Complaint Review: Carefree Boat Club

I have purchased a 2015 Sea Ray Sundancer 260 for $64,130 at Carefree Boat Club, aka. Carefree Boat Holdings, LLC aka. Carefree Boats. Initially, everything seemed right and the deal was set quickly within half an hour. Brian and Daryl have asked for a $15,000 downpayment at which I agreed in good faith - BIG MISTAKE!!!!

While discussing the purchase terms of the afrementioned boat, Brian and Daryl had exhaustively promised that the boat would be professionally detailed upon picking it up. The understanding was that the dealer would require a week time to 'have the boat looking like new'. To avoid rushing the detailing process, I told the dealer he could have two (2) weeks time for the necessary work, of which he later extended an additional day, prior to pick up.

However, when picking the boat up, its exterior and interior condition were of extremely poor appearance, which strongly indicated that it had more than likely continued to be rented after having AGREED (verbally and -again- in good faith) that they will not contiue renting the boat after the purchase agreement had been siged and the downpayment of $15,000 was received via Check! 

Furthermore, the damages I have documented on a detailed report, were either incurred after having signed the purchase agreement, or concealed during the briefly allotted inspection prior to purchasing the boat.

The dealer tried to tell me that the condition of the boat when picking it up, was due to the boat sitting under a tree while waiting for pick-up (scheduled two days later). This excuse is beyond reason, nor is it responsible for the condition the boat was handed over to me in. A tree does not affect the inside cabin of a boat, nor does it severely impact the exterior. Exhaustive self cleaning and professionally hired detailing was necessary in order to even begin inspecting the boat, to better understand it's true condition. This is NOT what was promised to me when purchasing this boat, while supplying my good faith deposit of $15,000.00 USD.

Brian or Daryl never indicated that the detailing process of the boat was compromised, nor did he mention any issues with the exterior condition of the boat, or resulting damages. Relying on his given information of the situation, I supplied the dealership with the final payment of $49,130.00 USD within three days after purchase. It is understood that this boat is used, and is not believed to be in perfect condition. However these damages are unacceptable, and the condition the boat was released to me in is professionally inappropriate. The reason for purchasing a boat less than 1 year in age, would be to mitigate the existence of accrued damages from use - now I got a heavily used asset and just invested over $6,000 worth of repair work, including fixing the damaged Trim Tabs, Damaged window frame, broken switches, replacement of Carpet due to water inside the hull, Scratches and dents to the hull, etc...

The frustration and cost incurred from having to self detail the boat is an unfortunate experience that I would be willing to accept and overlook. However, the damages that currently exist on this boats frame are not an acceptable term of this purchase. I have emailed Brian several times and we agreed on a small payment that he was willing to cover, which at the end, never happened and he ignored every contact since then. At this point we have hired an attonrey (Norton, Hammersley, P.A.) that will represent us during the law suit that has been filed against the company. 

To summarize: EVERY POTENTIAL CUSTOMER SHOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE SIGNING AN AGREEMENT (or even worse, making a downpayment) AND SHOULD HIRE A PROFESSIONAL COMPANY FOR A PRE-PURCHASE INSPECTION, AND EVEN BETTER, SIMPLY USING A BETTER COMPANY! There are hundred of boat dealers out there and I have had better luck with a locat company in Tampa!