Country Auto and Marine

This consumer response was received by Revdex.com via phone.The consumer stated the following:- He filed a civil case against the business due to negligence about a week after filing his Revdex.com complaint- The consumer said the business's insurance company got in contact with him around Jul 17th or 18th and asked to meet with him and check his boat out- The consumer said the insurance adjuster/*** *** determined the business was at fault, the work was not done on the boat that the business owner claimed and the case was settled outside of court.- The consumer said he agreed to a $settlement and has paperwork to show the case was settled with prejudice

Country Auto & MarineState Rd.Ashtabula, Ohio 44004To Whom It May Concern.*** ***r first came to my business in April of with a *** *** ** *** *** to get a radio installed and a GPS and also for oil changes on motors and a tune up to the one motorWe finished
the repairs and everything was fineAt the end of May he then contacted me again saying that a mechanic from a *** *** *** said he needed one new motor that it was badI went down an inspected both the engines and they both seem to be running fineHe told me he was getting a lot of smoke in the engine compartment which I did notice, he had blow by going on (which means compression is going past the pistons forcing oil and smoke to go with it)On several occasions I explained to him that these engines were a mistake from Mercruiser (they only made them for a few short years because they had so many manufacturer problems with them) they are not the greatest motorsI also explained to him that they are years old motors and mercruiser has not made them in years and parts are very hard to findI told him the boat was not worth putting in new motorsHe insisted that I do it anywaySo at the beginning of June we installed long block motors into his boat under his request and again against my recommendationsLong blocks means just the head block, crank and pistons in the lower half of the motorWe had to install all his year old parts onto the new motorsWe finish the boat on July 2016, a week after he picked the boat up he called me saying the motors were smoking and not running rightI immediately went to meet with him at his Boat club and we took it for a ride so I could see what was going onWe started off fine and both new motors ran great with no problemsWe made it just past the Bridge street lift bridge when I noticed that his one outdrive was not workingAs I was inspecting everything we had done I did notice that the one motor did have a small oil leak due to a crack on the valve coverRemember this was using his year old parts so this more than likely was cracked due to thatI then decided to take the boat back to my shop so I could fix that and see what was going on with the outdriveI then replaced the valve cover with no labor charge just charged for the part which was another used part because you can't get new parts which had been explained from the beginningWhile we had the boat back to my shop I needed to figure out what had went wrong with the one outdrive that wasn’t working, only to find out that he ran the boat into some rocks and snapped the shaft on the outdriveSo now I had to put a lower unit on his boat.and more new props which was finished on 7/29/I then went for another test drive with him and again the motors ran great with no problems, no smoke or no oil leaksAs we were coming back in from the test drive on the Lake, I had him driving as I was going through everything with him as his passengerWhile we were waiting for the lift bridge to go up to get back down the river he stalled one motor putting It into gear , he went into a complete panic, which I then had to take over the wheel as he was heading for the public dockWhen you have two motors and one goes down you should neverloose control of the boat if you know how to operate the boat correctlyI brought the boat back under control and started the stalled motor back up fine with no issues, and we went back to his boat clubAt that time I recommended he take a boating coarse (as we had discussed prior that he had no boating experience) and after witnessing how out of control he became and not knowing what to do when a motor went down temporallyThe next week after, the worker from his dock had informed me that hethen got the boat stuck in shallow water at the Marina and he then abandoned the boat until October 14th which was a few days prior to the last date for boats to be pulled from that dock for the seasonthat he kept his boat atHe then called me to ask if I could come back down and retrieve the boat and bring it back to my shop to get it out of the water and get it shrink wrapped and winterized for thewinter in which I didAs I got the boat onto his trailer to bring to my shop his one tire blew and I thenhad to deal with jacking the trailer up and putting a temporary tire on it just to get it back to my shopHe then came to pay for the winterization and tires and NEVER complained of any more problems at that timeWhile I was getting the boat winter ready I then noticed he AGAIN completely destroyed theboat props and the outdrive on starboard side was damaged from the rocks, the boat canvas was rippedfrom leaving it abandoned so long at the end of the summer till I pulled it outThe boat was left in bad shape from his lack of boating knowledge to drive a boat! He asked to store his boat for the winter at my shop which I didFast forward to 6/20/we had the engines running great, put on TWO MORE NEW props and put new tires on the trailerHe then took the boat from my shop and was getting ready for the summer boating seasonThree weeks later he came in and said "the motors popped and smoke came out into the boat the other motor kicked the boat into the breakwall" I assumed the boat had sunk and the motors got completely ruined from water coming in to the boat from him hitting thebreakwallI informed him at that time to let me know if he was making an insurance claim to see if theboat was fixable or notI never said I wouldn’t work on it, if the boat was able to be fixed I would'veIn my opinion, he has never took a boating coarse and this boat is way to big for him to handle as a first time boaterI believe he is creating the problems from his lack of knowledgeThe motors come with aone year warranty and I will still stand behind the motors , I have all documentations of the repairs and all his old parts including the banged up outdrives

This  business response was received by Revdex.com via phone.Tom [redacted], he said the complaint matter has been resolved through his ins co: [redacted], the owner said the consumer agreed to a settlement.