My name is Ed. I own a boat repair facility in the Fresno, Cal—Central Cal area.
I have a customers boat which was repaired by Clovis Marine. The customer brought the boat in to my shop for evaluation. It was a mess to say the least.
My experience with boats and the repair record of Clovis Marine went into full alert.
This customer was ripped off by Clovis Marine. Clovis Marine took a boat that was worth maybe $600 at best. It was 30 years old and had been through a series of owners.
While the boat was sound in most areas it needed stern drive work and some flooring repaired.
My customers depended upon the expertise of Clovis Marine. What Dave Flum and his grunts did is borderline criminal.
The final bill was almost $4000. The owner retrieved his boat thinking it was repaired. It was not.in fact, in my professional opinion, it was made worst specifically so the boat owner would return for more high dollar repairs. Used parts could be had for 1/3 of what Clovis Marine charged.
The boat was never tested—clearly—for water leaks. The boat could of sunk and caused a loss of life if not a high dollar EPA bill for retrieval in the water.
The boat owner hired my shop to find out the causes and ultimately repair the boat. My shop would of repaired this boat for 1/2 of what Clovis Marine charged. The parts replaced were unnecessary and the new parts were charged twice the going rate in town.
This has been repeated over and over with boat owners bringing me their boats after what Clovis Marine says was repaired. The reputation is locked in as a crook and incompetent if not just plain up front customer theft.
One of my customers spent $10,000 on a Honda outdrive at Clovis Marine because Dave Flum the owner told him his old outboard was garbage. The old outboard was brought to my shop and a $200 part replaced. There was nothing wrong with that outboard. That owner is contributing to a court hearing against Clovis Marine.
Time and time again, this has repeated itself.
Dave Flum is a very arrogant business owner who is seeing the fruits of his reputation come home to roost.
I encouraged the previously mentioned boat owner to sue Dave Flum and Clovis Marine in Small Claims court in Fresno. It is my understanding that the case is set for a hearing very soon.
I will give expert testimony along with a Marine Shop here in town who also have a long list of customers who have been hurt by Flum/Clovis Marine.
This is my story and I stand by my work. Flum does not. When confronted with sloppy repairs Dave Flum will pull a gun on the customer. When I heard that Dave Flum told a customer to go deliberately sink his boat and collect the insurance money, I personally called the Fresno County District Attorney's Office to make a report to the investigators.
Thanks,
Ed
The Fresno boat community is small. Word spreads quickly. Good shops are here but we have a very bad apple ripping off unsuspecting boat owners. I hope to help get out the word to new boat owners who should avoid Clovis Marine based solely on history.
0 comments