Ever felt ripped off?

[pelagic2530]

So, after $40k in Yamaha financing, $10k out of pocket in boatyard fees, and a three month wait after dropping the boat off, I finally got my 2530 back from its repower.

Here are a few samples of the rigging work performed by Shorts Marine in Millsboro DE, a “Five Star” authorized Yamaha Dealer:


(The underlying electrical work is mine; more photos to come after I clean up this mess.)

In addition, they managed to set my newly blasted and painted hull back on the trailer before the paint was dried, so now I have a failed coating where each roller touches the hull:


All in all I’m INCREDIBLY pissed about both the time and money that was required to perform such incredibly shoddy work. I run a small business doing boat electrical and electronics rigging, and as I told the service manager I would be absolutely embarrassed to deliver one of my customer’s boat in this condition.

They, of course, denied my request for a credit on my final bill for the hourly amount I would bill to fix this I in turn denied their half-hearted offer to fix it; if your rigging department is capable of doing quality work then why didn’t they do it in the first place. Give me my damn boat back, I’ll fix it myself and they’ll sure as hell never see it again.

Just another example of “dealer quality” workmanship that is way too prevalent in the industry today.

On the bright side…

 

[A-K]

Damn. I feel your pain. No excuse not to recomp some of your money. But I agree…why return it just so they can screw up more stuff.

 

[pelagic2530]

Broke out the Weld Mount kit and got to work.

A few hours and about a billion zip ties later, we’re a little happier with the situation:


Still can’t believe I paid for their work. If you ever have the opportunity to do business with, again, Shorts Marine in Millsboro DE, do yourself a favor and go elsewhere.

Yamaha just sent me a “dealer satisfaction survey” which I’m about to crack open a beer and have some fun with

 

[atcbill]

Wow I would not have been remotely happy either. You did outstanding work fixing their mess though. That is a lot of patience in tight working quarters.

 

[SamR]

Not the kind of surprise anyone wants. Was your work all cosmetic/organizational or did you have to fix any functional/safety issues too?

 

[warthog5]

I'm not surprised at ALL. They have been doing them like that forever.....and never got a complaint. It's because customers don't know any better and are just happy to get their boat back.

If possible.....I'd mail that survey.....Not just a fill out online......Include the before and after pix's.

Mailing it will make someone actually LOOK at it, instead of hitting Delete.

I had kinda the same deal on a repower.......Dealer for sure did NOT understand a BEP cluster and had to turn Both Start and House batteries ON.....to Start the engine.

 

[pelagic2530]

Not the kind of surprise anyone wants. Was your work all cosmetic/organizational or did you have to fix any functional/safety issues too?

It was mostly cosmetic, at least in the short term, but some of it could have led to issues down the road. Examples being the helm Yamaha bus being attached with a single screw, so it could bounce around and bang into things, and the fact that all the helm wiring harnesses were just hanging from their components with no support, which stresses the wire connections and will lead to failure.

Everything worked, otherwise I wouldn’t have accepted the boat. It was just done in about as sloppy a way as possible.

 

[pelagic2530]

I'm not surprised at ALL. They have been doing them like that forever.....and never got a complaint. It's because customers don't know any better and are just happy to get their boat back.

If possible.....I'd mail that survey.....Not just a fill out online......Include the before and after pix's.

Mailing it will make someone actually LOOK at it, instead of hitting Delete.

I had kinda the same deal on a repower.......Dealer for sure did NOT understand a BEP cluster and had to turn Both Start and House batteries ON.....to Start the engine.

You’re absolutely right, and to be honest I almost expected this. They’re the only major marina within about an hour of this area, and they make most of their money doing seasonal haul out/storage/“service”/launch cycles for pontoon boat owners that don’t know any better and care even less as long as it works in the spring. Their service reputation is terrible; they’re pretty famous for billing for engine work that they obviously didn’t do.

But, they’re five minutes down the road from me, so I was hoping that with the volume of repowers they do that their shop would have it dialed in. Apparently not.

I will say that their canvas shop did a really nice job replacing the open back canvas. From word of mouth, that’s about the only part of their business that’s worth a damn.

The survey didn’t give me a mail in option, but it does go straight to Yamaha so I’m hoping that the very low scores I gave them draw some attention.

They did figure out the BEP switch, but I also left them little tags saying “port engine + goes here” “stbd engine - goes here” and so on

Interesting fact, I complained about the fact that they should have shortened rather than bundling the engine battery cables. I contacted Yamaha later and they told me that doing so *could* cause warranty issues. So, I’ll leave them bundled (albeit more neatly) for six years and shorten them then, I suppose.

 

[SamR]

but some of it could have led to issues down the road.

You are being more generous than I would be on these. I’d add a Google review to warn the uninitiated.

 

[StrayDog]

I know your pain.
Either they just don’t care, or they don’t know how to do it right. For the most part it’s time & money is a higher priority than integrity.

I too have a background in electrical installations and had to go thru a re-power installation. It was, for the most part functional, but far from professional.

I commend the fact that you run a business where customer satisfaction and your sense of integrity is a priority.

My Before and After
Before


After

 

[rpmpirate]

Now that’s a professional wiring job, dam nice work.

 

[warthog5]

Stray Dog......I'm not quite understanding that large buss bar....mounted on the wood block?

 

[warthog5]

Interesting fact, I complained about the fact that they should have shortened rather than bundling the engine battery cables. I contacted Yamaha later and they told me that doing so *could* cause warranty issues.

Yea a standard answer.......Just like warranty void if you cut the inline fuse out of a electronics power wire.

But when it comes to warranty of that piece of electronics....We don't send the power cord with the unit. We just unplug it.

Lets look at it from Yamahas point of view......Some people know how to shorten it correctly....[and No warranty will ever show it's head.

But some people think a bench vise makes a good crimp.....and we know different.

I say shorten them.....Makes it neater.....and reduces the length of the circuit.
I do it all the time on a battery move and installing Power Posts.

 

[Efx]

I know your pain.
Either they just don’t care, or they don’t know how to do it right. For the most part it’s time & money is a higher priority than integrity.

I too have a background in electrical installations and had to go thru a re-power installation. It was, for the most part functional, but far from professional.

I commend the fact that you run a business where customer satisfaction and your sense of integrity is a priority.

My Before and After
Before
View attachment 34750

After
View attachment 34751

That’s the roughest looking before photo I have ever seen.

 

[pelagic2530]

I know your pain.
Either they just don’t care, or they don’t know how to do it right. For the most part it’s time & money is a higher priority than integrity.

I too have a background in electrical installations and had to go thru a re-power installation. It was, for the most part functional, but far from professional.

I commend the fact that you run a business where customer satisfaction and your sense of integrity is a priority.

My Before and After
Before
View attachment 34750

After
View attachment 34751

That is… just horrendous looking. Good on you for the cleanup job.

I was fortunate in that I had replaced the entire electrical system prior to the repower. So with the exception of what they screwed up, everything else was already in order. Made fixing their issues much easier.

 

[Tchrominski]

Wonderful job cleaning up the work, very impressive.

 

[johnfbushjr]

That looks awesome nice work …

 

[StrayDog]

O

Stray Dog......I'm not quite understanding that large buss bar....mounted on the wood block?

Warthog5
If you look closely there’s two connections on the left side of that bar and one on the right side. It was just a convenient way to make a 3-way connection on the battery supply cable (which was too short) when I was adding the multiple circuit fuse blocks; which eliminated a lot of in line fuses.

That connection will disappear as I continue my electrical cleanup. Next, replace battery cables that are “too short”, identify circuits, and devices.

 

[warthog5]

Kinda what I throught....

 

[PepRally]

Best way to handle this. Send a nice email saying I would like for you to at least straighten up what you installed as I paid for a professional install. Post pictures of what that should look like. Then say if not. That's fine. I'll be sure to share the the story with pictures. All I'm looking for is to get the job I payed for. Thank you.

Give them time to respond. They say beat it again. Post on every boat page, every motor page. This is what you get from this installer. If they were smart they would realize you have way more power and impact then them just giving you a few bucks back or making it right. They obviously don't know the money they are about to lose from the bad social media responses. They should do the right thing. Or time to put them on blast. You spent alot of money. No way I would be happy with that. You could have done better your self.