To the Editor:
My Yamaha golf cart needed service, so I called The Villages Golf Cars in Lake Sumter Landing to schedule an appointment. The representative told me that, due to a new policy, I could not schedule a service appointment because I didn’t buy my cart at their dealership. She offered that I could try to drop off my cart without an appointment, but she couldn’t guarantee that they would take the drop off. She could guarantee that if I tried to drop it off that day I would be turned away because they were already turning people away.
It bugged me that I couldn’t make a service appointment, especially for a repair that was covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, so I called the manufacturer. Yamaha Golf-Car Company confirmed that they do not require their dealers to make service appointments and apologized for the inconvenience. I can easily make an appointment with a factory-authorized dealer to service my car, refrigerator, oven, stove, dishwasher, washer, dryer, air conditioner, water heater, water softener, ceiling fan, TV, computer, cell phone, and more. I should be able to make an appointment to service my golf cart. Every other manufacturer I deal with finds a way to make it work. Why doesn’t Yamaha? Especially here, in a community with 50,000 golf carts.
Yamaha should increase supply to meet demand. Perhaps if enough of us tell them that they will listen. You can call Yamaha Golf-Car Company at 1-866-747-4027.
Glenn Galfond
Village of Pine Ridge