WS Customer Support

I wanted to pass on an experience I had with WS customer support.

About 6 mos ago, I finally tracked down some pin holes in my Tarpon 120.  The holes were in a VERY thin spot in the scupper holes behind the seat.  The dealer I bought it from wisely did not try to repair them.  He took some pictures and sent them to the distributer.  Meanwhile, I used some (ok, a lot) of duct tape around the scupper and continued to use the boat.  About 3 weeks later, the boat was deemed defective.

Meanwhile, the dealer and WS had a major falling out.  The dealer suggested I call myself, since he was getting nowhere. So, I ended up calling customer support myself.  I sent them some digital pics that I had taken.  They agreed to send a new boat directly to me.  Since they would not ship anything to that dealer.  I was able to give them a business address to ship to and 2 weeks later, I have my new boat.

I don't know how good/bad the relationship between WS and their dealers are but, I have found the company itself to be good.  There was some initial confusion at the start because they weren't really setup to deal directly with the customer.  But, it got handled quickly.

Greg

Greg,
Thanks for that info. I am a WS super fan and have been concerned lately because my old outfitter has also declined to do business with WS anymore (might be the same shop). I then tried another dealer and they had expressed that there were some issues but nothing that would effect the customer or the product. Anyway, its good to hear that they were on top of it, especially since Im close to aquiring another.
 Ive have had some rough experiences when trying to get a product from a company after seeing it online. I cant really blame them for not wanting to deal with the consumer transaction, but it was a special request and the specifics got bungled with the middleman. I drove 2 hours sans AC only to find that the product was not to the specifics, the shop claims the paperwork was lost after the order was placed, and I would be leaving empty handed and forced to return. Feelings were then hurt.

  I was concerned for a while that it wouldn't get taken care of.  Then I found out about the bad blood with the dealer. 
  Comparing the two boats, I can see a few design changes.  They got rid of the scuppers behind the seat.  That cured the high incidence of pinholes in the scuppers.  But, the scuppers also gave support to the seat.  They retrofitted a friend of mine's boat with a block of foam.  My new boat already has the foam block.
  Since becoming Confluence, I think they are trying to cut some costs while still putting out a good product.  I probably wouldn't order a new boat without checking it out.  I might buy the boat sight-unseen, but I would check to see what design evolution the particular boat is.

Greg

Thanks again Greg,
Ill definately inquire before I hand over the funds and after seeing where you live, its definately the same shop.