[marcucci]

I’ve been boating on the lake for almost 3 decades. Nothing against the marinas but I’ve always found them overloaded. Really it’s not their fault, they are typically the most convenient so most people just go there. In all my years I’ve only not had a trailer for 2 and in that time I was one of those people who went to the marina for everything. Other than that I always tried to use off water services, in some cases 50 miles away from winni. (It was between winni and my winter home so it wasn’t out of the way.)

Anyway, what I’ve found (this includes when I bought a brand new boat at a local marina) is that the marinas are too busy to provide good communication and timely service to everyone. So what happens is they have to pick and choose who they focus on. Even when using the marinas I always call, request what I want, ask for when they can do the work and how long it will take and only bring the boat in during that prearranged time. I would NEVER just drop off my boat (unless it wasn’t running and was useless otherwise) because who knows when you’ll see it.

When I have problems with them getting the work done I remind them (typically the service manager) that we had prearranged the drop off and duration. If something new was discovered I understand and I have the whole when and how long conversation again. Often they tell me a story about how busy they are or some other boat took longer or someone quit or whatever. I explain that I understand but that, just like my work, that’s for me to worry about and not my customer and then I say, when will you start the work and when will it be done. I follow that up with, if it’s not started and done by then I’m going to have to take it elsewhere. Only once was I told to go screw. Typically they are willing to work with me.

Just my experience but I almost never have this type of experience with off water places. They seem to have lower volume so they can manager better. In fact right now I’m waiting for a date for some service from a local shop and I’ve received two emails letting me know they haven’t forgotten about me and will get back soon.


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