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Name and shame...UPDATE


boatbum

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As my earlier thread has been deposited into the naughty file (thanks guys!) i thought i would give an update as to what has been happenning.

The latest invoice for the job (quoted at $13,000) is now at $41,000!

 

But...

- I have the boat back

- Have paid $22,000, and still owe $17,000 (he felt sorry for me and gave me a discount!)

- Lawyer has been appointed... Lawyer knows this guy as he has sued him before for work done to the lawyers own boat!

- Admiralty Act looked into, and looking shakey...

- Tresspass Order served...

- Marina security notified and on alert...

- Letter being sent to a**hole telling him to get %&*$^*#*...

- Court proceedings being initiated...

- More reputable BB'S organised to quote remedial work (yep, i'm sure keeping the industry busy!)

- Letter to Marina manager about the conflict of interest be?

 

 

 

Ya just picked on the wrong guy!
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Were you given a reason that the original thread was locked?

 

I am hoping that it was to remove the uncertainty about who the boat builder in question is, as I have had dealings with several builders and all have been very good to deal with, and also have all come in under budget.

 

Stick to your guns -a quote is a quote, and should not be varied by more than 10% I believe, without notification in writing ( or has this law been superseded? ) I believe an estimate has to be within 20% unless notified in writing that its going to exceed this. To be fair, I read this in the legal advice column on the Consumer magazine many moons ago, so it could well have changed by now.

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Boatbum, being a boatbuilder myself i have read about your dealings with said boatbuilder with some interest. I have seen the work you had done on the boat and it seems to me you got that job done at a very very good price and by my understanding you were effectively being the project manager by working and watching alongside the workers the whole time. Surely if you were not happy with the job at any stage you would say so.

Us boatbuilders seem to be finding our jobs increasingly harder because of people like you and we do talk to each other so be careful you may find oneday no one will be willing to work on your boat.

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So whetu, you are saying it is quite OK for a contractor to go so far over a quote with no prior discussion? Are you saying that fitting a couple of hatches should cost upwards of $40K? Are you saying it us acceptable to put a boat back in the water with such a shoddy finish without telling the owner why? If that is the case, then it's any wonder you and ay boatbiulders like you are having such a hard time. You need to change the way you do business.

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No im not saying thats ok and from my understanding the boat was going to go in the water unfinished because the owner wanted it for labour weekend and then come back to be finished and if you saw the boat you would see the work done is alot better than the rest of the boat.

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There is indeed. But this Boatbiulder has a rather bad track record and similar complaints right now, so maybe he needs to change the way he does business to keep his clients happier. And there is no excuse for using his relationship with the Marina Manager to have the Travel lift not move him. That is abuse of position.

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The reason the travel lift didnt put the boat in the water is a. the job wasnt payed for (you dont walk out of a supermarket without paying do ya) and b. the travel lift doesnt work on the weekend unless its an emergency.

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a. the job wasn't payed for (you dont walk out of a supermarket without paying do ya)

The travel lift does not work for the Boat builder and should not have had anything to do with payment to boat builder.

Not working a weekend maybe valid.

At the same time, you don't buy a bag of apples advertised for $5 dollars and go to the checkout to find they are costing you $20. Slightly different argument. Which brings up relevant questions for the industry and the reason why so many Boat builders are having these issues. So lets say the job was completely honest on the side of the Builder. Lets say he has not over charged. Lets say he has done everything as per being asked. In fact I have been in a similar situation. I had a job where I was under the understanding that the cost would be $5K. We saved the money. We got the job done. No discussion was ever made by contractor that job was going to be more than $5K. Pure bad communication on his behalf is all I can suggest. Although the cost of items seemed steep, I have no clue to his buying power, so he may well have put a modest mark up on items. We got a bill for nearly $18K. Our boat was sitting in his berth clocking up a daily charge. We could argue and have the cost still increase daily.

Issue really was poor communication. The contractor was thinking one thing, I was thinking another. He did not describe the total work he was going to carry out. I thought he was doing prescribed work within budget. I was not completely silly, there were a couple of extra's I had not originally considered and so I expected a slight budget blow out to around $7K. But not what we ended up being presented with.

So back to the original story here. The issue may well be that the extra work cost the extra money and is justified. But the mistake has been that the Builder has not told the Client just how much extra. I have seen this mistake made before. I have even down it myself as a Contractor. And you know what I did in that situation?? I wore the cost and put it down to a learning experience on my behalf. I made a mistake. I should have let my client know exactly my expectations of the job. Often what the client understands and the Builder understands can be very different.

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I've just seen this thread, and while I can't comment on the original, I too have had similar, and been burnt.

quote for rebushing rudder and fairing keel was $2000, due to go back in water, $4700!.

when queried, new bill for $3000 odd, with the comment "I think this is a fair price".

ie - an admission that the original price was a try-on.

l have learned my lesson, from now on, signed paper contract with statement-" no changes unless agreed and signed,

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Whetu, first posts and your supporting someone who several have had issues with..... Interesting.

Nice to hear the other side of the story though. Nothing like a it of ballance so we can actually form our own opinion.

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Guest Saturday Night Special
Whetu, first posts and your supporting someone who several have had issues with..... Interesting.

Nice to hear the other side of the story though. Nothing like a it of ballance so we can actually form our own opinion.

 

Are you sure this is the other side of the story when a Company/operatoer has changed their name as many times as this one has, left a trail of destruction behind and is getting support from people who think this behavior is OK something is wrong as For your statememnts Mr Whetu it would sound suspiciously like you have a vested interest along the way here?

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Hay, I'm not saying he's right, I'm just saying there is nothing wrong with hearing it.

In this case it appears to have only enforced the original complaint. A poor defence can do more damage than the right to silence it would appear. There certainly hasn't been a strong rebuttal, or any form of defence from the boat builder himself.

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