GL: Marina Overcharging

[M S]

I hate to tell you this, but pay up and move on.
 
I would make it clear I am doing it under protest and that you will be
notifying a varity of consumer groups of how they are operating. At the very
least pay the legitimate portion or they can mess with your credit rating by
stating that you paid late (if you fight and lose, they can still mess with
you over the "illegitimate" portion).
 
Assuming they could in any way reasonably claim that it was neccessary to do
the work as part of the other work, legally your only complaint is that they
didn't contact you before doing the work. If this is the case you may only get
a small reduction in the bill even if you win.
 
If you want to take them to court you are going to need to get an "expert"
mechanic to clarify what was required in addition to a lawyer, but it's your
"expert" against their "expert", so I figure at best you have a 50-50 chance
of wining (Your probably at a disadvantage in that they can state what they
"saw" when they opened things up and the old parts probably got thrown out. As
a result your expert is at a major disadvantage.). If you lose you are out the
$3000 plus your legal expenses along with the time and effort. Also, do you
have a mechanic who wants to go after a fellow marine buisness? If I owned a
nearby marina, I would want to stay clear of a messy situation.
 
If you do spread the word, make sure you stick to the facts. Do not add lib or
exagerate in any way and make sure you do it after you have a reciept for full
payment and the boat is well clear of the yard.
 
My understanding is the law strongly favors a shoreside marine facility in
this type of dispute (they are right until proven otherwise). I believe this
is a remnent of the days of sailing ships, when a ship could get a major refit
and then slip out during the night never to be seen again and there was no
reasonable way to chase them down so they made the rules strongly in favor of
shoreside facilities to protect them.
 
Had a similar situation with a rental car a few years ago. When I returned it,
the guy immediately crawled under the back and came up saying there was damage
to the bumper. I hadn't hit anything and I couldn't see anything until I
crawled under to look (so what keyed him into the issue). After much back and
forth, I wrote a check and included a letter detailing the issue and that I
was going to notify the Better Buisness Beurou and Chamber of Commerce. A
couple weeks later I recieve my check and a letter back. It was an applogy and
indicated that it was a warranty issue because the muffler was installed wrong
at the factory (so there is hope, but don't count on it).
 
PS: Seperate issue: Apparently the South Carolia government has decided not
to encourage boaters to spend money in the state. The new rules allow for 60
day at a time or 90 days total in a year before a substantial property tax
kicks in (4-10% of the boat value depending if it qualifies as your
residence). We are going to go spend a couple of months in North Carolina
instead (at a cost of about 3 grand per month to the states ecomony of SC and
SC isn't going to get the tax money either).
 
Mike & Tammy
Valhalla II (Gemini 3400)