Botany Bay to Pittwater

[Mocking]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust

Another couple of weeks has gone by. Is your service complete now and the price OK ....... or should you let us know which place we should avoid?

So far it looks like more than 2 months.

Hi Steve,

yes it has been nearly 2 1/2 months and I chased him again last week for the invoice so I can pay it and take my boat back. We finally agreed that I would pick it up next Friday (3/7) and they did send me an invoice.

Which did give me heart failure as it was no where near where I expected it to be. IN all fairness to them I am querying the invoice and will give them a chance to respond before posting anything. It may have been an honest mistake. So I am hoping that this will all be sorted by Friday

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by Mocking

Hi Steve,

yes it has been nearly 2 1/2 months and I chased him again last week for the invoice so I can pay it and take my boat back. We finally agreed that I would pick it up next Friday (3/7) and they did send me an invoice.

Which did give me heart failure as it was no where near where I expected it to be. IN all fairness to them I am querying the invoice and will give them a chance to respond before posting anything. It may have been an honest mistake. So I am hoping that this will all be sorted by Friday

Hope you get revised price. However, you wait for 3 months?!?! What kind of repair was that ?

[Mocking]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

Hope you get revised price. However, you wait for 3 months?!?! What kind of repair was that ?

The motor is a YAMAHA ME180 HE 36HP; it went in to have a straight forward service. Which should have taken a week. The weather then become a factor, the head had to come off and some small areas had to be blasted and repainted. I asked for a quote to have the electric toilet fitted but the guy was away for a few days. I also asked for a quote on having the electronics repaired and this guys was also away.

Admittedly I was not on the phone everyday hassling for hand back BUT I did on a weekly basis ask when it would be finished.


New had casket having to be made, the weather and lack of the right people on hand appeared to delay completion.

[JPA Cate]

A new head gasket had to be MADE?, not just located? Holy Moly! When you question the invoice, get them to itemize it: having a head gasket made will be engineering shop time plus materials.

Good luck with it, but I'll be surprised if they take a cent off. There are a lot of pretty cavalier tradesmen when it comes to consideration for a customer.

Ann

[Wanderlust]

Originally Posted by Mocking

.... it went in to have a straight forward service...

So 2 and a half months later and a jaw dropping bill. Presumably you have also had to pay for mooring or docking all this time. I would really like to hear who I need to cross off my list of potential mechanics.

Were there existing symptoms that suggested head removal was necessary? And as Ann noted, why did they need to have a head gasket made?

[Mocking]

Originally Posted by Wanderlust

So 2 and a half months later and a jaw dropping bill. Presumably you have also had to pay for mooring or docking all this time. I would really like to hear who I need to cross off my list of potential mechanics.

Were there existing symptoms that suggested head removal was necessary? And as Ann noted, why did they need to have a head gasket made?

Hi Steve

There were some rust stains as per the picture below.

[Mocking]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

A new head gasket had to be MADE?, not just located? Holy Moly! When you question the invoice, get them to itemize it: having a head gasket made will be engineering shop time plus materials.

Good luck with it, but I'll be surprised if they take a cent off. There are a lot of pretty cavalier tradesmen when it comes to consideration for a customer.

Ann

Hi Anne

He seems like a really nice guy so I am hoping that he has just made an honest mistake and that we can sort this out. Because no other person I have spoken to can understand how this took 46.3 hours to do ??

[44'cruisingcat]

.....

[Wanderlust]

I see your photo does suggest a problem with coolant leakage, so maybe head removal makes sense. So at least that part appears justified.

My knowledge of pulling diesels apart is not that great, so I was hoping someone else would chime in here with opinions on the time taken to do the job. I know if I received a bill for 40+ hours to do the job, I too would be horrified. It certainly sounds high, but I'm wondering if it really is way over the top.

Presumably they stripped the head down and lapped the valves. If they encountered frozen bolts which needed to be drilled out, or struck other problems, then time soon escalates. No doubt they have charged for multiple trips to/from the boat as well. But it still seems unreasonable that a competent mechanic would need to to spend more than a working week to do the job. Then there is the issue of 2 and a half months. Fortunately it's winter and probably has not impacted your boating time much, but no doubt you paid for that time in mooring fees as well.

I suggest you should pose the question in a separate thread. I'm sure the diesel experts will then see it and give a useful opinion so that you can be better prepared when bartering over the bill.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Mocking

Hi Anne

He seems like a really nice guy so I am hoping that he has just made an honest mistake and that we can sort this out. Because no other person I have spoken to can understand how this took 46.3 hours to do ??

Hi any resolution to the problem ??

[ben373]

Count me as a person who knows it can take that long. I work on boats a lot of the time (mainly electrical) and it always seems to take longer than I think it should. Nothing is ever straight forward. Rusted bolts, difficult access, chasing parts, it all takes heaps of time.

Having said the above I always cut back my invoice as I put it down to experience and feel bad for the client. Trouble is there always seems to be a new experience. Yesterday I was called to a windlass tripping. After testing it turns out to be the motor itself (water ingress). I would think this job may take an hour but access was really difficult, bolts were rusted, cables needed replacing. Spent most of the day on the job. However, I feel 4 hours would be fair?

Trust me the easy jobs do not seem to happen that often.

[JPA Cate]

You sound like a good man, Ben.

What we don't yet know is what exactly Mocking has been billed for. He was due to get it resolved one way or another this Friday. So we wait, and hope it is all okay.

Ann

[Mocking]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Hi any resolution to the problem ??

Hi, no BUT it was my fault. I did call the mechanics the other day and advised them that I thought the bill was way over the top. Based on several emails I had I worked out the labour should have been around $2,500. So to be save I added another 10 hours , as Ben articulates in his post these things are never what they seem, at their date of $110 and come up with $3,600 for labour. Parts I had no idea about but they come in at $1,154. Approx total $4,754. So the invoice for $6,367.10 did leave me some in shock.
The proprietor did advise me that he had not finalised the price and would have another look at it.
I was to pick Salmo up to day but due to work commitments rescheduled until 11AM tomorrow. So that will be "D" time.
The owner sounds like a really nice guy so I am hoping it is just a mistake and we fix it tomorrow. The fact that it has been there so long is a double edged sword. The yard did use the weather and some staff being away, gasket having to be made up etc as reasons for taking so long having said that and in all fairness I never pushed them or stressed any sense of urgency.
So we will see what happens tomorrow as I am keen to get her back to Botany as BBYC have started a cruising division and we have been going out once a month.
Last week we saw heaps of whales, it was awesome.

[JPA Cate]

Good luck with it, Mocking. To me, it doesn't sound good, but just look at the itemization, and it will help you decide. NSW does have an ombudsman.

All the best,

Ann

[Mocking]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Good luck with it, Mocking. To me, it doesn't sound good, but just look at the itemization, and it will help you decide. NSW does have an ombudsman.

All the best,

Ann

Thank you, we will see how it plays out.