There are quite a few dishonest people in the business, but there's good ones as well...... I think you are better off if you can focus on the good instead of the bad. Like looking at a lawn with several dandelions, hard not to just see the dandelions over the rest of the beautiful grass. I've gotten the shaft before, but there's nothing like being in the water on a performance boat. I choose to think about this and all the good people I've met in boating.

Its a a fact at least in Mi, The shop who works on your automobile is held to a MUCH hugher standard LEGALLY than the shop that works on your boat, PERIOD, the laws are VERY flawed, Smitty

Skidoc is right IMO I was fed up with the boat "business" after I shut the door on my shop. I bought a "new to me" boat, thought screw the azzholes mine runs!! After a little time I started missing the fun of boating & the honest humor of someone forgetting the bilge plug as everyone waits to go & other ramp follies. "I've never forgotten anything you can ask my wife as soon as I remember where she is" LOL Having kids pointing at my boat asking is it fast? is it loud? can I go for a ride? Things like that & a million more. I look at things differently today & enjoy hanging upside down in the engine compartment, helping someone out just because they need it. I do all of the work on my boats because I'm sick of getting shafted, would I help someone rebuild their toy if asked? yes .Will I ever try to do it for a living? NO. Expensive lesson learned but I am feeling much more like who I really am these days so if you guys are out on the water & see some goofy looking fool waving at you for no reason that might be me enjoying myself once again. Randy

SE Michigan is a major boating area with boaters of all types using their boats less each year. This has caused the shops that had gotten by because of the previous high volumes of work to shut the doors while the shops that do right by their customers still continue to grow. I have always and still continue to invest in my business to make it better for my customers so that when they are out enjoying their boats they can have fun and not think about whats going to go wrong next. This is not as easy to do in the go-fast world but it can be done with proper rigging and build techniques. Don't forget that its cheaper to fix it right the first time no matter the cost than have a shady repair cost you more with the damage it causes.

Does the boat industry still have bad business's out there?

YES....... We correct their BS all the time with improper rigging practices being the most common problems we see.

There are definitely honest and dishonest service providers and sales folks in any business which is unfortunate. However, people need to keep in mind there are also dishonest and super unreasonable, irrationally childish customers who maintain unreasonable expectations. As a result these unreasonable customers can and do paint false overall negative pictures of individual business men and women to the general public. This is normally due to the customers absolute ignorance and personality being completely unreasonable. It is always easy to point the finger at another in a public forum.

I'm not saying people don't get screwed by service/sales companies because it does happen. However, if there are 100's of exceptionally satisfied customers with a specific business or individual and not even a very small handful of customers that are disgruntled...I think that statistic supports the assumption that the specific customer/consumer is the problem and not the sales/service business/individual(s) involved.

Whatever happened to pride in one's work regardless of the industry? I just had the experience with a salesmen who advertises on this forum who for a better word acted like a moron. It's not important who he is because i'm sure he won't be in business long, just another guy who doesn't deserve to be in the industry.

Let's see, searching the archives ................... We have crooked/convicted boat haulers, crooked parts sellers, crooked engine builders, mold thieves, crooked thieving boat builders, convicted drug runner/murderer fans, trailer thieves, boat thieves, bold faced liar website starter, suspect authors and a few con men ............ miss anything ?

Now that's rich!

We got culture .

X2! Very well said!!