What makes a good MacGregor dealer?

[Paul S]

Most of the issues we had with Otho (read many many previous posts) were not the fault of his directly, but the factory or the original rigger. He did drop a huge ball with failing to notify us (and many other buyers) that the Honda 50 was not covered under US warranty (bought them from Canada), and many of the parts from the US and Canadian models are not interchangable. This could cause issues in the future. We already had an issue with a couple parts already.

Not going to beat a dead horse..but he did go above and beyond before the sale (discuss appopriate options, good price, etc), even let us take his demo boat out for a week in FL when we bought our boat. But he did have to play catch-up after the boat was delivered with all the 'installed options' uninstalled (see various old posts here).

His place in PA (unless he has someone new) is a BMW mechanic that rigs the boats in a field near his house off a dirt road. See these pics (see "our 2004M"-which is NOT our boat btw, we passed on it)
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mils_tt/my_photos

He did a lot of things right. Awesome person. The most significant flaw is no part inventory or service. You are essentially buying a boat mail-order only. Delivery was pretty lackluster..but did deliver it right into our driveway. Everyone is, I am sure, pretty familiar with the pics from our delivery http://home.comcast.net/~testdelete/mac ... index.html Pretty disappointing IMO.

Service and support are: yourself, your local general boat mechanic/boat yard, friend or family. Otho and other dealers, this forum, factory will help... But make sure you have a service network in place before buying.

Would I buy again from him? Probably. As long as the price was right, and I could pick my hull before. I can handle most of the boat assembly now that I have experience with it. But as a new sailboat owner, initial purchase experience could have been better.

Paul

[mssydnie]

Soory for being late in responding to this thread. Dealers...Dealers...and Dealers! The Michigan dealer wasn't even from Michigan. Really couldn't provide any service. Tried twice to buy from him...never worked out. Ended buying 2002 X from Mike Inmon in California. No real service available...but he was so good and sent me a boat from California to Michigan at a very good price...fully rigged and insuch good condtion I haven't had to do anything to it in four years except for modifications that I have done myself. NOT ONE SINGLE THING WRONG WITH THE BOAT!
I didn't know about Bill...but Mike was great! He used to post...I wish he would again! Hope he and his family are in good health.

[Bransher]

I recently decided to purchase a new boat. After doing research on what was available, I started leaning in the direction of the Mac 26M. I found the name of a dealer in Marina Del Ray and emailed a request for a sales brochure. After 3 weeks waiting with no reply, I telephoned and made a verbal request. Today (2 weeks later), I received the brochure in a dirty envelope with the wrong address and my name scribbled and misspelled on front, crossed out, and then scribbled again. The envelope had insufficient postage with 24 cents postage due stamped across the front.

Considering that I am about to make a $30,000.00 + purchase, does anybody think that this dealer has made a good "first" impression on me?

[Phillip]

Bransher: If I were you, I would be very cautious of this dealer. If this is how he starts a business realtionship with you, try to imagine how it is going to end.
Cheers
Phillip

[mtc]

With the portability of the Mac, as well as the increase in mail usage, couldn't any dealer be used?

Mine was on the other side of the country.

How does one become a dealer anyway?

[They Theirs]

MTC
From a previous post, from a new dealer from Omen…Just Buy Two Boats at the Wholesale price?

[capt. black]

I bought my 2006 26M from Illinois Central Sailboats. Please pay attention to the fact that he has no mailing address, just a post office box.
His telephone is a cell phone. He assured me he would give me a
better deal than the Wisconson dealership, Boats 4 sail or the Indiana dealership, Superior Marine Service. I got screwed. He put a 1991 Tohatsu 50hp TILLER outboard on my boat and said the motor was a 1998 remote start. charged me 2000.00 for this motor. I paid for frieght, and the trailer which I thought came with the boat. When it came time to pickup my boat from him he set up the meet at a small airport in Neoga, IL. and he took no time to show me anything, just give me my papers,
and smuggly made jokes that left me feeling like the village idiot. If I could do this over I would run to Wisconson or Indiana to buy from an
established dealership. I will more that likely have to drive to one these dealership to get the MacGregor run thru that I did not get from him.
I DO LOVE MY BOAT, and All Season Marina did a great job turning
the tiller motor to a remote start one. Under power the outboard is
loud this model year is not a thru prop, but the motor is fast.

[Alainp]

I do not know if it is the good place to make my request but I would like to know a good retailer. I live Montreal in Quebec in Canada. The retailer can be American or Canadian.

Alain

[theroche]

When I was searching for a dealer to buy a new(2004) I checked with the dealers in Texas no luck. Went through the dealer list and called several, The Sailboat Centre in Arkansas had one. I was taking a motorcycle trip to MO so thought I would stop by. He gave me directions and the boat combo so I could look inside. The boat was in his driveway and he was OTR crosscountry. I was suprised that the dealership was his driveway. The price was reasonable and he offered discounted accessories. When I got back to Texas I had second thoughts, so I called/emailed Bill @ Boats4sail about picking one up at the factory. He was very helpful and had excellent pricing. He would have been my dealer of choice had I not found a used 99 4hp kicker, mod galley with refrig, good trailer and a bunch of spare parts for $6500. The biggest concern with Mac(dealers)is after sale support.
PS I did buy a 150 Genoa and several accessories from Bill for the . He is my first choice for accessories however I used BWY to buy a mast rasing system and a motor connector.
Love the boat like the support
mike

[Teejay]

Last fall, the Admiral and I finally decided to take the Mac Plunge, and ordred the new from the Vancouver BC dealer. Having visted his tiny shop several times, he seemed to be very knowlegabe. We orderd the boat and was told April 2006 delivery would not be a problem. Well, April came and went, so did May and June. Finally picked up Ta Keel Ahh!! on Canada Day, July 1. Gerry ( the dealer) had her all ready to go, and sent his partner Nigel with us to English Bay for our sea trails. As we had no experience with this size of a sailboat before, we were a bit aprehensive, but after spending over 5 WONDERFUL hours on a perfect sailing day we sure were happy with our boat. Nigel was a great teacher.
So, about the only things I can say that I was not happy about was the 3 month delay in delivery, and that the dealer talked me out of ordering the roller furler for the genoa. Said that it takes too long to rig if we are trailering. Now I wish I had stuck to my guns and ordered it anyway.
Overall dealer satifaction rating, I give him a 8 (out of 10).