I first saw Lanier Marine Liquidators website late 2010 when I was looking to purchase a used boat. I decided to travel to their boat yard in Dawsonville Ga to look at half a dozen boats that I had short listed as a potential purchase. At that time the owner Shane Vaughan was desperate to make a sale to raise sufficient cash to satisfy refinancing a business loan. Sympathizing with his situation I agreed to purchase a much more expensive boat than I actually intended to buy, having been in similar situations myself.
I had looked purchased a 34 ft Sea Ray Express Cruiser that needed some cosmetic repairs and some mechanical/electrical repairs that Shane assured me would be done. I was not in a position to take possession of the boat at that time so i decided to have Lanier Marine do addition work on the boat that I would have had to do myself. I asked them to renew the packing in the shaft glands, put new batteries in the boat, fully check out the electrical and mechanical systems so that everything worked and to give the hull a coat of paint. For this work I paid $2500.00.
Part of their obligation to me was to rebuild the Generator and test it, and to repair the holes in the hull to ensure watertight integrity. Their standard practice was to also thoroughly clean the boat inside and out before it left the yard.
The boat remained in the yard for almost a year and on at least three occasions I visited the yard to check on progress only to find that nothing had been done. My final visit was in Septemberand on that occasion the Hull had been repaired but nothing else done. I had assurance from Shane that everything would be done before the boat shipped to me in November. I paid an additional $500 for a used GPS system to be installed having been assured that it worked, and I also had some upholstery renewed. I expressed my concern that the work that I paid for still had not been done and again Shane assured me that it would all be done and he would send me a video of the Engines and Generator working. Needless to say I never received a video and the GPS did not work.
I had the boat delivered to Florida and had arranged with a Marina to lift the boat off of its trailer and put it in the water. When the boat was put in the water it had to be taken out because it was taking on too much water. There was a large split in the Generator cooling pump suction hose and the Port shaft seal was leaking excessively. I called Shane and he agreed to pay the additional cost for the Marina to put the boat in the water after I had Repaired the suction line and tightened up the shaft seal. When we attempted to start the engines, the batteries were all flat. But I managed to jump start with a portable battery and get the boat home. While the boat was at the Marina getting the suction hose repaired, I had to call Lanier several times to find out where all the wiring connected to on the engines and batteries, as everything had been left disconnected and nothing was labelled. I carried out a thorough check of the boat over the next several weeks and months and discovered that many of the systems did not work, the Horn, Speakers and Radio, Generator was not connected to battery, the leads were missing, the Shaft Packing was not replaced, Water Pump, Engine hour meters, etc. I had the Shaft packing replaced at a cost of $350 and I have yet to get the Generator fixed, there is no access to the start motor to connect the leads, without major removal work.
To add insult to injury, I sent the Bills of Sale along with the Registration application to the US Coastguard to renew the vessel Registration. The Coastguard could not use the Bills of Sale because of spelling errors and missing information and they requested that two new Bills of Sale be supplied on the US Coastguard proforma paperwork. I sent this letter with the Bill of Sale forms to Shane who promised to get them back to me quickly. I did get them back after about six weeks and I re-submitted them to the US Coastguard only again to get the application rejected because only one of the previous boat owners had signed the Bill of Sale and there had been two joint owners. I again sent the rejection letter and the Bill of Sale proforma to Shane who again promised to turn it round quickly for me. That was March 14th and I have never received it. I have lost my registration money now and without the correct paperwork I am not able to register the boat with the US Coastguard. I guess Shane does not want to address my situation any more, he handed the problem to other people who have also not been forthcoming.
I represented all my problems to Shane Vaughan on several occasions and despite his assurances to "make it right" he has done nothing except make empty promises like, "i will fill your fuel tank on the boat with fuel and take you and your wife out to dinner" or "I will give you a Rigid bottom Inflatable boat to make up for your trouble. Right, he doesnt answer the phone or reply to emails any more, is this a Ripoff or what!!!
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