Before you take Frank Butler's advice and have your boat peeled at his Channel Islands Boat Yard, call me at 805-218-0235 or email me aaronurbain@bigfoot.com and I'll tell you how my friend got screwed by the yard forman. I watched the workers work two days on the boat, and eagerly challenged the bill for 4 days. The original estimate for just the peel was $500, the actual bill was $1600. After heated words, I was banned from the yard permenently. The real injury was discovering that Frank and his man Lonnie decided to evict my friends boat from the yard because of the confrontation over the bill. the freshly peeled boat was forced out of the yard and into the water! With 2 days notice, we threw a piss-coat of epoxy on the freshly exposed laminate and have vowed to never return again. Avoid this yard and any of Frank Butler's "special deals" at all costs.
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challange ing the bill
I applaud you for standing up for the original estimate. While yards are expensive enough for legitimate work, there is no place in the boating industry (or any other industry) for billing of work "NOT DONE".....
I applaud you for standing up for the original estimate. While yards are expensive enough for legitimate work, there is no place in the boating industry (or any other industry) for billing of work "NOT DONE".....
Usually two sides
Stories like this -- that appear to be so incredibly one-sided in their telling -- always seem to have two sides. While I'm not doubting your perceptions of what happened, it would be nice if we could hear the yard's side of this incident, too.
Stories like this -- that appear to be so incredibly one-sided in their telling -- always seem to have two sides. While I'm not doubting your perceptions of what happened, it would be nice if we could hear the yard's side of this incident, too.
good yard story
With the bad yard story, here's a good one to help you keep the faith. The estimate to fix the loose prop strut on Windward Hull was $1380.00. The actual job came in at $720.00. In other words, waaaay under estimate. The work was done at Crowleys Yacht Yard in Chicago and looks like excellent work. Mike Elmore Windward Hull C28 Hull #7
With the bad yard story, here's a good one to help you keep the faith. The estimate to fix the loose prop strut on Windward Hull was $1380.00. The actual job came in at $720.00. In other words, waaaay under estimate. The work was done at Crowleys Yacht Yard in Chicago and looks like excellent work. Mike Elmore Windward Hull C28 Hull #7
Flamin' the Crooks
I don't have a dog in this hunt, but this is a word of warning about public criticism of people we do business with. A friend and I chartered a boat down in FL. We had major mechanical problems with the boat and complained to the charter company, who refused to fix it. The charter company ended up charging us for "damage" to offset our claim for money back for the days waiting repair, and since we didn't damage anything, litigation ensued. My friend was quite pissed and placed his experience on a sailing site on the web, similar to this one. The charter company then sued for libel. Can you believe it? Well, you probably can't, and I couldn't, but it was nasty litigation and quite expensive... Not to mention nerve wracking. We all think of the internet as this very private, kind of intimate communication. However, it's as public as printing it in the newspaper--hence, you have to watch what you say. We all benefit from the information one or the other of us puts on the net, but there are also dangers. I'm a lawyer, but let me tell you that I watch my mouth (my fingers) on the net now.
I don't have a dog in this hunt, but this is a word of warning about public criticism of people we do business with. A friend and I chartered a boat down in FL. We had major mechanical problems with the boat and complained to the charter company, who refused to fix it. The charter company ended up charging us for "damage" to offset our claim for money back for the days waiting repair, and since we didn't damage anything, litigation ensued. My friend was quite pissed and placed his experience on a sailing site on the web, similar to this one. The charter company then sued for libel. Can you believe it? Well, you probably can't, and I couldn't, but it was nasty litigation and quite expensive... Not to mention nerve wracking. We all think of the internet as this very private, kind of intimate communication. However, it's as public as printing it in the newspaper--hence, you have to watch what you say. We all benefit from the information one or the other of us puts on the net, but there are also dangers. I'm a lawyer, but let me tell you that I watch my mouth (my fingers) on the net now.
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