Complaint Review: Action Marine - Fenwick Island Delaware

I am a business owner. As I see it, if you leave something at my business for me to repair and it gets stolen, I pay for it. If it's taken on my watch, it's my responsibility. If I take something of mine to a business to be repaired and the owner tells me he is not responsible for theft, I would tell him he is also not responsible enough to entrust my equipment to.

I respectfully state as a member of the public and as a business owner that theft of or damage to a vehicle (or boat) parked outdoors at a place of business is the vehicle owner's risk. The business should only be resonsible in case of active negligence. A vehicle or boat can be vandalized, damaged, or stolen at any time and from any place and these damages and losses are caused by third-party criminals, not by the unfortunate business owner on whose property the loss happens to occur. As far as insurance deductibles, it is the choice of the vehicle (or boat) owner of whether or not to purchase insurance and the amount of the deductible is also the vehicle owner's choice. If you can't stand the idea of losing a $500 deductible if your car/boat is stolen, buy a lower deductible policy. Example - would you blame the shopping mall if your car was stolen from their parking lot? Important exceptions - let's say you had a car repaired and the repair shop was careless and left your car outside upon completion of repairs, unlocked, with the keys in it and then it was stolen - I'd certainly think the repair shop should be responsible. Also, if the theft was an "inside job" meaning that repair shop employees with access to keys actually stole the vehicle then the shop should be responsible. Or, if the shop has standard security precautions that they normally follow on vehicles in their care but fail to follow them on your vehicle and then it is stolen. I've had strong-willed unpleasant customers force me to pay for door ding type damage caused by unknown third parties in my business' parking lot to avoid bad will. The last time this happened I special ordered a custom fender to replace one that was cracked on a customer's unit. After I bought this item the customer could not even bother to pick it up. It's still sitting here. I cannot return it as it is a custom item.

Obviously, there are major differences of opinion between ourselves and Mr Miller regarding the stolen waverunner. We have the service order from when we left the waverunner for service, we have all of the information from the police report that was filed, and we know our part of the situation. The actual theft is not what we are most upset about - it happens sometimes, and we had insurance. The real injustice here is the response we've received from Action Marine. Based on the rebuttal by Mr. Miller, he clearly feels he has done nothing wrong, nor does he need to do anything to rectify the situation. That is a shame, and hopefully there are not too many business owners out there like that.

AT THE TIME MR SHACKELFORD DROPPED OFF HIS UNIT WE WERE BOOKED FOR ABOUT 4 WEEKS OF SERVICE.THIS UNIT WAS DROPPED OFF WHILE WE WERE CLOSED WITHOUT A SERVICE APPOINTMENT WHICH WE DO NOT ALLOW DUE TO OUR LIMITED SPACE. WE ADVISED MR SHACKELFORD TO PICK UP THE UNIT AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO HAVE SERVICE DONE. HE IGNORED OUR REQUEST.HE ALSO BECAME VERY IRATE WITH OUR SERVICE WRITER WHEN SHE TOLD HIM OUR TIME FRAME FOR SERVICE.MR SHACKELFORD ALSO DID NOT DROP OFF HIS UNIT ON OUR LOT BUT INSTEAD ON A RESTAURANT LOT IN FRONT OF OUR LOCATION WHICH IS WHERE HIS UNIT WAS APPARENTLY STOLEN FROM * NOT OUR LOT * WE HAVE BEEN AT THIS LOCATION FOR 9 YEARS WITH NOTHING EVER STOLEN.ALSO IT IS PRINTED ON OUR SERVICE CONTRACTS THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEFT.