Tawas Bay Marine & Cycle — Local services in Baldwin Township

Let me start this review off by saying that I am an extremely difficult customer. My Sea-Doo is cared for to the nth degree, and I am very particular about how it is looked after. We all know that if you take care of your machines, they will take care of you. Even though this principle makes me take things to an absurd level of care, the team at Tawas Bay Marine have always understood this. I also manage a customer services team for my work, and this means that my standards of care and what providing an excellent customer experience looks like are very high. As a result, I refuse to do business with anyone that provides negative customer experiences.

My experiences with TBM began last summer, when I was vacationing in the northeastern part of the LP and the boat suddenly developed a mysterious engine issue. With some quick online searching, I found several local shops, but no one was willing to help or could get access to Sea-Doo/BRP parts. I eventually reached out to TBM, and immediately their service team sprung into action to help me diagnose the problem remotely, and to identify what parts I needed in order to fix the issue. They even put up with me doing my usual forum searching and investigating! We worked together to find and resolve the issue, and this is the sort of experience I appreciate! The service management team spoke with their technicians and relayed the symptoms of the issue from me, and within a day of back and forth, we had identified the possible culprits, and they overnighted the parts in for me to pick up the next day. The issue was resolved with the first part that we had wanted to try to fix, and this just demonstrates that their team are able to work through unique issues, even when the boat wasn't at their shop. Keep in mind, they had NEVER dealt with me as a customer before, but they immediately went beyond my expectations and offered an incredible service to help me get the boat back on the water for that vacation.

At this point, I need to mention that I live three and half hours south of TBM. I did have my boat winterized through a shop that was local to me, however, in dealing with them I always felt shoved aside and that there was less care and concern there. This brought me into 2021 with a bit of an issue; I needed to get the supercharger rebuilt, and after the poor service and the negative attitudes from the local shops, I knew I wanted to check with TBM to see if they could assist. The minute I called, they remembered who I was from the previous summer's issue, and they offered to hold me a spot on the calendar and to set aside the rebuilt kit (which was in shortage due to the pandemic). When the local shops said they could not even give an estimate of the time it would take to get the supercharger rebuild done, Tawas gave me a date, time, a pickup day, and set the parts aside for me all in one phone call. Needless to say, I was more than willing to make the long drive up to them!

More recently, I installed several new parts for the jet pump and the hull to improve the performance of the boat. After taking it out a few times, I noticed that a small leak had developed from somewhere. Of course, I reached out to the local shop again to give them a chance, and because it is within 10 minutes from my home. Yet again, I got cryptic responses about what they could do to check for the source of the leak, and they seemed frustrated when I tried to lend my knowledge to assist. When I called TBM, they immediately went into the routine that I've come to know and appreciate; provide top notch service no matter what. They have continue to allow me to collaborate with them on this issue, and we have narrowed the source of the leak down to only a few options. Even though I am antsy to fix this issue and get the boat back for the summer, I know that TBM are the best people to take care of it, the best people to solve this issue, and they are the ONLY people I want to have working on my Sea-Doo.

This is the easiest 5 stars I've ever...

Everything started out fine, purchased a new side by side, and all seemed well. The first issue started on a repair. When purchased new we had heat installed. My son was taking it for a ride and noticed noticed the temperature gauge shoot up to red Immediately shut it off And took it in for repairs Apparently it had loose clamps and We were still charged These clamps were installed during the Heater add on There is no way of knowing How much damage I e wear and tear Was put on the motor If there's. Ever a situation where you should not be charged It's this one or when a service shop makes an error.... Which was never admitted. The clamps were blamed. There are many types of clamps.They could have used a different clamp. They were simple hose clamps. Next is the amount of mileage when we picked it up. This happened twice. Some mileage is understandable, but we are talking about a large amount. This side by side should not have more than two to three undred miles on it. It has never left A small piece of property It shot up to 1300 Now the worst part During the anxious perio while waiting for results of coolant leakage repair and possible damage We ran into an employee Who didn't look me in the eye and seemed quite stand offish. We were thinking the motor was blown. We had no idea what was up or why the employee acted that way The side by side was dropped off while we were not home and everything seemed fine except it was dropped off still low on coolant. It was winter and we weren't using it at the time About three weeks later the first time we went to use it We pulled it out and noticed the passenger Side wheel was leaning outward at the top approximately six inches After closer inspection and quite some time we figured out that the lower control arm was forced upward We continued to inspect The vehicle for quite a few hours and found not one single Scratch dent or mark of any kind There is absolutely no evidence of us hitting a stump or crashing the vehicle in any way We were stumped We had not driven it We know that neither of used it We've taken it and had a couple of people look at it, and everyone comes to the same possible conclusions It was either dropped on to that side from say a hoist position or driven off a trailer Or drove drove into a trailer at said tire The only other thing we could come up with.Is this possible scenario ... A large amount of semi's back into their lot And possibly one back into that Tire and bent the lower control arm. All we know is we didn't drive it and didn't do it It took a LOT of force to bend a lower control And there is no marks I will say we are only guessing what happened , but it did not happen at our house We wish it never had happened Mainly because of the uncomfortable situation , we are now finding ourselves in We waited. Quite some time to see if someone would call , but they didn't I guess at this point we're going to repair it ourselves Somebody knows what happened We only have one key and its electronic No one else drove it If you saw this 2 year old vehicle you'd understand It is still in " Like New " condition Will add...

Ron, Baxter and John saved my bacon yesterday! I discovered that I mistakenly added to much oil to my Yamaha VX Wave Runner which could have caused serious damage to the engine. I called Ron at Tawas Bay Marine and he said to bring it in so they could fix the problem even though it was almost closing time. I brought the machine in and Baxter and John immediately started working on it. In less than 15 minutes they had extracted the excess oil and had the machine was ready to go. The folks at Tawas Bay Marine have always been cordial and helpful but they went over and above that today! Working late to fix my issue exemplified their professionalism and customer first attitude! I will be a customer for life and highly recommend them to anyone considering purchasing or servicing outdoor...