A few days ago, we got the bill for installing the new hatch in the counter for the refrigerator box. It was far more than we thought it should be. The biggest factor was the labor charges. Sea Marine charges $69.00 per hour for routine jobs. Electricians and mechanics are lots more. Our bill came in at 19.5 hours of labor. This made very little sense to us as it took less that 2.5 days.
I'd asked for an accounting of Bob's(woodworker) hours. Instead, we got a list of what he did, not what his hours were--started and finished each day. A quite detailed list. I know he did the work and he did it well, but I wanted to know what hours he had charged each day, not what he did.
Here's the way we see it--or at least the time totals we could come up with:
The job started on Wednesday with Bob coming to Zephyr at 10:00 to size up the job. This was his first time on Zephyr. After sizing up the job and taking lots of measurements, he took off for the shop to start work. He came back several times in the afternoon for more measurements and even got the first hole cut in the counter top that day. He was gone by about 4:00.
Thursday, he showed up at 9:30 with the lid in hand and a fiberglass sleeve attached that would take the new hatch(to shallow to get through all the foam)all the way into the box. He was in and out and cut the opening in the plastic liner that makes up the box and was gone by 3:45.
When Bob had left, I remembered the sleeve that he had made to go between the hatch and opening. He'd made it sloping inward at an angle instead of straight down. Using this, we would have lost about another inch of the opening to get food in and out of the box. Friday morning, I walked up to the shop at 7:00am to talk to him about it. He wasn't in yet. I waited till about 7:45 and returned to Zephyr leaving him a note. I figure he showed up about 8:00 at the shop and was at Zephyr about 9:30 to do the final install with the sleeve redone at a straight angle. We took off for West Marine to get some varnish to finish off the teak. Bob was gone by the time we returned at 12:30pm.
So here is the way we see the hours:
Wednesday--at Zephyr at 10:00am--1 hour off for lunch and gone(company closes at 4) by 3:45.
Wednesday---4.75 hours
Mark had let it slip that Bob had billed 7.5 hours on Wednesday Unless he worked till 6:30pm, there is no way.
Thursday--at Zephyr by 9:30--1 hour off for lunch and gone at 3:45.
Thursday -----5.25 hours
Friday--at the shop at 8am--at Zephyr by 9:30 and gone by 12:00
Friday---------4.00 hours
total:-------- 14.00 hours
Even giving him extra time in the shop, it couldn't amount to more than 16 max.
Figuring the difference in hours adds up to 5.5 hours at $69.00 per hour--$379.50 if my math is any good. That's a big difference.
I walked up to talk to Mark--yard foreman and Matt Elder--one of the owners about the bill and give them a list of what I felt were the actual hours. Mark started looking at my notes with Matt at his shoulder. Matt snatched my notes from Mark, looked at me and blew up--big time!! He was tired of all our complaining(say what). That they had been nothing but nice to us giving us great service and even allowing us to get mail delivered there and having their order department order parts for us. That he hated the "live a boards"as all they did was cause problems for him by continually questioning the bills and that if a workman wasn't on board that they shouldn't be charged for his hours. I disputed that knowing full well that when Bob wasn't on board--at least on Wednesday--he was doing shop work building jigs and making the teak ring that goes around the hatch lid. Matt just kept on ranting and finally said he wanted us off his dock today. I told him we would love to but since we had no transmission, where were we to go. He said they would attach lines to our boat and pull us over to the Point Hudson Marina where we could stay(at our own expense--$53.00/night) till the transmission came back. He then stormed up the stairs to his office. After I picked up my jaw off the floor, I left the building.
I got about half way back to Zephyr and turned around to have another talk with Matt. There had to be a reasonable solution to this situation. I found him in one of the back buildings. I asked if we could sit down and talk about the problem. Nope--he just went off on me all over again standing in the doorway with people passing past us on how we had taken advantage of their generosity and this was how we repaid them. There was no mention of the $40,000 we had already dropped in their coffers. Or that the delays were not our fault. We had to wait for them to schedule us in to get the work done after we got back in the water--why we were still there in January. That didn't seem to matter. I had the gaul to question the hours that their workman had put on his card!! How dare I question them.
Well, he hates "live a boards"because we are on our boats and can keep a better accounting of the time that is actually spent on the work. He has allowed us to order parts through his company--he marks up the price from what he pays--insert profit here. He has allowed us to get our mail sent to his office(we'd rather have been gone months ago). He doesn't like to be questioned about what he bill you--JUST SHUT UP AND PAY THE BILL AND GET OUT!!!
It was time to eat crow and have humble pie for desert as he had us at his mercy--no transmission. Where were we to go since we couldn't get anywhere. When the transmission came back--what were they going to charge us to reinstall it of the manufacturer didn't cough up the funds by admitting it was a bad transmission. WE WERE STUCK BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE!
Let me tell you, crow isn't that tasty and humble pie sucks but I ate a lot of it. I apologized over and over again about questioning the bill. That they were right and I was wrong--over and over again. Matt just kept ranting at me about what rotten people we are and how we have taken advantage of them. After about 15 minutes of this, he finally calmed down, accepted my apology and told me we could stay on their dock!
It's been quite a while since I have had the family jewels handed to me by anyone and let me tell you it isn't pleasant. As most of you know, I've been in retail since the early 70's and there is no way I would treat a customer this way. We may not be right, but we are still the customer regardless. Some times, you have to suck it up and make some concessions. Apparently, not at Sea Marine.
So, now we are stuck here in limbo just waiting for another shoe to drop. We don't dare go near the office for fear of having our heads taken off. They no longer will allow us to order parts through their order department even though they make a profit on each piece that we order. Go figure!! I can't. It may not be a lot of profit, but some beats none.
The people here at Sea Marine are first rate. Their craftsmanship is great and we have found little faults in what they have done. A few wires hooked up wrong that was easy to fix. Two masthead lights that were faulty--not their fault. A transmission that was made wrong--again--not their fault. But these are all things that we have already paid for and expect to be fixed--and not at our expense. Unfortunately, that's not the way it goes here at Sea Marine. Yes, they fixed the wires and the mast head light(at their expense), but once it came to the big buck item of the transmission, well, they were just the middleman and it's not their fault.
Well, that's the way the day went. As you can see, there was no way I was going to post this blog while still at their docks. Several of the yardmen know I blog each day and I don't want this post getting out till we are out of here.
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