Complaint Review: Prout International

Three years ago, Ettore Colussi, an avid businessman and lover of the sea, had reached the point in his life when he was ready to make the ultimate purchase; his dream boat. His love affair with the sea began as a young child fishing off of the rocky northwestern coast of Italy. Over the course of his active life he spent much of his time on the sea and had owned four different sail boats which had all served him well.The most recent, a McGregor 65, he had been sailing hard for the past fifteen years. It was now time for him to buy the boat of his dreams and to reap the benefits of a life of hard work.Over the course of his active life he spent much of his time on the sea and had owned four different sail boats which had all served him well.With the mindset that his final boat had to be perfect, Ettore began an extensive world-wide search for the boat of a lifetime. Utilizing a broad network of friends, business associates, brokers, the internet, and magazines, he spent months looking for “the one,” until finally he discovered it in the form of a 72 foot catamaran made by Prout International, who promoted themselves as an American boat company with ties to Asian shipyards, they worked with Concordia Yachting Ltd in Thailand and Winfair Zhuhai Marine.After finally deciding that the 72 foot Prout was going to be the one, Ettore made contact with their salesman. The two exchanged several e-mails before arranging a meeting in the Dominican Republic, where Ettore resides. Ettore soon travelled to Thailand along with other prospective catamaran buyers to see the Prout shipyard and met with several company directors. Negotiations began shortly afterwards and progressed smoothly. The terms of the agreement were discussed thoroughly and settled directly between Ettore and the Prout Salesman. The delivery date was arranged to be eleven months later, in November 2009 in Thailand. The total cost was established at US $1.740 million and a payment schedule was set. He made an initial deposit of US $100 thousand, and would continue to make additional payments as the construction of the boat progressed.s months went by without seeing any progress in the stalemate, Ettore approached Dr. Jack Tse, owner of the Prout Group, who started out by telling him that everything would be fixed shortly. However, nothing happened and by June 2009, they promised to lease a barge to carry the hull of the 72 together with others to China to be finished there. This never happened, so, he arranged a personal meeting with the owner of Prout, Jack Tse.In October 2009, he traveled all the way to the Annapolis Boat Show to meet with Mr. Tse. During their meeting, Mr. Tse explained that he was working hard to fix the situation at their shipyard in Thailand, but if all failed he again promised he would send what had been completed of the hull so far to be finished in his other shipyard, located in Zhuhai, China. In addition, they signed an addendum to the contract stating that if, in the end, the delivery of the Ettore´s desired 72 foot catamaran was not possible, Tse would give Ettore a completed 63 foot catamaran for no additional charge, other than the money already given by Ettore to Prout (US $1.075 million) no later than April 2010.While not pleased with these new developments and wishing that things had just progressed as originally planned, Ettore left Annapolis hopeful that he would soon have his new catamaran. This time though, in order to have his own pair of eyes on the ground, Ettore sent his trusted captain, Enrique Orsini, to China in November 2009 to supervise the construction of the 63 foot catamaran and to report back to him about the progress being made.Finally, after all hope for the 72 foot catamaran of his dreams had faded, Ettore set off for China in May 2010, to see the new 63 foot catamaran promised to him by Mr. Tse in the addendum to the contract that they had made the previous fall. By this point in time, Ettore was becoming agitated and, in April, had even offered an additional US $125,000 just to ensure the catamaran would be completed in a timely manner.Although already 6 months past the originally promised delivery date for the 72 footer, Ettore was relieved to finally be able to sail again; however, in China, he finds the 63 foot catamaran still under construction. Then, to his surprise, Tse informs him that he was no longer going to give him the 63 foot catamaran, with no explanation other that it was not a good deal for him regardless of the signed contract. Instead he was again going to try to give him the original 72 footer.By March 2009, everything seemed to be going as planned as Ettore anxiously waited for his new boat. He had already made the initial deposit as well as three further payments of US $325,000 each, for a total of US $1.075 million (almost two thirds of the entire cost), when he started hearing rumors that construction of his catamaran had come to a halt. He was told, that due to lack of payment, the shipyard workers had gone on strike.  With a great deal of money already committed, he decided that the best thing for him to do at this point would be to wait and see. As an astute international businessman, Ettore knew that strikes were not uncommon and he hoped the dispute with the workers would be smoothed over shortly and work would resume on his catamaran.t is now October 2010, a full year past the original delivery date. Ettore does not have a 72 foot catamaran nor does he even have a 63 foot one! The US $1.075 million that he had already paid seems to have just disappeared. His dreams have become a nightmare, and he is now forced to undergo a long and expensive lawsuit against Jack Tse and Prout International. s it turns out so far, Jack Tse is a very slippery man of dubious integrity and it has proven to be quite a struggle to bring him to keep his end of the deal. Ettore has now started a lawsuit against him and his company in the U.S.A. and China. We are still clinging to a tiny thread of hope that somehow there may be a happy ending, but as things stand now, Ettore has lost much of his hard earned money and has nothing to show for it but lost time and a lot of stress.IF YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW IS PLANNING TO BUY A PROUT CATAMARAN WARN THEM!!!IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT ETTORE'S STORY OR SHARING YOUR OWN PERSONAL NIGHTMARE WITH PROUT VISIT HIS BLOG AT: http://www.mynightmarewithprout.com/