The continuing saga of the OMC 4 - Customer Goodwill primed

SolarFry@aol.com
Wed, 2 Dec 1998 14:57:49 EST


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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IMHO:

I think you might not like my advice...

After 2 years your motor needs a new impeller. Dealer labor in Florida is $
55.00 an hour plus tax. Replacing an impeller is a 1 1/2 to 2 hour job for a
dealer mechanic. You can probably do it yourself with a little help and a lot
of patience. The parts run about 50 bucks from the dealer. Replacing an
impeller (attached to bottom of driveshaft) on a 4hp is a simple job unless it
is frozen to shaft... I have replaced impeller on my 2 (deceased), 9.9 (sold)
and 3.3 (sold)hp but not on my 130HP( I paid dealer to do) . It took me and a
neighbor 3 1/2 hours (each motor) by the clock to do a good job on the 2, 3.3
and 9.9 impellers... If I were you, I would pay dealer for impeller and labor
to replace impeller just to garner a little negotiation power and dealer
goodwill...

I know you are pissed but... I would recommend you patiently wait for a reply
to your OMC letter without anger... and... with luck... an offer to pay for
labor to replace driveshaft by OMC is you next negotiation and hope... In any
case, OMC might still pay labor for replacing shaft. You should pay labor
and parts on the impeller. It is normal maintenance...

I believe your dealer has interceded on your behalf with OMC. Praise him for
his assistance. Lavish it on... Send them some candy (NO BOOZE!)... You
know... Make them like you... Hell! make them love you...(I've been known to
give the mechanic working on my motor a $ 20.00 TIP. I regularly bring them
candy every time I take them a motor... Dealer mechanics now come to my house
to work on my powerboat... Sometimes they diagnose and advice for free)

A lot of patience is in order...

Remind yourself that one and a half years have passed since warranty expired.
and legally OMC has no obligation to help irregardless of your feelings or
beliefs... Shit does happen. You are working on dealer and OMC customer
goodwill... Be nice.. be friendly.. be persuasive...

Good Luck
Solar Fry

In a message uffda@sonic.net (The Costas) write:

<< Subj: The continuing saga of the OMC 4

All

Just to update you about my broken four HP Johnson. For those that haven't
seen my earlier posts, I have a two and a half year old, four HP Johnson that
I bought new and have sworn by for all of that time... I am now swearing at
it. Back in October, while motoring (about half throttle) the engine started
racing. I shut it off thinking that after approximately 30 hours of use it
suddenly decided to be a Tohatsu and break a shear pin. As the wind was up
enough to sail, we raised the sails and headed off to the campground. After
tying up to shore, I pulled the prop anticipating a quick fix but found
instead a good pin. My next thoughts turned to the lower gears (I change the
oil myself and I know that there is an outboard-motor-dealer-God who frowns on
such actions) so I put everything back together and enjoyed myself as much as
I could while thinking of a $200 repair bill.

After the shop pulled the lower end they found something totally unexpected,
the drive shaft had ground itself out of the end of the crank! When I asked
how much this would cost to fix the dealer started showing me a new engine.
After getting my heart restarted I calmed down long enough to ask if this was
a normal situation. When the mechanic told me that he had never before seen
such a thing, I asked the dealer to call OMC and see if they would do anything
to help me with the repair costs. After a couple of weeks of haggling, OMC
told the dealer that they would give me a free crank and drive shaft, almost
$300 in parts. This sounds good until you realize that if I agreed, those 30
hours of use would end up costing me $380, or 12 and a half bucks an hour! I
then called OMC myself. After about an hour of pleading my case, I was told
that, as my motor was over a year and a half out of warranty this was the best
they could do for me. Remembering what SF posted, I calmly asked for an
address to send a letter to.

That was yesterday. This morning my repairman called, he told me that OMC
had just contacted him and that they had decided to pick up the cost of all of
the parts except the impeller. That lowered my cost another $40, but 10 bucks
an hour is still a little high for my blood so once again I called them and
made a counter offer. I told them that if they would also pick up half of
the labor costs I would be satisfied. That is where it now sits.

As even the OMC rep stated that a crank failing like this is extremely rare
(about 2 per year out of all of the motors that they have sold), and almost
unheard of in a motor with as little time on it as mine has, I felt that they
should repair it without cost to me, but I have come to the place that if I
can get away as cheaply as a couple Hundred dollars I will be doing OK.

The worse part of this is that my unwavering faith in OMC products is now a
bit shaken.

On the bright side... The shear pin isn't broken!

Iconoclast Larry >>