Carts & Clubs
 

I hate to do this, but I have been recommending Carts & Clubs since I bought my cart there last year. We are very happy with the way the cart looks and runs - BUT!!! I hope nobody has a problem with them, because they are not to be trusted.
I bought a reconditioned cart their last year (over $8,000 with options) came with a 6 month bumper to bumper and balance of Yahama (2 years) warranty.
At 7 month we noticed canvas sunbrella was deteriorating where wrapped around windshield (not an area that would be touched). Called and talked to Connie (owner's wife) she said someone would come and look at it and take care of it even though it was 7 months old. A service rep came and took it off cart to have repaired, said he could not tell what caused damage. When they delivered repaired cart, they charged me a $35.00 drop off fee. I called Connie and asked what happened to they would take care of it. She said she would rip up check because whe could tell I was upset.
Two hours later Ted (owner) called and said he was depositing check because the person they have do the sunbrellas said the material was not defective. I told him I disagreed and thought it was defective and should not have been charged. He cursed me out using numerous "F" words. I told him to do whatever he thought was fair, but I would not converse with someone using the language he used. He said he was going to double charge me any repairs in future (guess I need to go to The Villages) becase he did not charge me enough for this repair.
I just saw check was cashed. $35.00 is not going to kill me financially, but I feel bad that I can't count on them if I have a future problem. I am don with them.
Last week while golfing, I mentioned to two people with me what happened. They both agreed nobody could have caused damage - I said he was ready to purchase a cart there, but just changed his mind. I reintererated that they build a good cart, but he said customer service is also an important thing - so they lost a sale over $35.00.
Again I am sad that I thought I had an excellent supplier, and now need to go to someone else for service.

Thanks, we were going to use them also.

Carts & Clubs,Inc reply
 

Yes Bill I'm sorry that we had to charge you a service call...that was not for the labor to take it off or to put it back on or to take to be repaired or to pick it back up...the material as I said to Bill that it was not defective, if so it would be more then just the one spot..that spot was where you could put your foot up on the post while driving,etc...it could have been from someones hand that may of had some chemical or such on them...but on a reman cart the enclosure has a 6 month warranty this was over 7 but we steal took care of the problem... I try to control my temper when talking to a customer,the part of the f word over and over didn't happen and yes I did get upset and also said to him that I was sorry for that...my wife talked to him first and tryed to explain to Bill about the service call charge and he got her very upset(witch is very to do) untill she said I'll tear up the check,then she told me about it...I called him to explain that he was getting a very good deal and that we wouldn't of had to do anything but we did...We sell many cart in The Villages and have many happy customers...I have been told that the customer is alway wright,the ones that say that have never been in busy..if I have lost business because of this then so be it but now you have both sides of the story...
thanks for reading
Ted Dunlap
Carts & Clubs,Inc

I stand by what I said. Everything, including language used is correct.
Everyone can make their own decision - I just know I will deal with a "customer friendly" gof cart company in future. The Villages is also a Yamaha dealer and they said they would love my business when I talked to them about maintenance for keeping Yamaha warranty. They also said a month after warranty would not have mattered to them - and they have a 1 year warranty.
Ted, your wife must be a saint.

I have recently purchased a new cart from this dealer and encouraged a friend to purchase on from them the same week. I liked the product. I guess time will tell if services meet expectations, I certainly hope so.
Have other TOTVRs had experiences with This company? I had thought I read good reviews in the past.

I worked many years in manufacturing management and labor relations and found there are many sides to a story. Both may be based on truth but taken from a different vantage point.

We bought our cart at Carts and Clubs almost 2 years ago. No issues - liked them, liked the way they put their carts together. Never have had a need for service work on the cart. Did have an minor issue with our Sunbrella last year - a simple stitching problem. Dealt directly with the company who'd done the Sunbrella package and had no issues getting it taken care of to everyone's satisfaction. (C&C might be doing their Sunbrella in-house now.)

Personally, I'd buy from them again.

JMHO

Bill :)

Thanks for posting your side of the story. Although I found some sympathy for the original poster because everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, I did find it a bit hard though to believe, not because of what the poster stated, but because we had made our purchase of a new Yamaha Golf Cart from your store back in December and did so because of the many positive comments I read about Carts & Clubs with no negative comments being made. It had to be that way for us to have bothered going all the way from the southern end of TV all the was to Ocala to make a purchase when we could have done it closer and much easier.

I can definitely say that we are a satisfied customer, especially since we had a problem about a month after we made the purchase. The gas pedal would sporadically stop working. My patience with it ran out when I was stopped to enter Odell from a side street, didn't recover quickly like it had in the past, and unfortunately I had the road's owner behind me immediately honking his car horn because I held him up for a few seconds. I called when I got back home and your repair truck came within a reasonable period of time to check it out. It turned out to be a defective switch of some kind that he replaced on the spot.

Anyway, thanks for the friendly and efficient service from when we started looking right up to the present time. And I don't know if I made any typos in this message to you for the typing police to attack me on, but if I did... tough! I couldn't care less!

We also recently puchased a new cart from Carts and Clubs and couldn't be happier. Dollar for dollar they outdo The Villages prices by a mile. Haven't had a service issue, but couldn't have been more happy with the product and delivery.

I also bought from C and C and have nothing but praise for service and customer satisfaction.Sounds to me like both customer Ted were a little hot under the coller that day.
I still will side up with Ted.

Two sides to every story.I owned a business up norh and had to learn to control my temper.Sometimes I had customers that were just wrong ,I would try to explain and just couldn't get them to understand and would lose it open my mouth.I know I was wrong because it puts you in a losing position.Im not saying either is to blame.Sometimes xxxx happens.

Cart's and Club's
 

After looking at a few places for carts last year we went with C&C's last December. They have a superior enclosure system on the Yamaha cart we purchased that we didn't see anywhere else. They also took our old cart, which was a headache for us to try and sell, sight unseen as a trade in and gave us a very fair price. We bought our cart right off the showroom floor, the colors we wanted, at less $ than we were quoted with the same options at other places. There was no pressure and we were dealing with both Ted and Connie. It was delivered in two days. About a month after purchase we had the exact same problem with the gas pedal as someone posted earlier in that it sporadically would stop working. We called and the repair man came out in a reasonable period and replaced the switch right away. We have since put over 1,000 miles on our cart and never had a problem.

I understand that everyone's experience is different. Just thought I would relate ours. When we are down full time and purchase our second cart we will be returning to C&C's again. They may be a bit farther to drive to their new showroom but the product, pricing and service did it for us. Also, they are in tv a few times weekly.

I too have bought from C&C very recently. I have nothing but praise for the way my wife and I were treated both before and after the sale.

As a 25 year veteran salesman myself, I can understand both sides. In response to the poster, I wonder why if $35 was not a big deal why did you make it one? Is it not reasonable to think Ted would have to charge something to take care of an item that is out of warranty? He has a cost for the labor, transportation and time he put into an out of date repair. You should be thankful that he did take care of it in the manner he did.

As for the language, if true, that is never permissible. I have had customers call me names and used language that would anger everyone I associate with yet I have never retaliated in kind. Difficult to do but there that is a no win situation.

I do find it hard to understand why an owner of a company would talk as such given the fact that he is such a prominent dealer here in The Villages and word of such would get around. To get to that point I would think he had to be provoked or baited into a corner so to speak.

I will say I will be glad to tell everyone about Carts and Clubs. I plan to by my second cart in the near future from them.

My .02 cents


If you asked in advance about the warrantee, then there would be no issue.

The other side of the coin the dealer should have informed the customer there would be a charge.

I think the latter.:shrug:

After the buyer was upset the seller should have waived the charge or given her store credit something to appease the issue.

I will say that for not doing something to keep the customer happy that $35 will cost the seller way more in bad press and word of mouth.

Also when Connie made a commitment to waive the charge her husband should not have undermined her authority to do so,
CUSTOMER SERVICE 101


:gc:

Been in retail, it's hard to please all the people all time, but try harder Ted.

I have had wonderful experience with Carts and Clubs. After 34 years in customer service I know how difficult it is to serve the public.

However, We cannot minimize the effect of $35 in this time of great economic dispair. That is nearly 12 hours of pay in the food and service industry!

hopefully the economy will improve some day.

Didn't the OP answer his own question? He said he had a six month warranty, and noticed a problem at seven months. And now he's upset that the dealer cashed his $35 check? Granted, many dealers will give you a break if you barely missed your warranty end date, but c'mon. Will Ford or GM honor their 36 month warranty when a problem arises at 37 months? Not usually. Why should this small business owner? JHMO. If you wanted a seven month warranty, that's what you should have purchased.