Opinions on the Boise Snowmobile Expo

I have to agree, I was not sure if Puyallup is just a bigger deal or ... not sure.

Disapointed over all. I went with the plan to spend a pretty good chunk of change but there was nothing there that I needed. I like to shop the "out of date stuff" at the shows but no one had any. I did get the "we can order it" from about three vendors.

Only like three people selling used parts and what 10 used sleds... not worth the nearly three hours I drove to attend.

I love going to the Expo's but this one not worth it.

It is disappointing that the Boise show has been getting smaller.
It is not for a lack of effort to get it going. Robin, Lane, and the crew putting on the event work very hard to increase the size and attendance of the show.

I appreciate all the time involved and will attend the show and spend money as long as they are willing to keep going.

From a previous vendor point of view, the Boise show is a joke.
There are a few factors that go into this.

The whole Friday Saturday thing does not work. Who ever pushed for that was just wrong from a business point of view.
Friday is out because if you can afford to ride snowmobiles, you have a job. That leaves Saturday. BSU plays pretty much every Saturday and pulls 35,000 people right off the top and the Boise area just isn't huge. That 35K people is JUST the ones at the stadium. Now how many are watching the team on TV?

From there, Boise is one of the most expensive shows to set up at for the lowest return, lowest attendance, and thus the lowest exposure.
Snowest puts on the Boise and SLC shows.
Both are Friday Sat shows. The only difference is that SLC has a much bigger population base to pull from making it a little bit profitable. It could and would be a much bigger and better show as well making it Sat Sun like the rest. I would think that after all these years, the promoters would figure it out. Generally I would make on these 2 combined about what I would make on the 1 day show in Spokane.

Most shows are REALLY busy one day and REALLY slow on the other. You never know if the busy day is the Saturday or the Sunday going in to them. I think it depends on what events and all the show is competing with.

Take all this back to the Boise show. Sled shows can not compete with showing up for work, so the Friday crowd will just not be there. Take a lot of the riders out because 1/2 of them are at the game or at work (a lot of people work Saturdays) or stuck doing something else and the Saturday crowd isn't there.

With out having the people there, the vendors won't be paying the $$$ to be there. It is $450 for a 10'x10' booth with nothing but a table. Price goes up exponentially with size. Now add in the travel and motel expense, the inventory expense to stock up before going, displays are not cheep, fuel, food, employees to either cover the show or the shop, etc etc etc.
It becomes a situation that's just not worth it to a vendor because he can't make his money back.

With out more and good vendors, the crowds don't care to make time to show up because they can get the same deals at their local shop with out paying admittance fees.

Like stated above, this is NOT a bashing thing.
I posted this up in the hopes that the people who put it on can possibly take some good from it and apply it to what is going on here.

Thanks GWR ,

that helps, 450 seems high for a small booth to me but have no idea what other shows cost. It's the small lower volume dealers that I missed the most.

Also I have to agree the fri-sat thing is stupid. I had a room for the night due to the drive and would have attended on sunday ... if it was open. Friday is a No go, just like you stated work trumps toys.

Any idea what used part spaces go for? I know in puyallup they just charge you for your parking space and you sell in used parts and sleds in the parking lot... no joke there are hundreds of used sleds at that show. Many simply with a phone number to the owner who is roaming the show as well.

Being snowest sponsored I expected more ... the full bar was cool!!

Next year I'll try utah ... or WA.

REBUTTAL

To Whom it May Concern;

Shane Lewis, owner of Blown Motor here. Please take the time to read the attached image and make your own educated decisions about this claim. We went above and beyond normal support to try and rectify this situation, even contacted 509 directly from our end to make sure they took care of your claim. To which they had not even heard from you before you said they gave you the run around. 509 is a GREAT company and has no reason to tarnish their reputation over a 50 dollar sweatshirt, if you had contacted them, they would have responded. And yet they still tried to get ahold of you to STILL provide a new sweatshirt to you free of charge just to smooth the situation.

We did what we could, we cannot be warranting stuff out of our inventory here at the shop, all warranties ALWAYS go through the manufacturer. Sorry about the bad luck, but every effort was made to rectify this situation the best it could have been. Speaking ill of a company, especially a new one is no way to go about it either, especially when the facts were omitted.

Funny, you say you can't warranty from your stock but that's exactly what another vendor did... hmm.

You have a contact within 509, yet when I called I was told they would not issue the REO (or what ever he called it) number for a return without the receipt that I was never furnished... by your people at the show.

On the 19th you told me to contact 509, I did and they told me the above,

On the 26th I responded ( upset by now ) that there was no suport from 509

Then on the 29th you say you can replace the shirt ... yet your above post states you can't do that.

By this time the shirt was already being replaced by someone ( another 509 dealer ) who also felt that this was crappy customer service.

The crappy part is this is not even 509's fault it was a bad shirt they bought from port authority... simple, bad shirt, replace with good shirt. I love 509 gear and will continue to use it.

See in Red...

jacmmaxwell said:

Funny, you say you can't warranty from your stock but that's exactly what another vendor did... hmm.

That so called dealer obviously had reasons to try and get you as a customer, to which this so called dealer has yet to say they actually did that or if that is just a statement. You expect us to warranty stuff from warranty for all defects in a product all year long? At the volumes we do that would require a whole new position and employee just to track that information. There is a reason manufacturers warranty and have policies in place, because it is their responsibility to stand behind their products.

You have a contact within 509, yet when I called I was told they would not issue the REO (or what ever he called it) number for a return without the receipt that I was never furnished... by your people at the show.

We offer a receipt to anybody and everybody who asks for them, and 509 does not require a receipt for warranty. Shows are a funny circumstance in the fact that we are so busy that we do not have time to manually write out a receipt for cash purchases, and if you had run the card we offer to send that via email, in fact I still can send that if you ran your card. I am the person who checked you out at the register, I know this for fact.

On the 19th you told me to contact 509, I did and they told me the above,

Proof? We have all our emails saved for documentation, if you can provide that they told you they couldnt do anything, dont you think we would have contacted them directly to say yes he bought from us?? Was this a phone conversation?? Because if it was, they document those in case files and have no documentation of speaking with you....

On the 26th I responded ( upset by now ) that there was no suport from 509

Then on the 29th you say you can replace the shirt ... yet your above post states you can't do that.

On the 26th you did respond, upset, to us at Blown Motor. Then on the 29th, what you fail to see is that we didn't offer to get you a new shirt, Joanne at 509 offered to fix the situation, because up till this point records show no contact between you and them. They too went out of their way to help you out...

By this time the shirt was already being replaced by someone ( another 509 dealer ) who also felt that this was crappy customer service.

The crappy part is this is not even 509's fault it was a bad shirt they bought from port authority... simple, bad shirt, replace with good shirt. I love 509 gear and will continue to use it.

Please explain to me why your frustration is at us then, if you are not frustrated at the manufacturer?? Makes no sense....you are still happy with a company you "say" did not want to warranty your stuff, but not happy with the company who tried to contact and get your product warranted by the rightful company, the manufacturer.

Click to expand...

Hi Josh, Tom here representing 509.

First off, I apologize for the warranty issue. As you know in textiles, there are occasional blems in terms of sewing, fabric, etc. That being said we ALWAYS stand behind ANY product we sell.

We have no record of you contacting us. We searched all email and phone records and didn't find any inquiry. Our staff is fully trained and takes great pride in warrantying any manufacturers defect. We would not have denied a claim simply because there was no receipt. As you can see in Joanne's repeated attempts to contact you, we do whatever it takes to make a situation right. We've just never received any response back to allow us to fix this problem.

In regards to Blown Motor asking you to contact us directly, that is at 509's request. We request ALL 509 dealers refer warranty claims directly so we can promptly handle them and make the situation right. This is not an attempt of Blown Motor to "pass the buck", but its our dealer policy.

This is a very odd situation. As you can see both 509 & Blown Motor have attempted to make this right, yet we are unable to without your responses to our requests. If you have not received a replacement (which it sounds like you have), please just simply call us (1-877-743-3509). We strive to make all situations right. And as part of our authorized dealer terms, we require our dealers to do the same.

I did call, was told without a receipt I could not get the shirt replaced.

No I was not offered a receipt, and did pay cash.

Yes I was issued a replacment that I received today, in the wrong size so more to the issues.

I understand shows are crazy, that is why I was not upset until getting the " Sorry we aren't going to help you, call someone else " email

All I wanted was the product I paid for.

Hi Josh,

I apologize if you were told we wouldn't stand behind our products. No receipt/no warranty has never been our policy and I work within earshot of our customer service team and have never once heard them say that.

As I've mentioned to you numerous times and as our customer support has emailed to you numerous times. We do stand behind our products and are willing to do an exchange with you at no cost. It simply takes 1 call: 1-877-743-3509. I can only offer to make this right so many times, before I feel like you are not interested in playing ball. The phone lines are open 9-5 and the call is free. Couldn't be easier.

509, and blownmotor are working to resolve the issue and with better communication on all parts, myself included this would not have been nearly as big of an issue.

At the time of the post, I felt this was the service ( or lack of ) I was receiving. As of now both are working to resolve the issue harder than many companies.

Blownmotor, I should have called vs email this seemed to be the break down in the begining.

509 did indeed try to contact me to resolve the issue a week ago but the email went to spam and I did not see it until they told me they tryed to contact me.

My post was made in anger, and was premature... I did indeed edit that portion out of my post, only to remove it from being read anymore. Not to hide the fact that I was a prick... that has been proven.

Josh, it's all good! Miscommunications happen, just call or email and we'll get the exchange going no sweat!

jacmmaxwell said:

509, and blownmotor are working to resolve the issue and with better communication on all parts, myself included this would not have been nearly as big of an issue.

At the time of the post, I felt this was the service ( or lack of ) I was receiving. As of now both are working to resolve the issue harder than many companies.

Blownmotor, I should have called vs email this seemed to be the break down in the begining.

509 did indeed try to contact me to resolve the issue a week ago but the email went to spam and I did not see it until they told me they tryed to contact me.

My post was made in anger, and was premature... I did indeed edit that portion out of my post, only to remove it from being read anymore. Not to hide the fact that I was a prick... that has been proven.

Click to expand...

wasn't this thread supposed to be about the Boise Expo

not some dissatified customer over a bad shirt.

I went 2 years ago and it was weak. tried to talk to Rocky sessions about their kits. He treated me as if I was a big bother to ask some questions. he told me to go find his son at their booth. I still regret buying that damn boondocker turbo. but it was a good deal, paid $9500 ran it for a season and sold it for $9500 plus kept a $500 SKID seat off of it.