Some of you might remember my saga last spring of being ripped off by a boat service center,
Gus Boat, based at
Gundlach's marina in Lantana (Palm Beach County), Deerfield Beach and apparently elsewhere in South Florida.
In short (I can't seem to find the message threads), I gave the in-house but separately owned service facility my boat (very low hours 115 Johnson) with an overheating problem. Instead of doing what everyone here called for, the mechanic insisted I needed rebuilt carburetors, a water filter system, spark plugs, etc. It cost me close to $800.
Simultaneously, I asked advice from you all and almost everyone insisted that my impellor must be replaced, or perhaps the entire water pump, etc. No work was done regarding the overheating, despite my questions to the mechanic. But apparently my questions did convince him that I was onto his scam.
I paid the bill by credit card (a couple of weeks late), and thought all was well. Then the shop called and said I had to pay with cash. The mechanic/owner said he did not want to give me the chance to dispute the bill if he accepted my credit card. However, the card had already been charged. I demanded the boat. He would not release it on a Friday. On Monday I showed up with the Lantana Police, who instead of getting me back my paid-for property, allowed the owner to credit back my credit card. The Gus owner insisted I go and get cash to pay the bill.
It was either bite the bullet or pay a lawyer. I relented, got the cash and paid the bill. The engine does not run as well as it did before all the carburetion work was done, but it's useable.
But since then, I have gotten nothing but nasty looks and crummy treatment from the shop workers and marina. The people at Gundlach's were never really friendly from the start.
Skip forward to present time ...
I haven't used the boat since well before the hurricanes. Gundlach's (in addition to cutting back on services such as washing of the boats when they are removed fro the water) closes early and has raised its rates by around 50 percent or so. My boat has scratches on its side because the workers don't use the bumpers properly and the boat is filthy with what is apparently diesel soot. Grunge from boats stored above mine constantly drips down onto my boat. The final straw was a torn off depth finder sounding unit (which was fine the last time I left the boat for pickup).
Yesterday, my father and I paid the bill and told the marina we were leaving for good. They put the boat in the water, but the battery was dead. Off of a sudden, the jumper box was unavailable. I asked several times and one of the marina workers brought it out.
I just wanted to get the hell out of there, forever, but this guy had to start in on me.
"Things would be a lot easier if you weren't talking she&t on the internet," he said as I crouched in the stern trying to hook up the terminal wires. I questioned his comment and he repeated it, apparently saying something about me slandering them. He was passing on a message from Gus Boat.
I explained to him that the Gus Boat owner had, several months ago, shaken my hand in an apparent attempt to bury the hatchet. I was angry and asked this storage facility fork lift driver what business my dispute was of his and whether he thought his comments were professional and appropriate to make to a customer.
He continued to berate me. I figured I needed to get out of there and went to connect the positive terminal. Just then, the worker (who was on the dock) yanked the unit away snapping the wires out of my hands and against my chest. He walked away, happily yelling something about me going and buying a new battery.
A couple of customers and other workers witnessed this.
I was furious. I went to the Gundlach's office, where the lady at the desk said the manager was not in and the guy who berated me was in charge. I asked her whether his actions were professional and appropriate. She would not get involved. I have heard the place was run in a much more friendly manner when the Gundlach family owned it.
As I went to leave, the nasty guy came out again, demanding that I "get down there" if I wanted to jump the battery. I told him he wasn't going to order me around and we met chest to chest. If it weren't for my father stepping in to break us up, the forklift driver would have found his butt in the Intracoastal with some broken teeth.
Hours later, after finding that a typical 200- to 300-amp jumper box would not start the engine and trying two different car batteries, I got the boat home to the Lake Worth ramp and home. Oh yeah, the marine patrol stopped me and gave me a warning for having an expired registration sticker (I have it at home). A ticket would have been a lovely nightcap to a horrible day.
In conclusion folks, I can only warn everyone to stay far, far away from the nasty, expensive, unprofessional, goonish, lazy, uncaring, boat-damaging, overall crummy people at
Gundlach's marina and the adjacent
Gus Boat repair and sales facility off U.S. 1 (where the road forks near Lake Worth) in Lantana.
Do yourselves a favor and just say no to these poor excuses for human beings.
UPDATE: Rip-off at Gundlach's marina / Gus Boat repair in Palm Beach County 
[/IMG] 
