Stung by Lakeport- I need advice, please.

280ss · 07-03-2011, 08:40 PM

This is my first post. I follow the forums regularly and need the advice of the members. Here’s my situation:

I own a beautiful 2000 Formula 280ss and have been storing it at Lakeport Landing for the past few winters. I pay a little extra for the heated storage. Each Fall I drop off the boat on a Sunday night, get a bill by mid-week and pay it, in full, before the weekend.

This year, I received my annual letter in the mail from Ted, asking when I’d like the boat splashed and what work I’d like done. I selected ASAP in the water and NO work done (they give me options like: detailing, tune up, oil change… and other services) I decided to do my own work this summer and save some money.

Weeks passed and I never heard from Lakeport. I called Ted asking when I was going to be splashed and he told me that my boat had been in for 3 weeks. They never called to tell me so how would I know??

I told him I was having a friend pick-up the boat for me that afternoon and Ted said, “the boat isn’t moving until you pay your bill.” I reminded Ted I paid the day I got my bill last fall. That’s when he told me his mechanics did $406.00 of work on my boat and it wasn’t moving until the bill was paid.

Okay, let me be clear, until this point, I never had any issues, disagreements or matters of contention with Lakeport Landing. We had a perfectly functional business-to-customer relationship like anybody does with a marina. Furthermore, they sold my first Formula, on consignment in 1998, and I’ve been a storage customer for the past two winters.

Ted told me they put the boat in the water and one engine was overheating so they went ahead and replaced something. (I’m not much of a mechanic so I don’t know if it was a water pump, impeller or both.) While he was in there, he said he replaced the other one too because when one goes, the other isn’t far behind. $406.00 worth of work.

I told him that nobody called me to authorize any work, I specifically said not to do any services on my boat and everything was running great when I dropped it off in the fall for heated storage. Ted agreed that he should have called, but didn’t, and until I pay him $406, my boat wasn’t leaving their property. I asked for the used parts and he could only produce one beat-up impeller. Who knows if was even from my boat?

This is where I may have messed up: Rather than leave my boat captive at Lakeport Landing until I learned my rights, I gave my credit card over the phone, went to the marina in person and took my boat. Unfortunately, I had choice words with Ted on the phone too while he was running my credit card for the $406.00.

I just got my credit card bill and want to dispute the charge. I believe there was nothing wrong with my boat and they were trying to ring the register after a difficult few years. How the heck do I even know if they did any work?

I paid the ransom to get my boat back for the summer. Do I have any recourse? Can anybody suggest another way to remedy this situation??

07-03-2011, 08:40 PM	#1
280ss Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 2 Thanks: 4 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Stung by Lakeport- I need advice, please. This is my first post. I follow the forums regularly and need the advice of the members. Here’s my situation: I own a beautiful 2000 Formula 280ss and have been storing it at Lakeport Landing for the past few winters. I pay a little extra for the heated storage. Each Fall I drop off the boat on a Sunday night, get a bill by mid-week and pay it, in full, before the weekend. This year, I received my annual letter in the mail from Ted, asking when I’d like the boat splashed and what work I’d like done. I selected ASAP in the water and NO work done (they give me options like: detailing, tune up, oil change… and other services) I decided to do my own work this summer and save some money. Weeks passed and I never heard from Lakeport. I called Ted asking when I was going to be splashed and he told me that my boat had been in for 3 weeks. They never called to tell me so how would I know?? I told him I was having a friend pick-up the boat for me that afternoon and Ted said, “the boat isn’t moving until you pay your bill.” I reminded Ted I paid the day I got my bill last fall. That’s when he told me his mechanics did $406.00 of work on my boat and it wasn’t moving until the bill was paid. Okay, let me be clear, until this point, I never had any issues, disagreements or matters of contention with Lakeport Landing. We had a perfectly functional business-to-customer relationship like anybody does with a marina. Furthermore, they sold my first Formula, on consignment in 1998, and I’ve been a storage customer for the past two winters. Ted told me they put the boat in the water and one engine was overheating so they went ahead and replaced something. (I’m not much of a mechanic so I don’t know if it was a water pump, impeller or both.) While he was in there, he said he replaced the other one too because when one goes, the other isn’t far behind. $406.00 worth of work. I told him that nobody called me to authorize any work, I specifically said not to do any services on my boat and everything was running great when I dropped it off in the fall for heated storage. Ted agreed that he should have called, but didn’t, and until I pay him $406, my boat wasn’t leaving their property. I asked for the used parts and he could only produce one beat-up impeller. Who knows if was even from my boat? This is where I may have messed up: Rather than leave my boat captive at Lakeport Landing until I learned my rights, I gave my credit card over the phone, went to the marina in person and took my boat. Unfortunately, I had choice words with Ted on the phone too while he was running my credit card for the $406.00. I just got my credit card bill and want to dispute the charge. I believe there was nothing wrong with my boat and they were trying to ring the register after a difficult few years. How the heck do I even know if they did any work? I paid the ransom to get my boat back for the summer. Do I have any recourse? Can anybody suggest another way to remedy this situation??