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Reviews The Boat Doctor

The Boat Doctor Reviews (2)

Never have I been so over charged for a service. After being told that I would need a new starter for my I/O, the owner stated that buying a "mercruiser" unit was waaaayyyy overpriced, somewhere over $350. I tell him to get the aftermarket unit. He then charges me $260 for one that is available onlilne for $140-$160. And on top of that, gives me an estimate to replace my rubrail, a 4 hour job, to remove and install new materials. I then offer to remove old product and clean side of boat. He then has the audasscity to charge me the full 4 hours to reinstall. Of course, I complained about both issues, and walked away, knowing that I will NEVER return to service, or lack of, such as that. I have already told 4 boat owners of his business plan, to rake people of their hard earned $$$. Boat Doctor, huh, more like Boat Proctologist, cause that how I feel after paying out an extra $200-$250.

Review: I contacted The Boat Doctor to take a look at my 20hp Mercury Outboard that was not running right. The assistant said to bring in the motor on Friday and that the owner could look at it on the coming Monday. Their ability to look at my motor 5 days sooner than other shops was the reason I took it to The Boat Doctor. My motor did not get looked at until the following Friday. I kept my cool and said ok to their procrastination and blatent lie. Is this a way to get more business in the door only to make the customer wait as long as any other shop? Anyway, I told them to let me know what was wrong with the motor before they fixed anything. Approximately 5 days later, I spoke with the assistant over the phone and she said that the owner/mechanic had looked at things and that I had a piston and crank shaft that had to be replaced and a few other things as a result of a piece of starter cord getting lodged in the carburator and starving the piston of oil and fuel. He said that it would be approximately $1,200-$1,700 to fix the motor and he would have Kathy do a closer parts by parts estimate for me. While I was waiting to get a closer estimate, I spoke with a former Mercury motor technician of 20yrs and explained to him what I was told by The Boat Doctor. The former tech told me that the Boat Doctor is setting me up to have the same problem happen within a years time. He said you cant just put in a new piston in these motors. They need a new cylindar and a new short block. It has to do with the type of piston(nickel sealed) that is used in these year outboards. I called The Boat Doctor and played dumb until they said that the assistant was still pricing out parts. At that point I asked about the cylindar and short block and whether it needed to be replaced. All of a sudden, my motor was no longer fixable and to quote him he said "the motor is junk and cant be fixed." Well, that is not true, it could be fixed just not the way he was going to fix it until I called him out on his "patchwork" remedy that would have left me with a non-working motor within a year. I told him dont fix the motor I will come pick it up and use it as a parts motor because I was already lining up a deal to buy a used outboard of the same year, if my motor was not repairable. When I went to pick up my motor, I was asked to pay $265 for him to put on a starter cord to see what was wrong with the motor. He said putting on the cord took and hour and I was charged for that hour of labor, the starter rope and the labor to look at the motor. I told him that was outrageous and that we need to come to a meeting of the mind for a more resonable price, since he didnt do anything near $265 of work on my motor. My motor was also not put back together. The whole thing was in parts, I mean part by part by part etc... Ive spoken with several mechanics and they all agree that there is no way he needed to take the whole motor apart to know it was a burned out cylinder. He said that if I was going to pay alright and if I didnt he would call the police. I told him go ahead, I havent done anything wrong. Anyway after arguing for sometime I told him I would explore other ways to address this, why Im writing this complaint. As I paid his secretary, he threw my all in parts motor into the back of my Jeep without asking where I wanted it or if I wanted to put anything down to protect the carpet in the Jeep. Now I have greased covered carpet in my vehicle from the parted out motor he threw in my Jeep. After I paid and went to my Jeep I told him he was nothing but a crook. All of a sudden the guy turns around and sprints at me and starts yelling 6 inches from my face Fyou this Fyou that etc..... Spitting in my face and all as he is yelling. This guy is a crook plain and simple and apparently it's well known in Madison, WI. Wish I would have known this before!Desired Settlement: I want my money back plain and simple. I dont want more but if he charges me to do nothing I should have the right to charge him for all the grease stains in my vehicle carpet. I havent touched them yet, two and a half weeks later, but if I have to clean it I should get compensated for his careless actions loading my car.

Business

Response:

On June 7, 2013, [redacted] brought his 1988-94 20 hp

Mercury outboard into our shop for a starter rope and starter spring

replacement (the rope had been pulled out upon arrival). [redacted] stated that the engine sounded

like it ran on only one cylinder and when in neutral, it starts accelerating

and has to be shut down.

After the rope and spring were replaced June 11, 2013 and

tested, our technician ([redacted]) noticed a loud clanking rod knock. We were originally only going to charge [redacted] $40 for this verbal diagnosis but on this same date, [redacted]

called us back and requested to us, “go ahead and tear it down to find out what

the problem is.” We told [redacted]

that if it was going to need an overhaul, the cost would be

approximately $1200-$1700.

We proceeded to tear the engine down to confirm the internal

damage (irrepairable rod and crankshaft damage) which would exceed the value of

this motor. At this time [redacted] also

stated that he had already purchased another engine from a friend so we did not

spend any further time with his engine and left it in parts for him to possibly

sell to make money to replenish what he had to spend for the teardown.

Each time [redacted] called our shop, his voice tone

with [redacted] was very demanding and impatient with the expectation of immediate

answers.

Once our final determination had been delivered to [redacted], he did not come in to pick his motor up until 17 days later.

On June 28, 2013, [redacted] came in to pick up his

motor and immediately had an attitude about making payment for services he

requested. After three (3) attempts of

[redacted] trying to remove his parts/belongings without prior payment and

still arguing about the dollar amount, [redacted] stated that she would call the

police. [redacted] said not to.

[redacted] finally paid his Invoice of $265.64 and

started removing the engine parts which he alone placed into his own vehicle while yelling that

[redacted] was an f[redacted]ing crook. [redacted], another

business owner, happened to drive up at this moment and was a witness to this

statement. [redacted] also took both

copies of his credit card receipt until confronted by [redacted] for the return of

the signed merchant copy.

[redacted] was still yelling from his vehicle and

swearing at [redacted] while he was driving away from our shop.

[redacted] left his gas tank here at the shop. [redacted] sent him a text message informing him

of this. [redacted] did return to

pick up his gas tank the same day he was notified (6/28/13) without any further

confrontations.

We feel that no money is due [redacted] since he

authorized the teardown and the time and work have already been expended and

since [redacted] placed his own parts into his own vehicle at the time of

pick up, he created his own grease marks/blemishes to his vehicle carpet.

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Description: Boat Repair

Address: PO Box 8794, Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53708

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www.boatdoctor.biz

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