I believe that the issue of overpaying for poor workmanship is not limited to boats. My advice is to
only deal with the guy that actually does the work. If that means that you have to do it yourself, so be it.
If I pay top dollar to have work done by a "professional," I expect that the job should be done by a knowledgable person, in a reasonable amount of time. The cost is not
THE issue, but an issue. There is also an element of trust on the part of the consumer, that the job will be done right.
I have just ended an exercise with my car (Audi) dealer, where I asked them to fix the rear window washer (a $100 part), and in the process the technician broke the rear
hatch trim (an $850 part). Initially the service adviser said that they would replace the trim, and that they would call when the part was in stock. After a month, I called him to inquire, and the service adviser claimed that teh service manager told him that the technician didn't break the trim. After writing a letter to the GM of the dealership and the manufacturer, the service manager ordered and replaced
A part, just not the one that the technician broke. The technician did screw the trim peice to the underlying metal, in order to patch the part that he, or another tech broke at no charge...
I have entrusted this car to this dealership for service for over 8 years. I have never quibbled over the price for work that was performed. However in this case the service department
intentionally misled me, and played a "shell game" between Service Advisor, Manager and Technician. The problem that they created was actually solved by the screw, and believe that I would have accepted this fix if they were straight with me in the beginning. Now, however my trust is gone. Guess which dealership, and therefore brand of car, will NOT be getting any more business from me. I am looking for a competent individual to whom I can take my car to get serviced. I insist that I deal with the guy that actually works on my car.
I believe that the situation is even worse with a boat. The boat tends to be older, and there is more "stuff" that has been added by previous owners. If I lived in the Annapolis area, I would
GLADLY pay Larry $85/hr to work on my boat (when I get one
).
Ed