Lighthouse Marina - Marine Maintenance Systems, Inc., - George Luna Boat Repair
Lighthouse Marina - Marine Maintenance Systems, Inc. - George Luna Boat Repair Held Sailboat and owner Hostage, Removed and took parts without permission charged $85/hr without notice before hand for inflated hours and more!

BEWARE OF DOING BUSINESS
Lighthouse Marina
Robert Dowell
Marine Maintenance Systems, Inc.
George Luna Boat Repair
519 Anclote Rd (Lighthouse Marina)
Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689

George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 was hired a year ago to do a paint job which was not completed by Terry Levine on my 38 sailboat. George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 was a friend of the owner of Snapper Marina in Hernando Beach where my boat was being worked on by Terry Levine or Not worked on is more to the point. George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689, Marine Maintenance, agreed to paint my entire exterior of my boat with awlgrip for the sum of $7000. Which he required to be paid in cash. Again, the boat was to be painted completely in Awl Grip. BUT, the deck was painted with other than awl grip, because it chipped all over the deck within 6 months. George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 was also to replace some chrome trim and teak toe rail. He never replaced the toe rail but agreed to do it this time around.

1. He again never did the toe rail as promised
2. The deck was not sprayed with awl grip as it is chipping every where. George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 did touch up some of the chips and mistakes, but left many others un repaired.
3.. George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 originally quoted me one price after my boat was pulled, he told me the pain the was using might make 2 years, but if I wanted for extra money I could get 4 years out of the job. I paid the extra.
4.. George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 then told me that I needed new sealer coating which was power washed off. Again he raised up my bill.
5. I had purchased a new Generator and George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 sold me on using the electronics guys next door Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689, to him to install. Suggesting they could install at same time he was doing the bottom.

I first had my boat worked on by George Luna Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 Boat Repair 523 Anclote Rd., Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 for bottom painting, who recommended Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 next door to do my Generator install. Since my 38' sailboat was pulled out of the water for bottom paint already I decided to go ahead and have Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689, so I didn't have to pay anymore marina charges else ware. I asked for a price and contract up front but was told by Manager Mark, He doesn't a flat price, but would treat me right on the price, with a big smile. He seemed at that point, like a trust worthy person.

Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 totally wasted the first 5 days while the George Luna was painting on my hull. Then Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 said they detected a leak in my diesel tank and would have to fix before they installed my generator. I told them I can do it myself later, I suggested to just plug for me. They said they couldn't do that, it would have to be replaced first. Mark the manager of Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 said a new tank would only cost me $600.-and at very most $800. After my boat was totally torn up and tank was out, Mark the manager of Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 then said the tank alone part only would cost the $1,102.96. I had no choice since the boat was all torn up and no fuel tank. They assigned 1 man to my boat who seemed knowledgeable and from time to time had minimum wage type laborers help feed wires and tubing, and help remove tank. The Labor helpers were being given instruction on how to do everything by the 1 man with knowledge, I was there every day watching the work being done. I figured I was paying 1 Man on this job, and maybe some small labor charges for helpers.instead, Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 billed me $85 for multiple men at multiple man hours which never happened. They charged apparently $85./hour for the general labor help also. There were no controls as to how long helpers worked, which wasn't much. Sometimes helpers came over to the boat to just joke with the other guy, and probably charged hours for doing nothing.
They Quoted me $600.-$800. For new Fuel tank, then after boat was apart and fuel tank out, Required me to pay over $1,102.96 Prepaid as a requirement for Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 to continue working.
They then told me my water heater was bad, charged me for a new one and labor, and its still doing the same thing leaking whenever pressure pump is turned on, plus system requires a one way valve which they never put on allowing tank to drain out. I don't believe it was really ever changed.
The new fuel tank placed on 1 inch thick plywood braces pushing against the hull! That's about 800 lbs pressing on hull on 2- 1 inch braces. I fear the braces might breach the hull during heavy seas when the tank is full and heavily pushing against the 1 inch wide braces.
When they put my a/c back on top of tank they didn't put sweat line back to the pump out reservoir, they just have it dumping into my bilge.
There is a negative battery cable not hooked up under generator and not sure if it was to be hooked up or not.
Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 Charged me for all new fuel lines, but own worker noticed and told me, they forgot to replace a fuel line to tank, but, again I was charged for fuel line and Labor even though it was never put in. Furthermore, the workman said he would let Mark the Manager of Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 know, but I never received a call about it from him.
They destroyed my carpeting with oily shoes and tank removal. I had to have all my carpet replaced.
Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 Said they replaced water heater, but even though I was there almost daily, and I asked for all old parts back, they never gave or showed me the old unit. The new unit is in exact same position and leaking in same exact place. I had asked to have new water heater elevated off floor on 1x2s. Which wasn't done.
They Removed a good working Emergency Water Pump worth a couple hundred dollars without my permission and said they threw it away.
I wanted all my old parts and NONE were supplied to me, New special tinned wiring was just put throughout my boat a year ago and they said they replaced it but I saw none of the replaced wiring.
Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 made me pay the other fiberglass man George Luna, who was working on my boat to cut the hole in the fiberglass to put in generator, which cost me additional $950. To make 2 one foot and 1 three foot saw cut on my fiberglass, and just screwed it back together and filled crack with 5200. He was originally suppose to make the area like my entry to the cabin with teak slats made and teak trimmed and waterproof.instead, he did this unprofessional job and charged me the same thing. He wouldn't talk to me about a refund of some of the money. VERY EXPENSIVE UNPROFESSIONAL JOB.
After being forced to pay Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 their outrageous bill, to get my boat put back in the water, Last minute they charged me an additional $38/day to be sitting at their yard, which should have been included since they were doing the work. Just like it was in George Lunas bill. There total additional last minute charges were $691.22. They refused to put my boat back in water until it was paid also. I again paid under duress to get my boat out of there.
Since I got my boat back from Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689, I now have some lighting problems probably due to the way the breaker box was put back above tank. Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 re-installed my battery charger and left the negative cable too loose and burned out the post on the unit and I had to buy and install a new one on my trip in Marathon. I had to cut a hole in a bulkhead to find the leak from the water heater was the way they hooked up the water hose The waterline they used was twice the diameter as the fitting on the water heater which was causing it to leak under pressure (real Professional) This is what they charged so much for? And so much more

I felt I had fallen into a bed of thieves.in order to get my boat placed back into the water, I was REQUIRED to pay these outrageous bills. I figured I would have to pay them these outrageous charges to get my boat back in water to get it out of there. Then, after I paid the outrageous $12,000 bill to Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689, Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 told me before they put my boat in the water I would HAVE to pay additional charges to the marina (which they manage) for my boat sitting there. I believe that's a conflict of interest. They refused to do a contract, I wasn't given any written estimates, wasn't told of costs, etc. No papers, or authorizations for work were signed, etc.
The manufacture of the Generator says they have many installers which charge $400. To install the generator I bought. This is the amount I told them I expected to pay.
I wanted all these items above fixed, the Price for labor adjusted and my removed items returned to me. After several phone calls and messages left, and 2 separate Certified letters NOBODY has returned a call or returned a letter. Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 has got their money and are totally ignoring my attempts to resolve the problems.
Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 are the most un professional bunch of con artists I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with.

Below, I have called Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 3x and left messages to call that they needed to fix some items, we needed to negotiate a settlement on the outrageous charges, and I wanted my removed parts back. I also sent them 2 certified letters saying the same. They have neither returned my calls nor responded to my certified letters to this date. They are completely ignoring me.

Thank you in advance.

Certified letters (never answered)

1/11

Dear Mark,

I have some items of which we need to discuss. When I first came in to you about doing the generator on my boat, I told you, I was concerned about you being able to do the work during the time George was doing his to eliminate out of water time. Further, we discussed that I was not willing to pay the expense of $85 per hour for non-technical work when you told me I needed to replace my Diesel Tank. At that time, I offered to do the non technical grunt work with the use of my$7.00 / hour helper's. You told me, that you rather not charge me the $85 fees except for your technical work. You told me I would probably be in the way of your men which would end up costing more money. I came numerous days to watch what was being done on my boat. There were days when nothing was being done when you ordered a new tank, and when I asked you about that, you told me that you had many other boats to be done prior to mine. Meanwhile, your collecting $35 a day for having me sitting at the marina while no work was been done. When work was being done, Jason seemed to be the only individual technician who really knew his job. The other fellows popping in and out throughout the day, seemed to be in training. Jason had to stop what he was doing on an ongoing basis to tell the others what to do. Tom was the one who unscrewed the ac cabinet, chart desk, and sawed apart the cabinet around the fuel tank which you charged 4 hours @ $85. I know for a fact he is not a experienced technician because he constantly was asking how to do everything. He didn't even know how to turn on a multi meter! Time being a factor, the one who'd dismantle the cabinet was not the one who attempted to replace the cabinet, he wasn't even on the boat. He was working on another boat.in turn, Gary was told to replace the cabinet and was not sure what went where. The actual cabinet around the tank was not put back the same dimensions as before. This caused a problem with all the rest of the measurements. Numerous extra hours were spent cutting and readjusting because they simply did not take measurements before tearing out the old cabinet. Toby and Tom neither seemed to be more than go-fors and helpers. Neither seemed to have much knowledge and spent very little time there. Yet you have billed me a bunch of hours at $85 per hour. I have helpers here that I pay $7 an hour that would have accomplished more in less time with me. I feel taken advantage of. Furthermore, due to the application of your men on other jobs, and having to rebuild every part of the cabinet because the original dimensions were not followed caused me to be billed labor hours and days on the hard I shouldn't have.

Taking to an account that I had numerous hours charged to me for helpers' and go-furs at $85 per hour and their mistakes of not putting back the cabinet in the same dimensions as was previously allowing everything to just be screwed in its original form cost my hours to skyrocket to nearly 42 hours on the fuel tank alone. This was 42 hours charged at $85 per hour!
You also have me charged 6.25 hours at $85 per hour for my prop and Cutlass. You charge 6 hours at $85 an hour to remove my propane tank which you tell me was held by one bracket and replace the water tank which I had already removed the water lines. 16 hours at $85 per hour to mount my battery charger move my batteries and mount the AC panel. The total generator hours mounted up to 24 hours * $85.

These labor charges are obscene, I have been charged several hours for their mistakes they made and charged $85 per hour for helpers and gophers (which was not my agreement) And I believe your system of collecting their true hours spent on a job has a lot of room for improvement. Apparently the just tell you what they think they spent and you charge it to the customer. Why not, you I'm sure make quite a profit if they load their hours. All the times I was there, I rarely saw you out of your office to truly know who was working on what! For example, you charged me for the materials and labor to replace all my fuel lines and Jason and I noted a main diesel hose not changed after I LEFT TO MY MARINA WITH THE BOAT.

To add insult to injury, I was given a additional bill for being at the marina which you manage for additional $646. (17 days at $38 per day) in order for them to launch my boat. I believe this borders on being illegal, Since you manage this marina, this allows you to not work on boat while on the hard and still make money charging the owners for being there. Furthermore, the first day was on December 3 which the first day the owner said we would not have to pay for because we had to wait for a boat that had an appointment. The entire day was wasted for us. When you pulled the diesel tank there were several days that you did not work on my boat because as you said your waiting for the tank to be made. I thought that was very odd that you where having to wait on the generator installation because you ordered the fuel tank. Looking at my calendar - on December 3 in the late afternoon, you finally pulled my boat because we had to wait for powerboat in the sling. The owner stated we would not be charged for that day. George paid for the first five days to do his work, which I was hoping you were going to be doing the generator at the same time as we discussed. The 1st days I was there was not much work being done on my boat by Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689. Figuring that weekends the yard is closed and Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 is not open either, I should not have been charged for any weekend days. George Paid up through December 11 which gave Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 a total of eight working days until vacation time. Because your men were working to get other boats out before your vacation, mine was left unfinished. My boat sat in the marina until you returned January 2. I received a call on my cell phone that my boat was completed in the morning of January 3. Again there was a large powerboat, possibly the same one that waited for to get out of the water in the sling.
So I count a total of eight days at $38 per day. (at that I feel I'm generous because there were some days that no work been done on my boat) Furthermore, in a conversation with George, he said the price was much cheaper when he bought the time on the deck because he was doing the work. Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 was doing the work, manages the marina and did not include my time on the deck, then hits me with an additional $646.00 before launching my boat. Which is very interesting, when Marine Maintenance 519 Anclote Road, Tarpon Springs, Fl. 34689 Controls the amount of work being done on my boat, which controls the time on the Hard, which they profit on. I believe there's a true conflict of interest, when you do work on boats in the marina and manage the amount of time its in marina, the very marina that's charging $38/day, you do the work, manage the marina, and you charge separately for being at the marina. You had George cut a hole on my cockpit to get Generator in, instead of doing yourself, which he is charging me an additional $900. Your Tech, Jason said he took out my emergency hand bilge pump out of cockpit and he tells me he threw it out! I want you to send me another one so I can reinstall it. As a matter of fact, you should have returned all my old parts or asked if I wanted any of them.

In comparing the Parts charges with the prices at West Marine, well known for being the highest prices, your prices exceeded there's on most everything you used. My main concern is the obscene labor prices I was charged. But your materials prices where above the high in the market too.

To get this over quickly, I would like you to split the labor charges of $7,756.25 in half and immediately refund the same. Furthermore, I would like you to refund my $649 and yard fees. This would be a total of $4,527.13 out of the $13,188.08 you charged. I will take up the additional $900. Cutting charge with George separately. Hopefully, we can resolve this quickly within 3 days after receipt of the certified letter, so no further action will be required.

Thanks,

PS Removing the Tank, there was spillage and tracking of Diesel, All my Carpeting now needs replacing thru out boat from walking throughout with diesel on their shoes and spills from removing the tank. The Floors were not cleaned well, and diesel is leeching into the new wood.

PSS After discussing this at our sailing club, I found that a couple members of the Gulfwinds Sailing Club were ripped off by them too. When they went to argue with them, the were told to get off their property

IF YOU HAVE BEEN RIPPED OFF BY THESE PEOPLE, CONTACT ME - I would like to see about a class action suit against these thieves!

Company: Lighthouse Marina - Marine Maintenance Systems, Inc., - George Luna Boat Repair
Country: USA
State: Florida
City: Tarpon Springs
Address: 519 Anclote Road
Phone: 7279372962

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