I've now been there 3 times, but never again.
First time they spent 1.5 days taking apart my boat before giving up and saying that I needed a new keyless ignition pad, which they'd be happy to order and install for me, but it would be several weeks and $1,000+. I towed the boat home and my dealer quickly found the problem was a faulty alternator and had it fixed in minutes. How difficult is that? To add insult to injury, Alco charged me $150 for new battery cables that they thought would help?
Second time, I needed an impeller replaced. I told them this was a chance for them to made good on my last experience. They got it quickly fixed and then charged me a minimum 3 hours, even though the boat was actually there less than 2 hours. When I asked Fran, (the owner) she said that is her policy for that type of work. In effect it was a $100 gouge on the cost. When I asked how come she did not give me an estimate in advance and before doing the work, she said, ""when you take your shirt to the dry cleaners, do you ask for a estimate in advance?"" that pretty much sums up Frans knowledge; boats, shirts, whats the difference! Later one of her employees basically apologized and said that Fran had been through a divorce and she got her husbands business as part of the settlement. That explains it.....
My third visit was a matter of hours later as I tried to power up the boat after the impeller repair. No power. I took it back to Alco and they went over the boat (a CC SAN) and decided to refer me to another service as they don't have experience with my type of boat. The ""electronics were just too complicated"".
I checked the breaker panel and reattached the battery cables and voila, power. Wow. How does Alco stay in business?
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