Napa Valley RV & Marine

I am just another fool trying to do business with this local business.

My story is not much different them the others.

More damage incurred there than what I brought boat in for.

I cant begin to put the whole story together that would seem different than what you haven't already heard.

You know your in for a bad deal when you tell the owner Chuck after repeated no response call returns.

"I WAS TOLD BY MANY GOOD PEOPLE NOT TO BRING MY BOAT HERE...

BUT I WANTED TO SHOP LOCAL AND CAME ANYWAY."

His response was " HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW?"

STOP!!! READ THIS: Napa Valley RV & Marine = Zero Customer Service, Unfriendly, Unprofessional, Poor Quality of Work, Take no Responsibility, Charge for products not installed, ……

I have serviced my boat myself for years and it never let me down, no serious problems and reliable. The forward and reverse shifting needed adjustment and as per the maintenance manual you needed factory calibrated equipment to do this properly. I am a supporter of local business and went down to Napa RV and Marine to ask them if they have the equipment and skills to work on my boat, they said they did. I went online to verify them and find their website stating: Premium Marine Service, Quality Assurance, knowledgeable and friendly staff, 25 years of industry knowledge, high level of attention, “ We thrive in customer service and quality care” Established 1987…..

This is what happened and you can be the judge:

1. I took my boat to Napa RV & Marine in Jan 2013 to look at my forward/reverse selection, and while doing it change the oil in the stern-drive and engine.

2. They took 6 weeks before all was done, I took the boat out to the lake and within 3 – 5 min on the water the stern-drive seized up…..

3. I took the boat back to Napa RV and Marine, they said they will look at it. 8 weeks later they do not return my calls and I need to go down to the shop and see them in person week for week, with their promise that they will open the stern-drive within a day or so.

4. Finally two months later in August they find the time to open the stern dive and found the top roller bearing seized up. They distanced themselves from the problem immediately and took no responsibility….quoting me $2,500 for a refurbished replacement.

5. I called the folks reconditioning these drives, the first thing they asked, was if the oil was changed. They said they see this all the time if the stern drive oil was not filled as per the OMC procedure. Thus, you end up with an airlock inside of the drive and as soon as you run the boat in the water the oil level drop with the top small bearing seizing up.

6. I wrote an e-mail to Napa RV and Marine, explaining the situation, they replied with a rubbed-up e-mail to take my boat within a day or they are going to charge me storage fees.

7. I found a second hand stern-drive and had it installed by Marine Mechanical Repair in San Rafael. While installing the stern drive they discovered that the shift cable were never replaced by Napa RV & Marine and the settings were not done to manufactured specification (which I paid Napa RV&M to do). Marine Mechanical Repair wrote a full report, they could not believe the low standard of work and also confirmed after reviewing the old stern-drive that Napa RV & Marine was at fault.

8. I have continually updated Napa RV&M what I was doing to give them the opportunity to fix their mess, they just did not care.

9. I ended up suing Napa RV & Marine in small claims court and got about half of my damages back.

Napa RV & Marine claim they have “25 years of industry knowledge”, but their mechanic is 24 years old…they claim the highest standard and quality but nothing they did was to OMC specification…”standing by their work and product”, they took Zero responsibility, I had to sue them to get any of my money back…the worst experience ever! Instead of enjoying the summer on the water with my family I end up with a nightmare dealing with Napa RV and Marine.