ZAHNISER'S YACHTING CENTER

Overall, Zahniser's Yachting Center is excellent. They have quality service and they perform timely. They have courteous people who work there.

Boat was bought, then brought to Zahniser's Marina for (expected) extensive services. Multiple requests were made. The first issue was that water was filling the bilge with the engine running underway. The primary secondary issue desired was to 'ensure engine is inspected/repaired/maintained so I can rely on it and is charging the batteries' Additionally, a quote request was for expanded gauges on engine monitoring panel or new panel w/expanded gauges. While the boat was there, sails were reinstalled by Quantum sails (also operating out of this yard). Sails were removed and reinstalled by Quantum, but were reinstalled improperly such that roller furling did not work anymore. This was NOT the fault of Zahniser's. However, a request to Zahniser's to inspect roller drum was flat-out refused by service staff. The process that failed: Work took a while, however customer was informed of the wait. The initial work went well (I thought). I received a bill of $1, 700.00 to change engine oil/filters and inspect for leaks, test batteries (one battery was identified as no good, and was replaced (a minimal size marine battery available at West Marine for $89.00 was sold to me for $147.00) and inspect the charging system. The yard crimped a wire for me on the bilge pump (the automatic wire was not connected properly) and adjusted a packing leak on a hull fitting. To their credit, I mentioned my concern about the waterpump and they did, in fact, rebuild the waterpump which works much better now. However, when I took the boat out for a sail after all this work, the first thing I noticed is my #1 battery no longer cranked my engine. This was odd, since it did when I drove the boat in there. I had to have the yard REINSPECT the batteries. They told me the other battery was bad also (NOW) and charged me ANOTHER $32 (or so) to install it, and another $147 for a small marine battery. Good customer service SHOULD have put customer satisfaction over profit. IN FACT, this was so obviously overlooked, that had I been service manager, I'd have installed the 2nd battery at cost only for parts. This was not done. The roller furling headsail was declined to be even looked at by the yard since another company had broken it (it turned out to be a minor issue the other company did fix) leaving me w/no way to furl my sail so my boat effectively came into the yard working and left the yard with no headsail, one battery only. This would have been less upsetting, except that they charge $100/hr. That's the same rate for a lawyer, in case you missed it, and their quality of workmanship is highly questionable. Next they identifed the alternator did not work, but refused to fix it because the boat's wiring standards were not up to current standard. In particular, a battery shutoff (not a required piece of equipment) did not completely shutoff the electrical system. I am a US Navy electrician (17 yrs). Telling someone you refuse to work on the power generation system on the engine because the output system isn't up to snuff is just blackmail. I was told they would only fix the alternator if they were allowed to rewire the boat (and based on current work and my level of capability, I declined). At the time of this writing, I am having them install a windex on the mast. That's a couple hundred dollars. I NEVER got a quote with a plan to monitor my engine better. I did get excessive explanations from the service staff, even after I approved the work (evidently 'Just do it' means you're still going to hear 10 minutes of justification as to why they think it should be done...). In any case, mobile operations for marine repair charge less than this yard and their markup is extremely high for parts so I'll be passing on any further work with them. Quantum sails, on the other hand, identified their error in uninstalling/reinstalling my headsail, fixed it, and charged me nothing for the re-repair. Make no mistake... THE BATTERY WORK WAS A RE-REPAIR and identified this yard as one that is all about profit, NOT about attention to detail and customer service. I was actually looking to be loyal to this yard and expected several thousands more work to be done. Their opinion seemed to be it was an old boat, too much of a hassle to deal with. Last issue... this boat sat at their docks for 2 months to get this minor amount of work and re-work done and it was brought in by their direction. Even if every penny was labor, this was only 8-10 hrs. of work. There was simply nothing that impressed me about this yard to not look elsewhere unless my boat was sinking...IMHO. SOOOO.... They refused to rebuild the alternator because they didn't like that the battery selector switch was wired to the engine only. They stated it would be BAD to put the alternator in because electrical was not up to snuff. SO instead, they placed two new chemical energy devices (batteries) in the boat that would melt/explode if wiring was shorted. That's not just stupid, that's dangerous and poor judgement. THEN after they charged me for the 2nd battery repair, I inspected and found they had wired my dual bank battery charger such that it would never work because only 1 of the 2 wires needed for each battery was conncected to the correct battery (it was cross wired). My 13 year old daughter could have identified this incredibly callous mistake. I said nothing at the time. I corrected it myself. I then removed my alternator myself and they agreed to ship it out for rebuild and reinstall it. I then took the boat out and had virtually the exact amount of water in the bilges as when I first came in. I called and complained that I'd now spent over $2000 and not only still had the same symptomatic problems, but they'd charged me twice for changing batteries, cross wired my batteries, and I still was taking on water. At this point, they agreed to inspect the boat again and this time they actually tested it at the docks to determine the rudder shaft stuffing box was leaking. Because I was upset (having spent thousands of dollars and still having signifcant unidentified or uncorrected issues for the primary reason I came into their yard) they refused to work on the stuffing box (sending a boat to sea that was unseaworthy though I would have paid for it) AND they refused to send out the alternator and reinstall it. They fixed some problems for top dollar but did the barest minimum of inspections to see if they'd solved the problems. They had to go back after the leak and they found the major leak. They had to go back after the batteries and replace the 2nd after I was charged for testing previously. They refused service for safety reasons to get more work and they refused to finish work they'd agreed to because I was upset at their chasing after billable hours, while being careless with some important portions of the work they performed. The entire experience was marked by signficant errors and/or untrained staff. No quality checks occurred or my batteries wouldn't have been miswired. I am a 17 yr. Navy veteran and a certified USN/USCG FTG Ship Engineering inspector and US Submarine nuclear trained electrician. These people are hacks. They don't give a d*** about customer service. They ABSOLUTELY don't lose money on their own mistakes, and they are the kind of place that puts the bottom line over both doing the job right or customer service. STAY AWAY. If these were craftsman and fair minded folks, they'd clearly have had recommendations on Angie's list already since they are such a large operation. As it turns out, they don't and these are reasons why. Also, they'll be happy to tell you to shutup. I thought that was particularly customer service oriented (NOT). Nor do they apologize for admitted mistakes on their ledger.