Time to let our customers do the talking!
Hello Mandy!
I had emailed you a few months ago asking permission to use the Bennington name on my husbands groom cake for our wedding and you have asked for me to email you some pictures. Here you go! :) I hope you enjoy.
He was so excited about the cake. He had NO CLUE!! He loved the cake so much. Of course he was hoping to come home and find a new Bennington boat in the drive way and of course there wasn't...but he said the cake was good for now. In a few years we hope to own one of your boats. He loves them!!!! That is all I hear about! :)
Thanks again for everything,
Laura Brewer
Dear Alicia,
I am terribly sorry to be so late sending you this rave review of our new "Custom" Bennington, and expressing gratitude to you and everyone at Bennington who had anything to do with making this project happen. Please share this with anyone on your team who helped us. We are on the water having a blast, as the attached pictures show, and we are most appreciative and grateful! Mom & Dad particularly relish the quiet moments!!!
To say that our entire experience with Bennington was exceptional from start to finish would be an understatement. You guys Rock! You elevate customer satisfaction and responsiveness to an entirely new level. As a manager of 12 businesses and 500 employees globally, I am speaking from some experience when I praise your performance.
I'd like to share our experience with you to highlight just how impressive the Bennington experience was:
In March of this year, my wife and I decided to purchase a pontoon boat because of the kid friendly platform...we have twin boys who are 2 years old now. I began surfing the web and quickly narro
wed our search to Bennington and Premier based on quality and performance criteria.
I located the nearest Premier dealer and Bennington dealer (Nichols Marine) to Dalton, GA and arranged to visit both on the same day to aid our comparison.
We stopped by Premier's dealer first. We were impressed with the boats, and the dealer seemed fairly knowledgeable and helpful. Our only disappointment was that no existing platform offered everything we were looking for.
Our next stop was Nichols Marine. From the moment I met Scott, the owner, I liked him. I related to him. I told him I was an offshore sailor with very little powerboat experience and no pontoon experience whatsoever. Scott gave me a quick education which was extremely helpful...just the right amount of important info about pontoon boats to help a novice make a tough purchasing decision.
Scott's knowledge of the Bennington product, his boating experience and passion for his work were very evident, but what was most impressive was how he listened. He took the time to truly understand precisely what my wife and I were looking for.
Scott showed me an older model Bennington that was close to what we were looking for to give me an idea of what Bennington might be able to do. He then told me he'd make a call to his sales rep at Bennington to see if Bennington might be willing to modify an existing platform for us.
I put together a very comprehensive wish list of the options and details we were looking for in a custom boat and sent the exact same information to both Nichols Marine and the Premier dealer.
The Premier guys followed up with me initially and offered to work on a custom design as well. It took Premier approximately 4 weeks longer than Bennington to send any engineering drawings to me. When I received their first drawing, I noticed it was nothing more than a layout from their brochure with absolutely none of the items from our wish list incorporated into the design. Somewhere between the dealer, the dealer's rep. and the Premier factory, there was a total breakdown in communication and a failure to deliver.
Nichols Marine and Bennington, on the other hand, put a draft design in my hands literally within days, incorporating everything on our wish list. This is a real testament to the professionalism and dedication to customer service of Nichols Marine, You and the entire Bennington team.
I was traveling in Egypt, India and China while design review was going on. Scott and I must have exchanged two dozen or more emails over a 2 week period of time, tweaking the design here and there. We no doubt drove you a little crazy and challenged Bennington's design staff along the way but man were you guys up to the task. Bennington nailed the design perfectly every time we asked for a slightly different look or to incorporate some additional option/feature.
Scott's sales approach...listening and delivering more than could be anticipated, and Bennington's responsiveness was enough to earn our business even before pricing was discussed or Premier could figure out which way was up. I Thanked the Premier guys sincerely for their efforts and waived them off entirely.
The order was placed with Bennington shortly thereafter. The Custom Boat was delivered on time, as promised, and was even more than we really expected from the standpoint of quality and luxury. The fit and finish are amazing. Incredible that Bennington could take our ideas, incorporate them into a new design, and deliver the product within approximately 3 months! Wow!
As a proud owner, I can tell you our Bennington is a beauty and represents a real value.
The Boat has been in the water now since Father's Day. It performs as good as it looks. Not a single complaint or service issue...not even the slightest noise or vibration to mention, anywhere.
I don't really know how to thank Bennington other than to tell you that you have a lifelong customer who will refer as many folks as possible to you.
Sincerely,
"Chip" Frederick Howalt