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BEWARE!! PERFORMANCE TRAILER, LAKE GEORGE NY (Long Rant)

Old 04-24-2002, 05:04 PM
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Angry BEWARE!! PERFORMANCE TRAILER, LAKE GEORGE NY (Long Rant)

Hola Compadres...

I need to post this to warn others of the bad business practices I experienced over at PERFORMANCE TRAILER in
Lake George, NY. Last May I bought a trailer from them for my '97 22 Classic. I drove from Chelmsford, MA to
Lake George, NY to pick up this trailer. Its a standard dual axle steel frame trailer, painted black with yellow
pinstripes to match the boat. But I digress. When I picked it up and plugged it into my 97 Dodge Ram 2500 with the
factory towing package the brand new trailer had a ground fault. When you stepped on the brakes, everything else
lit up dimly, except the brake lights they went out. Well, the owner of Performance Trailer, a very gruff individual
named Bill, swore up and down that the fault was with my truck, not his trailer. Well, I wasn't satisfied with that
response as I had just towed my '89 18 Classic to meet her new owners the week previously. He promptly backed
up one of his trucks to the trailer and plugged it in. Same result. Now I am getting more than a little ticked off. Billl
& his assistant then proceeded to rewire the trailer right in front of me. Guess what? Same result. Bill is back to
swearing up and down that this problem is with my truck, not his trailer... although he can't explain why his truck
didn't work either. Well, time was running short if I wanted to go & get the new 22 Classic before the marina closed,
so with no lights, I hooked up the trailer and left, with Bill's assurance that once the problem was discovered, that
IF the problem was with his trailer he would make it right, although he was pretty darn confident (smug would be
more like it) about the problem being with my truck. Well, about a month later, after not being able to find this
problem myself, the truck & trailer went to my mechanic. My mechanic proceeds to look at everything and it all
looks right, right color wires to the right connections. I told him what Bill said, about it being in the trucks wiring. He
agreed it was a possibility and proceeded to check the wiring harness of the truck. 4 hourslater, still no luck finding
the problem. He replaces all of the connectors on the truck, thinking maybe a connector is shorting out somehow.
Still the problem persists. He hooked up his snowmobile tralier to my truck, and all the lights worked fine. That
brought him back to looking at the trailer again. He starts pulling the lights off one by one and looking them over
really closely. He found the problem when he got to the tailights. The wires were the right colors molded into the
wrong spots. My mechanic, cut the wires and swapped them around and PRESTO... the lights worked properly!!
Finally!! So then the mechanic hands me the bill $250, $200 in labor, $50 for the connectors etc, that he replaced. I
called Performance Trailer the next day and spoke with Bill. Of course, being the arrogant person he is, he did not
believe me. I told him to go to the stockroom and get a BRAND NEW set of lights. He begrudginly agreed to do so,
commenting that in his 14yrs of making trailers, this has NEVER happened. Well, he pulled the lights and they were
molded wrong. He claimed he had produced about 80 trailers since I had picked up my trailer. He also told me had
to go make some phone calls so all of his dealers would be aware of this issue. I asked him about my mechanics
bill, and he told me he would get in touch with WesBar ( the MFG of the lights) and get back to me. I have called
PERFORMANCE TRAILER every few months or so, trying to follow up on this issue. I did not want the $50 in parts
covered, just the $200 in diagnostic labor costs. My close friends here know how busy & hectic things have been
with my dad's accident etc. Well, today I call PERFORMANCE TRAILER again. The receptionist answers the phone,
and I asked for Bill. When I explained the situtation to her to refresh her memory, and asked for Bill, she told me
the following message.... The lights are NOT covered by our warranty. If I have a problem with the lights I should
take it up with the manufacturer. I was furious to say the least. Nor would Bill come to the phone. What type of
customer service is this. You need to remember that this trailer is still under the 1yr warranty and it was defective
when I picked it up. I also saved them a ton of aggravation & warranty claims when I discovered what the cause of
the problem was. But I guess thats not worth my $200 labor claim to PERFORMANCE TRAILER. I called WesBar
today, and have already heard back from one person. I am expecting a phone call from thier QA engineer
sometime today or tomorrow. They are at least making an attempt to resolve the issue. Too bad about
PERFORMANCE TRAILER. I have recommended them in the past to several people who ended up buying one for
thier boat. I will no longer recommend them, and quite frankly, I will be negative about them to anyone who cares
to listen or who is searching for a trailer. Although the trailer itself is well built, their customer service sucks!! So to
Bill, I hope you read this here or over on Donzi.net and every other offshore boating board I can think of. Feel free to respond! Though I seriously doubt you will. If this cost him just one lost sale, then I will be happy.

Woodsy

PS: Those of you who know me, know its not about the $200. I have spent that picking up a bar tab.... its the
principal of the issue, the promise to make good on something, then the REFUSAL to do so...

PSS: Sorry for the LOOOOOONG RANT!! I'll make it up to you all at AOTH!!
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Old 04-24-2002, 05:13 PM
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I think its a great informative post, its part of what I think OSO is all about. I doubt that you will ever see any money, but unfortunate for them it will cost them more than the 200.00 in lost sales. Sometimes people just don't think, everything is short term, the customer is right

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Old 04-24-2002, 05:20 PM
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Consider Performance Trailer crossed off my "do business with" list... and I will relate your experience to anyone I know that's shopping for a trailer...

Thanks for the heads-up
 
Old 04-24-2002, 06:14 PM
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I will pass it on to anyone asking about trailers,,,, I have always been an Eagle guy anyway....so far !!!!
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Old 04-24-2002, 06:46 PM
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This seems to be a popular topic these days! What the hell is it with these companies???

Thanks for the heads up and informative post. Heck I would think you would have your issue resolved quickly by the supplier for finding the problem with their product and they would reimburse the manufacturer for the cost to repair at least. Of course with the attitude he displayed towards your complaint, I'm not sure I would want to have any future dealings with him.
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Old 04-24-2002, 10:39 PM
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I drove to Performance Trailers a few years ago, and purchased a trailer from Bill, he was very helpful, and when i got back home, i noticed that he had forgot to install the chrome centers ,on the aluminum wheels, so i called him and he said No Problem, and 2 days later, i had them at my door!
Sounds like Maybe times are a little Tough in the Boat Trailer Business, if he's treating you this way, Because it is a Small World, and people talk!
I hope you get it worked out with Bill, because he has always treated me fair!
Between me and my father, we have purchased 3 Trailers from him!

I just hate these "Businesses that don't care stories"

Good Luck,
RON...
 
Old 04-24-2002, 11:09 PM
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Boy ,there are a lot of these type of stories going around now ! Myself included . THanks for posting it .We all need to know .

And we all need to be sure of the facts before we post . I got jumped on a little myself when people didn't beleive me over the big company . But know things are changing ,people are seeing the big company working out what IS wrong . Good luck to you !
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Old 04-25-2002, 12:10 AM
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hey dave . . glad to see you made it over to the OSO board, couldn you get woodsy for a login name here? . . .hope your father is doing well. . . . hows the new house and last but not least ya get those tabs mounted yet. . . . sorry to here a bout the trailer deal, sounds like a huge hassle. i read throurh that whole post before i figuered out who you were than i saw the woodsy at the bottom.

Dave Sikorski
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Old 04-25-2002, 09:56 AM
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UPDATE...

Just got off the phone with the QA Engineer a guy by the name of Bob Evaston, from WesBar (mfg of the lights). After talking a bit with him, I am pretty confident that WESBAR will find away to rectify the situation. I have to hand to them, they called me within an hour of me leaving a message yesterday, and Bob called me first thing this am from Indiana to find out what exatcly the issue is/was. Maybe I can score a set of those neat LED type trailer lights..... Wesbar knows what customer service is about.

Woodsy

PS: Hey Dave... actually, I sold em... gonna score a set of Arneson Rockers to go with my new Blackhawk drive...

Hows life with you? Ping and let me know when you are coming out this way!!! My dad is doing GREAT!! Thanks for asking!!
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Old 04-25-2002, 10:41 AM
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Default Had the same problem... not with BIll though...

same thing, lights were wired from the manufacturer WRONG... I went crazy trying to figure it out,, didn't take me 4 hours though, re-wired the whole trailer and same problem,, looked over the truck no problmes, finally looked over the lights and found it..
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