BEWARE: Boat Doctor LLC, in Madison, WI
 

Short version: Liars, cheats, do not stick to agreed schedules, accuse you of "liberal whining" if you have a problem with their incompetency. Then swear at you, and are totally unreasonable.

Long version: Called ahead a week ago, they told me to bring my boat in Monday for an engine alignment. They said that if I brought it in Monday they could get me in, as their schedule fills up later in the week. I dropped it off monday at noon. They called and said that my gimbal bearing was installed incorrectly because it wouldn't accept grease. No grease was pumped into it, the fitting is dry. They lied, & to try to make more money by performing unnecessary work. Then, they said they needed the outdrive to align the engine. Why? No idea. I dropped that off at 9am on Tuesday. Called Tuesday night, had not started on it. Called wed. Had not started on it. They called me Thursday, at 12:30pm, and said they weren't going to get to it til next week, because they're closed fri, sat, sun, and monday. I had 5 hours to rent a truck, show up, and pick up my boat.

I showed up, and had thought of a solution that would benefit both parties. If they would rent me the engine alignment tool, I could still get my engine aligned, and they would make money. Upon hearing this idea, the guy in charge said absolutely not. I explained that I feel a bit screwed, as they had told me my boat would be done earlier in the week, and now it's too late to order a tool, and the guy cut me off and told me that he didn't want to hear any "liberal whining". I asked him what he was talking about, and he told me to get the f*ck out of **** shop, and started yelling at me. I told him he was being unreasonable, and this was no way to treat a potential customer. He said he didn't care, and to get my boat and get off his property. The guy then swore more at me. Keep in mind I had done EVERYTHING they had asked, on time, and was always polite. The guy is obviously a huge *******. DO NOT GO HERE, and tell all your friends to avoid this place. They deserve to go out of business. I feel sorry for his wife, as she was very nice, polite, and understanding.

maybe it's just me but there must be more to this story. What I gather is you dropped a boat off stating one thing needed to be done and they found more things wrong which would completely throw the agreed-to schedule out the window. And, no shops will rent/lend tools.

You'd gather wrong. I need the engine aligned with the transom plates/gimbal bearing. They said they'd do it for $100. Dropped off, on time. Then they stated the gimbal bearing wasn't accepting grease (BS, the fitting is still completley dry, they didn't even try to grease it). Then they said they need the outdrive (?!??!), dropped that off on time. They said they'd have it done tuesday. Then on Wed they said they hadn't started it, but they'd do it that night. Then Thursday they called me and said that I needed to pick it up if I wanted it this weekend at all. My boat is basically an unrigged hull with an engine and transom plates. There is literally nothing on the boat they could have "discovered" to be wrong after working on it- which they did not even do. They literally put my boat in the corner of the lot, and did absolutely nothing with it all week.

I know of other shops that rent tools, I was willing to put down a FULL PRICE DEPOSIT, plus cash on top of that, to get my engine aligned asap. Instead of saying "no", dude said he did not want to hear "liberal whining". I myself run a business. If I screw over one of my customers, I work to make them happy. They are going to be closed for 4 days straight. If a customer was willing to put down full price on a tool, that is completely reasonable, especially if I had screwed them over by not doing anything all week and constantly saying I would be working on it.

Course, whatever man, you can believe what you want. I'm pretty sure the reviews are consistently ONE STAR if you google them, stating rude service (yep), unnecessary work (yep), and poor workmanship.

Reviews

The unfortunate part is what you described is almost normal in the industry.Which is why I do almost all of my own work.

That place looks like a $hithole. You should have Googled them before! :)

which would completely throw the agreed-to schedule out the window:eek:


put the pipe down BIG Daddy , so a lil bit of xtra work throws it out of wack and come pick up your boat ??? So you take your boat in for an impeller and to find out it needs a new water pump housing and a serpentine belt OMG you'll have to come back in 6 weeks ... maybe they needed a whole 80 hour week from monday thru Saturday to align that motor and swap out a gimble bearing .... be realistic Bro

x2
that place looks like a dump on Google street view. Guess they do work inline with what a mess the place probably is

Fixx
 

Chit,,, i lend tools all the time!!

Has the bearing been replaced recently? The new ones are sealed and non greaseable, but that doesn't explain the no grease attempt. In all honesty, if he said he needed the drive to align the motor, you are better off getting it out of there.

that is great U can do your own stuff! But alot of us don't have the tools &/or the know how 2 perform needed work & thus we rely on dealers/service places 2 B fair w/ us on costs, timing, etc etc!!! Unfortuately your 1st sentence is way 2 correct!!! sad that people R like that!!:bsflag: