Snow Check - What is the real deal??

[john10toe]

Comments are scattered all over the Sidewinder Forum about not getting what we paid for so I thought it might be best to start a new thread on just this topic alone. Some say Cat is running the show and it's absolutely not Yamaha's fault that the 2017 YamaCats are not arriving built to the specifications described during all the spring hype. Is Cat sabotaging Yamaha so Cat can be perceived as having a better product?? If its not Yamaha's fault can someone chime in and explain exactly what is the root cause of these so called errors and or deception?? As I see it the end consumer should have a right to get what was paid for and not come up short due to a manufacturer’s mismanagement or incorrect advertising. Not sure about other guys out there but the cost of a new Sidewinder ($20,000.00 CDN) is not just a bit of chump change for me. I have been very devoted to Yamaha and over the years have spent a ton of cash on Yamaha outboards, motorcycles, ATV’s and snowmobiles. I never had an issue like this in the past.

Up until now I thought Yamaha's disclaimer saying “subject to change” simply meant that the end product may have improvements / refinements over the prototype‎ but certainly never ever downgraded. As I haven’t owned a SR Viper I wasn’t aware that history is repeating itself with the Sidewinder or I may have based my decisions to Snow Check accordingly. One solution I see moving forward is not to Snow Check anything else from Yamaha......see before I buy. Maybe if they see a decline in early sales they will sit up and take notice. But if we all do this are we simply shooting ourselves and dealers in the foot forcing Yamaha's snowmobile division to fade away totally?? Perhaps I would be more sympathetic to their plight if Yamaha would simply explain the entire situation instead of forcing us to guess.

Gotta say we are extremely fortunate to have a site like this to consolidate our information. Much thanks to Mr Sled and his team for this!! Hopefully this topic isn't too controversial but we need to either attempt to resolve this issue or at least get the word out so others don't get burned.

 

[stevewithOCD]

To be completely honest, i never knew anything about this RR race suspension until someone on this site mentioned it. So i really can't complain, but now that i saw what was advertised, i guess i'm a little disappointed. I wanted QS3 shocks & pretty blue & that's what i'm gettin'

 

[ritchie]

I snowchecked a LTXle based on the feature set advertised.....I will never trust or snow check a Yamaha product again.

 

[AXR]

It does not matter who's fault it is. What matters is they knew back in April (probably way before then). So they should have notified dealers back then and told them to let all the spring order customers know about the change AND either the customer ok's it or is offered their $500 back. It's one thing if they changed it it's another to not tell people. To this day I am sure there are many people that have picked up their new sled that do not know about TY and also have no idea they did not get what they thought they were getting.... If you go to a restaurant and order a $20 steak from the menu you expect your bill to say $20... When you spring order something based on what was advertised as a 'feature of the limited edition model' you again expect to see that when you pick it up... Maybe all the restaurants will change their menu's next so they say 'price subject to change' so they can screw you when you get your check lol. Or maybe we order an aluminum sport bumper and when it comes it is made of plastic and they go 'it was subject to change' you're sol...

Also there was no reason for anyone to not think they were getting the RR style skid because in the past years the LE's did get that skid. No one would have thought that feature advertising to not be true this year also. I heard some people questioning if the shocks would come as promised with good reason after the '15 problem. But there was no reason to question the skid. So I guess anyone ordering a '18 you had better question everything they advertise... and I guess be happy as long as it has skis, a motor, track, and goes fwd lol.

 

[3UR]

It does not matter who's fault it is. What matters is they knew back in April (probably way before then). So they should have notified dealers back then and told them to let all the spring order customers know about the change AND either the customer ok's it or is offered their $500 back. It's one thing if they changed it it's another to not tell people. To this day I am sure there are many people that have picked up their new sled that do not know about TY and also have no idea they did not get what they thought they were getting.... If you go to a restaurant and order a $20 steak from the menu you expect your bill to say $20... When you spring order something based on what was advertised as a 'feature of the limited edition model' you again expect to see that when you pick it up... Maybe all the restaurants will change their menu's next so they say 'price subject to change' so they can screw you when you get your check lol. Or maybe we order an aluminum sport bumper and when it comes it is made of plastic and they go 'it was subject to change' you're sol...

Also there was no reason for anyone to not think they were getting the RR style skid because in the past years the LE's did get that skid. No one would have thought that feature advertising to not be true this year also. I heard some people questioning if the shocks would come as promised with good reason after the '15 problem. But there was no reason to question the skid. So I guess anyone ordering a '18 you had better question everything they advertise... and I guess be happy as long as it has skis, a motor, track, and goes fwd lol.

 

[3UR]

I'm a newbie to this site and YAMAHA SLEDS. I have purchased YAMAHA motorcycles and boat motors but never their sleds. I spring ordered a LTX-LE Sidewinder. I compared to Arctic Cat Thunder Cat and ZR's. According to information at the time YAMAHA had more features that appealed to me. I had always heard that YAMAHA had great quality and took care of their customers as compared to other sled makers. Hell, I liked the fact that their extended warranty they give, had no deductible and could be extended for an additional 2 years for what I considered a very reasonable price.

I understand production issues arise and changes may be made to color.graphics, seat materials ect...
I spoke to my Dealer's Yamaha Rep and was given different info on why rear skid didn't happen as compared to what's been posted here. The rep said he would pass my comments on to YAMAHA. I feel we were not given what we ordered. I can understand minor changes but they listed QS3r shocks at all positions in rear skid, rr skid, extra wheels on skid and the list goes on.

I have both Arctic Cat and Skidoo Dealers closer to my house than my YAMAHA dealer. In the past I have spring ordered Arctic Cat and Skidoo Sleds. I never experienced this type of issue before. I find it hard for myself to justify buying another YAMAHA sled. I can't believe I feel this way... I have a hunch that YAMAHA is waiting until we all get to ride these sleds and become throttle happy and this topic dies off. I'm not letting this one go...

YAMAHA if your listening this is not right... YAMAHA needs to reach out to Spring/Snow Check buyers.

Joe

 

[WVTurboLTX]

I was told when I ordered it that it would not have the RR skid and that it was a misprint. So the dealers did know. At least mine did.

 

[WVTurboLTX]

I brought this up back in the spring.

http://www.ty4stroke.com/threads/se-le-ordx.141443/#post-1292550

 

[cannondale27]

I was told when I ordered it that it would not have the RR skid and that it was a misprint. So the dealers did know. At least mine did.

Dealers did not know that unless they were told unofficially believe me I check this weekly throughout entire year. Nothing was released.

 

[actionjack]

http://www.ty4stroke.com/threads/se-le-ordx.141443/page-2#post-1292701

Interesting. I am not surprised they knew/were paying attention, they all ride. Given that, I am surprised how little attention it got until deliveries started.

 

[cannondale27]

http://www.ty4stroke.com/threads/se-le-ordx.141443/page-2#post-1292701

Interesting. I am not surprised they knew/were paying attention, they all ride. Given that, I am surprised how little attention it got until deliveries started.

Yup we all just assumed the specs and literature were correct. Really feel sorry for anyone who tries to XC race Sidewinder. Anyone know if Viper 129LiE got the skid? If not those guys are at extreme disadvantage.

 

[**sj**]

I brought this up back in the spring.

http://www.ty4stroke.com/threads/se-le-ordx.141443/#post-1292550

ya..you didnt know for sure..and for all we knew a 137 rr was coming...it was advertised and marketed in many place AND MY SOURCE INSIDE YAMAHA USA SAID IT WOULD ALSO...so...maybe it was a last minute change...who knows....whatever the reason ...its not right...and they own it...

there was an idea floating around to offer another year of warranty...2 years sounds better to me...Id live with that..

 

[Motorhead]

The real deal is they were supposed to have the beefed up RR suspension in 3 models.

I don't care nor believe Yamaha with their cover up schemes of typos or misunderstanding. There was a plan for these suspension and what happened I do not know.

I do know that I did not get what I expected and the dealers seem to be playing dumb about it. "It was never supposed to come with the RR suspension!". That statement must be what they are being told to say!! That is my thought anyway.

You know, Yamaha and their media blitz this past spring ( literature sent to home, commercials,videos, etc.) sold me on this sled with all of its extra which were available only through the spring surge orders, so dealers do not have to make believe that this is the first that they have heard of this when sled is picked up, because it is on Yamaha not them!!

Would really enjoy the truth from all.

 

[cannondale27]

The real deal is they were supposed to have the beefed up RR suspension in 3 models.

I don't care nor believe Yamaha with their cover up schemes of typos or misunderstanding. There was a plan for these suspension and what happened I do not know.

I do know that I did not get what I expected and the dealers seem to be playing dumb about it. "It was never supposed to come with the RR suspension!". That statement must be what they are being told to say!! That is my thought anyway.

You know, Yamaha and their media blitz this past spring ( literature sent to home, commercials,videos, etc.) sold me on this sled with all of its extra which were available only through the spring surge orders, so dealers do not have to make believe that this is the first that they have heard of this when sled is picked up, because it is on Yamaha not them!!

Would really enjoy the truth from all.

I am telling you that time and time again we here at TY know way before the dealers if the dealers aren't on TY. Now that it is known it is the dealers responsibility to their customers to talk some sense into Yamaha.

 

[VX1R]

I"m not sure how many TY members have been riding Yamaha sleds as long as I have and I can remember "back in the day" when their snowmobile division actually cared about their customer satisfaction and made good on their mistakes.

The first year 1980 SS440's were delivered with a heavier track that the R&D department had tested and signed off on. It delivered a lot less speed than what the owners expected and Yamaha actually exchanged tracks to owners who weren't satisfied with the top end of their new sleds. With the amount of sleds sold back in 1980 I'm sure that this cost some serious coin.

1982 was the year of the 500cc SRX bumped up from 440cc. These sleds never made it to the dealers because Yamaha found some serious reliability and durability issues with the carbs and cylinders in testing. After the sleds were built they completely scuttled their release. Kudos to them for biting the bullet for one year and not releasing them. Can you imagine the cost involved at that time for doing the right thing?

The first year Vipers of 2002 were heralded by the media who rode them in the spring as a great replacement for the aging SX and SX-R buyers who were looking for a performance and suspension upgrade. Somewhere between the spring and production the shock calibrations were changed and the production models had a less than stellar ride aka as ride like a brick. Any owners of the '02 Vipers were offered a complete set of new shocks for a very reasonable price. That also had to cost a few bucks for Yamaha.

That's the last time I can recall their snowmobile division being proactive and actually not hiding behind the "specifications subject to change".

In the current state of the snowmobile industry with fewer and fewer units sold each year I actually wonder how many RTX and LTX LE models were actually sold during the spring order period. It can't be anywhere near the numbers of these previous models where Yamaha actually did something to correct mistakes made. That is the biggest issue that I have with how they have chosen to address the issued of the "race skid" as advertised the the spring and not delivered with the production units.

Instead of just saying "specifications subject to change" and sweeping this issue under the carpet they actually have a genuine opportunity here to do something to make things right to those of us who feel short changed. What's the old saying..........
"Under promise and over deliver"?