I will call Minn Kota first and find out what they suggest in handling the warranty work.  I will keep the forum up to date as I venture into this process.

BD