So this is the final deal, I'm going to post below the estimates, the hours they say they worked and what they charged.
1st the work was good, Boat runs smooth, seals and rudders aren't leaking, and we turned 2350 RPM and hit 27 Knots. The work isn't and never was the issue, it was the claimed hours.
When it was determined at the yard, that the rudders, and shafts needed new packing and Bearings, and that the Drippless Seals were getting close. The yard gave me estimats if I was to do each indivual task. I asked if the labor would overlap if I do all the items, such as to pack the rudders you don't need to charge FULL labor if your dropping the rudders to do the bearings and they said yes, But the're "estimates" it could be less, it could be more if we run into issues, But again YES if you do all items you don't pay to R&R the rudders 3 times indivdually. I said OK do the rudder work but I'm going to hold off on the Drippless Shaft Seals.
While do ing the rudder work they noticed a crack in the port shaft and said it needed replaced so I said, OK, replace it. After the shaft was out, I got a call from the yard and was asked, since 1 shaft is out and 1 drippless seal is already apart, you might as well save the future Full Labor and just do the seals now since one is already disassembled. It's like part of the labor for that original estimate is already being done anyway. So I agreed and said your right, it's already apart, go ahead and do the dripless seals.
When I finally got the bill I noticed each item, even though some of the labor over laps was billed at near full estimate for each itask as if they were done indivally from one another. Full etimate to do the shaft seal even though one shaft was already out. Over full estimate to do rudder packing even though the rudders were already out for bearings.
At that point I asked the yard for a breakdown of the mechanics hours for each task performed so I could see how they compare with Labor being billed under each item. The next afternoon is when I received a breakdown of hours totalling the labor charged. The problem with that was it was MADE UP HOURS per task. I know this becaus esome mechanics listed were working 10.5 hour days on only our boat, and also two different people billed out on seperate days to pack the rudders. One guy billed out and charge 3.5 hours to repack the rudders like 3 days before another guy installed the rudders and listed packing the rudder gland as one of his tasks.
When I brought this the the attention of the OWNER of the yard he told me I was wrong in my reasoning and "Now He's Pissed". Those were his exact words to me. H e then said we gave you estimates and came in near the estimates and now you want to question it. I said yes, because they were "ESTIMATES" if we were to do each line Item seperately not if we did all and the labor overlaps. I said these weren't "QUOTES" where if it's high or low it doesn't matter, they were in your service managers words rough estimates. Meaning if it come in less I expect to pay less, because I know if it came in High you would charge more because your not going to eat the labor. Even though I pointed out a couple obvious issues that I was charged twice for he still said he was pissed. I couldn't believe it. So he discounted the $27,111.69 Bill $302.36 becuase I showed him one thing he couldn't fight with me about. I said as a customer I don't deserve an explination without you getting pissed, I should just eat the $302.36 even though I feel I'm eating more than that. So I said I'd like to see the time cards because I don't believe the hours and his answer was " Fine, you want charged actual hours then we'll charge you actual Hours and your going to pay $3 to $4,000 more then your paying now, I'm good with that. I'll have the girls pull the time cards and charge you actual hours" I said at that point then what were the hours you emailed me? Were they made up, just to justify a labor item? Thats what I thought happened, that's why I questioned it. This isn't right. I could tell he was getting more aggrevated, and so he didn't try to pull some legal lock the boat down thing I jsut said look. I'm not trying to mes with you, I just want it fair. I'll pick it up Friday. So we get the final total and we wire the money and pick up the boat. Then this is the kicker that upset me worse afer the fact.
I take a look at the final bill after we wired the money and they charged us like $500 dockeage for 11 days. I called them July 1st to ask the staus of the boat and they told me they just completed the work and would invoice me. I got the invoice July 2nd. I looked on the Bill they started charging me dockage on June 30th. So I called them and said he told me it was customary to chage daockage after the work was complete. I said you don't notify me when it's finished, I had to call you and now after giving you $27K you want to bill me dockage because I needed a few days to look over the bill and make arrangements to pick up the boat. a Heads up it's nearing completion would've been helpful. So I look at a rebuttle they sent me when I questioned the bill and it stated Dockage to start July 30th. they messed up and meant to right June 30th so they had to send me a check for the dockage but I just couldn't believe it. I've never seen business handled like that where a customer has a question and you lie to them about the hours billed, then when he questions that, you tell him your Pissed Off and "Now " your really going to get the actual hours together. If he would've given me the actual hours at the beginning and justified it, I would've been fine, but he lied to me. Not only did they lie, they lied in writing. Here are the charges below.
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