Took our boat for service on 3/14. The day we dropped it off Ken Daniel, owner, was not in. His rep was told to provide an oil change, "dewinterize", & check the lights. We asked for an est., but were told he couldn't provide. Having used R&D several months prior for "winterizing", relied on the ballpark provided then for an avg "dewinterizing": approx. $400. My husband repeatedly called R&D for an estimated completion date & cost, but was never given an answer. The first of April, owner called my husband to say our prop needed atten. And explained that not having it filed could cause add’l damage. Again, a quote was requested. He was unable to commit to a price, but guessed about $160. My husband authorized the work. On April 15 rec’d a call that the boat was done-except for the prop. Again asked a price & anticipated a bill around $560. He said he'd call back on the 16th with price. He did not. We visited R&D in person on 4/18. The boat was not ready and the price for completed work we were finally given was for $1200. Admittedly, I was upset. Mr. Daniel remained ambivolent and cavalier. He indicated that he spent many hours trying to fix our lights (@ $65 per hour). When I asked why he didn’t call w / notice of their challenge, thus permitting us to opt out of paying for them to experiment, he said, "You told me to fix 'em. I did." I asked why he delayed in telling us the charges and he said that he didn't know how long each job was going to take and he won’t give estimates. He started indignantly asking how many hours I thought he should charge to grease a lower shaft and change oil. He also threw around part names and indicated that he had $40K worth of work he was doing right now, so our job-even though it was an exorbitant amount of $ to me-was insignificant to him. He advised that people pay these amounts all the time and that somehow I should know this and I, therefore, was wrong to expect him to justify the cost. He flat out said that if we couldn't afford him, we should sell our boat and use a friend's. He indicated that we were mishandling our finances by not paying the amount he charged. While I was trying to say that it is customary in the service industry to provide an est. So the consumer has the option of NOT incurring unwanted charges, he spoke over me and told me I wasn't listening because I couldn't know the names of the parts he'd previously tossed around. This is an example of a predatory mechanic taking advantage of the trust placed in him by consumers. He failed to provide an estimate, ran up exorbitant charges and was insulted that we questioned him. He took advantage of us and even refused to give us our boat when we asked to pay the ridiculous bill and leave. We thought about going to the police, but went home to calm down first. The following Monday, my husband called Mr. Daniel (4/20) and told him that we, again, simply wished to sever our relationship and pick up our boat. Although he accepts credit cards, he was argumentative and told us that he wouldn’t take ours. He said cash was the only way we could pay and, even so, we could not have our boat today. He, as of the time of this complaint, is stalwartly refusing to give us our property or accept a valid form of payment.
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