DISGUSTED-- A must read for everyone planning on purchasing a boat
03-14-2002, 10:57 PM
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DISGUSTED-- A must read for everyone planning on purchasing a boat
Months back a local news agency did a story on a local boat builder/dealer that has ripped off several people including his own employees, according to King5 news in seattle. MY favorite boat company has once again gone under. Now this A$$hole bought the molds, and is building the boats only to possibly rip more unsuspecting people off. Here is the story, in it's entirety from King 5 news:
SEATTLE - For two friends, the dream of getting on the water in their own boat seemed so close last summer.
"I was envisioning the lunchtime boat meetings," says Scott Evans.
But someone else's boat sits in the slip they leased. Their custom-made Tiger Trax ski boat, for which they paid $23,000, was not delivered.
Within weeks of the purchase, the company's owner said there was a delay.
"That was just the beginning of kind of what became an endless series of excuses on why the boat wasn't ready," says Evans.
"It's a mess. All we wanted was to be wake boarding before the 4th of July," says Aaron Buerman.
Dean Paulson has a Tiger Trax in his driveway, but didn't really want one. Three years ago he took his Century ski boat in for repairs.
He says the same person who owns the Tiger Trax company promised to have the boat fixed in two weeks.
After months of delays, Paulson finally tracked down his boat and snapped some shocking photos.
"It was out in the middle of a field, totally destroyed, engine ripped out of it, out drive ripped out. It was absolutely worthless," says Paulson.
Tiger Trax gave Paulson one of its boats - only after years of haggling - to settle a lawsuit he filed against the company.
The KING 5 Investigators has learned these are just some of the many unhappy customers in the Tiger Trax boat wake.
The company's owner, Phillip Warnock, has a long history of cheating customers, creditors, and even his own employees.
"He had contracted with several people to building boats for them," says Deputy Prosecutor Ivan Orton.
Orton sent Warnock to prison on fraud convictions in the mid-1990s, and Warnock has been at the helm of several boat-building firms that sank.
Since his first boat company, Gaelic Marine, filed for bankruptcy in 1982, he has run a string of boat building businesses that went under.
"Mr. Warnock appears to have run one failing business after another, transferring the assets but not the debts of each corporation," says Orton.
Is Phil Warnock up to his old tricks again, taking customers on a shakedown cruise of a different sort?
Warnock turned down a request for an interview about Tiger Trax, saying "we're not gonna comment on it."
The business never stays at one address for long. The KING 5 Investigators tracked Warnock to an Auburn warehouse, apparently the new home and showroom for his Tiger Trax boat-building company.
And as recently as last month, we found his company selling Tiger Trax at the Portland Boat Show.
The salesman promised one couple a good deal if they paid up front.
"We're really thinking about it," said the woman.
The thing that upsets Evans and Buerman the most is that Warnock is still in business, and that more customers could lose thousands.
They have all but given up on getting their boat or their money back.
"We've talked to everything from the attorney general's office, the Better Business Bureau, the police department, the prosecutor's office. These departments have interacted with Phil in the past years yet they haven't prevented this tragedy from occurring and they're really not interested in helping us correct the one that's already occurred here," says Evans.
The prosecutor the KING 5 Investigators talked to says his office accepts only felony fraud cases over $100,000.
And misdemeanor cases, especially property crimes, are a low priority.
Warnock has used bankruptcy to protect himself from lawsuits.
http://www.globalmarinespecialties.com/
http://www.boatfraud.com/
http://www.wa.gov/ago/
This is the *******.....
SEATTLE - For two friends, the dream of getting on the water in their own boat seemed so close last summer.
"I was envisioning the lunchtime boat meetings," says Scott Evans.
But someone else's boat sits in the slip they leased. Their custom-made Tiger Trax ski boat, for which they paid $23,000, was not delivered.
Within weeks of the purchase, the company's owner said there was a delay.
"That was just the beginning of kind of what became an endless series of excuses on why the boat wasn't ready," says Evans.
"It's a mess. All we wanted was to be wake boarding before the 4th of July," says Aaron Buerman.
Dean Paulson has a Tiger Trax in his driveway, but didn't really want one. Three years ago he took his Century ski boat in for repairs.
He says the same person who owns the Tiger Trax company promised to have the boat fixed in two weeks.
After months of delays, Paulson finally tracked down his boat and snapped some shocking photos.
"It was out in the middle of a field, totally destroyed, engine ripped out of it, out drive ripped out. It was absolutely worthless," says Paulson.
Tiger Trax gave Paulson one of its boats - only after years of haggling - to settle a lawsuit he filed against the company.
The KING 5 Investigators has learned these are just some of the many unhappy customers in the Tiger Trax boat wake.
The company's owner, Phillip Warnock, has a long history of cheating customers, creditors, and even his own employees.
"He had contracted with several people to building boats for them," says Deputy Prosecutor Ivan Orton.
Orton sent Warnock to prison on fraud convictions in the mid-1990s, and Warnock has been at the helm of several boat-building firms that sank.
Since his first boat company, Gaelic Marine, filed for bankruptcy in 1982, he has run a string of boat building businesses that went under.
"Mr. Warnock appears to have run one failing business after another, transferring the assets but not the debts of each corporation," says Orton.
Is Phil Warnock up to his old tricks again, taking customers on a shakedown cruise of a different sort?
Warnock turned down a request for an interview about Tiger Trax, saying "we're not gonna comment on it."
The business never stays at one address for long. The KING 5 Investigators tracked Warnock to an Auburn warehouse, apparently the new home and showroom for his Tiger Trax boat-building company.
And as recently as last month, we found his company selling Tiger Trax at the Portland Boat Show.
The salesman promised one couple a good deal if they paid up front.
"We're really thinking about it," said the woman.
The thing that upsets Evans and Buerman the most is that Warnock is still in business, and that more customers could lose thousands.
They have all but given up on getting their boat or their money back.
"We've talked to everything from the attorney general's office, the Better Business Bureau, the police department, the prosecutor's office. These departments have interacted with Phil in the past years yet they haven't prevented this tragedy from occurring and they're really not interested in helping us correct the one that's already occurred here," says Evans.
The prosecutor the KING 5 Investigators talked to says his office accepts only felony fraud cases over $100,000.
And misdemeanor cases, especially property crimes, are a low priority.
Warnock has used bankruptcy to protect himself from lawsuits.
http://www.globalmarinespecialties.com/
http://www.boatfraud.com/
http://www.wa.gov/ago/
This is the *******.....
Last edited by mirageman; 03-14-2002 at 11:19 PM.
10-10-2005, 03:44 AM
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Re: DISGUSTED-- A must read for everyone planning on purchasing a boat
Here, here!
I first ran into Phil Warnock about 10 years back at World Gym. He'd set up a training program of diet/coaching called "Excel." A few days after joining the gym and making his aquaintance, I heard rumblings of him taking off with member's money, him not paying his employees, etc. Then, he was gone. Vanished. Come to find out, he took all the money owed to employees and then some. No members got what they paid for, as there wasn't any money to pay them to do their jobs. I ran into a big guy at the gym who said he and Phil had shared a cell at Walla Walla. Great.
Next thing I hear is Phil is again finding new ways to rip people off with his boat building business. My greatest sympathies to you who got taken and for those of you who think he sounds too good to be true or are thinking of doing ANY business with him-run!!!
If you ever should run into this guy, he's a real smooth talker but got nothing to back it up. He has a loooong criminal record-look it up in the King County Courts database-and keeps finding someone to bankroll him, usually women. If you should go after him for monetary damages, he'll suddenly have nothing. He's as slippery as an eel and very ambitious.
There really doesn't seem to be any way to stop this guy, he's like a bad virus. Too bad there isn't an effective immunization for someone like him.....
I first ran into Phil Warnock about 10 years back at World Gym. He'd set up a training program of diet/coaching called "Excel." A few days after joining the gym and making his aquaintance, I heard rumblings of him taking off with member's money, him not paying his employees, etc. Then, he was gone. Vanished. Come to find out, he took all the money owed to employees and then some. No members got what they paid for, as there wasn't any money to pay them to do their jobs. I ran into a big guy at the gym who said he and Phil had shared a cell at Walla Walla. Great.
Next thing I hear is Phil is again finding new ways to rip people off with his boat building business. My greatest sympathies to you who got taken and for those of you who think he sounds too good to be true or are thinking of doing ANY business with him-run!!!
If you ever should run into this guy, he's a real smooth talker but got nothing to back it up. He has a loooong criminal record-look it up in the King County Courts database-and keeps finding someone to bankroll him, usually women. If you should go after him for monetary damages, he'll suddenly have nothing. He's as slippery as an eel and very ambitious.
There really doesn't seem to be any way to stop this guy, he's like a bad virus. Too bad there isn't an effective immunization for someone like him.....
10-10-2005, 04:55 AM
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Re: DISGUSTED-- A must read for everyone planning on purchasing a boat
Too bad there isn't an effective immunization for someone like him.....
Sorry if you got caught up ia all that. Sounds like this guy needs to be taken care of.
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07-15-2006, 01:50 PM
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Re: DISGUSTED-- A must read for everyone planning on purchasing a boat
Mirageman, any new information on this character? Just need to keep these con artists and theives like Phil Warnock, Bill Hionis from National Marine, Dan Weinstein from Power Play, etc., in the public eye to keep anyone else from being taken advantage of by these low lifes.
Last edited by belowdeck; 07-15-2006 at 01:54 PM.
07-16-2006, 03:34 PM
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Re: DISGUSTED-- A must read for everyone planning on purchasing a boat
Originally Posted by dean51267
Reminds me of Randy Schultz - not an ethical bone in his body...
07-16-2006, 04:12 PM
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Re: DISGUSTED-- A must read for everyone planning on purchasing a boat
Just got in, I am cooked. The water is 74 and with a 20mph wind so is the air, now at home 2 miles in it is 90+. The fendr boat is doing great, I have never had to put in air, with 5 chambers it is tight. This boat rules, I can go in 1 ft of water and 15ft waves, but not 15ft waves in 1 ft of water 
I can go over 200 miles on 24 gallons, I get around 14mpg. The dogs can get in it and out easy which is a big deal otherwise they would have to stay home.
I can go over 200 miles on 24 gallons, I get around 14mpg. The dogs can get in it and out easy which is a big deal otherwise they would have to stay home.
