BBB725

I've been thru something similar with an engine builder, went to court spent the money and time, and was still never made whole again. It's very frustrating but IMO the above comment is correct only the lawyers will come out ahead.

socalstone

Unfortunately, I've had to resort to small claims a few times over the years. It can work. It's up to the judge and how clearly you present your case. Documentation is huge, so having that well organized means a lot more to a judge than just your word against his. It sucks to have to do it, but when deadbeats don't take responsibility for their actions, sometimes you have to hold them responsible. I've won and lost, but even when I lost, I still felt good, knowing that I dragged that POS into court and made him squirm. Just keep your expectations low and don't let yourself lose sleep over it. -you'll come out alright. Good luck.

DURANGOKID59

Thamks for the input guys. I think I have all my ducks in a row, and hope that I come out on top, but I wont hold my breathe until I hear the judge tell me Im good to go. I know it's only 2400 and loss of the majority of this summers boating season, but I think Id rather try and win than just roll over and feel like I got screwed out of what I paid hard earned money for. I guess we'll see, filing the paper work here in a few days and see what happens.

runafever

I agree with Seafordguy. Let the court sort it out. At the end of the day it is an unfortunate situation for all involved. The inconvenience of being without a boat, having to be towed in twice, additional phone calls, courts, and a lot of aggravation takes the fun out of boating. Unfortunatley the marine service industry has become overwhelmed with fly by night car mechanics that try and apply their trade to marine engines. Unfortunatley if the mechanic agrees to fix the eronious repairs that he alledgedly made, do you really want them to do the work anyway? No one will win here It's time and $ for everyone involved. Due diligiance is necessary when picking out a good service shop. My 2c.


RAF

jafo

This is true all too often. I do all of my own repairs-cars, trucks, boats, house, everything. I just got way too tired of hiring things done only to have them screwed up by neanderthals and knuckle-draggers.
I have an excellent local machinist whom I trust, and if I do the rest of the work, I know it's done right.
Boating can be expensive, and things DO break. It may be in your best interest to do your own work. If you're not mechanically inclined or just plain don't want to get involved in 'self-inflicted' repairs with equipment/tool purchases, there is an enormous pool of boaters to call upon when things break- many are willing to help; just look at the tremendous pool of good folks here on OSO! Ask around your area about machinists too- the good ones have a tendency to shine high above the bad in reputation.
Jim

Iggy

Exactly right. My employer deals with vendors that manufacture parts for us under a purchase order. If the parts are found to be defective we return the to that vendor. Now, if they had another source do the work that was found to be defective, then it's the original vendors problem to get it corrected or paid for.

Example: A local shop built some close tolerance parts for us out of aluminum. The parts were sent a local plating house to be black anodized. The plater left them in the etching tank too long (4 minutes instead of 30-45 seconds) and they came to us in an undersize condition, totally unusable. We sent them back, machine shop had to remake all the parts then back charged the plater for everything.