of fragile surfskis and good dealers

Since a few months, water kept coming out of the purging hole of my Nelo550 whenever I would turn it upside down.
At first, I thought it was the result of a few capsizes and remounts during an open water outing where I misjudged my stability in short, steep, wind chop.
In the following weeks, I practiced remounts extensively during my flat water outings, and water kept coming out whenever I upturned the boat.

The last few weeks, however, about a glass of water came out after every outing on flat water without any capsize of waves over the bow. Since the hull was, as far as a good see, undamaged, I started to suspect a leaking rudder of bailer.

Unable to find the leak myself, I took the boat to the dealer (Arjan Bloem in the Netherlands) for inspection: he found that what I had mistaken for a flaw in the gelcoat near the nose, under the waterline, was actually a soft spot leaking water into the hull. Since it was a production issue and the boat was only 6 months old, it was covered by the warranty.

Now, they could have kept the boat for repairs and have me pick it up a few weeks later. Instead, they offered me another 550 from their stock, which I could take home there-and-then. That saved me the hassle of driving back-and-forth another time (about 6 hours) and put me in a new boat instead of a repaired one.

In this age of Amazon online shopping and cheep knock-off products with no service or support, I would like to publicly thank Arjan Bloem for standing behind their products and providing a great service overall.

What about your dealer? Any other good stories to share?

Tom

That's great Tom, nothing worse than realizing your new boat is flawed, pretty sweet to get a replacement off the shelf.

I've gotta say all the reps I've interacted with over the years have been great people who obviously want us paddlers to be happy with the boats and go out of their way to make it happen. Way back in 2011 I took my then-brand-new v12 on a ride over the reef, leaving long gouges in the hull penetrating the layup. Zsolt took the boat back for a few days and patched it up, doing pro level repair for ridiculously low price. Now years later the repaired area is the best looking spot on the hull...

2012 I bought a new Epic V10 Sport Ultra. About 3 weeks later while waxing it I found a soft spot on the bottom apx 2' forward of the bucket. Close to where the ski would sit in a V rack. I sent an email with pics to Epic corporate. I stated quite honestly I could of done this, yet I didn't know how. Soon I got an email back asking what I would like for them to do. I ask if they would pay 1/2 of the 485.00 estimate I got to fix it. Surprisingly Epic said yes, even though possibly it was my fault. Within a week I got a check for the full amount. Now that is corporate customer service.

Recently I bought a new Nelo 520 WWR, among other new Nelo's I have recently purchased. After paddling it for 5 days and 5 times I noticed some light cracking around the purging hole. I sent pics to the dealer I bought it from globalpaddlesports.com and soon afterwards Nelo said no to any help regarding the issue. Again, possibly I did it, yet I have no idea how it could of happened. I have owned and transported many surf skis and kayaks with rarely a problem! Russell, the owner of global paddle sports has offered to repair it, or better yet replace it with a brand new one that he has in stock. Now that is dealer service above and beyond.
All in all manufacturer's and dealers have been extremely pleasant to deal with. What a great sport we all here love...