Motor repair vs. motor ?

[Joe Schwab]

Last week I picked up my 9.9 Yamaha from a repair shop which will go unnamed. They had quoted me $150 -$200 to repair the tiller handle, reinstall the battery cables and service the lower unit. When I got the bill it was $480. Now I was astounded to say the least but they went on to explain they had to replace more parts that were corroded but admitted they should have called me to get approval. Yes I was hot under the collar and was just beginning to cool off when one of their employees stepped up and examined the bill. His comment was "Boats are expensive, get a life!" I was taken aback and asked him if he was talking to me. He said yes and I proceeded to back his young behind out of the shop and out the door. I asked several people if he worked there and no one would answer. The manager quickly knocked $150 off the bill and gave me a slip for a complete motor tuneup. (Like I would ever take anything back to them.) Halfway home I realized my battery cables were not on the motor so returned to the shop. No one could find the cables so they were replaced. When I got home and took the motor out of the truck the new tiller handle fell off. It was broken in two pieces. Plus oil was leaking from the lower unit. I called Pacific Boatland and asked if I could bring the motor up to them. They replaced the broken handle, fixed the tilt mechanism, fixed the drain plug that the other shop had failed to do when changing the oil, replaced a thermostat, cleaned the carbuerator, drilled out the jets, adjusted the valves, installed the battery cables properly, installed the motor back on my boat, changed the lower unit oil on my 150, made sure the kicker was running properly all for $410. I just wish I had gone there to start with. Lesson learned. Be careful where you go to get work done.

:shrug:

[ 02-12-2003, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: Capt. Hook ]

[No Wishin Just Fishin]

Please name the first shop or if you would rather not email me so I do not go there. It will be zipper if you email me

[Stz ll]

Capt. Hook. Have youy ever heard of small claims court.

[JeepMcMuddy]

I can't beleive that the manager of the first shop would only knock 150$ of the first bill. If it were my employee who said something like that to a customer, you can be sure that bill would be taken care of entirely and would probably come out of the employees last check!! Glad the 2nd shop got you fixed up right.
BTW-It was nice to meet you and say hello at the sportsman show! (You showed me your Capt Hook hat.)

Matt Brown "JeepMcMuddy"

[Joe Schwab]

Jeep, I know what you are saying. A good friend of mine used to own Beaver Marine in Gresham. No one walked out his door unsatisfied if he could help it. I saw him tear up a huge bill and shake the guys hand. He told me he wasn't worried because that guy would be back.

I haven't abandoned the idea of small claims yet.

[invader]

well ihave to agree, boats and motors are expensive.... depending on how old your 9.9 yammy was might make a difference.... i only take my yammmys to get serviced where i bought them from- and they have been expensive but fair.. i think... still only had them worked on once each in 16 years!!....

[Pete]

Geeze, invader ... no one should pay for service they don't receive. If you pay for new parts, those parts shouldn't be broken. If you are given a quote, any service or expense beyond the quote should be authorized prior to the work being done. Parts of the motor should not be lost in the course of the service. Expense has nothing to do with it except for the despicable attitude of the person, be he employee or not, who made that crass statement. Capt. Hook isn't cheap - take a look at the beautiful paint job he did to his boat and posted pictures of just a week or so ago. We're talking "no expense spared"! The problem here was he paid for motor service and instead he got broken parts, lost parts and attitude. I wonder if that was part of the quote!

[Tilla]

I had a familiar experience. How about telling us what street their on or how about what thier name rymes with? :rolleyes:

[Joe Schwab]

My Yammie is 6 years old but has the use of a twenty year old. Never intended to put that much into it and if they had called me I probably would have traded it in on a new one from them as they are the local Yammie dealer. Too bad, they lost my business just with their attitude. I would have gone to original dealer except they are out of business also. Pacific Boatland gets my business from here on out. Just ordered a new trailer from them.

[DK]

I realize times are tough, but then again no need to tell me that out of work and just want to make a honest living,why do shops feel the need to stick it to ya, took my 9.9 mercury in because the float was sticking, ok, how does some of the biggest debre get in to a needle valve to make the float stick with only 16hrs on the motor and 2 yes 2 filters not counting the very fine screen in the carbarator? the only reason i took it in was because it should of been under warranty, wrong, after findeing out it would cost 240.00 to clean the carb and put it back together on top of the already 1 hr shop fee, told them to put the parts in a box i'll do it my self they laughed, and a total of 45minutes includeing drive time my 9.9 ran just like the day i bought it, looked closer and found milling fragments in the lines and main filter, not the external filter that i installed my self, time to step up an take responasbility for your faults in this case, (Mercury) so whats a warranty really worth

[Keta]

There is no excuse for this kind of behavior.
There are 3 places in KF that work on boats. One on the lake is great to deal with, another one that has been around for a long time I wouldn't take anything to. The third is new and he seems to do good work.