Sheltered Cove Marina — Attraction in Tuckerton

We purchased a new Regal 23 OBX Last fall from Jack. We also utilized them to sell our old boat. Our experience with sales was mostly positive. But once we moved over to service, it has been an absolute nightmare ever since. Perhaps the worst customer service we have ever received, aside from the shining star Chris (a lovely woman who seemingly has to field and smooth over angry customer complaints all day).

They brokered our boat (appx 3k commission on that) yet charged us $110 to put it in the water every single time a potential buyer wanted to test it. $200 to wash it again when they sold it. They held our 27k check for 6 weeks and blamed it on the DMV and inability to obtain title, despite selling it, taking the new buyers money and giving them possession of the boat. Not until we had an absolute fit, did they cut us a check. They failed to put on our registration stickers despite promising to do so. They to even failed give us a tank of gas that they promised. We didn’t notice until we were on the water, driving it home, and it was about 1/8 of a tank which isn’t much. It’s about an hour ride home. Dangerous, if you ask me.

Then we had a service issue about three weeks after having it where the engine wouldn’t trim down. After calling Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and finally getting a return call Wednesday, they promised someone would be out Wednesday. They no showed Wednesday and Thursday. Then we were told they simply would not send someone out to service it. After repeated attempts, they finally sent someone on Sunday and it was a 5 minute fix.

For our 20 hour service and some minor warranty items, we were given a quote for the work and asked them to fill up the gas tank (charge us of course, we knew they don’t even give you a tank when you buy an 85k boat). About a week later, they called to tell us it would be an additional $300 because they used the forklift. (We own a commercial in construction company, that’s our full day rate for a forklift!). And the kicker, “sorry we didn’t have time to fill your tank up for you.” It’s been there a week! All we’re asking is for you to fill the tank for us!

Of course, singularly, none of the problems with the boat are major. But when you spend this kind of money, it’s reasonable to expect basic customer service; return phone calls at the absolute minimum. We expect someone to take ownership and address the issues; not just play pass the phone around and hope someone else deals with it. A major reason we went with Sheltered Cove was because of their promise of fast service at our home as opposed to bringing it in. And to have them no show twice is just infuriating. And we certainly didn’t expect to be charged for every little “change order” they concoct for services.

To be honest, I’m shocked at all the good reviews. It’s very suggestive of deleting the bad reviews. Every time we’re there, we see and hear similar things going on as we’ve experienced. It’s clear that the place is poorly run and and has a complete and utter lack of communication within departments. It’s really too bad; it’s a beautiful facility and their techs are knowledgeable.

My only advice: talk to Chris. She’s the only good thing going on there.

Update: The response and call within the hour begging us to take this review down speaks volumes. You're correct; you did ask us for an authorization AFTER no-showing. If we assume you forgot that you just sold us a boat without a trailer, did you also forget that before dropping it off on Monday, we called, emailed and texted asking for assistance at the dock b/c Vic had a broken foot and was on crutches? (No one came out.) Hence the fill request; it's not easy to maneuver a boat and dock on crutches.

We reminded you of the broken foot when you called Friday evening (re the review) and you still didn't fill the tank by Sat afternoon. (Again, fill and charge us; not asking for freebie.) You managed to apply the wrong registration stickers, the radio remote still doesn't work and the rigging cover wasn't even addressed.

With that, I'm...

From start to finish, the staff at Sheltered Cove were all a pleasure to deal with. As a first time boat buyer, I could have easily been upsold on options. The sales rep I worked with was honest and helped me purchase a boat equipped for my needs and not one that would inflate his sale. This is something that rarely exists these days so I feel that is worth noting. Furthermore when he asked what other makes I was looking at, he was honest enough to say some were great choices. I got the sense right from the start that there was genuine care and excitement for me and my family joining the boat community and it was not all about the sale. From the time of placing my deposit to the day I picked up my Regal LX2, the Sheltered Cove staff was quick to return calls, respond to emails, and answer my questions. The day of my orientation was fun and informative. The Captain who went over my boat was extremely knowledgeable and insisted if I ever have any questions, to reach out. This had me feeling that much more confident about my family’s new purchase. If there was one negative in this whole process, it is NOT a reflection of Sheltered Cove, but the result of the pandemic creating a surge in the boating industry. What may have taken 6-9 months to manufacture and deliver prior to the pandemic took closer to 11 months. Either way, it was worth the wait! Our Regal LX2 is beautiful and my family can’t wait to start making memories. Thank you...

UPDATE: unfortunately as with many boat dealers, this dealer is more set up for sales than it is for service. Over the winter the dealership was supposed to winterize and do my initial 100 hour service. In addition to that they were to fix warranty issues that had come up during the prior season. After getting my boat back I realized that only 3 out of the 7 issues were handled under warranty. When I put the boat in the water and started to run towards my house the boat stalled. I was able to start it and get it back to the doc and decided that I would go and service it myself and realized that they never did the service or even change the fuel filter. Not only that but they sent me an invoice for it.

I contacted them and gave them the opportunity to come about an hour south to where my house is and service the boat. Originally when I purchased the boat they told me no problem we'll come down we have people there all the time since we have a sales store five minutes from you. Of course once I asked them to come and take care of these issues all of us sudden it became a problem for them to do that here close to where my boat is. Then of course is when they started talking about service fees for them to come here and service the boat.

Mark, Mike and Bill made the transaction easy. Great people and they stand behind their product. Hoping for a long...