Wow! What was Mastercraft thinking??

[WakeSlayer]

I have been doing a little reading on this Cash Rewards program. It was a complete scam. Anyone that would have bought into the idea that this would work is crazy. Real estate, cars, boats. Just amazing.

One of many many threads out there.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/compl...t=datea&page=1

[swc5150]

Wow!!! How the heck did MC even get hooked up with these criminals? I also question what this company is doing with original birth certificates, and other vital personal info? Selling identities?? This sounds like a Soprano's episode!

[swancer]

http://www.complaintsboard.com/compl...t=datea&page=1

Here is what David the President of the Cash Rewards posted on the above thread:

I read all of these complaints and most stunn me with the blatant lies. We have a full team of custone care professionals and Resolve corporation does as well. The big misconception is that we controle the claim process. We have nothing to do with this and have always relied on an indipendent impartial third party administrator to ensure each client is treated the same. Bottom line...if you follow the easy steps correctly...you will get paid...if not ...you will not. For those of you who did not follow the steps necessary...quit your whinning! We pay out hundreds of claims every month and have the testimonials to prove it. A cash Reward is a free appreciation gift to you anyway. Please appreciate the opportunity you were given and move on if you were unable to complete the paper work necessary to claim your cash.

Maybe MC got him to post their reply too. . . . . . . . .

[inboard60]

nautique buyers would never fall for a scam like this. . . it kind of reminds me of the TIGE lifetime warranty on hull, floor, gelcoat and blah, blah, blah. . .

when its too good to be true, someone probably forgot to winterize it last year!!!!!

[WakeSlayer]

I also question what this company is doing with original birth certificates, and other vital personal info? Selling identities??

This was my biggest question as well. Original birth certificates? Seriously. There are only a couple things you need that for.
That is the first clue. Aside from the complexity, and the rate of return. Just so many HUGE red flags. The guy was probably making as much or more off selling your "packet" as he was getting from each dealer for each boat, or car, or piece of real estate. There is enough in there to get any passport, bank account, line of credit, quit claim deeds, cell phone service, or any other thing you need in that name.

I realize this is actually old news, but I am just astonished that this went down. I had never heard of the magnitude of problems. I just remember thinking it was complete BS when I heard about the program.

[j2nh]

He may very well have sold personal information but the original intent was to make the paperwork requirements so strict that they could find ways to disqualify people from getting their reward. I remember reading on TT that they wanted the original bill of sale and it could not be a copy. Another big one was a utility bill that listed the address, that had to match the bill of sale address with both a husband and wife's name. Couple of years ago when the first payments came due, MC did get involved in at least one of them to help the guy get his money. I checked the web and there are some sad stories, especially the ones involving real estate. Saw a couple at 20K. I just don't get how a company would attach its reputation to something like this.

[Nautiquehunter]

The MC dealer told me CR only paid out on 13% of the contracts they received. That and the cost of the boat was enough for me.

[east tx skier]

WOW. Looks like that guy forgot about marketing class University of Tenn is right around the corner and they have a great marketing program. There are a lot better ways to handle that situation.

Couple things we should all be thankful for:

1. Jeff - for running an independent site from CC. Oh and a great new site. How cool is it to have spell check!!!!
2. Larry Shea, David Hendrick, Ron Nace (hope I spelled that right) and the rest of customer service at CC. They are great. Although I have not always received the answer I wanted to HEAR, I always got an answer deliveried in a professional way and given direction to fixing my problem. That is what is important to me.
3. 97% of the CC dealer network. CC has some of the best people.

Maybe we can post the link to this forum on their site. I'd bet there would be a couple CC sells out of it.

The independence of this site is critical to its success and usefulness. In a past life, long before the cash rewards fiasco was dreamed up, I was one of two moderators over there on the MC site. For several years before its membership grew, MC pretty much left it alone. It was a close knit group, and I am still pretty good friends with a handful of those people. The original site builder and admin was pretty integral to its early success. He was replaced right around the time when MC really wanted to implement a level of control over there (mid to late 2004 IIRC). Suffice it to say, I didn't last very long as a moderator over there (just under a year), especially after I bought my Nautique. I have never agreed with the level of content control over there as it pertains to expressions of customer satisfaction. I can understand the compulsion of a company to not want to pay for a site that nets them a lot of negative press. But looking at the big picture, especially the value of a strong owner community support, I would say such a benefit should outweigh the company's desire to shoot the messenger.

A big thanks to Jeff and Luke for the labor of love that is this site.

[NautiqueJeff]

On a few occasions, I have been told by people at Correct Craft that they appreciate this site being independent, and like the fact that it is controlled by an outside entity. In the early days of PN, we did have some difficult situations with certain former employees of Corect Craft over specific items being posted. For the most part, even then, we held our ground and would not delete threads unless WE decided to, and that only happened a few times. I could probably count the number of deleted threads from this site over its eight-year run on one hand.

By the way, Luke hasn't been around for a number of months. His interests have taken him in another direction (mainly photography), and he ended up selling his boat and getting out of the daily operation of PlanetNautique. To see more of what Luke is cuurently up to, check out Luke Tingley Photography.

[HVL2010]

Agreed east_tx. Look at the new Domino's Pizza campaign. It can be painful to look at some of the critical statements, but you can turn that into an opportunity for growth of your product if you choose to address the concerns. However, I think there is little that MC can or shoudl do in this case. They entered into a promotional agreement with a company that is no longer doing buisness it seems. It was never up to MC to pay out the 10,000. I think someone called it a ponzi scheme. Sort of yes in that more people coming in and paying in (dealer and MC) meant money to pay out if people fulfilled their agreement. They knew they woudl never have to pay for each person who bought a boat. Some people bought a boat, but probably knew in the back of their mind they would never collect.

[east tx skier]

I kind of thought it had been a while since I had seen anything about Luke. Thanks to his earlier work on the site all the same.

With running a site like this, there are always going to be situations where you have to deal with content, particularly spam. That is, no site is self sufficient. The small quantity of occasions tha that you have had to step in over the years speaks volumes of the quality of the members of the site for sure, myself notwithstanding.

[east tx skier]

Agreed east_tx. Look at the new Domino's Pizza campaign. It can be painful to look at some of the critical statements, but you can turn that into an opportunity for growth of your product if you choose to address the concerns. However, I think there is little that MC can or shoudl do in this case. They entered into a promotional agreement with a company that is no longer doing buisness it seems. It was never up to MC to pay out the 10,000. I think someone called it a ponzi scheme. Sort of yes in that more people coming in and paying in (dealer and MC) meant money to pay out if people fulfilled their agreement. They knew they woudl never have to pay for each person who bought a boat. Some people bought a boat, but probably knew in the back of their mind they would never collect.

Sort of like those pop up ads for a free Sony Vaio. I don't exactly blame snopes. But I'm not exactly clicking on the ad either.

I have owned and had good experiences with MC boats and many a MC dealer. So in no way, shape, or form, am I intending to disparage them. But what do they say? "You dance with who 'brung' you." No, I assume that MC is not responsible to pay the money. But they intended to reep the benefits of the rewards promised by their association with this company. While they don't have to claim responsibility, they should not be surprised at the amount of heat they take as a result of that association when Cash Rewards started quacking like the duck that it always was.

How's that for a gaggle of mixed metaphors.

[NautiqueJeff]

The small quantity of occasions that you have had to step in over the years speaks volumes of the quality of the members of the site for sure, myself notwithstanding.

That is VERY true, and I do think about that quite often!

[HVL2010]

I would bet that most people who bought an MC boat were going to do so despite the CR program. That was icing, and I also bet a large number of people signed on not fully expecting to be able to fulfill the commitments. I know I have bought things with rebates and forgotten to claim my rebate. I don't think you can make a strong argument that the program actually swayed more people to buy an MC rather than X-brand that they were going to buy. 5 years is a long time to wait for cash if you were really worried about the price difference to begin with.

I also agree that MC should not be suprised at the amount of heat they are taking. They did openly promote this plan and market it at boats shows, etc. PT Barnum said it best, there's a sucker born every minute. I have spent a lot of time in X boats...but I would not say they were any nicer than any other I have been in for the premium.

[saceone]

hello bad marketing?!
wow!!!