ComplaintsforBoats by George, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  09/06/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had purchased my boat from boats by George, a 2008 ****** ********** *** in the summer of 2019. At the end of the summer I had brought my boat to them to be winterized. In the beginning of the following summer on a very windy/rough day (2020) I backed my boat off the trailer with my wife driving- she attempted to put the boat into reverse and it would not engage. She ended up trying to drive the boat in a circle to avoid grounding the boat, ultimately grounding it anyway. I contacted boats by George and they acknowledged their mistake and replaced the propeller. Now it’s 2022 and I notice a rough idle on my boat which I suspect is from the propeller shaft being damaged by the aforementioned incident. I took the boat to boats by George approximately 3 weeks ago and they told me they noticed it’s low on transmission fluid and advised the transmission mounts need to be replaced- no mention of the prop shaft. They said they would water test it and get back to me- said I was looking at approximately $2000. They called me back at the end of the day staying the prop shaft snapped during test, they already ordered a new one and would make it right. No mention of cost. Two weeks later and I do not hear from them, I call and they tell me boat is done and “***” call me back with a price. No call back in two days, so I called again today (September 6 and told my total is $6000- an additional $4000 on the original quote. I spoke with a general manager and he agreed to take off 25% of the already overpriced parts. He states because I replaced a shaft packing that I caused the prop shaft to break which is completely false. I had no issues with my propeller shaft until they took possession. I also never agreed to paying $4000 and would have done it myself had they told me. I feel I am being taken advantage of and would like some assistance as they are holding my boat until I pay them, I have also reached out to ****** boats LLC for assistance in this matter.

  

  Business response

  10/04/2022

  Dear BBB, Thank you for bringing this complaint to our attention. We have worked out a resolution with this customer that we feel goes well above and beyond what would normally be warranted under normal circumstances, as our reputation and good standing in the community is extremely important to us. The customer believes that the repair stems from an incident that he had with the boat 3 years ago, for which we replaced a propeller at no charge to the customer. We warranty our labor for 1 year, and he has had no issues since then up until now. In addition, when the boat was brought to us, it was the first time he had it professionally serviced since we saw it 3 years ago. The customer had attempted his own repairs on the boat's transmission and drive shaft, which cannot be done without an alignment, which was never performed. We believe this played a role in the failure of his motor mounts and the drive shaft. In a phone conversation that we have recorded, the customer approved us moving forward with the repairs on the broken drive shaft. He does not ask for an estimate. He just states that it has to be done and to go ahead and do it. Despite all of the above, the customer showed up to our facility on a Saturday and requested that we give him his boat without him paying his bill. In order to just move beyond this, we removed the 2nd half of the repair from his bill, which you can see in the attached document. There is a substantial amount of unbilled labor and parts. I tried to attach the phone conversation as well, but audio files are not allowed. If you'd like to receive this in a different way, I can provide it. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to hearing from you. All the best, Adam R. P***** General Manager 

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