Thayer's Marine & RV

Mr. [redacted] brought the boat in for a starting issue, he stated the engine would not start.  He tried to repair himself by changing the starter.  When his attempted repair failed, he determined himself that his flywheel needed to be replaced, resulting in him contacting us.  Upon our inspection we found the engine was seized.  Removal of the drive was done for two reasons, one to make sure the drive was not frozen, causing the engine to freeze, and two to install a special tool into the engine coupler to try and turn the motor over, both of which are common practice in the marine industry.  Mr. [redacted] was not charged for launching the boat, but that charge was to load the boat onto his trailer and raise his two outdrives so he could trailer the boat home.  All of the charges to Mr. [redacted] are fair and true, and no false allegations were made, and we are truly apologetic to Mr. [redacted]'s confusion regarding his experience here at Thayer's Marine, Inc.  Lastly, due to our practice Mr. [redacted] was able to repair the engine at minimal expense to himself once his insurance declined coverage.  With this being our 50th year in business, and national brand CSI scores of over 95%, plus business increasing by over 30% annually this year, our proven track record speaks for itself.  You cannot be a successful in this information age if you do not put your customer first.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: The statement Thayers provided is not true. First of all, the insurance company authorized them to only remove the heads from the engine which they did. Thayers also removed the outdrive from the boat which wasn't needed for diagnosis and the insurance company would not pay for or asked them to do. Also, Thayers told the insurance company the engine was full of rust and water and the oil was milky with water in it which also was a lie. If they had not told the insurance company the engine was frozen the boat would of been repaired for a fraction of the $9000.00 estimate which was given to replace the engine. When I advised them I was not going to have them repair it they insisted on me paying for installing the outdrive back on which should have never been taken off and relaunching the boat which they did not do. This business practice should not be allowed, I had no other choice but to pay the bill in order to get my boat back. I firmly believe I should be refunded the charges for reinstalling the outdrive and launching of the boat.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Review: My boat broke down the last week of July, 2015. I had called them and asked to replace the flywheel as that appeared to be the problem which they quoted me $1200.00. I gave them authorization so I could get my boat back asap, and enjoy the rest of the season.

After they looked at my boat they called me and told me the flywheel was not bad and that my engine was full of water due to the manifolds and risers failing, it was full of rust and that I would need to replace the engine for a total of 9026.99. At that time they suggested I file an insurance claim which I did.

The insurance company then sent a surveyor out to look at the problem and in the end denied my claim. I advised T[redacted]s, I could not spend that kind of money at this time. I then asked my outdrive, which they removed, be put back on and return my boat to my slip. They did so but charged me $230.00 in labor to reinstall it which took about 15 minutes, but did not return it to my slip.

I ended up picking the boat up from them with my trailer on 9/14 with the engine totally disassembled. Before I could take the boat I was forced to pay them $1473.00 or I could not take it. Insurance did pay $1003.00 of the bill.

After I brought the boat home being a technician for 37 years myself, I inspected the engine and to my surprise, there was no rust in the engine whatsoever.

If they were honest about the condition of the engine, it could of been fixed in August and I could of enjoyed the rest of the season. I also lost all of the slip money I spent for August through November which totals over $900.00Desired Settlement: I would like to be reimbursed the $470.00 which I was forced to pay and should have never been charged.

Business

Response:

Mr [redacted],s boat was in fact seized at time of us first checking out mr [redacted] felt it was an issue with his flywheel but the issue was do to water ingestion do to poorly maintained manifolds. He did authorize tear down of engine to allow the insurance companys marine surveyor to inspect at time of tear down it is common practice to preserve motor from further damage this was done with both customer and insurance best interest in mind. When insurance co. was informed by not one but two surveyors that the cause was not a covered issue Mr [redacted] informed T[redacted]s not to repair he would if in fact the motor is now repaired and running Mr [redacted] should be appreciative of the precautions in which he and his insurance payed for cause the way I see it a lot of money was saved with the lack of needed to replace engine. All charges were in order or insurance co. would have denied at time off approval for tear down. I'm sorry for Mr [redacted]s unhappiness but did nothing without approval and did everything to protect his boat with his best interest in mind Rich T[redacted]