My theory is that, if boat owners do their due diligence on where to take ones boat for repairs, they will enjoy good working relationships with the shops management.
However, Parker Marine proved to be an exception to my theory.
Reader (s) i am sure you can all understand just how hard it is these days to be able to put aside a few dollars here and there to make any kind of big purchase that is not a necessity. Especially while raising a young family. But after many years of both working hard and saving hard my wife and I managed enough to purchase our family dream boat. We bought it based on its "like new" condition thanks to the prior owner putting in over $50 000 for the resto.
$10 000 of that towards the new fiberglass which was shiny as a wet blade of spring grass.
The boat was parked in our drive from April 1 to the 13th. Many witnesses will attest to the boat not leaving our premises as the wife wouldn't let me use it till it received a new kicker. Safety for our kids.
April the 13th it was taken to Parker marine in Nanaimo to install the kicker. The boat was at Parkers for 9 days total. I paid the bill (double the initial estimate btw) for the work. Upon arriving home with our boat both the wife and i immediately noticed DEEP cuts on BOTH sides of the hull?? Deep into the just renewed gel coat. Within 15 minutes there I was back at the dealership wanting an explanation. The desk rep investigated the damage declaring - "it's fresh". He said the manager would view the tapes. I was somewhat relieved - okay this is a step. Ian will get to the bottom of this and all will be corrected.
The manager – Ian Evans - replied to me some days later - "not our doing". "look you probably didn't' notice the damage when you bought it". His very words. He went on to say he viewed a “grueling” 2 hours of video and saw nothing?? 9 days remember - 216 hours condensed to just two hours?? Owning sophisticated camera's for usage in my own business i know a thing or two about them and unless there was a camera specifically set up on our boat there is just no way 216 hours can be condensed to a mere two hours.
Motion detectors or not our boat was seriously damaged at Parker Marine. PERIOD.
Friends pushed me to contact the owner - Rob Parker himself. I did. And he said he would make the trip and go over the boat. "I'll call you". Again, hopeful as we all would be right? I mean there is customer care, integrity, honesty, common business sense all asscociated and to be considered when filling the shoes of any CEO's position.
Well, that call didn't come. I left several messages. No reply. No response.
Over two weeks later with zero effort on Robs part to contact me and my kids crying to go out in the boat, I "call Rob back up". Truthfully, he actually laughed uproariously when I asked him why he hasn't gotten back on this claiming "I'm just so busy lately". Rob stated he and his manager Ian talked to the prior owner who said he did the damage himself?? Well, that "story" does not sit well with the prior owner after I told him. "I did not say such a thing" prior owner says ." I said there were SMALL imperfections on it but nowhere near the damage i saw with my wife after it came back from Parker's" and "they absolutely construed my words".
Rob seemed to be searching his own words to get him off the line or me off the line and came up with yet another scenario - "well, maybe some kids, even yours, rammed into your boat with their bicycles". Again, this... businessman's very words. Well, Rob maybe one of my dogs also got hold of my fillet knife and decided to carve his girls initials into that once so shiny hull. About now i am fed up with this blatant cover up and told Rob i am not giving up here because it is the principle of your company's actions that need to be rectified. Robs answer --"good day" and he hung up.
I have always believed in karma. Do good to others... in fact i preach this belief into my children> it is our duty i feel as a parent. The world really needs more good. I hope you get the feel both my wife and i are simply not the kind that would benefit from our own mistakes. Not good karma. Not good at all and NOT who we are. I am simply here to tell you the truth. Not how we see it but for what it is and i respect it is your choice as to believe it or not.For "you do not know me from a hole in the head" as the saying goes. They also say "the truth will set one free". But it can also come with a price.
Ours is having to tell the kids our family trip back east, to spend probably the last summer with an aging relative, wont be possible because that money we've been saving for now has to go to getting our boat back to the condition it was prior to being in the dealerships "care".
I will continue the legal battle. But in the meantime, i feel it is my responsibility, simply as being a good samaritan, to share our nightmare experience through various complaint boards. When owners do their due diligence, they will see our posting.
They will be cautioned not to make an assumption that because of the nature of both Ian Evans and Rob Parker's profession, they will be honorable businessmen.
Parker Marine Nanaimo Reviews
My theory is that, if boat owners do their due diligence on where to take ones boat for repairs, they will enjoy good working relationships with the shops management.
However, Parker Marine proved to be an exception to my theory.
Reader (s) i am sure you can all understand just how hard it is these days to be able to put aside a few dollars here and there to make any kind of big purchase that is not a necessity. Especially while raising a young family. But after many years of both working hard and saving hard my wife and I managed enough to purchase our family dream boat. We bought it based on its "like new" condition thanks to the prior owner putting in over $50 000 for the resto.
$10 000 of that towards the new fiberglass which was shiny as a wet blade of spring grass.
The boat was parked in our drive from April 1 to the 13th. Many witnesses will attest to the boat not leaving our premises as the wife wouldn't let me use it till it received a new kicker. Safety for our kids.
April the 13th it was taken to Parker marine in Nanaimo to install the kicker. The boat was at Parkers for 9 days total. I paid the bill (double the initial estimate btw) for the work. Upon arriving home with our boat both the wife and i immediately noticed DEEP cuts on BOTH sides of the hull?? Deep into the just renewed gel coat. Within 15 minutes there I was back at the dealership wanting an explanation. The desk rep investigated the damage declaring - "it's fresh". He said the manager would view the tapes. I was somewhat relieved - okay this is a step. Ian will get to the bottom of this and all will be corrected.
The manager – Ian Evans - replied to me some days later - "not our doing". "look you probably didn't' notice the damage when you bought it". His very words. He went on to say he viewed a “grueling” 2 hours of video and saw nothing?? 9 days remember - 216 hours condensed to just two hours?? Owning sophisticated camera's for usage in my own business i know a thing or two about them and unless there was a camera specifically set up on our boat there is just no way 216 hours can be condensed to a mere two hours.
Motion detectors or not our boat was seriously damaged at Parker Marine. PERIOD.
Friends pushed me to contact the owner - Rob Parker himself. I did. And he said he would make the trip and go over the boat. "I'll call you". Again, hopeful as we all would be right? I mean there is customer care, integrity, honesty, common business sense all asscociated and to be considered when filling the shoes of any CEO's position.
Well, that call didn't come. I left several messages. No reply. No response.
Over two weeks later with zero effort on Robs part to contact me and my kids crying to go out in the boat, I "call Rob back up". Truthfully, he actually laughed uproariously when I asked him why he hasn't gotten back on this claiming "I'm just so busy lately". Rob stated he and his manager Ian talked to the prior owner who said he did the damage himself?? Well, that "story" does not sit well with the prior owner after I told him. "I did not say such a thing" prior owner says ." I said there were SMALL imperfections on it but nowhere near the damage i saw with my wife after it came back from Parker's" and "they absolutely construed my words".
Rob seemed to be searching his own words to get him off the line or me off the line and came up with yet another scenario - "well, maybe some kids, even yours, rammed into your boat with their bicycles". Again, this... businessman's very words. Well, Rob maybe one of my dogs also got hold of my fillet knife and decided to carve his girls initials into that once so shiny hull. About now i am fed up with this blatant cover up and told Rob i am not giving up here because it is the principle of your company's actions that need to be rectified. Robs answer --"good day" and he hung up.
I have always believed in karma. Do good to others... in fact i preach this belief into my children> it is our duty i feel as a parent. The world really needs more good. I hope you get the feel both my wife and i are simply not the kind that would benefit from our own mistakes. Not good karma. Not good at all and NOT who we are. I am simply here to tell you the truth. Not how we see it but for what it is and i respect it is your choice as to believe it or not.For "you do not know me from a hole in the head" as the saying goes. They also say "the truth will set one free". But it can also come with a price.
Ours is having to tell the kids our family trip back east, to spend probably the last summer with an aging relative, wont be possible because that money we've been saving for now has to go to getting our boat back to the condition it was prior to being in the dealerships "care".
I will continue the legal battle. But in the meantime, i feel it is my responsibility, simply as being a good samaritan, to share our nightmare experience through various complaint boards. When owners do their due diligence, they will see our posting.
They will be cautioned not to make an assumption that because of the nature of both Ian Evans and Rob Parker's profession, they will be honorable businessmen.