Irwin Marine of Alton Bay — Local services in Alton

I have lived in town for over 20 years and went to the previous owners of this Marina (Gillan, before Irwin purchased it) and always had a good service experience.

Since Irwin has purchased I have still had good sales experience, however there service has been very poor...

I brought my boat in about three weeks ago to have it checked out, after putting it in the water there was water spraying out from the bottom of the motor, things didn't look good and I assumed the worse... Having had it at Irwin the season before to have things checked out, I assumed that a bad winterization job may have been the culprit, but didn't jump to any conclusions.

I dropped boat off on a Sunday night after hours, left a message with their service department where I left it and requested a call back once they had come in that Monday AM and they had a chance to review messages, start of the business day, etc. I did not receive any calls, so Wednesday I finally called and spoke with their service manager Dennis, who said he would have an initial report the end of that week on a rough idea of what it may be. The end of that week came and went with no call back. I checked in the following week, Dennis was off so the fellow filling his shoes said that it was on their schedule and he would get it looked at my mid week... Mid week came and went, no call. So I called again, Dennis was back at that point and assured me that he would have an answer by the end of the week... Again no answer - I called that weekend at which point I was told by Dennis that they had inspected the boat and definitely the block of the motor was cracked, causing the water leak. He roughly estimated that the replacement cost would be in the $7,000 range, but he needed to get back to me with an estimate, as things were very busy.

I then decided for a 2nd opinion... The following week, I went by Irwin and picked up my boat, still no estimate had been completed on the engine repair at that point, and took it to another local reputable marina for them to check it out.

Within three days, they had inspected and diagnosed the issue - The problem VERY clearly being a cracked water inlet housing, which had froze, that needed to be replaced. Within a couple days they had ordered and replaced the part, run the boat out in the water and assured proper function... My total bill = $362.50.

What a massive difference! The only explanation in my opinion is Irwin likely didn't even look at the leak on my boat or jumped to the nearest conclusion... Had I assumed they were correct I could have spend $7Kish on a new motor that was not required - Unbelievable.

As I have indicated, Irwin is great for sales... However whoever they have running their service department now is either inexperienced or overworked.

I would NOT recommend them for service until they get these...

I have a summer home in Alton and had all my watercraft serviced/winterized up the road at the Alton service location. I Never had a complaint until I went in to meet the sales manager to trade in my machines for a newer model.

I walked in and introduced myself. He obviously had more important things to do than speak with me because his eyes hardly moved from his computer screen. I mentioned that there was a limited edition floor model PWC I was interested in and his response was that it was sold and I ‘couldnt have one...’. Obviously shocked at the answer, I inquired why?

‘Because those are too difficult to find’ he said, still uninterested in the conversation.

‘Well can you find me one? I really like the model!’ I said, undeterred.

‘Um, no.’ He said. Completely seriously. He was just not into selling me a machine. At all.

So I suggested another machine and inquired about trading my PWCs in for it. He begrudgingly agreed to get me a number on the trades and quoted me sight unseen around $15,000, obviously pending inspection by the service department.

I left the Sales Dept to bring the craft from my home to the service department up the road, knowing full well that they had been dewinterized there the day before and were always serviced there. I was told by service that they were all ‘perfect’ and had clean bills of health when I took them. Oh how their tune changed once they were up for trade!!!

I was called back by Sales after the inspections and requoted a trade in value of $7,000!! With 3 PWC and two trailers (KBB value of $16,500 trade in!). I wondered how this could be the case as they had always been worked on AT THEIR SERVICE DEPT! They told me they were old, had high hours, had seen salt water, needed super chargers, needed A,B,C & D. Every excuse in order to attempt to swindle me.

I spoke to the Sales manager and again, he was completely uninterested in moving on the number or selling me anything. Nothing.

So the next day I took all 3 machines to Cycles 128! In Beverly, MA. They gave me $14,000 for the three (excluding one of the trailers) and set me up with a brand new GTX 300 Limited, the machine Irwin told me I ‘couldnt have’.

So thank you Cycles 128! I’ll never go to Irwin for sales or service...

I recently boat a new Yamaha 195S boat from them as they were the closest place to my state that would take snowmobiles in on trade. The purchasing was fine but the customer satisfaction after the sale was horrible. The boat came will a hole in the drivers and a battery that would not hold a charge. Looking at other reviews it appears they are just shuffling around the bad batteries to whom ever will keep them. Snaps broken on cover after 10 miles down the road as well as a bungee cords on cover. The issue with this place is just simple lack of communication with its customers. There needs to be someone dedicated to tracking warranty claims and communicating efficiently with every customer. Follow up with customers to ensure they are happy with their purchase and if not how to make them happy! Some will never be happy but others will be by a simple communication to ensure their needs are being met an handle with the respect every customer deserves. I enjoyed every person that I worked with trying to resolve the issues I had just there needs to be a better way of communicating with the customers. That would solve 95% of the problems customers have about...