Daytona ridin
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2017
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 29
I had an Absolute disaster entrusting these folks to work on my boat. I am not really into writing reviews on business. I usually just don’t give them my busines ever again, but this experience had to be shared so it did not happen again to other folks.
According to some positive reviews of this shop, I made the decision to bring my boat to them to help with a problem with an Ilmor having a few Cylinders not sparking. On May 23rd I contacted the shop and set up an appointment for June 7th ,Thursday thinking midweek might be a little bit slower and after Memorial Day. I drove from OC out to my house, which is on the CA side (Havasu landing) on Wed, June 6th. Woke on the 7th at 0500 and hit the road towards Havasu City. Arrived at Absolute at 0755 just as they were opening their doors. Gave them my name and for 10 mins they could find no paperwork of my appointment which caused some concern seeing I just towed the boat 90mins from the CA side, but they located a daily printed schedule they had just my name and phone number on it.
Aaron, owner and lead mechanic asked me what was going on with the motor which I explained to him some of the steps already taken to remedy the problem and found the main problem is the motor had 4 cylinders that do not spark. I already took the lead and had Ilmor send me a brand new set of coil packs and had them sitting in the boat when I dropped it off. Aaron was very nice and said “we will get right on it”. I left and drove back the CA side to wait it out for the next few days. After an entire day went by and I heard nothing, I finally called the shop to see how it was going. Aaron told me he had a mechanic call in sick and he need to hold on to the boat over the weekend and really dive into It beginning Monday of the following week. I told him go ahead and do what you got to do. During that conversation Aaron told me he might need a few more parts and I immediately offered to contact Ilmor and get them ordered. As soon as I hung up with him, I contacted Ilmor ordered the parts and had them next day shipped directly to his shop. On Tuesday (June 12) I called the shop to confirm the parts made it there. Cheryl (wife, co-owner) confirmed parts made it there and the boat was being worked on. I asked Cheryl to have Aaron call me at the end of the day to give me any info he could. End of day passed and no call, no worries probably was busy. I called mid day next day and spoke with Cheryl on how things were going and she said Aaron got a little busy but would be working on my boat later that afternoon and again I asked for him to give me a call at the end of the day. No call was made again. I called the following, now which was one week the boat had been there and again got the response that shop was busy but rapping up a few things and starting on my boat. I let the end of the week and weekend pass to give them some time to work.
I called Monday morning and asked what the progress was and cheryl said Aaron had just finished a boat that gave unexpected problems and was starting on my that afternoon. I told her I understood, but would like Aaron to give me a call at the end of day. End of day came again and no call. I called the following day and told cheryl I didn’t recive a phone call and asked if any work was started on the boat, she said no. I told her I had family coming out to the lake that weekend and the whole trip was dependent on the boat running and I was out of time. I told her I was going to reach out to a couple of shops to see if they could pick up the slack seeing they we overwhelmed with work at the time. She said she understood and recommended a few shops. All the shops declined to take on the repair and said they too were busy and didn’t want to let the boat sit for weeks without any work started.
I called cheryl at Absolute back and told her my trip and plans were resting in their hands. She assured me the boat would be repaired and my trip would still on. I called back the following day (now two full weeks at the shop) to get any progress and cheryl said Aaron was starting on it. I again asked if Aaron could give me a call at end of day, but no call ever came. Now the following day comes, which is one day before the family is scheduled to leave and I have no indication whether the boat is going to be running. Finally I receive a call from cheryl and she informs me Aaron was not able to correct the problem and need an additional part and if I could call Ilmor and check to have it over nighted to them. Of course I called Ilmor and no way that was a possibility. That same day I called Aaron to confirm which part was neeed and got no answer, but his voicemail asks to text him if he doesn’t answer. I sent three different text messages through out the day with no response. I ended up having to cancel my trip and again the following day text Aaron asking for the specifics to order the needed part but got no response. Now it’s almost 3 weeks sitting there with no progress.
I now decided I need to pick up the boat and move on to another shop to get the boat running before the summer is half way over. I had my father-in law head out to pick it up. I contacted the shop and spoke to cheryl on a Friday at 1030am to inform her the boat will be picked up the next day, Saturday, a busines day. She told me they would not be able to accommodate that because they were closing the shop Saturday, but she offered to have the boat set in the driveway of their house for pick up. I agree and payed them 3.5 hours of labor ($400ish). She called me back and said Saturday would not work now because the boat needed it’s engine hatch and back seat re-installed. Reminder, it’s 1030am on a Friday and she told me they were leaving out of town for the weekend. I told her after all I had been through I needed the boat put back together and ready for pick up. She agreed.
My father-in law arrives at their home to pick up the boat. He calls me and says in the entire decade he has know me he has never seen any of my boats ever look as dirty as mine did now. He described the boat and trailer looking as if it was “off roaded”. He also took a look around and the back seat was just placed in the boat and all the hardware securing it was no where to be found and there was two different types of fluid all over the motor and in the engine compartment.
So to cap off a long story, I spent a bunch of money, time and effort to be completely let down. I am fully understanding that unforeseen problems come up, but the lack of communication is unacceptable. These folks at Absolute are very nice people but are extremely lacking in communicating with their customers and time management. I have seen good reviews of this shop, but my experience with keep me from every using them again and compelled me to share and warn others of them.
According to some positive reviews of this shop, I made the decision to bring my boat to them to help with a problem with an Ilmor having a few Cylinders not sparking. On May 23rd I contacted the shop and set up an appointment for June 7th ,Thursday thinking midweek might be a little bit slower and after Memorial Day. I drove from OC out to my house, which is on the CA side (Havasu landing) on Wed, June 6th. Woke on the 7th at 0500 and hit the road towards Havasu City. Arrived at Absolute at 0755 just as they were opening their doors. Gave them my name and for 10 mins they could find no paperwork of my appointment which caused some concern seeing I just towed the boat 90mins from the CA side, but they located a daily printed schedule they had just my name and phone number on it.
Aaron, owner and lead mechanic asked me what was going on with the motor which I explained to him some of the steps already taken to remedy the problem and found the main problem is the motor had 4 cylinders that do not spark. I already took the lead and had Ilmor send me a brand new set of coil packs and had them sitting in the boat when I dropped it off. Aaron was very nice and said “we will get right on it”. I left and drove back the CA side to wait it out for the next few days. After an entire day went by and I heard nothing, I finally called the shop to see how it was going. Aaron told me he had a mechanic call in sick and he need to hold on to the boat over the weekend and really dive into It beginning Monday of the following week. I told him go ahead and do what you got to do. During that conversation Aaron told me he might need a few more parts and I immediately offered to contact Ilmor and get them ordered. As soon as I hung up with him, I contacted Ilmor ordered the parts and had them next day shipped directly to his shop. On Tuesday (June 12) I called the shop to confirm the parts made it there. Cheryl (wife, co-owner) confirmed parts made it there and the boat was being worked on. I asked Cheryl to have Aaron call me at the end of the day to give me any info he could. End of day passed and no call, no worries probably was busy. I called mid day next day and spoke with Cheryl on how things were going and she said Aaron got a little busy but would be working on my boat later that afternoon and again I asked for him to give me a call at the end of the day. No call was made again. I called the following, now which was one week the boat had been there and again got the response that shop was busy but rapping up a few things and starting on my boat. I let the end of the week and weekend pass to give them some time to work.
I called Monday morning and asked what the progress was and cheryl said Aaron had just finished a boat that gave unexpected problems and was starting on my that afternoon. I told her I understood, but would like Aaron to give me a call at the end of day. End of day came again and no call. I called the following day and told cheryl I didn’t recive a phone call and asked if any work was started on the boat, she said no. I told her I had family coming out to the lake that weekend and the whole trip was dependent on the boat running and I was out of time. I told her I was going to reach out to a couple of shops to see if they could pick up the slack seeing they we overwhelmed with work at the time. She said she understood and recommended a few shops. All the shops declined to take on the repair and said they too were busy and didn’t want to let the boat sit for weeks without any work started.
I called cheryl at Absolute back and told her my trip and plans were resting in their hands. She assured me the boat would be repaired and my trip would still on. I called back the following day (now two full weeks at the shop) to get any progress and cheryl said Aaron was starting on it. I again asked if Aaron could give me a call at end of day, but no call ever came. Now the following day comes, which is one day before the family is scheduled to leave and I have no indication whether the boat is going to be running. Finally I receive a call from cheryl and she informs me Aaron was not able to correct the problem and need an additional part and if I could call Ilmor and check to have it over nighted to them. Of course I called Ilmor and no way that was a possibility. That same day I called Aaron to confirm which part was neeed and got no answer, but his voicemail asks to text him if he doesn’t answer. I sent three different text messages through out the day with no response. I ended up having to cancel my trip and again the following day text Aaron asking for the specifics to order the needed part but got no response. Now it’s almost 3 weeks sitting there with no progress.
I now decided I need to pick up the boat and move on to another shop to get the boat running before the summer is half way over. I had my father-in law head out to pick it up. I contacted the shop and spoke to cheryl on a Friday at 1030am to inform her the boat will be picked up the next day, Saturday, a busines day. She told me they would not be able to accommodate that because they were closing the shop Saturday, but she offered to have the boat set in the driveway of their house for pick up. I agree and payed them 3.5 hours of labor ($400ish). She called me back and said Saturday would not work now because the boat needed it’s engine hatch and back seat re-installed. Reminder, it’s 1030am on a Friday and she told me they were leaving out of town for the weekend. I told her after all I had been through I needed the boat put back together and ready for pick up. She agreed.
My father-in law arrives at their home to pick up the boat. He calls me and says in the entire decade he has know me he has never seen any of my boats ever look as dirty as mine did now. He described the boat and trailer looking as if it was “off roaded”. He also took a look around and the back seat was just placed in the boat and all the hardware securing it was no where to be found and there was two different types of fluid all over the motor and in the engine compartment.
So to cap off a long story, I spent a bunch of money, time and effort to be completely let down. I am fully understanding that unforeseen problems come up, but the lack of communication is unacceptable. These folks at Absolute are very nice people but are extremely lacking in communicating with their customers and time management. I have seen good reviews of this shop, but my experience with keep me from every using them again and compelled me to share and warn others of them.
