not use Ben Holcomb and Water Works repair! Ben is completely irresponsible,
will lie to you, and will rip you off at any chance he can get. Our trailer
snapped a torsion bar at the pier 121 ramp and he was the closest repair
facility. We agreed to leave our boat and trailer with him to have the trailer
taken to a separate repair company and be fixed because it could not be driven,
and we asked Ben to look at our trim tab pump because it was acting up.
Ben hired a towing company to have the trailer transported and in the process of
loading it between him and the tow company they broke the trailer jack and
wheel. Ben said that we (the boat owner) would not be responsible for the
damage. We kept in touch with the trailer repair company throughout the process
and they were great to work with. However when I called Water Works on the day
we were to pick it up a lady answered the phone and was extremely rude, telling
me that we called too often. Keep in mind this was our third call to this shop
in 10 days.
I talked to Ben at this point and asked about the trim tab
pump in which he quoted me "around $600", I told him, no thanks we will be
picking up the boat today. On the way to the shop we called to let him know we
where headed his way, about an hour and a half drive for me. Ben said our
trailer was there and he "could see the guys at the ramp loading our boat back
onto our trailer." When we pulled up to the shop about an hour and a half after
the phone call, our trailer was there sitting in his parking lot with no boat on
it. So we waited around for about 20 minutes for Ben to pick our boat up with a
hoist and put back on our trailer. At this time I inspected our boat... the
fiberglass on the bow was damaged by the wood block he placed under the hoist
cables and there was an oil stain in our seat cushion from where his mechanic
had carelessly laid the cover from the hydraulic pump on the seat. The cover was
still on the seat when we I inspected him. When I pointed out this damage Ben
only handed me a bottle of degreaser to try to remove the stain myself and said
he was not responsible for the bow damage. As it figures Ben would just deny,
deny, deny. At this point I am just ready to get out of his shop.
Go inside to settle the bill. So, the Bill comes in at twice the amount quoted
$1200 on what was should have only cost $600. Ben added over 50% of the charge
from the trailer company to the bill, and was charging me for the jack which HE
BROKE!! Ben refused to take anything off the bill, and simply took advantage of
us being stuck in our position. Should have just brought cash and only paid for
the originally quoted cost minus other damages he caused. I would never do
business with this guy or his company again, and would highly recommend that
nobody does business with him. I understand that people are in business to make
money, but this guy is not honest and it cost me $600 more for him to do
absolutely nothing but damage the boat and trailer.
Oh, and the part that he quoted $600 and I didn't have him work on... I picked up for $60 and installed
it myself in five minutes.