BEWARE of Power Marine and Blown1500
07-17-2003, 12:09 PM
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BEWARE of Power Marine and Blown1500!!
and any and all names used by Power Marine in Charlotte, NC in some fashion or another.
I have had one very negative experience with them and apparently based on some private emails several others have had similar experiences.
Let me start by saying that the technical information these people provide "seems" to be good.
My saga started back in early February -- in my quest to have my boat restored to a like new condition i wanted my motor, tranny and out drive rebuilt. I talked with several members and engine builders and decided to let power marine do my engine and i shipped my tranny and drive down to FL (came back flawless).
I was quoted 4000.00 to turn my 454 330 into a 496 450-500 hp motor. It seemed like a good price at the time. I accepted and took my motor to his shop about feb 12th. Robert received my motor and estimated 2-3 weeks to get it back to me. At the time I told him not to rush because the rest of my boat would take a bit longer than that. Well about a month later -- we'll call it March 12th I called and wanted to find out the status -- He had not done ANY thing to my motor -- not even ordered parts. I told him i was starting to get pressed for time and i needed it back pretty quickly. He then told me it should be in the next week or so. Well since that time I call about every other day and it is one lame excuse after another. He had a boating emergency (not sure what that is exactly) that meant he had to work on other peoples before mine. He then said the parts were on back order. The next week he said he had started on it and it should be done in a few day's. The following week he said he got behind and should be by wednesday. It then became pretty much a ritual that every week i called it would be next week. I finally got it out of him that he never even started on my motor -- and was going to send it to some "other" shop to get the block put back together. Told me last week that he'd have it by friday for SURE. Well i didn't even bother calling on friday -- i just showed up saturday afternoon(this was about may 9th). Needless to say my motor was not done -- hell it wasn't even there. He assured me it would be back and in PERFECT condition by tuesday may 13. Well as you can imagine it was not.
So I went to the beach for bike week came back and called him -- now it is May 19th called him and now he didn't know when it would be finished. I even offered to come down and bolt the thing together myself! While talking to him on the phone i asked who the owner of power marine was -- Robert would not tell me -- but he did say it was supposed to be him -- only that he couldn't legally own a business -- GEE i wonder why.
Well another month went by and still no motor -- at wits end i contacted my attorney and the charlotte police department. My attorney told me to take the money down there and just get my motor back in whatever condition it was in -- then take it as a lesson learned. I talked to the police and they were happy to send an officer over there with me -- if i thought i needed an escort. Well I took my brother with me and cash to get the motor back. I showed up about 2pm on june 11th. Had a few words with Robert Horne (blown1500) about the price of the motor and lo and behold it was almost back together. We waited around another 3 hours while robert bolted on an old power steering pump and put the valve covers on. I then noticed that i didn't have a water pump -- i asked and he said something to the affect that he didn't remember it having one??? I told him i was pretty darn sure it needed to get water out of the lake somehow -- and he found my raw water pump laying in a big pile of parts. He did bolt it back on with the old, used, worn out hoses (i had my boat guy replace those later). I then forked over the cash and loaded the motor up.
about a week later the motor was in my boat and ready to be started -- robert had offered to come up and start it -- so i took a chance and called him. He said he would come up the following day and fire it up -- i was stupefied -- and very skeptical. But he DID show up!! i almost couldn't believe it. He hopped up in the engine compartment and got it fired up -- but it would not stay running. It would only run as long as he poured gas into the carb. He then removed the fuel pump and stated it was bad and it had to be replaced. So he left and said he'd have one the next day and would be back up. Well -- do i even need to tell you what happened the next day?? one story after another about the fuel pump should be here at 2pm -- yadda yadda yadda -- it was obvious where this was going so i went out and bought a BRAND new on with MY own money. Had my boat guy's put it on and fire it up -- it sorta ran -- but would not idle. We called robert and he told us to check the carb and see if it was bolted down -- guess what -- it actually takes freaking bolts to hold a carburetor down!!! and it only had two bolts in it!!!! I couldn't believe he would let a motor leave his shop like this. Well my guy's found some bolts and got the carb snugged down -- and the motor would finally start idling -- got the timing set according to robert and then proceeded to take the boat out for some break in time.
well the weather sucked and didn't get it out until last week -- July 8th. I wasn't even in the water 5 minutes and i heard a bang. Got my boat towed back to the launch and loaded it back on the trailer -- my boat guy's then took it apart monday morning. They found USED push rods in the motor -- and the balls had fallen off of two of them. Also the rockers were not hitting the valves correctly and it was wearing on the retainer pins. At this point i didn't even want to deal with power marine any further -- so i just called robert to find out the Cam in the motor -- so i could get the correct push rods. He then told me on the phone that he would come up there and put the motor back together and bring NEW push rods and a NEW steel shim head gasket. He was supposed to come tuesday nite -- well obviously he didn't show -- he claimed the head gasket didn't show up in UPS -- come on people -- this is CHARLOTTE NC -- RACE CITY USA -- could you not find a head gasket somewhere locally?
I told him -- ok -- we'll wait till wednesday (yesterday). I called at 2pm and he stated the gasket was in and he could do the work - but he had yet another boating emergency (he actually said someone had a gun to his head and he had to get the boat done-- i took it at the time as a joke -- but now i wonder) and he would not be able to come up to do the work -- BUT if i brought him the boat he'd do it in his shop and get me taken care of. Well as i was backing my boat into his shop -- his guy's asked me to unhook -- i was like "why" expecting to only be there an hour or two. I went in and asked robert why would i need to unhook and he told me he didn't have the parts in -- and he couldn't work on it tonite -- it would be a "FEW" day's -- well I went off -- used a few explicatives that I probably shouldn't have and pulled my boat out of there. THERE WAS NO WAY IN HELL THAT I WOULD LEAVE MY BOAT UN-ATTENDED AT HIS SHOP OVERNIGHT.
so now i am talking to another engine builder -- and will hopefully have something running soon.
I talked to STEVE at OSO and he gave me some VERY good advice -- "GO WITH THE ADVERTISERS, at least we somewhat screen them -- do not rely on people who just post various threads and prey on people through PM's and e-mail. We have recently changed some features on the board to stop some of this deceipt."
talk about a hard lesson to learn -- i'm just glad i was not the guy who had blower motors built -- i understand he was taken for a ride as well -- i'm hoping he'll chime in here.
Mark
P.S. -- I have all emails i ever recieved from power marine -- as well as about 8 voice mails robert left -- its quite the story
I have had one very negative experience with them and apparently based on some private emails several others have had similar experiences.
Let me start by saying that the technical information these people provide "seems" to be good.
My saga started back in early February -- in my quest to have my boat restored to a like new condition i wanted my motor, tranny and out drive rebuilt. I talked with several members and engine builders and decided to let power marine do my engine and i shipped my tranny and drive down to FL (came back flawless).
I was quoted 4000.00 to turn my 454 330 into a 496 450-500 hp motor. It seemed like a good price at the time. I accepted and took my motor to his shop about feb 12th. Robert received my motor and estimated 2-3 weeks to get it back to me. At the time I told him not to rush because the rest of my boat would take a bit longer than that. Well about a month later -- we'll call it March 12th I called and wanted to find out the status -- He had not done ANY thing to my motor -- not even ordered parts. I told him i was starting to get pressed for time and i needed it back pretty quickly. He then told me it should be in the next week or so. Well since that time I call about every other day and it is one lame excuse after another. He had a boating emergency (not sure what that is exactly) that meant he had to work on other peoples before mine. He then said the parts were on back order. The next week he said he had started on it and it should be done in a few day's. The following week he said he got behind and should be by wednesday. It then became pretty much a ritual that every week i called it would be next week. I finally got it out of him that he never even started on my motor -- and was going to send it to some "other" shop to get the block put back together. Told me last week that he'd have it by friday for SURE. Well i didn't even bother calling on friday -- i just showed up saturday afternoon(this was about may 9th). Needless to say my motor was not done -- hell it wasn't even there. He assured me it would be back and in PERFECT condition by tuesday may 13. Well as you can imagine it was not.
So I went to the beach for bike week came back and called him -- now it is May 19th called him and now he didn't know when it would be finished. I even offered to come down and bolt the thing together myself! While talking to him on the phone i asked who the owner of power marine was -- Robert would not tell me -- but he did say it was supposed to be him -- only that he couldn't legally own a business -- GEE i wonder why.
Well another month went by and still no motor -- at wits end i contacted my attorney and the charlotte police department. My attorney told me to take the money down there and just get my motor back in whatever condition it was in -- then take it as a lesson learned. I talked to the police and they were happy to send an officer over there with me -- if i thought i needed an escort. Well I took my brother with me and cash to get the motor back. I showed up about 2pm on june 11th. Had a few words with Robert Horne (blown1500) about the price of the motor and lo and behold it was almost back together. We waited around another 3 hours while robert bolted on an old power steering pump and put the valve covers on. I then noticed that i didn't have a water pump -- i asked and he said something to the affect that he didn't remember it having one??? I told him i was pretty darn sure it needed to get water out of the lake somehow -- and he found my raw water pump laying in a big pile of parts. He did bolt it back on with the old, used, worn out hoses (i had my boat guy replace those later). I then forked over the cash and loaded the motor up.
about a week later the motor was in my boat and ready to be started -- robert had offered to come up and start it -- so i took a chance and called him. He said he would come up the following day and fire it up -- i was stupefied -- and very skeptical. But he DID show up!! i almost couldn't believe it. He hopped up in the engine compartment and got it fired up -- but it would not stay running. It would only run as long as he poured gas into the carb. He then removed the fuel pump and stated it was bad and it had to be replaced. So he left and said he'd have one the next day and would be back up. Well -- do i even need to tell you what happened the next day?? one story after another about the fuel pump should be here at 2pm -- yadda yadda yadda -- it was obvious where this was going so i went out and bought a BRAND new on with MY own money. Had my boat guy's put it on and fire it up -- it sorta ran -- but would not idle. We called robert and he told us to check the carb and see if it was bolted down -- guess what -- it actually takes freaking bolts to hold a carburetor down!!! and it only had two bolts in it!!!! I couldn't believe he would let a motor leave his shop like this. Well my guy's found some bolts and got the carb snugged down -- and the motor would finally start idling -- got the timing set according to robert and then proceeded to take the boat out for some break in time.
well the weather sucked and didn't get it out until last week -- July 8th. I wasn't even in the water 5 minutes and i heard a bang. Got my boat towed back to the launch and loaded it back on the trailer -- my boat guy's then took it apart monday morning. They found USED push rods in the motor -- and the balls had fallen off of two of them. Also the rockers were not hitting the valves correctly and it was wearing on the retainer pins. At this point i didn't even want to deal with power marine any further -- so i just called robert to find out the Cam in the motor -- so i could get the correct push rods. He then told me on the phone that he would come up there and put the motor back together and bring NEW push rods and a NEW steel shim head gasket. He was supposed to come tuesday nite -- well obviously he didn't show -- he claimed the head gasket didn't show up in UPS -- come on people -- this is CHARLOTTE NC -- RACE CITY USA -- could you not find a head gasket somewhere locally?
I told him -- ok -- we'll wait till wednesday (yesterday). I called at 2pm and he stated the gasket was in and he could do the work - but he had yet another boating emergency (he actually said someone had a gun to his head and he had to get the boat done-- i took it at the time as a joke -- but now i wonder) and he would not be able to come up to do the work -- BUT if i brought him the boat he'd do it in his shop and get me taken care of. Well as i was backing my boat into his shop -- his guy's asked me to unhook -- i was like "why" expecting to only be there an hour or two. I went in and asked robert why would i need to unhook and he told me he didn't have the parts in -- and he couldn't work on it tonite -- it would be a "FEW" day's -- well I went off -- used a few explicatives that I probably shouldn't have and pulled my boat out of there. THERE WAS NO WAY IN HELL THAT I WOULD LEAVE MY BOAT UN-ATTENDED AT HIS SHOP OVERNIGHT.
so now i am talking to another engine builder -- and will hopefully have something running soon.
I talked to STEVE at OSO and he gave me some VERY good advice -- "GO WITH THE ADVERTISERS, at least we somewhat screen them -- do not rely on people who just post various threads and prey on people through PM's and e-mail. We have recently changed some features on the board to stop some of this deceipt."
talk about a hard lesson to learn -- i'm just glad i was not the guy who had blower motors built -- i understand he was taken for a ride as well -- i'm hoping he'll chime in here.
Mark
P.S. -- I have all emails i ever recieved from power marine -- as well as about 8 voice mails robert left -- its quite the story
07-17-2003, 08:12 PM
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I feel your pain my brother, last year I brought my boat to some d--khead on May 16 and got the boat back the first week in August minus my anchor but thank god with only a few minor problems. With what you went through I would have been in jail because I would have killed the M F. I guess there are no good old days where someones word is priceless.
07-17-2003, 09:32 PM
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About 13 years ago was the first time I had learned never to say "Take your time". I think I did it a second time & since then if I take anything in (boat, trailer, engine, interior, or ???? ) I never say "Take your time".
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07-17-2003, 10:39 PM
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Well then...
What I heard about this individual boning Dustin Whipple must not have been a fairy tale. Hmmmmmm, I knew the guy spewed too much to have any credability... My vote says take him swimmin
And just for the record, Dustin Whipple IS A STAND UP GUY, and so is his company... PERIOD!
I feel your pain from having a hack monster assemble your motor with an AirHatchet... betcha the plot thickins when someone inspects it that knows his ass from a telephone booth...
BLOW THIS, 1500
What I heard about this individual boning Dustin Whipple must not have been a fairy tale. Hmmmmmm, I knew the guy spewed too much to have any credability... My vote says take him swimmin
And just for the record, Dustin Whipple IS A STAND UP GUY, and so is his company... PERIOD!
I feel your pain from having a hack monster assemble your motor with an AirHatchet... betcha the plot thickins when someone inspects it that knows his ass from a telephone booth...
BLOW THIS, 1500
07-18-2003, 12:49 PM
#7
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I feel bad for you, I guess all of us have gone through some sort of bad experience with, in my case hi-per car engines
I am a building contractor, and when people ask me to recommend a trade, I don't ( Ispent years collecting my list of subs, and don't give that info out for free
)
but I usually tell them to call a local building wholesaler, and ask them to recommend someone
for starters, you'll at least know that they pay their bills, as I doubt any suppliers would recommend anyone who doesn't
I am a building contractor, and when people ask me to recommend a trade, I don't ( Ispent years collecting my list of subs, and don't give that info out for free
)but I usually tell them to call a local building wholesaler, and ask them to recommend someone
for starters, you'll at least know that they pay their bills, as I doubt any suppliers would recommend anyone who doesn't
