Beneteua owner support

[bubb2]

I own a 1999 French made Beneteua 281 which I purchased new in Feb. 1999.

As with any new boat I had two small problems with the boat; the first season, that were quickly addressed by the dealer (water heater and auto pilot).

This year when i launched the boat the navagation lights and steaming light were not working. Changed the lamps and fuses, still no lights. It was becoming clear that 2 switches on the dc panel were not working.

I called Beneteua Usa and spoke with Ward Richardson. I told Ward of my problem and that I needed replacement switches for my panel. Ward asked again what model of boat I had, and informed me that the panel in my boat is no longer used and that the switches could not be replaced. I said great, this kind of stuff only happens after the boat goes out of warranty. Ward sugested I start thinking about upgrading to larger panel from 6 breakers ot 10, but have a professional look at it to make sure it was the panel before i went to expense of replacing the panel. 275 dollars latter the professional said i had two bad switchs and panel needs replaced and handed me a estimate of $1400.00 to install a Beneteua replacement panel.

I called Ward back and said i needed to order the new panel, but before you tell the price let me get my wife as she''s a nurse and knows CPR. Ward said it not going to be that bad the panel retails for $420 but you can have at our cost which was well less $200. I said thats great because it is going to cost me over a thousand to have it installed. He said WHY?, that it should be a fairly simple plug out and plug in. A few more minutes on the phone with Ward and I was sure i could do this.

To make a long story short the new panel is in and everything works great. I saved over an $1000 dollars because of the time Ward from Beneteua spent me with on the phone, I could not HAPPIER!

Again many thanks to Beneteua and Ward.

[Jeff_H]

I also have heard a lot of positive Beneteau USA stories like yours and experienced this for myself when helping a friend who was fixing up an 38s5 that clearly had encountered the many slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune. This was a 10 year old boat and Beneteau was amazingly cooperative and helpful.

Jeff