Hey, I emailed them the other day and got a reply back right away.

[email protected]

Guys name was Mike Galliger I do believe. Was really helpful and we traded a couple different emails. Maybe it will help if you call asking for a certain person. ???

I'm probably a tire kicker, but there is one thing for sure. If you never ask, you'll never get answer.

I don't know what you do for a living and I don't care. One thing I know: I'm always open to hear question from my customers. If I can help, I do it. If I can't help, I'll tell them I can't. But in the end, If I'm ready to pay them for something I can't build myself, what is the problem ?

When you have soooo much money to say no to your customer, then you better change job... Is this your case ?

and I'm not hiding behind an empty profile page...

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/member.php?u=69387

Jeff,

do this.....AFTER the Miami boat show and the poker run in a few weeks just give Phil a call and see if he can help you. If he can't help you get a brand new deck he may be able to get you a deck off a wrecked boat he knows of somewhere or something along those lines.

This time of year for Phil is like Christmas for merchants, very busy, not a whole lot of time to chat. But catch him on the right day and he'll help you out like no other in the industry.

In regards to customer service at cig...Yea, I've heard it's sucked for some time. I've never dealt with them though, I deal with Phil and have never, ever had one problem. Though I do think Cig should hire me as ther PR guy, I'll whip that sh!t into shape, look what I do for Phil and he doesn't even pay me!!

Cig should hire me as ther PR guy,

You got it! This would be a fun job! I'd give my name too!

As you said, I'll wait and get in touch with him later!

I usually agree with the whole customer service thing no matter what, 100% of the time, however in business you need to qualify clients and prioritize them. I use to carry a client load of 122 which in my industry is a lot. It sucks for the little guys that I had to cater to the larger paying customer more than them, but it's the facts of business. Also, a company like Cigarette needs to do what they do best...and that is make & sell boats. Not pieces of their boats. If you were call with a simple easy to answer question, they'd probably get a call or email right back, however a new client, no history and a question that nobody probably has a real good answer to....you get put to the bottom of the tallest pile. Throw in the boat show and MANY high $$$ potential customers and scheduled sales meetings...you're all but forgotten.

I'd tend to believe cigarette won't sell you just a deck and probably not too interested in the sale. Again, just the facts of business and only my $0.02.
This forum has given you Phil's info more than once and knowing him, I know this is great advise. TAKE IT! If you really want a deck, call him and post on here what he says. Your customer service you are looking for is there...just make the call. The forum will wait for your reply.

A good product sell the first time, great customer services keeps customer buying!!!!!!!! The customer experience should be a part of the product or the overall strategy of the business, not just fiber glass, carbon fiber interior, and an oval logo....

In my opinion (not just refering to Cigarette) I think customer service and public relations is the back bone of any company that deals with sales.

It is the person calling to "kick tires" or has a stupid question that most likely will be there in the future to buy your product.

It is the person that has already bought the product that is going to get asked by others, how's that boat, car, gun, t.v., motorcycle, etc. is. And it's that owner that is going to say, it's great, but the company SUCKS!!

Word of mouth is a HUUUUGE part of any sales oriented business. Look at how much you'll hear on OSO when 1 person has a bad experience with a boat manufacturer, dealer, company owner, etc. Then you'll get two pages of people chiming in agreeing and bashing. In one way or another, that hurts the bottom line. If just ONE person doesn't buy a boat, part, accessory or even a T-shirt, that's half a million, tens of thousands, hundreds, or a few dollars that is not going into that business.

You treat someone well over the stupidest thing, you'll be paid back 100 times over 90% of the time. Look how many people come on here and praise Phil or Fiorre or Fred (Trick) and it's usually over that fact they took a phone call, helped when they didn't need to, answered a question or treated someone the way that they themselves would want to be treated.

yes, I understand there is a pecking order to importance of the question/inquiry/contact but all those questions, no matter how big or small, should be handled in some sort of timely manner.

Cigarette has marilyn to do PR work and she does a good job at what she does, dealing with press and so on. What I would do if I were Skip is hire one or two people that their sole purpose is to do "hands on PR". Answer the e-mails and phone calls, get back to people in a timely manner, go to the poker runs and give out a few shirts and hats while shaking hands and kissing babies, be the company that people compare all the others too, not just for the quality boat built but fror the professionalism and kidness that is displayed.

Do this, and the return will be 100x's fold of the effort that is put out.

It could be a liability issue. In todays world, if they help you in any manner or work on your boat , they could be held liable for any future racing mishaps. For example, as an Audi dealer, I am told that I cannot touch or install any infant/ child car seats. We can tell/show you how to install them, but at no time can I or any of my employees physically touch/ install the seat.There is just too much liability. It,s a shame, but that is the world we live in today.

Just buy mine while you are down there, its in a rack next to his shop if you go, ask him