Carl
Louisville,#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Sat, February 26, 2011
As the owner of Topside Powersports,I had previously winterized these skis and was familiar with them in that sense, but I neither recommended they purchase them nor did I discourage them. The previous owner had them winterized and then left them at my shop and had not come to get them. He had evidently posted them as being for sale on Craigslist which is where this customer saw them. I explained to these prospective buyers at that time that the skis appeared to be OK but I had no working knowledge of them. They then made the decision to purchase them and have them serviced since they were already at my shop.
The service I performed included a carb cleaning on the older ski, new batteries for both skis, and a lake test. At the time of the lake test, they both performed satisfactorily. A gentleman picked them up on a Friday.
I received a call on Monday that the older ski (a 1997 XP) was not running well. The gentleman brought the ski back to the shop. Upon inspection, I discovered that the starter had gone bad. We replaced the faulty starter with a rebuilt one that had a 1 year warranty. Upon lake testing, the ski again preformed well.
The next week, the gentleman called to say that again the ski was not running well. He also reported that his step son was notorious for being "hard on things" and that it was possible he had torn up the ski. As the story continued to unfold, it was discovered that the child had taken the skis out without permission and flipped the 97 XP. Not only had he flipped it, but he also admitted that he had towed it the 2.5- 3 miles back to shore upside down. When we received the ski this time, the entire engine compartment was full of water. After draining the ski we removed the starter and found that it had water intrusion in it also. I explained to the gentleman that there was a 1 year warranty but it did not cover water intrusion into the part itself. I advised him I would attempt to return the part and see if they covered it but that I could not guarantee that it would be covered based on the circumstances of its damage. They wanted it repaired immediately regardless.
The next contact I had with these customers was the first time I had spoken to a female. I had still not heard back on the starter I had returned to the shop it was purchased from, so I replaced that starter with a used one I had in the shop. I explained that this was a used part, and that if I found out from the shop working on the starter that they would cover the damage she would be refunded.
The next week the female came back to the shop with her son very upset. She was irate in the parking lot stating that she was "going to sue" and that the ski again was not running well. I tried to calm her and go back over what had happened but there was just nothing I could do or say to make this right for her. I heard nothing else from her until this posting came up.
I did everything I could given all of these extenuating circumstances to make it right with this customer and with their skis. The simple fact is that a 1997 jet ski is not going to run as well after being flipped, filled with water, and dragged upside down in the water 2 to 3 miles back to shore, there are simply too many things that can be damaged in a ski of that age after such an event.