are all boat mechanics crooks????

[GlasV162]

You guys are not going to believe this one...........

I had my motor rebuilt over the winter (1990 90 hp evinrude). After about 3 hrs of running time it started to idle rough and stall out. Last night, on the lake, I ran into my mechanic; he offered to check the motor out, and I accepted. After making some adjustments, the motor runs worse than before!! We were out of daylight, so I told him I would bring the boat to him in the morning to have him finish it up. He said, "We're kind of booked up tight this week." Mind you, this is after paying him over $1800.00 for the rebuild!! I limped back to the launch ramp and dropped the boat off to him last night. The motor will barely idle, skips and stalls when it does idle, doesn't run all the way up to the max rpm, and the volt gauge only shows about 12 volts, which indicates to me it is no longer charging. Any advice??
Thanks.

 

[iwombat]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

Scream and yell and make damned sure they know you're not happy. Did they offer any kind of warranty on the rebuild? Now is the time to wave it in their face.

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

My advice would be to let the Mechanic do his job and see what he comes up with...

 

[BF]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

If he's intending to work on if for free, then fine. But if he intends to charge shop rates anyway, I'd go somewhere else.

 

[CATransplant]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

Scream and yell and make damned sure they know you're not happy. Did they offer any kind of warranty on the rebuild? Now is the time to wave it in their face.

I think I wouldn't do that until I heard back from the mechanic. After he checks it out and gets back to the owner, then's the time to decide what to do.

I've worked as a mechanic, and always stood 100% behind my work. The only thing that ever hurt a customer was if that customer started shouting at me before I even found out what was wrong. If it was my fault, the fix would be free. That was the rule. If the customer started screaming at me, the fix was still free, but took a lot longer.

On the other hand, a problem might have nothing to do with the work I did. It happens all the time. In those cases, I'd explain exactly what was going on, and fix the problem at a steep discount, just for customer satisfaction purposes.

 

[iwombat]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

I was under the assumption that it was going to be a problem to get the mechanic to work on it in a timely manner. If that's not the case, give the shop a chance stand behind their work by all means.

 

[GlasV162]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

He's going to warranty the powerhead for 1 year; however, he said last night to "bring it in this fall and we'll take care of you." What a couple of jackasses; him for providing bad service, and me for paying for it. Now more than ever, I'm convinced that being a boat mechanic is a license to steal.

 

[tschamp20]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

pull the flywheel and check for a sheared flywheel key.sounds like what mine was doing.and sure enough it was the key.$1 part

 

[reeldutch]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

paying 1800 dollars for a rebuild doesnt sound absurd at all and a full year waranty sounds very fair.
i would say good deal.


of course it all depents wat he did with the motor.

i dont think its very nice of him to let you wait until the fall. thats bull cr.. .

talk to him reasonable, i dont think he is a crook.
but he might not want to work on it in a busy season. its waranty work wich he would prefer to do in a slow season.

be reasanable that will get you back on the water.

dont mess with the motor yourself he will void the waranty.

good luck

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

If the warranty is only good in the fall through spring then it should state that on any paperwork that came with the rebuild. He should get to it and fix it as soon as possible. If there was no paperwork then you are at his mercy. If the failed component or components were not in the rebuild and were working well at the time then you should realistically have to pay. If you try to hold him to repairing / replacing parts that he did not rebuild or replace then you are on dodgy ground. If that was the case then he should have replaced every component that your motor has and theoretically you should have just bought a brand new outboard. It probably would be a lot cheaper !!!

 

[tfbrown1270]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

I traded my 89 85 hp Force for a 92 90 hp VRO Johnson which was rebuilt over the winter as part of the deal to the tune of $3000 and it came with a 1 year warranty as well...I have had some issues since I got it...#1 the powerpack failed ...#2 a thermostat stuck open....my shop replaced both for free and put me at the front of the line....
In my case I bought the engine and the rebuild for $3k and they stood behind the whole thing including their rebuild....if the motor you are talking about belonged to you already and similar parts failed...that were not part of the rebuilt then I think its only fair that you will have to pay for those parts..he can't possibly warranty something he didn't replace or repair...
However I do believe that a decent shop wouldn't leave you on the shore watching the boats go by till the fall.

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

You guys are not going to believe this one...........

I thought the story was quite mild compared to some I've heard. It ran ok for 3 hours?
A lot of things unrelated to a rebuild can occur in 3 hours.
The charging system was rebuilt??
Might be related - might not.

But the "bring it in in the fall" thing is just stoopid....and sad

 

[F_R]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

GlasV, "Are all boat mechanics crooks?" I dunno, are all people in your profession crooks?

 

[EricR]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

GlasV, you are saying all boat mechanics are crooks, and that would be like me saying all customers are crooks.

BTW I have been a boat mechanic for 20 years. I think there is another side to this story, I'd love to hear the mechanics side of it.

 

[GlasV162]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

Well, much to my amazement, he had the boat ready to go late this afternoon; he admitted to making some incorrect adjustments last night out on the lake; he re-adjusted everything today in the shop, at no charge, and the motor runs great. The thing that made me so mad was he told me to notify him of any abnormalities in its operation, and he would take care if it right away. Then when something did go wrong, he wavered on his commitment saying, "we're really busy this week." I work very hard to provide my customers with top service, and I expect the same when I spend my hard-earned money. I'm learning the hard way that very few people have the same commitment to customer service as I do. I'm sure it has a lot to do with supply and demand; the demand for boat work far exceeds the supply, giving the mechanics a license to abuse their customers, for they will likely be back for more. My profession as an insurance agent is just the opposite. As for being a crook, I have had so many bad experiences with boat dealers that I will always proceed with caution and be somewhat skeptical, which is sad because I really value my time on the water. There are crooks in every profession. I'm an insurance agent, and many people label my profession as a crooked one.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

There is good, bad and downright ugly in all walks of life !!!!! You just learn from experience and word of mouth who to trust.

 

[redfury]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

I've learned to not get upset until after the fact. He was out on the lake enjoying his free time and took some of it off to try and help out a recent customer. He could have handled it better, but I'm sure he was probably a little irritated at the time he made the comment, which got you all into a fuss before he even had a chance to look at the boat properly. When he got the boat, he fixed it right up and you are back on track. A little patience and understanding goes a long way to lowering your blood pressure.

I always try to put myself in the other guys shoes and look at the situation from his/her perspective before making a judgement from the view of my own.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

A fee of $1800 for a rebuild is a reasonable price, and a one (1) year warranty is great although unheard of.

However, having the engine fail after only three (3) hours or even a week or two puts your engine in a position of having precedent over all other repair jobs that might exist with whatever shop performed the work.

Bottom line is that whatever the mechanic has lined up should be put aside and your engine bumped up to be next in line.

I try not to doubt anyone BUT the mechanic want you to wait until the fall? And just when does that warranty run out? That would have a tendency to make me somewhat nervous.

Frankly, if what you've had to say is gospel, and you're put off as you say, and can't convince the mechanic or the owner to give you precedented service (fix it now), and you have the paperwork to back up your words, I'd suggest that you start thinking about small claims court.

 

[ob]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

Sounds like from his last post he's got it running right now Joe.That is unless it decides to break down again.

 

[redtech]

Re: are all boat mechanics crooks????

redfury thank you for your post
i myself have been wrenching on just boats for 20years now too and do stand behind my work haven't seen my kids or had a day off in two weeks now just to say how much work is the shop
often the techs out in the shop get to be chew toys for upset customers no matter if they put out 50 jobs to one return no matter what not perfect
as for joe's comment how would you feel to be dropped and not have your boat for the weekend so joe tech can fix that one out of ????
please most techs work there a..es of all summer and do there best they don't make mistakes on perposse . there just human we make mistakes and just like you don't like to be the bone thats being chewwed on