Complaint Review: Blackbird Industries - West Snabury Pennsylvania

I am not on here to bad mouth Blackbird Industries, just to tell my story with my experience i had dealing with them. I had a TERRIBLE experience giving Blackbird Industries my buisness. I did a lot of research on them before i committed my buisness to them, as you are if you are reading this forum. I read quite a few BAD reviews and only a few good ones. I was leery about giving them my buisness but the price seemed to good to pass on. I learned the hard way you definitely get what you pay for. I researched them found out how many years they have been in buisness, and how many motors they acually build on a yearly average. I even found out what their old buisness name was and i read all the BAD reviews on them as well. I should have gone with my gut i would not have wasted $10k plus on a motor that was better served as an expensive boat anchor. Here's my story, i hope this helps you make your decision if you are on the fence on giving them your buisness.

I talked to Mr. Mike Sr. in May 2016 about a replacement motor for my 25ft fishing boat. He sold me on an Evinrude E-tec 300hp, he gave me a great price. Told me it would run like new with the new power head they would put on it. Befor i finalized the sale i requested a complete computer print out on that motor so i knew exactly what the motor has been through from previous owner. They told me they could not supply me with that requested information. (thats just like buying an used car without a carfax report) Against my better judgement i still went with them.

As soon as i received my motor the end of June in 2016 i had it professionaly installed and got her in the water. As soon as i pulled away from the dock and gave it to throttle i was very disappointed with the performance, and the large amount of oil it was burning. I called them immediatly and was reverted over to Mike Jr. cell phone. I could not get ahold of him after a few phone calls and 2 voicemails over 10 days. i was forced to text him. he pretty much brushed me off, saying the boat i put it on was heavy and thats all the performance i'll get out of it, and the oil burning was in break in mode and didnt have time to tell me how it works. So i accepted that and  continued to run the boat. ONLY after 9 hours of run time burning 4 gallons of full synthetic 2-stroke oil it started acting up on me. Engine light came on, started vibrating, and running hot.

I tried to call them again and was reverted to TEXTING with Mike Jr. again. he told me to get a compression test on it. So i sent my mechanic out to the boat. He plugged it up the his computer for engine light and did a comppression test. after a deeper inspection he found out it had some major problems. It was running hot becouse it had a bad cylinder, a bad oil pump the reason why it was burning so much oil, and was not firing on another cylinder hence the reason why it was performaning so poorly it was only running on 5 cylnders from day one. What kind of professional motor company sends out a motor they claim they test ran out to a customer only firing on 5 cylinders??!!! 

I immediatley tried to call the owner-my sales man Mike Sr., i had no luck and was reverted to texting with his son Mike Jr. again. i gave him the news on the motor they just sold me that only had 2 trips on it. he told me the motor had to come back. i agreed and brought up the money i spent on mounting the motor, and asked if he was going to be paying for them to dismount the motor i had just gotten put on the week prior then remount it when i returns. he denied to reburse me on that. His solution was that i could bring the whole boat to them on the trailer knowing i was 350 miles away.  I said i also had a bill from the mechanic to diagnose the problems found on the moter, he said he would only pay what the books says for compression test and not mobile services. One year later after i faxed them the bill i have not received any rebursement from them to this day.

After the motor was repaired i got an acual phone call from Mike Jr. saying that they replaced the bad cylnder and said that he was not sure if the problem was fixed with it not firing on the other cylnder. i felt so violated on the treatment i received i had to wait to write this review on them until the motor was out of my pocession. i was forced to sell my boat, now its someone elses problem. I could not trust going out on the water with my family and returning under it's own power.

Mike Jr. was a rude and unprossional person i was forced to deal with during this whole process. He did not do everything in his power to try to make it right. I still to this day have not recieved a phone call or an email from the owner who i have tried to get a hold of numerous time. The only professional person i talked to the the secretary that has worked there for 20 years. I have pitty for her having to work with those kinds of people. The only thing that went smooth during this whole experience was them taking my hard earned money.

I hope this reaches out to someone before you make a huge mistake like i  did. I understand that bad things happen, but i am also a buisness man and i would do anything for my customers. You are only a good company if you supply your customers with a good product and stand by it. Good luck, if you are looking for a good boat motor company look up ARG Marine.