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CB Auto Parts and Repair Stores Review of Tournament Ski & Marine
Tournament Ski & Marine

Tournament Ski & Marine review: Unfair Trade Practices Misrepresentation of Repairs 4

K
Author of the review
4:04 pm EDT
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Nov 3, 2008 I took my boat ( 2005 Crownline ) in to have a repair done to the water manifolds on the engine. I also requested that they check for further damage done by water freezing.

I was informed that the motor and intake were cracked and that it was beyond repair and needed to be replaced at a cost of $8600+ dollars (I have the estimate).

I was also informed that the so-called damaged motor had no value as a core and was garbage.

I decided not to have them do the repair and to take it to my regular mechanic ( as the motor is a standard chevrolet engine).

My regular mechanic informed me that there was indeed no damage to the block or intake on the motor and therefor did not need to be replaced, and replaced only the water manifolds.
The boat is working fine now with the original motor.
It is clear that Mr. Peter Bellingroth at Tournament Ski & Marine was just trying to increase his revenue by misrepresenting the damage to the motor.
I was billed $949.00 for the work done ( $600 for about two hours ) and $300 for storage ( it was recommended by them that the boat not be moved over the winter as it could cause damage to the hull. Before showing up to pick the boat up I was advised that the bill would be about $500 total for the work done to that point.

I have requested to get the $949 that I have paid them returned. Although Mr Bellingroth had originally said he would reimburse part of the bill ( the $300 storage) he has now declined to pay anything back.
My next step is to go through the legal process, at which point they will also be sued for subsequent diagnostic time, which I have paid to another mechanic, as well as legal and other expenses.

Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

4 comments
M
M
masterworrk
Spruce Grove, CA
Mar 20, 2015 10:22 pm EDT

Peter is giving companies a bad name with the greed he is showing.

M
M
masterworrk
Spruce Grove, CA
Mar 20, 2015 10:19 pm EDT

A person I know took their boat in to Peter because the engine had a oil leak. After the shop went threw the boat the guy was told the reason the oil is leaking is because the motor housing is cracked and you can not buy the part so you will need a new motor at the costs of $13000.00. So the guy took his boat home all depressed, he sold the boat at a loss. He then sees the boat at Tournament Ski & Merine he goes over and finds out the only thing wrong with the motor is a plug fell out and that is why the oil leak was there. He fixed it for the new owner of the boat. Oh yea the new owner is Peters buddy. The guy bought a 42000 boat for 14000. How do you think the original owner feels. Something should be done to this Peter guy!

T
T
Tournament
, CA
Dec 20, 2016 10:42 am EST

Please remove this comment as it is defamatory and invalid. As well, John and I have come to an agreement regarding this matter

The customer, John, who was a long time customer, had caused the damage himself while replacing the water pump. When he reassembled the drive, he pushed the shift shaft through the bottom of the crankcase causing the broken piece to float around inside the crankcase. This is when he brought it into us. He was not told, as you stated, that the motor housing was cracked. John was told that we could either disassemble the crankcase completely which is labour intensive to get the broken piece out or replace the entire powerhead. At that time, the powerhead was not available from Mercury and as well was very expensive. Almost the same price of a new motor. John opted to not repair or replace and said he would take it to the auction. I told him that he would have to disclose that the engine was not in working condition.

The gentleman that purchased the boat & motor from the auction brought the boat to us for a quote as our sticker was on the boat. The new owner was unknown to me. He was given the same options and opted to have it repaired.

As John and I both work in the same business park, I bumped into him at a gas station after the repairs had been done and had told him that the boat had showed up at our shop and told him of the outcome.

The repair didn't take as long as originally anticipated. The broken piece literally fell out of the puncture hole when I was rotating it on my workbench to disassemble it. My mechanic and myself were shocked when this happened and couldn't believe our luck. The chances of this happening are 1 in a trillion. There was no way I could have anticipated this happening, and due to my shock and honesty, I told John. Obviously he became very upset. John was the one who decided to sell rather than repair.

Pete Bellingroth
Tournament Ski & Marine

T
T
Tournament
, CA
Dec 20, 2016 1:00 pm EST

Ken filed a complaint with Canada Industrial Relations Board. Upon their investigation, they found that we did not act unfairly and the complaint was closed. As this was not the outcome that Ken was hoping for, he took it upon himself to post his complaint in this forum. We are asking that this complain removed.

I would also like to take this opportunity to tell my side of the story.

Ken came in and stated that his manifolds were cracked and wanted us to check the engine for cracks as well.

Upon first inspection, it would be extremely hard to run the engine up to running temp without usable manifolds, therefore we had to do a temporary repair to both exhaust manifolds by using the broken pieces to fit into the holes they came from and carefully sealing them off so that water could circulate through them and cool the exhaust as it exits the boat. As the engine was run, we do a few things to check for any evidence of water. In severe cases, visual oil level in engine rising or water droplets on valve cover oil filler lid and looking straight into the push rod area for water, rust and or steam. After only seven minutes of engine run time, steam was present in this area. The steam was very noticeable and from my many years of experience this indicates that the engine is most likely cracked. We stopped running the engine at this time as water pressure at 2200 RPM opened up the temporary patches and damage to the rest of the entire exhaust system could result.

Ken was contacted and explained to him what we had done and what we had discovered. He asked if we could dig a bit further and remove the intake manifolds to look for visual cracks. Once the manifolds were removed, we did not find any visual cracks but this does not mean that there are no cracks. There would not be steam if there aren’t any cracks. In order to find the cracks when they are not seen visually, we would have had to send the engine out for magnafluxing which is very costly.

We again contacted the customer and gave him an estimate to replace the engine with a new 4.3L Chev Marine Block. The customer stated that he wanted to think about his options and would get back to us within the next few days.

We left many messages with Ken to let us know what his intentions were and if he wasn’t going to go ahead with any repairs also advised to pick up his boat as soon as possible as transporting a fiberglass boat in cold temperatures is not advisable.

As temperatures where hovering around the freezing point and we could no longer keep the boat in our shop as we needed the space to work on other units, as a courtesy we drained the engine block and lines at no charge so that we could move it outside.

Ken finally contacted us and decided to store the boat with us until spring. In May Ken asked if we could do any better than the original estimate. As we do our buying over the winter months we receive a better price on our engines and we could therefore drop our price on the estimate by $1100.00. He decided not to go ahead with the work, paid his bill and picked up his boat.

He was not overcharged for work that was performed. He was charged the usual rate for storage. He was not charged for draining his engine block. He was also charged a reduced labour rate of $100.00 per hour compared to our regular labour rate of $120.00 at that time. Shop supplies of $8.00 per hour was also not charged.

I am a certified and licenced Red Seal heavy duty and marine mechanic with over 30 years experience at the time. I also consulted with the 3 Master Technicians at NAIT as well as the Head Chair of the Marine Association and they all agree that the right observations and recommendations were made.

Pete Bellingroth
Tournament Ski & Marine