*** *** Revdex.com 512-*** ***@austin.Revdex.com.org Case ID: *** Mr*** *** did purchase a new Skeeter boat with two new *** ci HD DI fish finder GPS combo units from South Austin Marine in February of this yearThe customer requested these two
*** units to be installed by South Austin Marine before he took delivery of his boatHe wanted one unit to be flush mounted in the drivers console dash and the other unit to be flush mounted in the bow of the boat. His salesperson *** *** lake tested the boat the day before the customer drove from Arkansas to pick up his new boat. *** checked all systems including the engine, accessory components, and the electronics that were installedEverything was working correctly, but *** noticed the *** unit mounted in the drivers console dash was slower to connect to GPS than the one mounted in the bow. To verify the situation, *** called *** technical service and explained the situation to them and they explained to us that these units have internal GPS antennas installed in them and sometimes there could be interference when flush mounted in the console dash which may cause the unit to take longer to connect to GPS, upwards of minutes. The unit mounted flush in the bow is mounted horizontally open to the sky and would connect faster to GPSThe unit mounted in the drivers console dash is mounted vertically with the fiberglass console and windshield covering the unit which could make it harder for the unit to connect to GPS since it is not completely open to the sky*** said the customer could purchase an optional *** external GPS puck antenna that could make the unit receive GPS signals better*** told Mr*** that the unit mounted in the drivers console took about minutes to connect to GPS and he may have to purchase the optional *** external GPS puck antennaHe was fine with this at the time of delivery. One final note, both units were working properly when the customer took delivery of the boat, his claim is that it was defective right out of the box On Monday March 30, Mr*** called *** and said the drivers console dash mounted unit is not receiving a GPS signal at all. He took his own unit out of the drivers console to test if it would receive a GPS signal when removed from the dast would not pick up any signal at this time which is different than when he took delivery of the boat because it would connect to GPS in about minutes *** asked Mr*** to call ***s customer service line to get a RMA number to get the unit repairedMr*** stated at this time he did not want the unit repaired but replaced*** told the customer he would have to take this up with *** because it was a warranty issue with them and the unit had already been warranty registered with ***On the morning of March 31, Mr*** called *** and explained to us that he spoke to *** and they would not replace his unit and it would take 3-weeks to repair and return his unitMr*** explained to *** that South Austin Marine needed to replace his unit with a new one and for South Austin Marine to send his unit back to *** and deal with the warranty issue*** told Mr*** he would call *** to see if they could give him a new unit*** called *** customer service and asked them to look up Mr***’s conversations about the *** in his dash not working*** explained to *** what was going on with the customers unit not working*** told the warranty representative at *** that Mr*** would only be happy with a new unit and not repairing his current unit*** was put on hold while she went to talk to her supervisor and she explained to *** that *** does not make that unit anymore and they could not replace itWe then asked if they could replace it with a newer style unit and he could pay the difference, and she said he could not. *** explained to *** that the 3-week turnaround was not acceptable and they needed to expedite the repairs on his unitThe *** agent gave *** a RMA number with notes in it to give to Mr*** and they would have his unit repaired and sent back within 3-business days instead of the 3-weeks Mr*** was told earlier *** *** called Mr*** back that morning and explained how *** was going to resolve the warranty issue on his unit, but he was not satisfied with their resolution and still wanted a new unit and wanted to speak to the owner of South Austin Marine*** then went to the parts department to check if we had any units in stock like Mr*** had purchased so we could possibly give him the same unit he had purchased, but we did notThe only units that were in stock were the newer style units that have different transducers and cables*** *** the owner and *** *** then called Mr*** back that morning to try and resolve the issueWe had told him if we had the same unit that was mounted on his boat we could trade him out because the transducer and cables are the sameHe still wanted us to give him one of our newer style units but we tried to explain to Mr*** that we would be stuck with used cables, transducer and unit that we could not sell as new or warranty registerHe still insisted on a new unit and not having his unit repaired since he had just bought the boat a month agoWe then explained to Mr*** that we have to adhere to ***’s warranty procedures and they were not willing to give him a new unit, but only repair his unit since the unit he purchased is no longer available from ***At that time Mr*** asked for our company name and if I was the owner of South Austin marine and he was going to take us to small claims courtI then told him our conversation was over I feel South Austin Marine did everything possible to resolve the issue with Mr***, but he was unwilling to abide by ***’s warranty proceduresMr*** even spoke to ***’s customer service department directly and was told they would not replace his unit with a new one, but repair his unitHe should not be upset with South Austin Marine, but thankful we were able to get *** to expedite the repair of his unit*** was willing to repair his unit in a reasonable amount of time, 3-business days and he would he would receive his unit back working properly with the same warrantyAll issues would have been resolved and his unit would still be under warrantyThank You, *** *** South Austin Marine
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:I appreciate the fact that sometimes gps units can have problems connecting due to interference from obstructionsThat makes sense to meHowever, that isn't the case in this situation. I did a test yesterday (4/1/) to see what would happen if I installed the bow unit into the console dashI mounted it exactly as the defective unit was mounted and used the same power hook upEverything was exactly the sameThe two units are exactly alikeIf one has problems connecting the other one should as wellI powered on the unit and the gps was working within secondsLater on after I had put my boat back into my garage I powered the good unit back up to see if it would get signal from inside my garageIt workedThe good unit got gps signal inside my garageThe obstruction theory is not validI have video to prove thisI maintain that the unit was defective from the startTherefore, it should be replaced with another brand new unit, or a refundIt should be the responsibility of South Austin Marine to make sure my brand new boat and all of it's contents and features are new and working as they shouldNone of it should be a refurbished itemI will be glad to send the video that I spoke of earlier to Mr ***I hope that he will live up to their mission statement that is posted on the South Austin Marine websiteIt says in part " ensuring that you have the best experience possible"I was having the best experience possible until all of thisI'm not a hard person and I'm not trying to get something for nothingI just want what I paid
Regards,
*** ***
[redacted] I am sorry you still have a
misunderstanding of the facts. We never
removed your power steering belt, we replaced the circulating water pump which
has a separate belt. Your boat is 13 years old and belts stretch over time. We
found the belt in the bilge under the engine, it must have come off because it
had too much slack in it from stretching. Again, even if that belt had been
left off, which we never removed, this has nothing to do with the power
steering cylinder in the back of the boat leaking. You approved the repair work
to be done, which is why if you were blaming us for causing your power steering
cylinder to fail you should have taken it to another dealership and received a
second opinion. They would have told you the same thing, nothing we did caused
the leak in your power steering cylinder. Your power steering pump is mounted
on the front of the motor and power steering cylinder is mounted in the back of
the boat under all the upholstery, they are separate parts. If you had requested us to save your power
steering cylinder, we would have given the defective unit back to you, but you
did not request us to hold the part so we disposed of it as we usually do. As
for the speedo not working, we removed lots of trash from the hose the first
time and tested it on our air hose and it works fine, we did find the pitot was
kicked up so we put it back in place. [redacted] you are mistaken what [redacted] our service manager told you about bringing your boat back in if the
repair did not work this time. We will honor our work 100%, if it is not
working, we will fix it. What he told you was that in the future it would best
if you found another dealership to do your repairs, we believe that would be
the best interest for both parties since you were saying you are going to sue
us and very argumentative to our cashier and service manager, but we will stand
behind the repairs we did. This is the last reply I will do
regarding this matter to the Revdex.com since you have directed me to respond only to
your attorney.
Please allow me to address the issues as described by Mr. [redacted] in his response to our complaint.. “First issue is MR. [redacted] was given an estimate for service of $4,175 and not $3,000” This is incorrect. On February 27th 2015, [redacted] Lawder of SAM sent me an estimate of $4,730 which I questioned with Mr. [redacted] on the same date. On March 4th 2015, [redacted]Lawder of SAM sent a revised estimate for the work for $3,849. Both of these estimates contained two types of pricing – those with the word Est. in from and those without. For example: Oil filter change on both main engines Est. $675 Replace anodes if needed ...⇄ $695 The Est. refers to an estimated cost. If it doesn’t have an Est. in front of it, it’s a fixed cost. I also disputed these costs with Mr. [redacted] in an email sent March 23rd 2015 and in a subsequent conversation agreed that they were estimates based on time. The work proceeded and as I have stated previously, I was happy to do so because the deviance was in the estimated labor costs which I knew I could track. From the second estimate of $3,849, I received a bill of $4,091 based on 14.5 hours of labor when there had been a maximum of 8 hours of labor supplied. On the bill, South Austin Marine state: ESTIMATES ARE NOT QUOTES, THERE MAY BE DIFFERENCES IN THE FINAL INVOICE FROM AN INITIAL ESTIMATE. So, it seems from South Austin Marine’s perspective that an estimate is only good if its more than the actual but if its less, they reserve the right to put up the price. Once again, I ask South Austin Marine to charge the correct hours for labor, 8 hours and stop trying to tell me that because I read an estimate of 14.5 hours, they provide 8 but want to charge for 14.5 because somehow agreed to the estimate – I agreed it was an estimate, not a fixed charge. Thank you.
Regards,
[redacted]
Mr. [redacted] claims that South Austin
Marine broke his boat and charged him $3,000. This not correct, we actually repaired the
items that were broken on his boat and that he requested to have repaired.On 5/24/17 he brought in his boat
because the speedometer was not working, the remote for...
the stereo needed to be
replaced, and the power steering was making noise (he was not 100% sure). We unclogged the passage to the speedo pitot
and replaced the stereo transom remote.The issue of the power steering pump
making noise is the customers main complaint. After our technician test ran the
engine on a water hose, he found that the water circulating pump on the front
of the engine had a bad bearing and was making noise, not the power steering
pump. We called the customer on 5/26/17 to get his approval to replace the
circulating pump, and he gave the ok to fix it. He picked up his boat on
6/19/17 and the total of the repairs was $759.04.On 6/19/17 the customer brought the boat
back to our dealership because the power steering belt come off and was laying
in the bilge under the engine. We found the belt had stretched from age, the
boat is 13 years old, so belts stretch over time. I believe he is misunderstood
and thinks we did not put his belt back on when we did the initial repairs and
this is what eventually led to the failures with his boat. First, we did not
remove the power steering belt, we replaced the water circulating pump, which
has a separate belt, we never removed his power steering belt. His belt coming
off was due to the belt stretching and the age of the belt, not us removing it.
He picked up his boat on 6/27/17 and the total of the repairs was $64.18. Also,
we did not charge him labor to replace the belt, only for the parts.On 7/5/17 the customer brought his boat
back for a third time because he had little or no steering and it shook
violently. He was correct, we found his
power steering bottle almost empty. This is where the customer tried to blame
us for his steering going out due to South Austin Marine not installing his
power steering belt back on. Like I stated earlier, we never removed his power
steering pump belt, but even with that being the case, this had nothing to do
with his power steering cylinder going out. These are two totally unrelated
issues. To find the leak we had to add dye & fluid to the steering system
and run the engine on the hose. This is where we found his power steering
cylinder on the back of the boat was leaking, nothing to do with the power
steering pump on the front of the boat. On 7/10/17 we gave the customer an
estimate of $877.09 for parts, $910.00 labor, plus shop supplies and sales tax.
He approved the repairs on that day. We had to remove all the upholstery in the
back of the boat to even gain access to the power steering cylinder, plus one
of the exhaust risers had to be removed so the cylinder could be replaced. We completed the repairs and his steering
works fine. The total of the repairs
with tax was $2,066.48 which was $49.10 more that the estimate we had given him
because we had to remove one of the exhaust risers and replace the gasket, but
we did not charge any additional labor, only the price of the gasket. He came
into our dealership on 7/20/17 to pick up his boat and was very argumentative
to our cashier and service manager. He was still trying to blame us for
breaking his boat and saying he was going to sue us. We again tried to explain to him what broke
and it is a fault of no one. The boat is 13 years old and things start to break
at that age and boats do require maintenance, like your car or house. He still
kept believing we caused his failure, which isn’t true. That’s when our service
manager [redacted] asked Mr. [redacted] not to bring his boat back again to
South Austin Marine for repairs. It will be best for both parties if he had
someone else to do his repairs from now on. In final conclusion, I believe South
Marine owes Mr. [redacted] nothing, we repaired everything correctly and Mr.
[redacted] approved all the work that was done. I am sorry that his boat had these
problems, but the boat is 13 years old and things do break down at this age.
I am sorry Mr. [redacted] had a bad experience with South Austin Marine. There must have been a miscommunication between our parts and service department of when the parts arrived, as this situation should never happen. We want to resolve the issue of the damaged power pole cover and aluminum shroud....
We will reimburse the customer for the power pole cover with a copy of the customers invoice and we will order a new power pole housing and ship it to the customer. Also, it has come to my attention that there were a couple of missing lower unit parts that the customer did not receive. We will order the parts and send them to the customer at no charge. I hope this resolves the complaint and will look forward to your response.
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
He just doesn't get it! Well, maybe he does and just doesn't
want to take responsibility and do what is right for the customer·
He says "The unit was working when we delivered
the boat to Mr[redacted]"It was working but not properly
·
He says "sometimes it is for the units
with the internal GPS antennas to take up to minutes to connect"Why
is it then that the good unit from the bow of the boat worked perfectly when I
moved it to the console? It didn't take it anywhere near minutes to get gps
signal! It was less than seconds and
even worked under the canopy of my garageThe two units are exactly the same
If one works properly in the console dash they both should work properly
·
He says "if his engine has a part failure is he
going to want a brand new engine, or something goes wrong with any other
component is he going to want a complete replacement?" If the engine or any
other parts are bad at the time of purchase you're darn straight I'm going to
want a new whatever it is or I'm not going to purchase itI'm not buying
defective engines, electronics, or anything else that's supposed to be new and
in perfect working condition
I can pretty much tell that Mr
[redacted] isn't going to budge from his irresponsible stance in this matter, or live
up to the lie on his website that speaks to customers having the best
experienceThere is nothing more that needs to be said in this matter, other
than the fact that, I am not pleased with the outcome of doing business with
South Austin MarineRevdex.com feel free close this but, not with any resolve!
Regards,
[redacted]
April 2, 2015 I am sorry Mr. [redacted] is not satisfied with our response to his complaint. We are not debating that his unit is defective because [redacted] has offered to repair it at no cost to the customer. As [redacted] stated, sometimes it is normal for the units with the internal GPS antennas to take up to 20 minutes to connect, that does not make the unit defective. The unit was working when we delivered the boat to Mr. [redacted] as we have stated earlier. Mr. [redacted] spoke with [redacted] directly about this and knows that is a fact. Mr. [redacted] keeps suggesting that because he bought a new boat and had electronics installed on them that every time something breaks he should receive a complete brand new unit. He says in his response that it is South Austin Marine’s responsibility to make sure his brand new boat and all of its contents and features are new and working as they should. If this true, if his engine has a part failure is he going to want a brand new engine, or something goes wrong with any other component is he going to want a complete replacement? How long will South Austin Marine or any other manufacturer of the boat and components he purchased have to replace something that is defective with a complete new unit and not repair the defective unit? That is not how warranty works, the item is repaired and returned working properly. The replacement parts that are used to repair the item are not refurbished, but brand new components. The unit is still under warranty just like the rest of the components on the boat. Finally, Mr. [redacted] has spoken to [redacted] directly and he should know we are telling him the truth about how their warranty works. We are trying to help him get his unit repaired in a timely manner so he can continue using his boat.
*** *** Revdex.com 512-*** ***@austin.Revdex.com.org Case ID: *** Mr*** *** did purchase a new Skeeter boat with two new *** ci HD DI fish finder GPS combo units from South Austin Marine in February of this yearThe customer requested these two
t would not pick up any signal at this time which is different than when he took delivery of the boat because it would connect to GPS in about minutes *** asked Mr*** to call ***s customer service line to get a RMA number to get the unit repairedMr*** stated at this time he did not want the unit repaired but replaced*** told the customer he would have to take this up with *** because it was a warranty issue with them and the unit had already been warranty registered with ***On the morning of March 31, Mr*** called *** and explained to us that he spoke to *** and they would not replace his unit and it would take 3-weeks to repair and return his unitMr*** explained to *** that South Austin Marine needed to replace his unit with a new one and for South Austin Marine to send his unit back to *** and deal with the warranty issue*** told Mr*** he would call *** to see if they could give him a new unit*** called *** customer service and asked them to look up Mr***’s conversations about the *** in his dash not working*** explained to *** what was going on with the customers unit not working*** told the warranty representative at *** that Mr*** would only be happy with a new unit and not repairing his current unit*** was put on hold while she went to talk to her supervisor and she explained to *** that *** does not make that unit anymore and they could not replace itWe then asked if they could replace it with a newer style unit and he could pay the difference, and she said he could not. *** explained to *** that the 3-week turnaround was not acceptable and they needed to expedite the repairs on his unitThe *** agent gave *** a RMA number with notes in it to give to Mr*** and they would have his unit repaired and sent back within 3-business days instead of the 3-weeks Mr*** was told earlier *** *** called Mr*** back that morning and explained how *** was going to resolve the warranty issue on his unit, but he was not satisfied with their resolution and still wanted a new unit and wanted to speak to the owner of South Austin Marine*** then went to the parts department to check if we had any units in stock like Mr*** had purchased so we could possibly give him the same unit he had purchased, but we did notThe only units that were in stock were the newer style units that have different transducers and cables*** *** the owner and *** *** then called Mr*** back that morning to try and resolve the issueWe had told him if we had the same unit that was mounted on his boat we could trade him out because the transducer and cables are the sameHe still wanted us to give him one of our newer style units but we tried to explain to Mr*** that we would be stuck with used cables, transducer and unit that we could not sell as new or warranty registerHe still insisted on a new unit and not having his unit repaired since he had just bought the boat a month agoWe then explained to Mr*** that we have to adhere to ***’s warranty procedures and they were not willing to give him a new unit, but only repair his unit since the unit he purchased is no longer available from ***At that time Mr*** asked for our company name and if I was the owner of South Austin marine and he was going to take us to small claims courtI then told him our conversation was over I feel South Austin Marine did everything possible to resolve the issue with Mr***, but he was unwilling to abide by ***’s warranty proceduresMr*** even spoke to ***’s customer service department directly and was told they would not replace his unit with a new one, but repair his unitHe should not be upset with South Austin Marine, but thankful we were able to get *** to expedite the repair of his unit*** was willing to repair his unit in a reasonable amount of time, 3-business days and he would he would receive his unit back working properly with the same warrantyAll issues would have been resolved and his unit would still be under warrantyThank You, *** *** South Austin Marine
*** units to be installed by South Austin Marine before he took delivery of his boatHe wanted one unit to be flush mounted in the drivers console dash and the other unit to be flush mounted in the bow of the boat. His salesperson *** *** lake tested the boat the day before the customer drove from Arkansas to pick up his new boat. *** checked all systems including the engine, accessory components, and the electronics that were installedEverything was working correctly, but *** noticed the *** unit mounted in the drivers console dash was slower to connect to GPS than the one mounted in the bow. To verify the situation, *** called *** technical service and explained the situation to them and they explained to us that these units have internal GPS antennas installed in them and sometimes there could be interference when flush mounted in the console dash which may cause the unit to take longer to connect to GPS, upwards of minutes. The unit mounted flush in the bow is mounted horizontally open to the sky and would connect faster to GPSThe unit mounted in the drivers console dash is mounted vertically with the fiberglass console and windshield covering the unit which could make it harder for the unit to connect to GPS since it is not completely open to the sky*** said the customer could purchase an optional *** external GPS puck antenna that could make the unit receive GPS signals better*** told Mr*** that the unit mounted in the drivers console took about minutes to connect to GPS and he may have to purchase the optional *** external GPS puck antennaHe was fine with this at the time of delivery. One final note, both units were working properly when the customer took delivery of the boat, his claim is that it was defective right out of the box On Monday March 30, Mr*** called *** and said the drivers console dash mounted unit is not receiving a GPS signal at all. He took his own unit out of the drivers console to test if it would receive a GPS signal when removed from the das
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:I appreciate the fact that sometimes gps units can have problems connecting due to interference from obstructionsThat makes sense to meHowever, that isn't the case in this situation. I did a test yesterday (4/1/) to see what would happen if I installed the bow unit into the console dashI mounted it exactly as the defective unit was mounted and used the same power hook upEverything was exactly the sameThe two units are exactly alikeIf one has problems connecting the other one should as wellI powered on the unit and the gps was working within secondsLater on after I had put my boat back into my garage I powered the good unit back up to see if it would get signal from inside my garageIt workedThe good unit got gps signal inside my garageThe obstruction theory is not validI have video to prove thisI maintain that the unit was defective from the startTherefore, it should be replaced with another brand new unit, or a refundIt should be the responsibility of South Austin Marine to make sure my brand new boat and all of it's contents and features are new and working as they shouldNone of it should be a refurbished itemI will be glad to send the video that I spoke of earlier to Mr ***I hope that he will live up to their mission statement that is posted on the South Austin Marine websiteIt says in part " ensuring that you have the best experience possible"I was having the best experience possible until all of thisI'm not a hard person and I'm not trying to get something for nothingI just want what I paid
Regards,
*** ***
[redacted] I am sorry you still have a
misunderstanding of the facts. We never
removed your power steering belt, we replaced the circulating water pump which
has a separate belt. Your boat is 13 years old and belts stretch over time. We
found the belt in the bilge under the engine, it must have come off because it
had too much slack in it from stretching. Again, even if that belt had been
left off, which we never removed, this has nothing to do with the power
steering cylinder in the back of the boat leaking. You approved the repair work
to be done, which is why if you were blaming us for causing your power steering
cylinder to fail you should have taken it to another dealership and received a
second opinion. They would have told you the same thing, nothing we did caused
the leak in your power steering cylinder. Your power steering pump is mounted
on the front of the motor and power steering cylinder is mounted in the back of
the boat under all the upholstery, they are separate parts. If you had requested us to save your power
steering cylinder, we would have given the defective unit back to you, but you
did not request us to hold the part so we disposed of it as we usually do. As
for the speedo not working, we removed lots of trash from the hose the first
time and tested it on our air hose and it works fine, we did find the pitot was
kicked up so we put it back in place. [redacted] you are mistaken what [redacted] our service manager told you about bringing your boat back in if the
repair did not work this time. We will honor our work 100%, if it is not
working, we will fix it. What he told you was that in the future it would best
if you found another dealership to do your repairs, we believe that would be
the best interest for both parties since you were saying you are going to sue
us and very argumentative to our cashier and service manager, but we will stand
behind the repairs we did. This is the last reply I will do
regarding this matter to the Revdex.com since you have directed me to respond only to
your attorney.
Please allow me to address the issues as described by Mr. [redacted] in his response to our complaint.. “First issue is MR. [redacted] was given an estimate for service of $4,175 and not $3,000” This is incorrect. On February 27th 2015, [redacted] Lawder of SAM sent me an estimate of $4,730 which I questioned with Mr. [redacted] on the same date. On March 4th 2015, [redacted]Lawder of SAM sent a revised estimate for the work for $3,849. Both of these estimates contained two types of pricing – those with the word Est. in from and those without. For example: Oil filter change on both main engines Est. $675 Replace anodes if needed ...⇄ $695 The Est. refers to an estimated cost. If it doesn’t have an Est. in front of it, it’s a fixed cost. I also disputed these costs with Mr. [redacted] in an email sent March 23rd 2015 and in a subsequent conversation agreed that they were estimates based on time. The work proceeded and as I have stated previously, I was happy to do so because the deviance was in the estimated labor costs which I knew I could track. From the second estimate of $3,849, I received a bill of $4,091 based on 14.5 hours of labor when there had been a maximum of 8 hours of labor supplied. On the bill, South Austin Marine state: ESTIMATES ARE NOT QUOTES, THERE MAY BE DIFFERENCES IN THE FINAL INVOICE FROM AN INITIAL ESTIMATE. So, it seems from South Austin Marine’s perspective that an estimate is only good if its more than the actual but if its less, they reserve the right to put up the price. Once again, I ask South Austin Marine to charge the correct hours for labor, 8 hours and stop trying to tell me that because I read an estimate of 14.5 hours, they provide 8 but want to charge for 14.5 because somehow agreed to the estimate – I agreed it was an estimate, not a fixed charge. Thank you.
Regards,
[redacted]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Regards,
[redacted]
Mr. [redacted] claims that South Austin
Marine broke his boat and charged him $3,000. This not correct, we actually repaired the
items that were broken on his boat and that he requested to have repaired.On 5/24/17 he brought in his boat
because the speedometer was not working, the remote for...
the stereo needed to be
replaced, and the power steering was making noise (he was not 100% sure). We unclogged the passage to the speedo pitot
and replaced the stereo transom remote.The issue of the power steering pump
making noise is the customers main complaint. After our technician test ran the
engine on a water hose, he found that the water circulating pump on the front
of the engine had a bad bearing and was making noise, not the power steering
pump. We called the customer on 5/26/17 to get his approval to replace the
circulating pump, and he gave the ok to fix it. He picked up his boat on
6/19/17 and the total of the repairs was $759.04.On 6/19/17 the customer brought the boat
back to our dealership because the power steering belt come off and was laying
in the bilge under the engine. We found the belt had stretched from age, the
boat is 13 years old, so belts stretch over time. I believe he is misunderstood
and thinks we did not put his belt back on when we did the initial repairs and
this is what eventually led to the failures with his boat. First, we did not
remove the power steering belt, we replaced the water circulating pump, which
has a separate belt, we never removed his power steering belt. His belt coming
off was due to the belt stretching and the age of the belt, not us removing it.
He picked up his boat on 6/27/17 and the total of the repairs was $64.18. Also,
we did not charge him labor to replace the belt, only for the parts.On 7/5/17 the customer brought his boat
back for a third time because he had little or no steering and it shook
violently. He was correct, we found his
power steering bottle almost empty. This is where the customer tried to blame
us for his steering going out due to South Austin Marine not installing his
power steering belt back on. Like I stated earlier, we never removed his power
steering pump belt, but even with that being the case, this had nothing to do
with his power steering cylinder going out. These are two totally unrelated
issues. To find the leak we had to add dye & fluid to the steering system
and run the engine on the hose. This is where we found his power steering
cylinder on the back of the boat was leaking, nothing to do with the power
steering pump on the front of the boat. On 7/10/17 we gave the customer an
estimate of $877.09 for parts, $910.00 labor, plus shop supplies and sales tax.
He approved the repairs on that day. We had to remove all the upholstery in the
back of the boat to even gain access to the power steering cylinder, plus one
of the exhaust risers had to be removed so the cylinder could be replaced. We completed the repairs and his steering
works fine. The total of the repairs
with tax was $2,066.48 which was $49.10 more that the estimate we had given him
because we had to remove one of the exhaust risers and replace the gasket, but
we did not charge any additional labor, only the price of the gasket. He came
into our dealership on 7/20/17 to pick up his boat and was very argumentative
to our cashier and service manager. He was still trying to blame us for
breaking his boat and saying he was going to sue us. We again tried to explain to him what broke
and it is a fault of no one. The boat is 13 years old and things start to break
at that age and boats do require maintenance, like your car or house. He still
kept believing we caused his failure, which isn’t true. That’s when our service
manager [redacted] asked Mr. [redacted] not to bring his boat back again to
South Austin Marine for repairs. It will be best for both parties if he had
someone else to do his repairs from now on. In final conclusion, I believe South
Marine owes Mr. [redacted] nothing, we repaired everything correctly and Mr.
[redacted] approved all the work that was done. I am sorry that his boat had these
problems, but the boat is 13 years old and things do break down at this age.
I am sorry Mr. [redacted] had a bad experience with South Austin Marine. There must have been a miscommunication between our parts and service department of when the parts arrived, as this situation should never happen. We want to resolve the issue of the damaged power pole cover and aluminum shroud....
We will reimburse the customer for the power pole cover with a copy of the customers invoice and we will order a new power pole housing and ship it to the customer. Also, it has come to my attention that there were a couple of missing lower unit parts that the customer did not receive. We will order the parts and send them to the customer at no charge. I hope this resolves the complaint and will look forward to your response.
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
He just doesn't get it! Well, maybe he does and just doesn't
want to take responsibility and do what is right for the customer·
He says "The unit was working when we delivered
the boat to Mr[redacted]"It was working but not properly
·
He says "sometimes it is for the units
with the internal GPS antennas to take up to minutes to connect"Why
is it then that the good unit from the bow of the boat worked perfectly when I
moved it to the console? It didn't take it anywhere near minutes to get gps
signal! It was less than seconds and
even worked under the canopy of my garageThe two units are exactly the same
If one works properly in the console dash they both should work properly
·
He says "if his engine has a part failure is he
going to want a brand new engine, or something goes wrong with any other
component is he going to want a complete replacement?" If the engine or any
other parts are bad at the time of purchase you're darn straight I'm going to
want a new whatever it is or I'm not going to purchase itI'm not buying
defective engines, electronics, or anything else that's supposed to be new and
in perfect working condition
I can pretty much tell that Mr
[redacted] isn't going to budge from his irresponsible stance in this matter, or live
up to the lie on his website that speaks to customers having the best
experienceThere is nothing more that needs to be said in this matter, other
than the fact that, I am not pleased with the outcome of doing business with
South Austin MarineRevdex.com feel free close this but, not with any resolve!
Regards,
[redacted]
April 2, 2015 I am sorry Mr. [redacted] is not satisfied with our response to his complaint. We are not debating that his unit is defective because [redacted] has offered to repair it at no cost to the customer. As [redacted] stated, sometimes it is normal for the units with the internal GPS antennas to take up to 20 minutes to connect, that does not make the unit defective. The unit was working when we delivered the boat to Mr. [redacted] as we have stated earlier. Mr. [redacted] spoke with [redacted] directly about this and knows that is a fact. Mr. [redacted] keeps suggesting that because he bought a new boat and had electronics installed on them that every time something breaks he should receive a complete brand new unit. He says in his response that it is South Austin Marine’s responsibility to make sure his brand new boat and all of its contents and features are new and working as they should. If this true, if his engine has a part failure is he going to want a brand new engine, or something goes wrong with any other component is he going to want a complete replacement? How long will South Austin Marine or any other manufacturer of the boat and components he purchased have to replace something that is defective with a complete new unit and not repair the defective unit? That is not how warranty works, the item is repaired and returned working properly. The replacement parts that are used to repair the item are not refurbished, but brand new components. The unit is still under warranty just like the rest of the components on the boat. Finally, Mr. [redacted] has spoken to [redacted] directly and he should know we are telling him the truth about how their warranty works. We are trying to help him get his unit repaired in a timely manner so he can continue using his boat.