Marina boat maintenace charges.

Hypothetical question : boat yard takes in your boat to fix the engine. After 8 weeks they say they can't fix it , give you the boat back in the same state they got it, and then charge you heftily for NOT fixing it - what do you do ?
1) Pay up and thank them for trying ?
2) Tell them to take a hike and go to someone who can fix it and you should have went to in the first place (if you'd only known then!!) ?

It would be reasonable to assume that they would have spent at the very least, a couple of hours looking at it and trying to fix it and therefore, should probably be recompensed for that. However, after 8 weeks faffing around......and why can't they fix it if someone else can? I'd be telling them to take a hike TBH Conor, tough titty.

Totally Agree. The standard practice with a car Mechanic, would be a quick check FOC. If the problem can't be found, then an experienced mechanic would be allocated to look at the engine and try diagnose the problem. Normally you would be charge 1 or 2 hours money for this service & it is 100% your call before they proceed. If the problem still can't be found, then you can pay for your two hours labour and take the car elsewhere.

Kevin

See where you're coming from on this one conor. Don't forget though, if they removed old parts and replaced with new, thinking that would fix the problem but didn't, should/could you refuse to pay for that?

Very tricky...

Hmmm - all hypothetical of course !

Would the owner be within their rights to ask for the old parts back when paying - to prove they'd been replaced ? Why should the owner pay if new parts were put in and didn't fix the problem - they obviously didn't cause (or solve) the problem ? Should they boat yard not have asked for the owner's go-ahead before replacing the parts ? Why can another mechanic say what's wrong without seeing the engine - it must be a blatantly obvious problem ?

Dilema dilema - hypothetical dilema !

I think I'd offer to pay for 2 hours work and the parts and nothing above that, and take it as a lesson learned.

This article on [url=http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/consumer-affairs/consumer-protection/consumer-rights/your_rights_when_you_buy_a_service]Citizens info site[/url] might give you the answer.

had a slightly similar situation myself with a well known dublin boat yard, asked about getting a particular job done on my boat, told them make,model, year etc.. told them exactly! what i wanted done, i was told ''yep no problem bring her up and well have it done for you over the weekend'', 'gave me a price and i booked it in. Went and orgainised my mates jeep, got off work, took my boat out of the water, towed her to the boat yard and got a phonecall the next day - ''Eh that job you wanted done! No can do! ''... basically the job i wanted done would not work and they gave me a very simple reason (if your in the trade) you wouldint even need to see the boat to know it wouldint have worked, but! they decided to tell me that when the boat was on there door step. :evil: told my 3 boat owner mates what happened and weve all found a much better company to deal with since