Removing the “Unwarranted Issues” in Warranty & Issues Management
Unwarranted Issues: A Discussion with Captain Brandon, Co-founder of VesselWise
January 24, 2015
I had a chance to meet with Brandon in Fort Lauderdale recently. Brandon is a well-traveled yachtsman, adventurer, and captain who has been in the maritime industry for well over a decade. Brandon recently finished working in Italy where he was sent as consultant by MarineMax to oversee the year-long construction of Azimut’s new 84-foot custom yacht, which was docked for display at a MarineMax dealership in Fort Lauderdale. We met up with Brandon on his precious 84-foot yacht.
The sort of detailing that went into building this custom yacht was visibly incredible. And Brandon, quite proudly, showed us around. Our tour around the boat soon had me asking, “What kind of effort goes into surveying these yachts?” By the end of our conversation, I could see why VesselWise was “The Tool” captains, yacht managers and surveyors would want.
Brandon explained to me the entire sequence of surveys a vessel goes through from the time it’s built: the Dealer Pre-purchase survey, Ship Offloading and Protocol of Acceptance survey, In-stock survey, After Sales survey, Buyer Pre-purchase survey, Dealer Trade-in survey and In-stock Pre-sell survey among various other types.
The following evening, I had a chance to visit the yacht again, where Mike, captain for one of MarineMax’s clients, was getting ready to take over its charge. 
He showed us his list of survey items—which I couldn’t help but take a photograph of—as he said, “You see this? This is a list of issues I have spotted. I’ve written them on paper. I need this app.”
Surveying a vessel is a complex undertaking, and for boat owners, the value of their boat is massively impacted by its maintenance and management. If surveyors had a powerful tool at hand to carry out accurate surveys, and if captains and yacht managers had a more effective and streamlined means of dialogue with dealer, service and warranty representatives, managing service- and warranty-related issues would become a much more organized affair.
The purpose of our visit to Fort Lauderdale was to meet with surveyors, manufacturers, dealers, captains and yacht management professionals to understand how things are currently done in the maritime industry regarding yacht survey and issue management. What we learned from practically all of these professionals, as well as from some yacht owners themselves, was that there is a clear lack of coordination in this cumbersome process.
The founders’ goal in bringing the VesselWise platform to the public is to address just these challenges. For Brandon, creating a more efficient process for resolving these unwarranted issues is not just a practical concern. It’s about making sure yacht owners can enjoy the ownership of their yacht to the fullest!
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