Am I out of line here? {Powerhead swap?}

[vzar2112]

I asked my mechanic to replace my powerhead with a longblock powerhead that I had shipped from down south. He called me and said my boat was done and to come and pick it up. I got it on the water and it would not stay idling and would not get up on plane if I was able to keep it running long enough to attempt to plane out. {was able to do so two times out od about twelve attempts}
Anyway, I hauled it back to his shop and dropped it off on his lot, left a message telling him what had happened when it was on the water. This was on the Sunday after I picked it up that Saturday. I waited until the next Thursday to call for an update. I talked with one of the guys at the shop and he said "we saw the boat there but did not know what the problem was" I told him I left a message on voicemial with a description of what I found the weekend before and he said that the owner does all of the outboard work and he would be out until the next Tuesday! So I waited until the next Thursday to call back and the owner said that all I wanted him to do was install the powerhead. No fine tuning involved. I said that I wanted him to install and get it running the way it should.
I am rambling on and on, but I am not sure if I expected more than my money's worth or not. He had to tear down the old motor to see what was wrong, "he said {four hours at $70.00 a labor hour} and the rest of the $778.23 was time he had invested on the new install of the complete long block I had shipped to him. My math says that the project took a little over eleven hours to complete. Does it take seven hours to just bolt on and run a powerhead for a "couple of minutes"? I guess what I am asking the board is: Did I need to spell it out for this guy? Do people need to tell a mechanic to tune the carb's after he replaces a long block? did he charge me to much cash for the work he did. I feel like I have been taken advantage of, but I have never had to deal with this kind of repair in the past, so I am just not sure what to make of this situation.
Any insight would be helpful.
Thanks for letting me babble on and on and on and on.................AND ON!

[JoePA]

I would think that he should have done the riging and made sure it worked fine prior to giving it to you no where the power head came from. When I worked for a dealership I did motor installs where the owner supplied the engine and the labor covered everything. I would assume it would be the same in the marine industry. But you know what happens when you assume.......

Joe

[lkhartwl]

champ gives ya a price which includes it running and if fine tuning is needed no. Now rebuilding the carbs and such is extra, as it is not the usual thing in a swap. I dont know what you paid but if only 778 for labor and nothing for parts I would say that you got the motor swapped, and that was that. as in any business now a days especially car and marine you have to sometimes take the person by the hand and write out what exactly you want done or eklse it will not be done. I know if you take a car in and say well it is missing they will run the bill up out of sight , same with marine most of the time tell them it is missing or such with out saying " I want the carbs rebuilt, the timing set and such " they may just adjust something and let it go. bring the boat down to freddy he will fix it right up it is almost frozen water time there anyway

[ChampioNman]

A fast strike isn't that hard to set right. But, the dealer is dealing with an unknown item here, if you told him to just pull the old PH off and drop on the new one well that is what he did remember you told him no fine tuning. Sounds like that is just what he did. He lit it up and told you to come get it. But just firing it up on the muffs doesn't make it. Pretty sure BRP pays about 14 hrs labor on a PH swap, on/off and set up. This is a tough call to make.

[vzar2112]

Thanks for the replies! Champ. I think you may have misunderstood my post. I did tell the mechanic that the carb's may need to be re built due to the fact that it may have sat for some time. I was clear that I wanted it to be
"ready for the water". It is good to hear that BRP charges that much time to a repair like this. It just did not seem like it should take almost twice the time to bolt on and hook up a long block than to remove and dis assemble a complete power head to see what was wrong with it. I asked him how much time he ran the motor and he said "just a few minutes". I guess I am just not happy with the lack of communication and solid customer service. I run a small heating and cooling business and if I treated my customers like this shop treated me, I would be out of work fast! Just my thoughts.
Thanks everyone for the help on this. I have the boat into a bigger more professional and customer oriented shop. Maybe they will get me on the water for the little time I have left to fish.

[vzar2112]

Yep, that time is comming to winterize! I fish up until Thanksgiving, sometimes I get lucky and catch those fall smallmouth in deep water.
Must be nice to have a nine month fishing season down there.

[lkhartwl]

what you mean 9 month I go out all year long?

[ChampioNman]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vzar2112 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">! So I waited until the next Thursday to call back and the owner said that all I wanted him to do was install the powerhead. No fine tuning involved. I said that I wanted him to install and get it running the way it should.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is how I read it, a paragraph would have helped in your perdicament.

[vzar2112]

I was clear as far as what I wanted done, the mechanic knew I was no outboard mechanic and that I was going to take it out to fish the weekend I picked it up, not run it to someone else to tune carb's.
No matter now the marina called and said the TRANSOM was weak!! VRO needed changed, and carb's needed built, just to build the six carbs was "$800.00 to $900.00! What's next??!!
Notice: I am bashing nobody!
It is clear that it is a buyer beware market out there..........

[rudetech1]

The long and short of it is that when a power head is done, carbs need to be rebuilt, new water pump installed, possible OMS pump, filters, vapor seporater serviced. Oil tank cleaned if needed. Break in done by the customer and the customer pays. This is why I install only new or my own rebuilt powerheads. I know whats inside. I can spend some time after hours getting the fit right. Not all techs do it this way because it gets expensive for the customer, but it sure keeps them from returning later.

[DoferGofer]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rudetech1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The long and short of it is that when a power head is done, carbs need to be rebuilt, new water pump installed, possible OMS pump, filters, vapor seporater serviced. Oil tank cleaned if needed. Break in done by the customer and the customer pays. This is why I install only new or my own rebuilt powerheads. I know whats inside. I can spend some time after hours getting the fit right. Not all techs do it this way because it gets expensive for the customer, but it sure keeps them from returning later. </TD></TR></TABLE>



Amen,

[Crazywolf]

[SNIP] "He had to tear down the old motor to see what was wrong, "he said {four hours at $70.00 a labor hour}" [/SNIP]

Why did he 'HAVE" to tear down the old motor?? Did you pay $280.00 (+tax's) for his curiosity or yours?

[bass-action]

Any recolection??