SkipperBud's Pewaukee

UPDATE: Skipper Bud's did complete the repairs on our boat to our satisfaction. We received a personal apology from Ryan and Kathy, and they offered discounted services for spring opening as compensation for our trouble. My husband appreciates this, as he is the one in charge of having the boat ready for summer. Skipper Buds asked that I remove or update this review to reflect their effort to make it right, therefore I have increased the rating from 1 start to 3 and provided this update to reflect that the problem was eventually resolved. BEWARE- Service lot is not secure and staff is awful to work with. Our review has to deal with the service department, NOT the sales. We had a good experience buying our boat. Service has been a series of headaches over the past few years, with a nightmare as a finale this year. Our boat was in for WARRANTY work this spring. While in Skipper Bud's posession, and on their lot after receiving warranty work, it was burglarized. Over $7,000 in missing parts/damage to our boat. Skipper Bud's does not have cameras anywhere in the lot or around the building, and the service lot is not fully fenced. A police report was done, but nothing came of it. Skipper Bud's refused to take responsibility for any of it, and we ended up having to file a claim with OUR insurance to get the parts replaced. After weeks of getting the run around from the service department in early summer, we finally got them to give us loaner parts to make the boat functional for the summer, as the replacement parts they ordered were going to take several months to arrive. They did not offer to make the boat usable for us, we basically had to beg and threaten and ask to talk to the GM to get the boat useable for the season. Fast forward to now, the parts are finally in and we take the boat in 2 weeks ago. We go today to pick it up because they said it was done, and the boat is missing several things that were ordered and the repairs were a hack job. Wires that were pulled out and disconnected to steal parts were left dangling in the storage trunks. Screw caps are missing. There are bonus visible screw holes all over. Table was never reinstalled. Cover doesn't fit correctly. A panel that was damaged in an attempt to steal it wasn't replaced, they just screwed the damaged panel back down. Doors don't open or close without extreme force, and don't even line up. Again, no apology for any of the errors or promises to make it right. Basically they just blamed each other saying "it wasn't on my list" "oh I didn't know that" Well, you have eyes and you physically had to use the door, so you certainly realized it did not open properly...... The icing on the cake was when I expressed my frustration to Kathy that several of the issues weren't addressed even though we have gone over the details with them SEVERAL times in person, and via email, instead of apologizing for missing these things she told me to "Calm Down" Instead of saying we understand you are frustrated, we should have double checked everything was correct before calling you out to pick up the boat, instead of taking ANY accountability for their job which was to make this boat whole again, I was told to "calm down" For us, that was the last straw. We have spent hours driving back and forth to this dealership, hours on the phone, hours emailing, all to try to correct their constant mistakes, which are all being corrected AT OUR COST/through our insurance. We had to leave the boat there yet again today, so they can try again to fix the problems. Go ahead and buy your boat here- but take it to another location for service. Anyone who tells you to calm down instead of apologizing for their repeated negligence and errors with your expensive equipment doesn't deserve a penny of your money. When we finally get our boat back, we will not be using this location for any future service needs.

We had a very positive experience buying our StarCraft boat at Skipper Bud's. Bryan was great in finding a boat that fit our family. Alex did a good job on closing. Bill was great for set up and delivery. Ryan in service has been exceptional. We had some unusual mechanical engine issues at the start, and he correctly diagnosed and solved the problem and got us back on the water! Will be back to SB's for our next boat!