Problems with Full Tilt Marine in Woodbridge, VA - The Hull Truth

jerrethomas · 02-02-2009, 08:06 AM

I had planned to trade in my 16 ft Boston Whaler on a small used cabin cruiser Full Tilt had for sale at their Woodbridge location. When they were inspecting my boat for trade, they said it wouldn't start and said "they were working on it." I had it out on the Potomac a month before that and it ran great. I explained I was uncomfortable with them working on the boat without talking to me first, asked them to stop, and told them I would just pick it up.

When I went to get my boat and cancel the deal, they offered me half of the trade in amount listed on the proposal. I told them no. Bob Wells, wrote on the proposal that the transaction was canceled and that they would return my deposit. Bob is one of their salesmen. He told me they had cashed my deposit check ($300.00) but would cut me a check to refund the deposit. That was nearly two months ago, and still no check.

Bob Wells told me I needed to contact "Pat" to get the check cut, have called here over a dozen times, left as many messages without a call back. Exceptionally frustrated at this point.

In calling Bob numerous times, he told me "times are tough, money wise." This is disturbing when a company such as this can't return a $300.00 deposit.

I plan to file in small claims court to recovery the $300.00, just a giant pain for this amount of money.

Has anyone else had similar problems with this boat dealer?? I'm thinking they are just a half step away from closing their doors . . .

Thanks and all the best, Jerre

bamaboy473 · 02-02-2009, 08:10 AM

The salesman is of no use to you. If you can't find the GM or owner, file in court for recovery plus costs. Your state may have a law/rule that corporations need representation by attorneys, so they'll either pay you or not show up at trial because an attorney would cost too much.

You'll get judgement in your favor, then you'll have to wait a certain period of time (the court clerk knows all of this), then you can file to have the sheriff do his thing with them. If they're still in business and the sheriff can't get $ for you, I think you can go back to court to ask the judge to find the owner in contempt of court. That's bad ju-ju for the owner since he'll likely spend time in the slammer if he doesn't pay you pronto....

Good luck.

Ed'sMarineSuperstor · 02-02-2009, 08:13 AM

Hurry on your claim.

Here is a link from last week on them: http://www.thehulltruth.com/forums/t...232367&posts=8

Jamisjockey · 02-02-2009, 08:39 AM

I've never dealt with them so I don't know anything about them.
Check out Holly Acres off Minnieville in Woodbridge. I bought my boat there and have nothing but good things to say about the entire facility. Everyone there was very good to me from the Salesman (Terry) to the lot attendants.

master_wrench · 02-02-2009, 04:30 PM

Hello everyone. I wanted to post and put a stop to any questions pertaining to JAWS Marine buying Full Tilt or JAWS Marine going out of business. Jaws Marine was renting space from Full Tilt so we could have a second showroom on the Eastern shore to better serve our new customers. We did not however have any service over there, all service stayed in our Curtis Bay location. We were trying to buy that location but just wasn't in our cards so in November we brought all of the inventory that we had there back to Curtis Bay. Recently we have taken down our banners and flags do to Full Tilt closing. Full Tilt has nothing to do with us and we are still open selling and servicing all makes and models of boats and engines! So if there are anymore questions please feel free to contact us and will can help you out and set the record straight.

Thanks very much for your support over the past year and we look forward to continuing our support to you!

Thanks!
John, AJ, Debbie & Dick

jerrethomas · 02-04-2009, 04:26 AM

Not sure if FTM was purchased, I did finally get my deposit back yesterday. A young man named Nick is (used to be with FTM service department in Woodbridge) going to try to run his own repair business at that location. Thanks for all the posts and info, Jerre

Butch Davis · 02-04-2009, 07:22 AM

Jerre,

You're very lucky to have gotton your money back. If it was a check you may want to cash it immediately.

If you want another boat you can probably do better by selling your Whaler rather than trading it in on the next boat. You can learn a lot about the boat's value and even list it for sale at continuouswave dot com on the Whaler Forums. Check it out, it's a great community made up of Whaler owners.