Pretty sure Im getting ripped off at the Marina... whats new i know... please advise!

[Abwan]

So basically after posting my issue with this forum, I called the marina, she told me it wasnt even going to be looked at until next week as in still next week. So I told her I was going to go up to the marina and replace the fuse to save on costs if this fixed it. Well went up there today, and my boat was moved. Ok no biggy figured they wanted it out of the way. However I go inside to find out nope boats all set. Ok?... how much is the damage? 258.90!!!! I look at the bill and it says not only did they see yup was a blown fuse, but they also tried to nail me for a loose wire on my solenoid, and then on top of it, the mechanic said he noticed my choke plunger for electric choke wasnt in the choke solenoid. So basically hes saying to replace the fuse, tighten the wire and replace the choke solenoid back took 1.5 hours!!?? For those of you interested, below I am going to post exactly what happened. from day one, and I would really like to know first of all how long the time really should have been. Tighten a wire and replace a fuse we know, but I dont know the degree the other thing takes. Regardless this is not what I asked them to do. All they were told to do is get it to start, I never even knew the thing had a electric choke. Id flip the switch if needed and she'd start right up flip it back good to go all day. All I lost was power. Anyway Supposed to talk with owner tomorrow, ive been going to these guys for years off and on and always paid what they asked, but this time this amount is rediculous! Also if anyone knows, if I decide not to pay this outrageous amount, and am willing for it to go to small claims, can I grab my boat from the place? Legally? Any advice on any of this would be appreciated. Now listen to the story of how my life goes....


I dabble with repairs, I am not a mechanic, but with google and what not, if it looks manageable I attempt it. All this started because i thought I lost my key. Well I needed to pull the ignition to read the key code. Brought ignition up to marina, got new key went home. put new key in after reinstalling the ignition the same way it was hooked up, and nothing happened when I turned the key. Troubleshot all I knew, went back over the paper I wrote on where the wires went, made sure battery was powered and so on. Nothing worked, well took up to the Marina at this point because the kid that answered said well if its something quick will take a quick look to see if quick fix. Ok cool, go up there meet the repair guy (who is new) and he comes over to the boat. Does everything I did all over again, we both are looking over it all together trying to see whats what, he wanted to make sure it was connected right at ignition, all was good to go. So he hooked one of those flashlight current tester things, and saw yep battery good, and then hooked up some bypass thing with a clicker button on it and the engine turned over, so yup not a starter issue. We did find out with his tester that no power was going to the ignition. (I forgot, I had read online there may be a fuse involved) So I asked him about this, said there is supposed to be some fuse on it I think, he said well, problem is I dont do electrical, I just started here a few weeks back, and the boss says do this do that, and Im supposed to learn as I go. Im like oh ok thats why this is taking so long, and why he is fretting over stupid stuff, like way overtightening wing nuts I have on the battery for quick disconnect when I put away the boat. He kept thinking it was a ground issue maybe why we werent seeing power at the ignition but it was everywhere else. I even mentioned again about the fuse saying well you'd think with all the electric there would be a fuse somewhere to protect stuff if you got a short. But again he had no clue, but I figured, because they have been cool before helping me "off the clock" and all that that our banter back and forth wasnt on the clock, and being that the owner is the electrical guy, this was basically pro bono. all in all with him taking his time, scratching his head, answering phone calls doing the same thing 40 times, there was prolly 45 mins spent on all this, but this is him and I talking fishing his new employment and again taking a long phone call helping someone else. During all this Im looking over everything again too trying what comes to my head as well, and i notice a red wire going to a black capsule with the red wire coming out the other side, Im like hrmm that looks like a fuse... Hey buddy could this be a fuse for it? Nope thats just a connector. Oh ok, so he fiddled with miscellaneous stuff here and there and Im like well it doesnt look like a quick fix, so I dont want to hold you up anymore. And hes like yup sorry your not gonna be able to go out on the lake, but just gonna have to wait for the boss to look at it. Ok, leave it there, go inside tell the lady yup we found out no power to the starter. I think it may be a fuse or something we arent seeing. So I sign the paper saying they were to restore power to the ignition.

Couple days go by, I hear back on here that the engine does have a fuse, and guy sends a picture, low and behold its exactly what I said to him was the fuse. Black capsule, with red wire goin in and coming out. So I call the marina and tell them I found out it might just be a fuse, so before i end up having to dump a bunch of money into it to have you look over it all I will swing by and replace that and see if it fixes it. Shes says yup no problem, cant even get to it until next week conv happened this monday the 9th. So flash forward to today, I close early to head up there while they are open, and then that brings us to today....

 

[Scott Danforth]

You brought it to the marina....suck it up and pay the bill. You knew you were paying for someone else's labor.

 

[Tnstratofam]

Your repair time probbably also includes the time it took to check everything to find what needed repairing. Diagnostic time can sometimes be half the labor time, but it's still time spent on the repair.

 

[tpenfield]

$258 is not bad for leaving your boat at the marina . . . could have been a lot more.

 

[GA_Boater]

You're mad because you took the boat to the marina to be fixed, which they did, and in the mean time you figured out the fuse could be blown when you started your other thread. By that time it was too late, the marina fixed the problem and a couple of others. This is only an expensive lesson, not a rip off.

 

[mbhoag]

Well. IMHO, since they said they could not get to it for a week, and you told them not too... I would definately discuss the charges with the owner. Not to mention they did work you did not authorize...did you sign a repair order for what they did? If not, you definately have the upper hand here.

I have been there before where they put you off, so you tell them nevermind, so they quickly look at it so they can charge you. That is sucky service to me, and I don't take it anymore.

 

[bajaunderground]

Reminds me of the old joke about the old guy who the electric company called out to fix their diesel generator as all the other mechanics called prior couldn't fix it. He proceeded to listen to it, gave it whack with a hammer and low and behold, it was all fixed...he gave them a bill for $10,000.00, they wanted it itemized as they thought that was too much based on such little work...so his revised bill read:
HITTING WITH HAMMER $1.00
KNOWING WHERE TO HIT WITH A HAMMER $9,999.00
TOTAL $10,000.00


Suck it up to experience...then never return to that marina for repairs if that's how they run theirs...It takes so little money to keep consumers happy, yet it takes a tremendous amount of marketing funds to get them there initially. So many business people have great knowledge of what they do in the service world, but lack the 'art of the deal' and how to run a business.

For the record, I don't think the bill was outrageous for the work performed, I just think they gave you the run-around and when you were going to go by and attempt to fix yourself, that's when I think they made a poor decision and prioritized yours...based on what you said initially, all you wanted them to do was to "get it to start" a very ambiguous request, so, based on that, he got it to start and to him a choke is part of that equation...it's a negligible point IMHO.

Look at the bright side, now you can blame them when any of the fixed items fail?!

 

[82rude]

Is this a larger operation?Is it possible as she was telling you not till next week it was already being worked on and she wasn't aware of it?You say you've been there before so you must of had confidence in their work ethic .

 

[thomas15]

To avoid paying a mechanic for repairs on my outboard, I purchased the factory service manual. I also have a bunch of tools, but little 2 cycle marine experience. So, yes I save money. The downside is that it took me about 6 weeks to fully diagnose and repair several issues this year. My boat took me fishing for the fist time in 2016 last week. But I am saving money.

The OP didn't fix the motor, the marina did. They diagnosed the problem. The OP asked the marina to fix the motor and brought the motor to the marina. The fact that the OP figured out the root cause after leaving the boat at the marina is of course not a reason for the marina to charge less than the regular cost of the repair.

Mercedes Benz wants to charge me $50.00 to replace a parking lamp. Their cost for the bulb is $10.00 + $40..00 labor. I can buy a bulb at auto-zone 2 for $2.99. The only problem is getting to the bulb requires an engineering degree in bulb replacement. It took me some time to come up with a tool to remove the bulb, I finally did it but had I not thought of the tool it would have cost $50.00 for a new bulb.

 

[racerone]

Classic case of why more and more shops do not work on older equipment.---Folks with a $1000 boat complain at a repair fill of $200.---Folks with a $50,000 boat will say---" thank you very much " ----every time !

 

[Silvertip]

And there are always two sides to every story. Just so you know, fuses don't blow for no reason. Something caused that fuse to blow. Had they replaced it without determining WHY, you would have been equally upset when you had the same problem next time out. WHAT you told the marina to do can have a big effect on the size of the bill. Since a loose wire was fixed, that could have caused the fuse to blow so they fixed it. I won't comment on the choke issue. Work time on your boat starts at the time the tug goes out to tow it into the shop. Not when the mechanic reaches for the first tool. There are two ways to handle repairs. Learn how to do them yourself or pay someone else to do it for you. You therefore pay not only for the parts, but the labor, his knowledge, and the expenses related to operation of the business. I used to do all of my own repair work on every vehicle and engine powered toy I owned and I had the service manuals to ensure I was doing it right. I'm now a duffer, retired and I realize service folks need to feed their families so I let them do that work. I am however, very specific what I ask for and what I want checked or repaired.

 

[gm280]

This is a perfect example to why YOU need to purchase the factory HP, Model, Year, Engine specific shop manual and learn all about your engine. I buy shop manuals for everything I buy Boat Engine, Car, Trucks or whatever. Over time I can repair anything that needs repaired by my self and avoid shop part and labor costs. JMHO

 

[Drew220]

I saved a thousand bucks installing a new shift shaft and lower unit this weekend. Besides parts renting an engine lift for 20 dollars was my biggest expense.

I usually try to avoid stearlerships at all costs and do my own repairs. I enjoy the challenge and the satisfaction of fixing it myself. Most places will charge you an hour labor regardless of how long it takes. Always ask what the labor rate is before committing. Around my area for boat repair it's around 130 an hour. My farther ran a repair buisness and it was standard to charge an hour even if it only took 15 mins to fix.

 

[Abwan]

Thanks for all the feedback. Some good some bad, some I agree with some I don't but iiwii when you post on forums! Needless to say I just wanted to update this all to let everyone know, after speaking with the owner, he agreed that I clearly had said all I was looking for to have done was for them to see why the power wasn't reaching the ignition. And that since the actual time should have been minutes to just check the fuse first, and that beyond that since even he would have assumed it to be a low to no cost fix, that his guy should have called me to ask if I wanted the extra stuff done, in the end he didn't even charge me for anything. I told him I didn't feel this was fair for him, since the guy still took up shop time to look at it, but even after asking him multiple times, if I could at least pay him for the work I had asked them to do, he insisted that to him the only money really invested was the fuse, and he said that's really nothing. So since he wouldn't take money, I did what I thought was the very least that I could do, and looked up every single possible way I could leave him and his business a stellar review and did so.

 

[redneck joe]

good deal

 

[Tnstratofam]

Nice turn of events. Good to know the owner wants his customers to be happy.