Black Thunder Purchase Problems- FYI!
 

I was at the Miami Boat Show and it was suggested I post the problems (NIGHTMARE) we had purchasing our 2007 Black Thunder. We were promised a fun purchase experience!
I was made an offer at the Annapolis Boat Show of 335k (all options) 46 SC for a new Black Thunder, I went to the bank in Oct/Nov got a loan and even received a Manufacturers Statement of Origin (dated 12/21/2006) with a Sale Contract and gave BT 300K in Jan 2007 with a promise of delivery in March/April, BTW, my Serial Number on all my paperwork was #1 for 2007 (according to the Boat Surveyor). It was a nightmare purchase! We picked a color scheme and was not told that another boat's color scheme could not be used for the basis of the color on our boat eight weeks after the 2007 Miami Boat Show! We were not going to directly copy. Finally picked colors in March 2007. BTW, BT says the last step is colors so it should not have held up my delivery! BT shows up in JULY (boat disabled in BAY with blown fuses and mis-matched throttle operation). BT waned to leave teh boat at my house and have me take care of the boat repairs! When they arrived in July, BT wanted me to use their Dealer TAGS which DNR says I can't do that! They delivered the wrong trailer; we ordered an electric brake trailer. We traveled to Missouri in January to work on colors and we traveled to MIAMI BOAT SHOW in 2007 at our expense to facilitate the purchase. Because I got the financing in 2006, I had to buy insurance and because we were told of a March/April deliver I also bought slips space. After many, many days of work, it was discovered by the GREAT PEOPLE at Offshore Performance (HATS OFF ! These are great people that took many hours during fourth of July GREAT PEOPLE!) that the boat had two different ratio drives 1.36 and 1.50 ITS Drives. BT wanted to swap PROPS to offset! Six attempts to deliver and a FOUR PAGE Defects list (I had to get the boat surveyed there were so many problems with the boat) and several trips by BT wherever including blowing out two of my trailer tires and damaging the brand new trailer(lights, fenders, wheels)! BT says they blew out two tires in Pennsylvania! Which they refused to fix! Boat was finally delivered with most of the problems fixed in September 2007 (almost one year after the order)! Colors were not what we requested. Filed complaints with NMMA, BBB and BOATUS this has not been successful! Boat had HULL VOIDS, Electrical problems, loose shelving, hatch won't seal, door gaps, leaks, we pulled four bags of construction material from the bilge (wood, ratchets, etc.),blistering, colors on top did not match side! BT took the boat back to the factory and worked on it for three months to fix all the above. BT has refused to paint the boat the colors we requested!
I don't know many people that would pay for a boat in advance!
BT is refusing to compensate me for the late delivery and/or refund my money! They delivered the boat expecting the customer to take care of all the issues on OUR TIME. BT expected me to move the boiat around for repairs when I could not even drive the boat! BT said they were having fuel injector problems with their delivery truck. Have taken numerous days off doing demo rides, meetings, etc.... Just wanted to warn you all what to expect! I had to get an attorney to help me make BT fix most of the issues! Do you guys offer lawyer referrals as I tried to be nice to them, but not working? Immediately after delivery I had to have the boat winterized , so have not used the boat except one time and the wind and water was so rough we had to put the boat away for the winter.

wow

I agree wow... Although we have yet to buy a BT we have been on many and have spent time with the BT group. hmmm

WOW! good luck,

What a F**kin nightmare.....Glad to here Offshore helped out...they are a good group of people.....Good luck...I'd get a team off attorneys....Boating/Boat purchasing should be fun not a corporate negotation....

Yikes, how do you put on two different drive ratios? That is scary you would think a small company like BT would have more attention to detail.

Hopefully they will wake up and fix the issues-- if they don't then it's going to hurt their business in the long run!

From what I've heard, both drives were delivered and stamped 1.50 by Mercury Racing.

If that is the case than that part of the ordeal isn't really on BT. If it is stamped incorrectly, how would they know. As far as the rest of the laundry list goes that is really unfortunate.

The few I have been on I have been impressed with the fit and finish. I hope they get everything taken care of for the owner of the boat. If I dropped 300k and had to deal with that I wouldn't have held off this long before making a post about the transaction.

are we all talkin the same Black Thunder or what?? Ive seen some BT's in pretty big water without missin a beat. always heard they were wavecrushers..


sorry to hear about your issue(s).. coming from a boat sales background, all i can say is that every dealer has had at LEAST one of these type of nuggets of joy leave the factory. Everyone makes mistakes, its just how well they deal fixing them that determines their dedication to customers..

this seems a bit ridiculous though.. good luck with it all.. thats a lotta money to have wrapped up sittin in storage with a list of defects 4 pages long. :(