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phebus
01-19-2006, 03:41 PM
Well, I took my boat in today to find out what the noise from the outdrive was. Everyone that heard it said they thought it was the u-joints. So, I get a call a little later telling me they have some bad news for me, they said the u-joints are fine, but when they opened up the top of the drive, there was metal everywhere. No problem, I tell them, it's under warranty from Mercury.
They say great, because I'm probably looking at around $2,000.- Ouch, whew, thank goodness for the extended warranty.
Well, all is good right? Not. I get another call a little later telling me Mercury denied warranty due to customer abuse. WTF!!! They say I must have been out wake jumping, as that is what would cause the loading and unloading that would break the gears. Keep in mind, this is a deckboat with a stock 496HO motor.
It's war. The original purchaser paid $5,049.- for the extended warranty which was transfered to me (I paid to have it transfered). Mercury said my resolution would be to pack up the drive, and send it to them, and they would examine it, and do metallurgy tests on the gear set to determine if it was part failure or not.
I spent the better part of the day trying to be nice and kiss enough ass up the ladder to get them to agree to fix it......
We'll see......

dicudmore
01-19-2006, 03:46 PM
Rick where is the boat?
Is the warranty actually administered by Mercury or is it some aftermarket company?? Is it obvious looking at the parts that it was abuse?? In other words is something broken that ONLY happens as a result of operator error?
Dan <--- has some years dealing with warranty companies, and has seen some cases of obvious operator error/abuse that just CAN'T be covered

BADBLOWN572
01-19-2006, 03:49 PM
That sucks! Sorry to hear that. I was under the impression that the warranty covered everything with the exception of collisions and neglect. What I would do too is have the company doing the service pull the reccords on the motor. They can tell exactly how much time the motor has on it at the various RPM's. You might not want to do this if you are running wide open all the time, but if you use it normally, you can show that you do not abuse your equipment and that you drive it under normal conditions. If you can convince them that it occurred during normal operation, they should cover it. I would be willing to testify too that the 257 party effect is a heavy boat that is extremely difficult to get the prop out of the water. It only happened to me once and that was in some BIG water.
I also hope that you saved your service/maintenance receipts.
Good Luck.
Danny

OGShocker
01-19-2006, 03:54 PM
Well, I took my boat in today to find out what the noise from the outdrive was. Everyone that heard it said they thought it was the u-joints. So, I get a call a little later telling me they have some bad news for me, they said the u-joints are fine, but when they opened up the top of the drive, there was metal everywhere. No problem, I tell them, it's under warranty from Mercury.
They say great, because I'm probably looking at around $2,000.- Ouch, whew, thank goodness for the extended warranty.
Well, all is good right? Not. I get another call a little later telling me Mercury denied warranty due to customer abuse. WTF!!! They say I must have been out wake jumping, as that is what would cause the loading and unloading that would break the gears. Keep in mind, this is a deckboat with a stock 496HO motor.
It's war. The original purchaser paid $5,049.- for the extended warranty which was transfered to me (I paid to have it transfered). Mercury said my resolution would be to pack up the drive, and send it to them, and they would examine it, and do metallurgy tests on the gear set to determine if it was part failure or not.
I spent the better part of the day trying to be nice and kiss enough ass up the ladder to get them to agree to fix it......
We'll see......
I have an IMCO SC drive if'n y'all need one.. cheaper than new..:D j/k...sorta...
Sorry to hear about you problems, P.

phebus
01-19-2006, 03:56 PM
It is an extended warranty through Mercury, not some aftermarket carrier. Their is no signs of abuse, and the shop that is doing the repairs, said it most likely happened because of the loading and unloading that is common in cat hulls due to their design characteristics. The shop, which I choose not to name at this time (I don't think it would add to the thread, just open an oppourtunity for bashing), is doing everything they can to get approval, and I witnessed them making several calls to Mercury in my defense. It is a well known shop, and was chosen because they are Merc certified (Absolute is not at this time).
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/1753DSCN1415-med.JPG
Here is a picture of part of the breakage. All service records were presented, and is not an issue as all service was performed as required (actually much more than required)

OutCole'd
01-19-2006, 03:58 PM
All that wake jumping is probably what took it's toll on your back. :)

phebus
01-19-2006, 04:00 PM
When I fix it, I think I will go with a Bravo XR gear set. This is on a Bravo X drive.

dicudmore
01-19-2006, 04:51 PM
It is an extended warranty through Mercury, not some aftermarket carrier. Their is no signs of abuse, and the shop that is doing the repairs, said it most likely happened because of the loading and unloading that is common in cat hulls due to their design characteristics. The shop, which I choose not to name at this time (I don't think it would add to the thread, just open an oppourtunity for bashing), is doing everything they can to get approval, and I witnessed them making several calls to Mercury in my defense. It is a well known shop, and was chosen because they are Merc certified (Absolute is not at this time).
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/1753DSCN1415-med.JPG
Here is a picture of part of the breakage. All service records were presented, and is not an issue as all service was performed as required (actually much more than required)
Merc should have somebody do an inspection on it...
Very common on these types of repairs whether it be cars, boats, motorcycles...

riverroyal
01-19-2006, 05:15 PM
time we went out at Dana Point wave jumping in the boat,we were drunkkkkkkkkk,,,,ha,thats just sucks,and to think I almost spent 2000$ for another year warranty on my merc stuff,.Keep us updated

phebus
01-19-2006, 07:23 PM
Beer made this better for this evening. Tomorow is another day. :mad: :argue: :mad:

Mandelon
01-19-2006, 07:35 PM
You can sue them in small claims court no? They probably won't show up, will lose by default and you get a judgement......probably just file it and they'll do the work.

phebus
01-19-2006, 07:44 PM
I told them on the phone, that I got fu*ked in the drive through. They sell an extended warranty for big bucks, and then deny claims. They did tell me that they look at the extended warranties different then the original one year warranty. I told them that is not what they state in their literature, and they said they look at the amount of hours on a boat when a claim is submitted, and above average hours raises a red flag. I said WTF, isn't that what an extended warranty is for? If I didn't use the boat, I wouldn't need a frickin' warranty.
Thanks focker, you just got my blood pressure up again. Time for another beer.

RP1
01-19-2006, 07:59 PM
not that it matters, but how many hours on the drive? And yes Rick... you are being reemed.

phebus
01-19-2006, 08:07 PM
The boat is a 2002, and according to their scan tool, it has 207 hours.
I didn't get to use the boat hardly at all last year due to three back surgeries.
It's a good thing, or the guy on the phone would have probably had a seizure.