Scandal BY World Cat and Town Creek Marina

[Capt. Lyndon]

worldcat lemon, if you can't post something helpful, stay the hell off the site. you say the shallow end of the gene pool is safe to swim in, it sounds like you know from experience. Get over yourself dude. Just because someone doesn't agree with doesn't mean they work for wc or tcm.

[joeksr]

The squeeky wheel get's the most grease.
.

Thats right. sometimes it's just not where you want the greese applied.

[worldcat lemon]

Hey brother, if you have read any of these threads you will find I have been bashed and slammed for telling my story and I have been very cordial up til now. I have put up with bashing from some of these people and if they can't handle being ribbed back then they need to go get a pedicure and a box of tissues. If you don't like my responses to a moron then go read something else. I am not going to take marine 4003's crap without returning the favor. So quit your crying. I have many PM's that think many of those who are bashing me are way out of line and are clueless to the facts.

I have many other topics I could talk about like all the yellowfin(AHi) we caught in Kauai last week, or the salmon off the coast of Washington, or Albies off the Columbia, but I am not going to take some idiot bashing me with out responding. My threads have helped others with this same model of lemon get some ideas and help in working towards a resolution.

How is it a charter captain has sooooo much time to swim in the shallow gene pool that 4003 bought from Kmart? Is the charter business that slooooow?

If WC and TCM would have done the right thing I wouldn't have had to post this at all. Why don't you ask your buddy Lisa A. and Steve T. at TCM why after 14 months they still haven't sent me a new trailer when they sold me one that is too light for my boat? Should i just forget about the money I'm out? Not a snowflakes chance in haides! Ask em why when they damaged my sponsons did they try to hide it with black spray paint, and not tell me? What should I do about the repair cost i incurred to correct the screw-ups by TCM's mechanics...about $7k? neither WC nor TCM ever intended to do the right thing in this deal based on their performance record, so to me this is good info dissemination.


BTW how many degrees do you have, out of curiosity?

[Sea Draggin]

[greatwhitwhunter]

First, I have to say that the last picture is great. Sorry to hear about your problems. I was looking for a cat boat, glad I didn't buy a WC. Hope you get this sorted out. Keep us up to date on your progress. Hey WC and TCM there are lots of boat buyers watching this, are you? If not, you should be.

[worldcat lemon]

Seadraggin,
I gotta say that is one of the funnier "pichers" I have seen on this site. Are those pics of the staff of SF.com? They could use a little whey protein, some time at the gym, and a shave/haircut, but even without that the nome would be fun to party with.

I would love to lay out some photos of this boat. Maybe soon.

Greatwhitwhunter, I have never said all of W.C's boats are bad. I believe the outboard models would probably be a good boat. But based on my dealings with the company, you would have to pray you NEVER have a defect or any major problem because good ol Phyllis will make sure that all you get is the run-around, and Andrew will only try and squeeze another $60-$115k out of you. And you will end up paying $250k for a $140k boat! That was his deal for me.

For potential boat buyers out there, in this economy NEVER, EVER, EVER....did I forget to mention NEVER EVER, pay full retail for a new boat. In case you haven't been watching, boat manufacturers are going bankrupt daily. Now I feel bad for the guys who work in the industry, but for too many years manufacturers have been making a fortune with overinflated boat prices. At least now maybe we can get new boat prices to a reasonable level, or even more manufacturers will go out of business. Lower new boat prices mean more sales for them. Do they want to move more boats or be greedy and go under.

I don't know, just my 2 cents.

[RABBITFISH]

Sea Draggin...Now that is a highly creative form of expression! Did it take long to put together?

WORLDCAT LEMON, after all of your troubles, which seem to be many, can you put together a "short list" of things to check and to look out for "in your experience" prior to purchasing a new boat. I bet it would be a great help to a lot of future buyers to have a short list of guidelines to help them make a good purchase....

[gottaflylee]

worldcat lemon,
I have read every post in this thread since you started it, I will be glad when it dies, its time has come and gone.
I will say to you that I have dealt with Town Creek Marina, Beaufort NC since 2001 and that they have been nothing but a first class act to deal with, have nothing but praise to say about them and that their staff went to bat for me with Mercury for me and got things done when others couldn't. I will continue to work with them in the future.

I'm sorry you are having trouble but not all of us are finding them (TCM) to be what you say they are. Galt to know your insurance company totaled your boat for you and now your boating woes are over with this boat.

[worldcat lemon]

Rabbitfish,
You bet! I will share my thoughts on boat buying, especially if you are going to drop a substantial amount of money. Here are 21 points off the top of my head, others have given great advice on earlier posts to my thread but these are mine:

When buying a boat:
1-Never believe what the seller tells you, even if they are a distributor/broker for the manufacturer, regardless of how many hours are on the boat( Not even on new boat). Also, do not believe the testimonials you read on-line or on the manufacturers websites, ask to have testimonials of people who were not satisfied with their boat and call them.

2- National Marine Manufacturing Association(NMMA) "Certification" is a scam so do not place any value on that. Manufacturers pay NMMA membership fees, NMMA pays their inspector to review their members boats, and the manufacturer is given "certification" because it met ABYC and USCG standards....wink, wink. If it was legit how did Tim Pitts from NMMA miss this thing? Don't believe the hype from the manufacturer either. A non NMMA boat manufacturer told me the reason he is not a member is because it is a scam...his words.

3-if a broker will not let you personally talk to the owner then walk away from the deal....period.

4-never take a recommendation for a surveyor from the dealer/ broker, especially if the surveyor contacts you, and walk away if the dealer/broker only gives you one name. It is likely a scam. Run don't walk.

5-Always take your own mechanic and have him assess the boat even before the survey, that way you can see if the surveyor misses things,especially things that have been covered up with paint.

6-If you are told it is like new, it probably isn't even close. If you go to look at it and it takes a week to fix the like new boat? Walk away and don't look back.

7- Get the service records before you fly across town or country before looking at it. If you are told they will be sent certified mail after the sale....walk away. If you find ANY damage that has been hidden or not disclosed to you then the deal is a scam...run.

8- If the owner/broker claims the boat has just been serviced or worked on make them show RECEIPTS for parts, not shop invoices for repairs( invoices can be fraudulently created to appear work has been done).

9- If any major repairs are being done ask to see it being done. If they won't let you see it...walk.

10- If you buy a boat and trailer as a package be sure to make them weigh both together at a certified scale to check compatibility. DO NOT RELY ON MANUFACTURES WEIGHT NUMBERS. My boat is 4000lbs heavier than W.C's NADA reported weight.

11-If the sales person tells you the surveyor you hired taught them everything they know about boat sales, you better run. It is a scam of giant proportions.

12- If the broker says they will detail the boat, make sure it is at their cost, or you should hire your own person to detail it. Brokers tend to be cheapskates and will hire lowball detailers and sometimes the work is shabby.

13- Have an attorney look at the manufacturers warranty on the boat to know what it really covers. You will know what the engine manuf. covers, it is pretty standard. If it is a worthless warranty like W.C's then have your attorney negotiate different contract terms. If the manufacturer will not bend, which they probably won't, I would look for a different boat or find one cheap enough you can rebuild it and still have a good deal.

14- Get the service records from the manufacturer. Get the engine history on the motors from the engine manufacturer.

15- Have your mechanic get any recall/service bulletins on the engines and major components.

16- Have your mechanic talk to the mechanic that serviced the boat. If your mechanic smell a rat, drop your cheese and go look somewhere else.

17- Run the boat out as many miles as you would if you were going fishing on your regular grounds and run it fairly hard to see if anything craps out, maybe even fish it.

18- I also would contact BBB's and state Attorney Generals for any complaints against the manufacturer, the broker and the shop that serviced the boat, especially if you are travelling from out of state.

19- Contact the manufacturer for a list of names and phone numbers of people who own the specific model you are looking at and call alot of them. If the manufacturer will not provide that info then get on-line and find someone close who is selling one and go test drive it, look at it, or at least call them and ask what problems they have had. Expect to only get partial truth.

20- Always go into a boat deal with the mindset that everyone involved is a LIAR. Then go about trying to prove you are wrong about them. If you get a gut feeling that something isn't quite right you need to listen to your instincts. Walk away.

21- Always carry "full coverage insurance", and make sure the policy you buy covers any damage caused by a manufacturers defect. Most good policies will cover resulting damage but not the defect itself. This could save you $10's of thousands of dollars.

Unless you have unlimited funds I would encourage you to take every precaution to keep from being burned by unscrupulous people because unfortunately they are more common than the honest guy/gal.

It is better to be fishing with the boat you thought you bought, than to be stuck in the bilge trying to get your boat to evolve from a pile of sea slime to a fishing machine.

Good luck!

[worldcat lemon]

I'm glad you have not had my experience with TCM. Maybe since you are tight with them, ask them to send me the correct trailer. I am still stuck with it and I think 14 months is plenty of time for them to do the right thing and get me a new trailer. Steve Tulevech tried to blame it on Road King Trailers for 8 months, but when the truth came out the trailer was not ordered for my boat, it was ordered by Lou for Lisa Alley as their brand new yard trailer. Is that an honest business deal?

Do you have any insight why Lisa never sent any service records on my boat? Or why they tried to hide damage they caused with spray paint? Or why they can't produce any parts receipts for work they claim they did? Or why they will not reimburse me for the cost I incurred to have the work they did redone because they screwed it up? Or why when all 6 tires fell apart because the boat is too heavy for the trailer, they never offered to reimburse me the cost to replace my new tires with new tires?

I would have to say I don't have all the answers, but those issues do not indicate a first class operation. If it does, I would hate to see who is in second class.

I might consider letting TCM off the hook if I got my new trailer and my costs to fix their work, but it won't be long before I will just let the attorneys handle it.

If TCM was a first class operation it would have never had to go this far. I am an incredibly fair guy. I really hate the fact that I ever had to deal with TCM because now I have found out that others have had bad experiences with them.

This is not going to go away until TCM and WC step up to the plate and do the right thing. If they don't I will get arthritis and Carpal Tunnel from posting on this. I am sure there will be other HTS/SX owners posting on this at some near future time. There are at least 8 other owners who own these lemons. So keep your eyes pealed.

Hey did you see the 2 articles in the Carteret County Times in mid July about the lawsuit against TCM? What did you think?