Rogge Builders, Inc.

I
would like to state that as a practice marine repair shops do not verify that
every boat they repair has the proper motor, nor do they check to see that the
boat has the appropriate amount of life jackets, fire extinguishers, or other
safety equipment unless we are asked. This is the boat...

owner's responsibility.
It is not fair to expect us to verify the appropriateness of the motor for a
given boat. I don't believe that any customer would wish to pay for the time to
check all this information. In this particular case, we did not become aware
that the motor was not proper for the boat until we were nearly complete with
the repairs to it. Had we known up front, we would not have worked on the motor
to begin with.I do
understand customer's concerns. Although his motor runs as could be expected,
his boat is not safe to use as it is. He was advised at the time he brought the
boat in for repair that we bill time and material. I told him on May 14 in an
email that we were a week and a half behind. He did not bring the boat in until
May 26. At that time we had more workload in front of him as a result of the
Memorial Day holiday. In addition the best we can do is to give an approximate
date as to when we could start on it. It so happened that we had some time
consuming jobs ahead of his boat that took a great deal more time than we had
initially anticipated.As he
indicated in his complaint, he was informed at various stages during the repair
process. Admittedly, communication was made a bit difficult since at different
times the customer, his wife, and son would call and ask for updates. From the
nature of the calls, it was apparent that they may not have been communicating
among one another from the questions we received. We advised the customer and
his son on June 25 that we noticed on June 24 that the Coast Guard capacity
label stated the maximum capacity of his boat was 90hp, but the motor mounted
on the boat was a 150hp. I told him I was concerned for his family's safety and
that his insurance company may refuse to pay any claim if something were to
happen. His response was that it didn't make any difference to him one way or
another. He wanted us to get the motor to run properly. I told him that we were
trying to save him money on parts and time where we could. He pulled a roll of
money out of his pocket and stated that money was no object and he wanted the
boat fixed at any cost by the weekend. I told him we would do our best. I had
an experienced mechanic scheduled the evening of the 25th for other
work, but could put him on the job to follow through on the troubleshooting so
that we could meet his timeline. Following that conversation we spent another 7
hours (billed for 6) troubleshooting and repairing the motor, not 11 hours as
he stated in his complaint. I did not tell him that the boat would never run. I
told him that we fixed his motor and the motor ran fine; however, because of
how his heavier higher horsepower motor was mounted so low on the stern of his
boat, it would probably not operate properly without further modification.He approved the work as we went forward. As was explained to the customer on an older motor such as his, we cannot simply plug a computer into the motor and have the diagnosis spit out.
It is a methodical process that takes time and is subject to delays in
obtaining proper repair parts. You have to take it one step at a time. You fix
one issue so that you are in a position to go forward with the troubleshooting.
The initial check out was one hour. We told him the spark plug threads were
stripped out of the motor's one cover plate. We gave him a price for replacing
the cover plate and gasket, but found the cover plate was no longer available
from Mercury due to the age of the motor. We then installed a helicoil with the
customer's approval and replaced 2 thermostats that were missing from the
motor. We then advised the carburetors needed to be cleaned and overhauled
which is not unusual for such an old motor and ethanol fuel. There was 5 hours
labor billed for this and associated water tests and troubleshooting. At that
point of the customer's visit on June 25, the total was $1,052.73 including
$118.91 parts, $855 labor, $9.95 shop fee and related sales tax. After the
customer told us on June 25 that under no uncertain terms that he wanted the
motor fixed at any cost by the weekend, we spent an additional 6 hours
adjusting timing settings, throttle stop settings, etc. back to factory
settings, pulling the fuel pump and checking for leaks, checking customer's
fuel vs. a controlled fuel mix, and pulling the customer's propeller to run to
a Propeller repair facility to have the propeller checked and then remount on
customer's boat. We ran the boat on a hose and were satisfied it was running as
it should. We then water tested the boat and found that although the motor ran
well, the boat would not handle properly. Our feeling is that it is a
combination of the weight of the motor and the way it is mounted on the boat.
(See Note below)I stand
by our invoice which is $1,716.13 including tax. Although we told the customer
up front we invoice time and material, we actually billed at least 3 hours less
than the time we had into the job. I would offer to help him find an
appropriate used motor for his boat and help sell his 150hp motor if he wants
us to.Note 1:From my research on the
weights of the customer's motor vs. the boat's original maximum horsepower 90
hp Force motor I determined the
following:150hp
Mercury Black Max motor on boat/90hp Force (as originally equipped) = 67% over
rated hp capacity. Weight of the 150hp Mercury Black Max motor vs. the original
Force 90 hp motor 380Ibs/2551bs= 49% more than original maximum intended motor
weight. From my research, this additional weight can have significant effect on
the performance of the boat and can make it easier to flip on a turn. The
original 90 hp motor would represent 17% of the weight of the boat without the
motor (12351bs). The 150 hp motor would represent 31% of the weight of the boat
without the motor. The 150hp motor on the customer's boat is mounted
approximately in the same position as the lighter weight 90hp motor would have
been mounted. Perhaps if it was mounted higher it would not sit so deeply into
the water. This boat would have been manufactured with the maximum 255 lb motor
mounted in a certain way on the transom. The weight of the passengers, gear,
and fuel would have been taken into consideration as well as how the weight
would have been distributed. Handling of the boat could be dramatically
affected with significant changes to the way the weight and power is
distributed.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Procrastination at its best along with the lack of knowledge and skill to complete the service I am to pay for. Dave waits exactly 30 days to respond knowing it will put me near the end of the boating season. First the weight difference he makes reference to between a 90hp and 150hp motor is only 80lbs. Half the weight of an average person in the back of the boat. All though I agree the boat should not have that motor for safety concerns. Myself and 4 other marine repair shops agree that it's not the weight of the motor is not causing the issue in performance. The motor boggs down under a load the same as any kind of engine would if it was not fixed or timed properly. I was never told a total at any point even after asking until the Friday June 26th the dayI wanted to pick the boat up repaired for a camping trip. Dave advised me a couple  days before in person that the boat was apart and needed a high speed stator. We agreed to move forward and instead of putting it in charged me 10hrs to reset the existing one which by all other mechanics say there is not much to adjust like points and distributor in a car maybe 1 hour complete start to finish. The fact is after much research and opinions from professional marine mechanics it is most likely the switch box that is bad on the boat. This as well as the high speed stator that he did not replace will cause the boat to run great on land with no load but, fail in the water when put under pressure or a true load. The fact is this repair shop could not diagnosis the issue and wants to charge me for repairs that were not needed or necessary. As far as the safety issue if he repaired the engine I could easily sell it and buy the proper motor for that boats specifications. In addition I never signed anything authorizing any repairs on this boat period not even an initial estimate. Dave failed to keep in contact on repairs and quotes, put the job off for 4 weeks and has had the boat now for over 2 months and it's still not fixed. He insulted myself and my son when I went to check on the boat in person. Left the boat uncovered. The only solution he ever offered was for me to take my boat that day in pieces. He had an off the books moonlighting mechanic working on it that could not fix the issue. He tried to blame the previous owner of the the boat of selling a lemon then went into the safety of the boat blaming that as the issue. Bottom line he didn't and can't fix the boat. I am told by 4 other marine mechanics that the boat with that motor should jump out of the water on a plane and do close to 70mph safe or unsafe period. I don't believe I should have to pay an outrageous bill for work that was performed that wasn't needed, not done in a timely fashion, and ultimately didn't even fix the boat.
Regards,
[redacted]