Experience with Tom, Lisa and Eddyline
As an individual (not a dealer) I have had quick responses and an excellent experience with Tom, Lisa and the Eddyline support staff.
I don’t know what dealer issues Bill H. is alluding to so I’ll let him speak for himself without trying to put words in his mouth.
Might be a case of “you can please some of the people all the time, you can please all the people some of the time, but you can’t please all the people all the time” -To the extent my old brain is still working, I think that was dredged up from a Bob Dylan song lyric that paraphrased a Lincoln quote.
Dave
I’ll drink to that
they cancelled our dealership because we dared complain about their bulkheads popping.
Ouch!
– Last Updated: Dec-31-09 9:38 AM EST –
Well Kat your comment got my attention.
I guess will we have to see how well the bulkheads hold up in the new Carbonlite Rockpool boats that Eddyline is putting out. Popping bulks heads would certainly be a show-stopped for me :-(
Sorry, I won’t let that one slip by…
It’s regretable I’m forced to address this in a public forum. So be it.
The fact is you lost your dealership because your husband preferred an adversarial relationship to one of mutual respect. Life is too short, and I prefer to choose my business partners based on that respect.
In my 25 years in the outdoor business, I’ve never seen better customer service from anybody than what Eddyline strives to provide their retailers and the people who choose to paddle their kayaks. As a small, family-owned company without the marketing resources of the larger, corporate kayak companies, they rely on strong relationships with their business partners, consistently producing a quality product and the resulting positive word of mouth to promote their product. Are they perfect? No, but tell me who is. I view customer service issues as rare opportunities to further enforce that word of mouth. I sense there are some reading this who can vouch for that from first hand experience.
I’ve proudly represented Eddyline for over 13 years now, and the majority of our retailers in the Northeast have been with us for over a decade. They would be the most qualified to judge our reputation.
Kat, you’ll recall I bent over backwards to try and resolve the issue you chose to bring to this public forum. Fact is I didn’t do anything more than what I do for any of my retailers on any day or week, including today as I travel 4 hours one way to deliver a kayak to a retailer (in your area, BTW) that was sold a mere 48 hours ago. Not bad service, eh? 48 hour delivery. I seem to recall a similiar situation with you.
There is a reason Eddyline was voted by SNEWS Retailers several years back as one of the top outdoor companies to do business with. They are sincere in their efforts and will continue to do what has worked well for them for over 30+ years.
If you wish to vent further, feel free to give me a call - same office and cell phone number as in the past. But it’s probably best not to continue this here, as no real good can possibly come from it.
Best wishes, and I hope you have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010 season.
I’d like to add
A challenge for anyone out there. Find me a kayak company that hasn’t had the odd production screw up and occassional issue! I know of none. If they exist it’s probably some tiny manufacturer.
Eddyline to me comes the closest of the well known brands. I don’t paddle an Eddyline or work for them in any way. But I’ve always respected their style.
Fanthom Bulkhead
I own Eddyline, P&H, Prijon, and QCC boats. Customer service is good to excellent with all of these manufacturers. I have not had too much success contacting Wilderness systems and Impex. I own Eddyline Phoenix and Fathom. My Fathom was a 1 year old demo at the time of purchase. I bought it on a trip back to the midwest. The nearest dealer is 3 hours from me. The nearest Eddyline dealer is fantastic. I love my Fathom except for the high back. It is one of the few boats that actually fit me and is extremely comfortable… The boat is nimble, fast, stable, and loves rough water. It is almost as fast as my Quest but more maneuverable. I found some interesting issues with my Fathom after 6 months. The main issue was split bow bulkhead from mid section to the bottom along the edge. I think I kicked it with my foot while rolling in a pool. I always thought it was kind of flimsy. I called the NE sales rep, and Eddyline. We had a few discussions on the repair of the bulkhead. The conversations were amiable and somewhat productive because life is too short. I suggested a few fixes for other Fathom issues to Tom which he listened graciously. Tom sent me glue and a bulkhead pattern for fixing the bulkhead my way. IMHO for my size I needed to glass in the bulkhead for structural integrity for the rough water and mild surf conditions. I bought a MAS repair kit and glassed the bulkhead after I glued it. I lost the boat to repair for the summer. IMHO I expressed that the bulkhead needed more strength with the repair to the NE sales rep. The sales rep stated the fix was gluing and he needed to look at the bulkhead. Although the sales rep was responsive I did not feel he wanted to handle the issue. Now I understand why;-)…Again life is too short so I fixed the bulkhead with glue and glass. Would I buy another Eddyline boat? You bet. Would I call Eddyline and the sales rep? You bet. I have friends that are sales reps in electronics and know what a grind the job can be. I have dealt with manufacturing problems, customer testing, and returns. We all have too make money to enjoy this activity. So I hope the sales rep, manufacturer, and dealer can work out the issues.
JimZ
ABS
ABS is a great plastic for vacuum and thermoforming. I buy all the time from http://www.iplasticsupply.com/materials/abs-cycolac-absylux-royalite-sheet-rod. I usually make figurines and even door handles from it. Great material.