I was having my boat in the Florida Keys hauled and shipped via truck to another state.
I investigated several boat yards in the Key Largo area and decided to go with Rock Harbor Marina. Sam Stoia the owner had given me an initial estimate that seemed reasonable and their yard had all the facilities to haul a large sailboat. We agreed on a date to bring the boat in for hauling and temporary storage. He initially indicated that I could work on the boat myself but any subs other than his own yard crew or subs would incur a "work day" fee in addition to the storage fee being charged.
What happened after that was a total ripoff from the day the boat was hauled. As an example, I hired a sub that I thought worked for Sam, (as he was working on Sam's own boat) but came to find out after the fact that Sam would charge me the $65 "work day" fee when ever the sub showed up. Turns out I was charged the $65 if the sub was just there just to inspect his previous work fiberglass repair work for 2 minutes.in the end I was charged for 11 "work days" or an additional $725 inaddition to the fees charged by the sub. Then, Sam wanted to start charging me for "work days" when I showed up to remove personal and miscellaneous small items.
The major rip off came in dropping the mast, removing the standing rigging, radar arch and getting the boat ready for shipping. The charges for labor and crane time came to nearly $5,000. Obviously a well padded invoice. Being at his mercy, Sam in total managed to scam me out of nearly $8,000 by the time I was able to get the boat loaded and out of his h*l hole marina.
I was definitely over charged exorbitant amounts for work completed by his yard for the manhours, equipment usage and "work days". As an example I was charged 7 hours of crane usage @ $125/hr and 36 manhours for dropping the mast and removing the rigging - simply outrageous or incompetency or both! When I complained about the charges, I was basically told that's what the bill is and he would not load the boat until the bill was paid in full by cash or certified check. Sam was holding all the cards and he knew it.
Check with the report filed by another boater under "AAAA Boats and Tires" as to how they were screwed by Sam. Don't go there unless you want to get screwed too!!!
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