Arctic Chat : Arctic Cat Forum banner

Arctic Cat customer service.....?

9K views 11 replies 11 participants last post by  gizmotexcop 
#1 ·
I am looking at possibly buying a new utility ATV and am considering a new Arctic Cat. I have been dealing with Polaris and it sucks.

My question to all is how is the customer service from Arctic Cat?
 
#2 ·
The key to the service is the dealer. If you have a good dealer, you'll be in good shape. If you have a shoddy dealer that doesn't give 2 craps about you after the sale, you'll likely have a similar reaction to Cat that you do with Polaris now. Cat will cover components that fail not due to abuse or mods. IMO, they do a fine job. But again, your dealer is the liason between you and AC, so that's a critical facet of the equation.
 
#3 ·
Like Sanny said it is up to your dealer.

Before you buy check out your dealer, talk to the person that works on the atv's

And if your atv has to have warrenty work, do not just take the dealers word, Call Cat or Cat Care yourself and see what is going on and give your input

It took a ton of calls, several months, but I received the deal that I wanted on my old atv.
 
#5 ·
hey I pm you the info

anymore questions just ask
 
#7 ·
I am new to this site if fact just signed on. I am on my 2nd cat the 1st is a 400 manual shift the newest 2005 auto 4wd I do a lot of trapping in the winter months and these bikes are my main means of transportation. the 1st bike was great other than wheel bearings. no big problem but no less a problem. Artic Cat could solve it buy installing a higher quality bearing, but is still using the same one . The only time i had to takke the bike to a dealer was when I broke the spider gears in the tranny. Red flag went up asap when i found out the mechanics was 1st day on the job, previously an plane mechanic! so I decide to hang around while he tears it down, by the way i was a mechanic by trade. during our conversation, i find out that he has had no training on any atvs. any how the bike was pretty well trashed after they got done with it . I am getting ready to go internal myself i have already found valves tight , shims in wrong places , carb screws wide open. bolts stripped. enough on that bike. The 2005 I have had nothing but problems The first wk Driveshaft stripped out of the diff. starter soliniod failed, fuel sending unit, fuel leaks, oil leak, cv joint, they replaced axle seals, that was it for the first major trip. next trip to Wyoming no problems. ! month later I go to Miss. Brake a shock, the top eye breaks at the weld.(the shock is only spot welded) I buy the shock and install my self. Get back home with no more problems clean up the bike and am checking things out and find wheel wobble all 4 wheels are loose and rears are the worse with almost 1in of play at rim. the controlarm or spindel bushings are toast. warrenty still ineffect take it same dealer as worked on 400 as they have new mechanic have repair and check over as i had repairs okay thru cat care also had found crack in frame where front of seat hooks under? did forget to mention headlights falling out and muffler loose and rattiling. any how go to pick up bike and Dale says its ready to go , get home, double ckeck the work. Rear wheels still wobble headlights bailling wired in muffler tight but still rattles. dale tells me the warrenty doesnt cover plastic or bushings. did finally replace bushings after I asked him if he would rather replace frame instead. NOW TO THE BIG PROBLEM this year I head to NM on aother trip replace 2 shocks break same spot, call customer service leave message . Have poping noise take to Dessert Green in Alb. NM , Im thinking cv joint but which one, no noise, find bad ball joints, that daLE FORGOT TO MENTION so pick 2 off those, buy the way bike is now out of warrenty. Get back out to where Im working, unload starts poping find front rack support cracked, weld it thinking thats my popping. Go out to the line and more popping, got to prying plastic , the frame is cracked in 2 other places that I can see back to dealer to take pictures to send to AC go to weld bike, remove iner fenders find 3 more major cracks take pictures, call dealer, weld bike , pull line ,go home. Artic Cat rep finnally calls after 2 weeks of my first call and insistance of Mike at Desert Green. I do want to thank Mike for the help while I was out There. I talked with Travis from AC for over 1hr. Most was how to remedy some of the more minor problems . stick or wire weld shocks, better grade bearings, bushings, and ball joints, and of coarse their is nothing better than grease fittings. What maybe add 50$ to tyhe cost of the bike. that is just plain cheap insurance. Now the frame, I am afraid they got some bad steel Gm did in 02 Frame cracks on a lot of vehicles Neighbor van broke in half and ended up in ditch layed right down on road . Right now just waiting to see what AC is going to do. The bike has only 4800 miles, have talked to 2 others on Another site Coyotes-R-Us with similar issues. Does anyone know how to get past costomer service?
 
#8 ·
Hello to all on the Arctic Chat site. New member and have to agree with sanny651, it starts with the dealer. Have personally been dealing with Powerland Sports in Bancroft Ontario, Yeh way up here in the COLD NORTH and they have been great, both their sales and especially their service led by Ryan. Had an 04 650 V-TWIN and have purchased a T-Cat and can't wait for spring/summer. Wish I could say the same of AC Canada, took me 3 phone calls and three emails over a 2 week period to get a response from them re Canadian vs American pricing. 13,000+ here, 10,000+ there. Anyway, glad to post will be back. Happy Riding, Paul
 
#10 ·
Arctic Cat service, well like saud before , most important of all is the dealer , It all starts with the quality of the dealers service manager , these are the people who can get parts covered by warranty , it is their job to make sure the dealer gets reimbursed by AC when they replace a part on your atv, the mechanic if AC qualifies should be able to help pre diagnos the problem if it is common , and lastly a dealer who cares about more than your 10k that you spent on your bike and their $500.00 proffit they might have made .
The unfortunate part is that we are the customers of the dealers and they are in fact customers of Arctic Cat, and well it seems from my personal experience that AC leaves the dealers hanging out in the wind when it comes to more than a simple re & re of parts and a warranty claim . If there are major problems AC seems to not want to deal with the problems at hand . I just purchased a 2008 prowler XTX and the front dif blew appart at about 40mph causing the front tires to lock up and threw the unit in a circle , I have had the usual front and rear seal issues a total of 8 times now , I even made it quit clear to my dealer ( which I have had nothing but outstanding service from ) that this coudl have been a real bad mark against AC if I or my passenger had been hurt. I in the end gave them a choice , replace the unit or replace both front and rear diffs and axles and seals and I would give it another go. I have a total of 372miles on the unit , it has spent a total of 400miles on my trailer taking it back and forth for repair . I was there when all calls to AC were placed and for the fisrt 10 times or so there was only the usual " replace the seal , or axle or whatever , but never would they allow the dealer to go ahead and replace all of the above listed items" in the end the dealer is doing it for me and will fight with AC about the warranty.
This makes for an awkward situation when a dealer knows what will fix the problem and AC will not back them in their descision . Imagine how many or lackthere of ATV's AC dealers would sell if they were to give absolutly no service after sales to us the customer ! This is whats happening to our AC dealers , the good ones and the not so goos ones , they are left haging in the wind .
We need to help our dealers help us , the more complaints AC gets directly from us the end user of their product the more it may help us all. On a final note this is not an Arctic Cat issue only as it seems to be pretty much the same for all manufacturers, and not just ATV ones .
 
#11 ·
read all of the responses under cracked frames and you will see how great the customer service is..arctic cat has a huge problem and all they do is say your bike is out of warranty.i give them two thumbs down.3rd time cat owner by the way .loved there stuff until i had problems.basically they said your on your own..
 
#12 ·
When I purchased my 08 650H1 three months ago I was pleased with the overall purchase and got a fairly good deal. My salesperson introduced me to a couple of the guys in the service department and they told me that whether my cat was under the warranty period or not I would be taken care of. Well needless to say I took my bike to the dealer two weeks ago which is 10 minutes from my house and they took three days to even take a look at it. The following day I go in after the called me to pick it up. When I get there I ask about each point that I had issue with and each response was an obvious attempt to convince me that everything had been looked over and nothing wass wrong. On the electrical problems that I noted I flat out busted them on BS. I am a EE/T and can smell someone trying to BS me a mile away. I asked pointed questions and the tech looked at me like I was speaking to him in Hebrew. I knew at that point that the relationship between me and the dealer was nil from that point forward. My bike had been smoking for two rides and the dealer tried to tell me that it was something that I had done and the bike had ingested something into the top end but that they would work with me on the cost fo the repair. AllRighteyThen... I load the bike up and take it home. AChange the oil andthe spark plug several times and then run Seafoam thru the oil and change it yet again. Still smoking.

I finally take it to Steel Horses in Lufkin this week and got a completely different reception from Jeff and the rest of his guys. Jeff took the time to listen to my concerns and we even went into the lot with the bike still on the trailer Jeff and one of his techs physically looked at the things that I had problems with. One of the things being the plastics that the original dealer had broken. Jeff took note of the mileage on my bike 244, and was up front about what I should expect from him and his staff. Bear in mind that Steel Horses is a 224 mile round trip from my front door. I firmly believe it is worth taking it up there to Jeff for any problems or service work that needs to be done in the future. I know that he will have my bike for a few weeks but trust that they will treat the work on my bike like they are working on one of their own personal team bikes.

If anyone wants to know which dealer tried to break it off in my backside PM me, I won't publicly bash them... Nor will I ever refer ANYONE to them for anything. I guess what ticks me off the most is that not only did I buy a bike from them but I referred a friend to them who purchased the same bike I have. I guess they made their money on this one... But won't get another dime from me if I can help it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top