Mercury Marine customer service

[oceanwarrior20]

How has been your experience with Mercury Marine?
I am repowering my 20 SeaCraft right now and to put it short their service and attitude SUCKS.
My dealer is giving me EXCELLENT service but Mercury Marine has screwed up big time and dont seem to care.
They delayed the initial order,cancelled it ,then back ordered it,them sent the wrong motor and the wrong controls.
They seem in no hurry to ship things out,replacement parts to correct their mistakes are sent Priority mail which takes 1 week ot Hawaii.
Talking to customer service gets you some woman who just parrots company policy.
I hope My new 200 HP Optimax DTS is PERFECT or I WILL NOT
HESITATE to remove it and get on Mercury Marines case.

oceanwarrior7447

[JohnB]

I think the key is to have the dealer behind you when dealing with Merc, or any of them actually.
My Merc guy was able to get me a new lower unit 2 months after the warantee, took about 10 days, but he made it happen.

[pair of jacks]

I recently had dealings with Merc- my 2000 200 hp opti blew a powerhead very soon after the warranty ended. They are notorious for having items backordered and long delays for deliveries. They agreed to honor the warranty and replace the powerhead, but I was given 3 different ship dates which were never met so after alot of yelling, to expedite things they sent me a dressed powerhead because the others were so far backordered. So, I basically have a new engine but I waited 2 full months. I was glad that they honored the warranty even though it was expired- I got about $10k in new engine parts at least.

[oceanwarrior20]

Just an update on what has been going on.
Got a new control,they sent the same one known not to work,dealer called tech service and got a new part number whic turned out to be number for a publication.
Called tech service again advised to change DTS module.
Module arrived 1 week later,system still wont commmunicate with motor.
Called tech services again,advised to change system view
module,ordered today,will have to wait another week to see results.
Seems our whole problem is that Mercury Marine forced a 2006 model on us and my dealer has not received a 2006 parts list and service manual.
Mercury Marine ships out publications by parcel post and to us in Hawaii that can be as long as 60 days from shipment to receival in Hawaii.
We have a tech service person in Hawaii but he NEVER returns calls and refuses to come over to see us in person.
I REALLY WISH that a representative from Mercury comes over here so I can tear him a new one and I will be sure to burn his ears with every word he deserves to hear from me!

oceanwarrior7447

[Abe's Rocket]

is it too late to go with anotherr brand?

[nestorpr]

That's the problem with Mercury, they do well in the continental US but their service overseas is awful. That's why in the Caribbean most places used Evinrude or Johnson when they were OMC, now Yamaha is the top gun there, great service and parts availability.

[oceanwarrior20]

Hi guys,
Just another update,finally got a new system view module in,hooked into the wiring harness and FINALLY got the whole system to boot up and initialized.
Proceeded to start up the motor,set up computer,finished wiring,topped off gas and oil and put the boat in the water.
Fired the big Optimax up,checked computer readout and started break-in runs.
The new Digital Throttle and shift is really neat,no effort to shift and a smooooth throttle response,easy to set and hold RPM were you want it.
Engine is very quiet,very little exhaust fumes,no smoke at all and NO stumbling,sputtering or erractic idle regardless of what I tried.
Went full reverse,trying to drown motor,shifting into neutral from full throttle reverse the engine idled smoothly.
Going to play with propellers next,can only get 5,200 rpm WOT,but SmartCraft readout and GPS both read an honest 51 MPH!(Scary on a 20 ft boat)
Engine computer read out 35.9 miles traveled with 9.9 gallons fuel used,topped off tank to full,took 10.7 gallons
pretty good compared to my old 175 Black Max.
Looks good so far will keep posting results.

oceanwarrior7447

[oceanwarrior20]

Hi Guys,
Another update,took the boat out on a fishing trip numbers read out 61 miles traveled,total fuel burn 15.7 gallons burned.
Topped off fuel,took 15.1 gallons to fill,not bad!
This trip included high speed runs,trolling,trolling a live bait at 700 rpm and a high speed run home.
The Optimax runs smoooooth,hardly any fumes and hardly uses oil.
Really like the Digital Throttle and Shift system,I set my desired RPM and it holds the setting without any problems.
Caught 3 good sized Mahimahi,one was 45 pounds on a triple strike which woke me up real quick.
Very Happy with this new Optimax motor,it was worth the wait and aggravation,kinda sucked to miss the Tuna season though.
Looking at the big picture I count my blessings and hope all of you who have been impacted by Katrina and Rita are doing OK and are safe and sound.
We had Hurricane Jova miss us by 350 miles and now have Hurricane Kenneth getting started with another forming up behind it.
Bad year for storms.

Oceanwarrior7447

[Ikan Besar]

15 gallons for 61 miles of boating is pretty good.

Enjoy the fishing and post some shots of the fish if you can [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Briguy]

Hurricane WHO and WHAT????? The news here in the states doesn't report when you have a named storm. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]