I have joined the Active Thunder Team
 

Pat and Stan asked me if I would be interested in joining the AT team to head up the sales department and as of this afternoon I have accepted the position. I know I have some pretty big shoes to fill following Steve Wilson and John Boscarino.

I am a believer in the product that AT builds and I look forward to helping Active Thunder succeed. We are looking to expanding the Active Thunder line in adding a 28 AVH bottom and a 40 something boat.

I am looking for some feedback, in a constructive manner,. from current and future customers(so everyone) on not only what we can do to improve our product but also our service. Please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].

I will be doing my very best to provide the highest level of service to our past, present and future customers.

Congratulations, I have only been on one Active thunder, a 32, and it is a very nice boat, maybe one day I will be lucky enough to own one, maybe now I know who to call!
Mark

best of luck
 

would love to see more around here, let me know if i can help, bill

Oh no, another one we are going to have to corrupt. Send him down, we will show him the hot spots.

Congrats!!

Congrats Dan, Good luck with the new position.

What? Let me repeat, what? :eek:

Now, I'm totally confused. Regardless, that's AWESOME! Congratulations. I'm sure you'll bring a lot to the table as you can bring a customer's perspective and hopefully that will drive your contributions. :puppy:

Thanks everyone...I really appreciate it...

Shane,

I will be handling it mostly from Northeast, with visits to the factory every three weeks or more if needed. With cell phones, e-mails, laptops, fax machines it is no longer necessary IMHO to be there everyday.

I have two salesmen in my business and I see them once every two weeks for a sales meeting, that's it.

Dan, congrats!! I suppose most of us dream of getting into the boat business some day. I hope it works out well for you!
At least your name isn't Steve! Maybe that's a good sign! :D :D ;)

I don't know what all the fuss is about. Seems like a pretty easy job to me. Selling ATs? How hard could that be? Trips to Florida every couple of weeks, demo rides, talk'in boats, spending someone elses money on building a custome boat. Dan, you might be over qualified for this position. I currently have some spare time and would consider sparing you the tedious routine of this job. Let me know.

:D

Congrats Dan, Ill call you later

congratrats dan....what boats are currently on the board to be built?...could you please post the build dates and the progress of the builds via web...maybe you can put to rest all those rummors of AT being late on everything?...just do that one thing and i think that will help the company the most. have fun

Congrats Dan! Our boat (Fast Forward) is currently being built and I would be more than happy to give you feedback on how AT can improve!

Congratulations Dan

I look forward to working with you.

The DDC hulls will sell them selves,
Once you’ve ridden in one you won’t go back to anything else, if you haven’t been in one you won’t understand.
Good luck

Tony

I checked out the site dan...i see Fast Forward is "the boat" currently being built? what is the completed build date on that one? it's stock. just look on the board and tell us the dates?please keep us OSO'ers informed.

if they sold themselves??...what do they need Dan for??

Good to hear Dan! Best wishes towards you and the the folks at Active Thunder!
Jim

Thanks for the best wishes.

Joe,

That is the one issue that I plan on geting into first. I will get with Pat and see what boats are sold and see where they are on the production schedule. I will be in constant communication with our customers to discuss where we are in the build process with their boat. This will eliminate any surprises.

Please remember that Rome was not built in a day. I know that there are some areas that I accel and that is where I will be putting my efforts: -sales and customer service. Pat builds a great boat, and that is what he does best. I will be getting involved in the customer service and sales end of it.

great Dan...So when will you let us know what boats are in the works and their dates to be completed.

Rome was built by slaves...sure you want to go there???LOL

looks like you have fast forward and tupper thunder on the site. like i said there is a lot of rumors out there that AT says one thing and delivers another. this will be great, for AT and yourself, to dispel these myths. so for all the potential AT customers here on OSO. let us know what the build dates are and the projected performance numbers...sounds like a 5 minute phone call?

Joe,

As I said, I will contact our customers and discuss it with them.

A lot of rumors? :rolleyes: Rumors need more than one player.

The only negative comments (repetitively too) I read about Active Thunder come from you, Joe. You seem to be seeking out any thread with AT in it just to take a jab. I can't be the only one noticing this; others have commented on it before! It's getting old. The internet is not the correct way to address your isuues.

Every issue I have had with AT has been addressed to my satisfaction, and Pat has gone beyond the call of duty on some.
There are two sides to every coin..............

I met Stan at the Miami show, and met Dan during the build process of his boat. Both are great additions to Active Thunder Boats! I wish them all the best of luck!
Jim

yep...i make it up :rolleyes:

lets just see....when are the build dates?...will they be met?...lets let OSO'ers be the judge...at the VERY lest the next few customers may get what they want when they want...

i keep what others have told me to myself...i have kept every email....but i also see none of those people in here saying it's not so.

Hey Joe,

I would love to see your reaction if someone started in on Donzi, how over priced they are, how the quality was lacking relative to other boats etc. I bet you would be on them like stink on sh!t. Pat helped me out with a "situation" I had and provided me VALUABLE information. He did not need to. He called and e-mailed me several times just to help me out. As a representative of Donzi, I don't think your bashing of another builder/competitor is what they had in mind when they agreed to sponsor you.

Funny thing, in your advertisements to sell your AT, which was beautiful by the way, you spoke very highly of AT. A little cooth may help you a long way here.

you have never heard me rip on the performance of an AT!

i'm talking about customer service...do what you say and when. it's just that simple.

Our current sponsors KNOW; i'll do what i say and when...i expect the same. ALL of our sponsor share the same fellings...I work VERY HARD EVERYDAY to exceed their expectations! why, because they have done the same for us. if you would like, i will list all of them, the owners name and contact number if you would like to verify this!

Joe,

No where in your reply do you address any of what I said in my earlier post. I am CERTAIN that there are people here on OSO and elsewhere that can make the same claim against Donzi and their customer service as you do about AT. No one questioned that you do what you say you are going to do. Therefore listing them to appease me is not necessary. As I said earlier, if you have reputable and respected sponsors, as I am sure you do, think about how they might view you bashing another company. It certainly does not do them any good. Take the high road Joe. Telling it like it is great, and I value those that do. I see no vlaue in your continuing to harp on this matter especially when it has NOTHING to do with you. You are not in the production schedule any longer, let those that are waiting for their boats handle their specific situation as they see fit. If they choose to bring it on here that is one thing, but for you to bash AT in the name of others getting their boats on time is only counter productive to you, your sponsors, AT, Donzi, the customer waiting for his or her boat and offshore in general. You had your experience with AT, and I am sorry if it did not live up to your expectations. You have made your point abundantly clear. Again, you are no longer involved with them so your continued bantering is not adding any value. If someone were asking you for asistance in handling a particular situation that is one thing to describe what your experience was. But to bash Dan and start harping on him for production information of boats that are NOT EVEN YOURS is rediculous! Do what you say and answer my above questions about your sponsors condoning your basing a competitor.

Audacity
 

Do us all a favor......Sell your boat.......Go race your Donzi....and give it a rest.:o


Wouldn't you know....this is my 666 post. You think that has any special meaning.........Audacity:eek: :D

audacity...

Personally after seeing what you have said on here about bashing another companies customer service so many times in such a short period of time, I hope that you don't sell your boat. That would be a bit of justice for you.

Every company has problems in the past, Pat may be to blame for it, but Stan and Dan are steping up to the plate.. Give it a rest and let them have a chance! Personally I applaud Pat for bringing Stan and Dan in to give the customer service a one upmanship here.

thunderdan; I must say that I wish you the best of luck and hope that it all works out for the better.

I can't wait till it gets warmer, then we all can go boating and then everyone will be happy, :D

When you are talking about a relatively high volume performance builder,maybe 500-800 boats a year they will have maybe a few hundred employees and when they say finish on Wed it probrably will,or maybe Thurs. A small builder doing 25-30 boats a year would have just a few key guys doing lots of different things,wearing lots of different hats,striving for excellent quality. This leads to lots of unforseen delays that obviously management does't want but has trouble controlling. The smaller the operation the more the likelyhood of unforseen delays.Don't know much about AT but maybe they are trying to do the best they can within the parameters they work in. If the main directive is get the boat on time there are lots of builders that can do that, but maybe some boats are worth waiting a little longer for. Does this make sense?

Very well said Magicfloat. I agree. AT is a true custome builder in that Pat allows customers to change, modify or add things at all times in the production schedule.

However, when this happens, (as I did when my boat was being biult) it throws off the entire production schedule. Ask Jassman and h20. :D In the future we will be communicating with all of the customers as to what this will do to our schedule. Can we do it, absolutely, but it will result in a change order...not just in $ but in time. Everything will be layed out to the customer. Why you ask, because that is a custome builder and we recoginize that our customer will be willing to wait the extra time it takes to have the boat customize to how he or she wants it.

The only problem with this is that it effect the current production schedule and bumps other customers, and that is not fair. The solution....we we are working on it.

My goal is to keep our customers informed, all of them. We are going to try and limit the number of changes that happen after we are into the rigging of the boat..

Best of luck Dan..:)

PREDICTION, DAN TURNS AT AROUND TO A FIREBREATHING MONEY MAKING MACHINE, AS WELL AS MAKING CUSTOMERS HAPPY. SALES MAN YEAH RIGHT MORE LIKE CEO!

your right...i'm harping...

i'm not bashing Dan WHAT-so-EVER. he's a great guy that really wants to help the company move in the right direction.

pat has emailed me a few times today...left a few messages as well. i spoke with him today at 3pm for about 40 mins or so.

there are a few in hear asking what the hell is joe so hell bent on?...then there are the others that fill my PM box and email with their experiences...

pat told me the build date will be the 15th of april...please correct me if i am incorrect...this will work out real nice...i hear the boat is on the west side of Michigan? again correct me if this is not true....this will work out great, i'll need a ride for Smoke On the Water...i will be covering that poker run for Extreme Boats Mag. so i will try to hook up with the future owner of Fast Forward here in the next few days. like jass said,,,,come on summer!!!... so everyone can get along!

pat i had the magazine 2 day air another case of magazine for me...when i get them i will send you a copy as you requested.

ps...shane...many of my sponsors lurk in here all the time....you really can't hide here in OSO!LOL

thanks for the compliment h2o :D

Dan,
First, please allow me to offer my Congratulations! I wish you the best in your new endeavor.
Second, If you can achieve the goal I quoted above, that in itself will be a giant help for the customers anxiously awaiting their new boats.
Best of luck to you, Stan, Pat, and everyone at Active Thunder Boats.

Well, all I can say is this has been interesting!

Joey Skrocki aka Audacity did get in touch with me today and asked if he could ride on Fast Forward during the Smoke on the Water Poker Run. I wasn't sure if I was going to participate or not!
But, I guess I am now and, HELL YES Joey can ride with me.

I will be keeping Fast Forward in in/out service at the Wharf Marina in Grand Haven MI. Actually, The Wharf Marina is also a sponsor for Smoke on the Water and located about 200 yards from the Municipal marina where all the poker run boats stay.:D :D :D

I spoke with Brain today...Looks like we are a go for the poker run...this is one poker run i didn't want to miss out on covering due to a race!!last year it was on a race day...bummer!...man, this weekend i'm miss'n out on the sarasota poker run,,,,was really looking forward to run'n the new 100+++ donzi missle!...from the sounds of it, SMOKE ON THE WATER will have some SERIOUS HARWARE there!!!!...i ran the first one they put on in a 388 sling....i have to tell ya this poker run kicks ass!

we have many details to work out prior to the run!....but we will have my race crew there for support....as well as my media crew! hummmm i smell fun!....i think a few other boys from EXTREME BOATS are coming for this one!!!