New Sonic Purchases
 

Has anyone else here bought a new Sonic? Was just wondering what your experience has been with Frisini Motor Sports, CSI Marine, Arrow Power Boats and Arrow Marine Supplies. Thought it would be good to share experiences from the old company to the new company to see how it has improved over the years.

My 31 is a 2007 and built under the old CSI group, but I can tell you that Bruce and Lollie have always been accessible and extremely helpful since the day I purchased the boat , answering e-mails, phone calls and questions promptly. With that kind of customer service I would not hesitate to order a new Sonic from the new ownership.

I bought my 2006 31ss new, and it has been maintained
by the factory. It has been a great experience. Bruce and
Lolly have always been available. I highly recommend
Sonic and their service.

I believe Lollie is no longer with the company. I spoke to her a few months ago about getting a windscreen and was told they had nothing left. I reached Bruce at a later date on another matter (paint codes and rubrail), asked the same question and he came up with one in stock. The receptionist told me at that time that Lollie was gone.

Bruce has been a big help!

I emailed with her about a month or so ago about some items. She was always a huge help ! Hope she isnt gone.

Lolli left about a month ago.... she was very nice. I bought mine in October from Mike Flanagan who also left. They do have a gentleman named Carmine in Toms River NJ who has been wonderful. He has been doing the rigging on my boat and he seems to think it will be done by the end of the month... hopefully it will. if not ... I waited this long.. He calls once a week with the progress.... Unfortunatley I have not been able to reach anyone else at the company.

Hopefully it will look as nice as the photos..

Sp123,
How long have they been building on your boat? I sold mine a couple of weeks ago and already missing it. The 31 is a great boat and you won't be disappointed when you do finally get it.

I began to discuss the Pruchase in August 2010, orderd in in October 2010 paid 2/3 of the price and paid the balance in May so 10 months

SP123 When you placed your order Oct 10 and paid 2/3 of your total fee in Oct 10, what was wrote down on your contract for delivery date?

April 1.... but at Easter I thought about canceling the order for a numger of reasons but did not. then I was told that they needed money to order the engines... then it became end of may then it was june 13, 20, 27.... then on July 1 i got an email from John at the factory that the engines were in and I would have the boat in 4-6 days... I later learned from Tim Sharkey who posted the photos that my engines were still in the crates in Toms River NJ and not in FL. then I began to deal with carmine who seems to think the boat will be ready in a couple of weeks... I was jsut wondering in this post if anyone had the same experinece as me.... or if anyone actually ordered a new sonic since I did.

sonic
 

sonic
 

why so long?

:evilb::evilb::evilb:I'LL SAY IT THIS FRISINI MOTOR SPORTS SUX. this is bullchit you order a boat in oct now its 10 months later they sux. OUTERLIMITS are building custom boats in 2 months. sonic owes you big and should give you 525s morons. it sux when you give some CO lots of money up front and they Fu. hey I hope you get it before the 27th so you could break it in going to BI. sorry you missed the pokerrun this weekend . art

I've had quite a lot of experience with the old Sonic. The one constant that I all ready see is they inabliltiy to get the boats done on time.
Numerous times I would show up at the factory in Hollywood Fl to pick up boats to be delivered up north and had to sit there and wait for either paint to dry (my boat) or for seats to be installed, or for whatever they forgot to do BEFORE calling and saying the boat was ready to go.

I can not speak for the Frisini Co as I have not had any dealings with them yet.

Hopefully Bruce is still with them, he is the cement that kept Sonic afloat for a long time

Thats too bad about Lollie. She was great with responses and getting you what you needed. Never have had the pleasure of speaking with Bruce. Hopefully he will still be around. Seems as if Sonic has cut the ties or lost the ties with alot of employees and or suppliers. Hopefully they can keep things togather and keep producing a great boat.

sonic
 

Just wanted to update, received a text from Tony and he said they are working hard to get my boat done.. .he even said he was going to throw in a trailer for me for free.... now that is a nice guy... also got a call from Carmine in Toms River.. he said the boat will be done by next weekend... so it is getting there.... I just want to break it in before going to Long Island for the Don Aronow race in September.

Better get a decent trailer. Not a Rocket trailer

Rocket isnt bad....once you go thru and replace most everything on the trailer.

Tell them you want a Manning.

What are the down falls of the Rockets? Ours is an '03 and everything seems pretty good yet, although we don't trailer much.

sonic
 

Frankly at this point I do not care what it is...just want to get the boat and be able to take it to a few places before the entire season is over....From my last call from Carmine I am expecting delivery on the 27th...... will keep you posted. I also appreciate all of the suggestions I have recieved. thanks

Just called the company to check on the status of the bu

How & why does it take 10 months to finish a boat, that was actually "new old stock" ? If the Hull, Liner & Deck were already done and sitting, all the manufacture time to create the boat is past history. Seems it shouldnt take 10 mths to rig and outfit the boat with this being the case.

But.......they did "can" and or seek new suppliers, and apparently let go key people or key people left for some reason. This probably accounts for some of the issues.

Unfortunately it seems Sonic has had way too may troubles over the years since the days of Jay Ross being in charge. I have loved all of mine ( Sonic Boats ), but does make you go HMMMMMMMM, on buying anything new with all these issues.

There still isnt even any new clothing or merchandise available, and they have a source ready to go ! But still nothing.

how do you think I feel....

I am surprised you paid that much up front... I have never ordered a new boat of any brand with more than $10k down. I ordered my $60k pontoon this spring with $5k down, and have ordered bigger stuff with even less out of pocket.

Get a lawyer involved and tell them to keep the boat and refund... This should be a sign of what service going forward will be like.

Wow, this just went from bad to worse. I don't envy being in your situation. I wouldn't want the boat anymore either.

sonic
 

problem is I have never had this happen to me and I have had a boat since I was 12..... thought this would be the same as always... I just flipped out today after what was said to me on the phone... stupid... I know..

Wow, i was kind of considering a sonic up until I just read this. You can tell them they just lost a potential customer for sure! Keep us updated and good luck!

sp123 - you should do some research on what boat you actually bought. The State Attorney's Office had (or has) a criminal investigation on the Frisini people for changing the HIN numbers on all the old Sonics to 2011 and then slapping Spectre stickers on them. It would be interesting to know what it is you did buy........

QUOTE=catlife;3482642]sp123 - you should do some research on what boat you actually bought. The State Attorney's Office had (or has) a criminal investigation on the Frisini people for changing the HIN numbers on all the old Sonics to 2011 and then slapping Spectre stickers on them. It would be interesting to know what it is you did buy........[/QUOTE]

:poopoo:

sonic
 

I just received a text from Tony regarding my issues...As I mentioned earlier, I called him to cancel the build around easter as I did not have the balance to pay and my old boat did not sell.... once it did I sent the balance to him in early May.. the engines I was told were back ordered ... had I gone with the orignal 377 it would have been done but for a little more I opted for the 8.2 engines. I have had a long text with him today and he is working hard to get me my boat. I feel better that I had this opportunity to clear the air with him and feel he is doing all he can to assist me. I know there are no investigations pending....I am optomistic that the boat will be done shortly....

sonic
 

I an gald I got my issues cleared... Tony has assured me he is working hard to get it to me.. and after today's messages I believe him.... hope to have it soom .. thanks again tony for the update I do appreciate your efforts.

Hang in there sp123-Tony is a guy of his word.He will get this straightened out.

You are right-kind of off tangent.Probably not the smartest thing to put on a public forum when you are asking them to hire you.Be patient as it sounds like you are next on the list to be hired.It makes good sense that they need to find a place to use your talents.

Agreed.
 

My bad. Let my frustrations get the best of me. Just hated being strung along as I blew off other people based on their comments.
Have since gone else where and is water under the bridge.
Both seemed like nice guys and I really liked what I saw. I'm sure they're just scrambling to get things up and going in their new location.

How about posting some pictures when you get your new boat.

well I know how you feel,we got side tracked after the run on the 13th. thought I was going to have to move the motor and tranny forward 1/2 a day to put a 90degree on the tranny but we got it done tuesday. wife s on va ca so I spent today with her. thursday I hope to finish every thing but, steering a nd drive. do that monday /tuesday after the storm and test next week. so we can hang out labor day weekend at tipsy seagul and plymouth meet the sutphen boys. man this sucks for the both of us. I did find in door storage heated with MIKE LUND at borden light he has a hugh building this year .I hope Gerrys skater can fit, by the roads to get there. op two is to put ua space building at his dealership out back or my house:eek:. call me or pm when you get the boat we will put together a group for break in. art

there totally nuts not to finish this boat in 3 months time.30,000 members on here read this stuff. I bet theres 20 people who looked at these boats or thought about moving up and said know way now. my builder took to long on my motor and they went else where. OL was building there boats in 4 to 8 weeks. they would have hulls and decks ready to go. people would order custom everything and they got it gone . this is real bad what sonic has done. if people thought about one before there better off talking to ACTIVE THUNDER a big roomy cabin and cockpit. this is bad.:angry-smiley-038: and I loved the old 80s 33 sonics looked at a few back in the 90s. best of luck, art

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I just hope they keep up the quality of the Sonic name.

I am sorry to hear of your experience ...

Being as my name has been thrown into this because I shot some photos of the boat as I typically do when I hear of a new build that came into town, I feel I should respond.

I do not know of the circumstances regarding your situation. Only you and John know the context of when he stated that your "engines are in". He may not have meant that they were in the boat, he may have just meant they were now in stock.

With everyone comparing Sonic to Outerlimits, remember, OL makes up majority of their own boat. They have their own engines if need be and I am sure ILMOR would have engines to them at a moments notice.

Mercury on the other hand, in this economy, I am sure it is taking much longer to get the parts to rig boats these days... Obviously the engines were on back order.
Also considering a new company establishing OEM with many new suppliers probably is something that doesn't happen over night as well.

From what I have seen in my own experience outside of the marine industry, but I am sure applies here as well, my mechanic at my day job can't get trucks fixed in a timely manner because no one is stocking parts on the shelves. It got so bad one week, he couldn't even get brake pads. He ended up driving several hours to NY to pick up a new set of pads.

I will be the 1st to agree, times are not what they used to be...

Building a boat is the easy part.
Now getting all of the pieces needed to complete the boat is a whole other issue.

As I said, OL makes most of their own custom rigging and parts.

Sonic as well as many other boat manufacturers out there have to rely on other manufacturers to provide them the rest of what is needed to complete the boat.

Your boat is now in Carmine's hands.
I know for a fact he is on the job there everyday cracking the whip...:evilb: I am sure he will get your boat done for you soon...

Best of luck...

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