I do alot of boating here in sunny Miami, Fl. My boat engine died on me one day out on the water, and i vowed to myself that that would never happen again. I was going to buy a brand new engine with a warranty... I called around, and Ray Layton, the service manager at Dixie Marine told me to bring the boat in, they would look the engine over and give me an excellent trade in towards a new one... Well after talking about it, Ray mentioned that he had a 98' evinrude 115hp outboard that was just traded in and that he would put a fully rebuilt and overhauled powerhead on it, and give me a warranty... I hesitated, cause i did want the new engine, but was convinced that this engine would have all new parts and be just as reliable as the new one without the hefty price... It was a deal... I told them to rebuild it and put it on my flats boat...
Now the problems begin... A month later, they tell me to come pick up the boat, it is finally ready. When i get there, there is a 4 foot gash down the side of my boat... They agree to fix it, after telling them that i was not gonna except the boat or give them any money until it was fixed. Ray fixed it and did a half ass job. Can still see the gash on the side but i took it anyway...
Next day, i took the boat down to the Keys, which is a hour away, and put it in the water. When i turned it on, it was fine. But as soon as i went to get on plane, the overheat horn went off and it went into safety mode which only runs on two cylinders... I was outraged... I took the boat back to ray, the next day and he looked it over and told me that the water pump was bad and installed a new one... The next weekend i took it out, and it did the same thing... I returned it and they told me nothing was wrong..
For months, we went back and forth. The last time, they just unpluged the overheat horn and gave the boat back. A few weeks later, I was coming home from a night fishing trip in the Everglades, and the engine seized. I luckily got towed in by another die hard fisherman such as myself, and took the boat home... I pulled the head off and there was chunks of metal... Piston was all scratched up..
I went back to Dixie Marine and asked to speak with the owner John Vlad. I told him what had happened and he kinda snickered and told me to talk with Ray... I asked him again, as the owner of Dixie Marine, if he was going to honor the warranty and fix the engine, and he told me to get the hell out of his store...
Dixie Marine has the biggest bunch of low life scum in the world working for them. They do not grasp the concept of customer service or service integrity... They do not stand behind their work and ridicule the customer when you question them... I would not recommend them to anyone in the boating industry!!!
Thank god for honorable service mechanics such as Bob Hogan at Superior Outbord Service, Inc. He took the engine apart and showed me every detail that these SOB's did wrong when rebuilding the engine... I had to throw that whole powerhead away and purchase a brand new factory one... Should have bought that new merc!!!
Lex
miami, Florida
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