Blackbird Industries Inc. A1 Outboard BLACKBIRD INDUSTRIES SCAM West Sunbury, Pennsylvania

In May 2012 I sent them my Johnson 1998 250 Ocean Runner to be rebuilt. When I got it back it was missing the cover for the electrical panel.  After ~7 hours of running the motor developed problems and I had to be towed back to the dock. I followed all break-in instructions they provided. I called and spoke to Mike (owner or owner's son) and he immediately implied I had done something wrong. I sent the motor back to them for warranty repair and they found one of the pistons had a hole burnt in the top of the pistons. This was a result of the High RPM adjustment being to lean for that cylinder.  They repaired it after numerous phone calls and it took them 3 weeks to get the motor back to me.
 I got the motor back and installed it and while I was running it up the TN river it suddenly started to lose power. I quickly pulled the throttle lever back to neutral and shut the motor off. I called Mike on my cell phone from the boat (owner or son of owner) and he gave me a lecture and implied Im the problem and have done something wrong.  I had the boat towed back to the pier. I have not done anything with the engine yet but suspect there is some internal damage based on the noise it started to make just as I push the throttle lever to neutral. I followed all of Mike's break-in instructions which included adding additional oil (50:1) to the fuel tank and kept the RPM below 5000.  Keep in mind this engine has the VRO Oil System which takes oil from the oil tank and mixes it with gas just before it goes into the carburetors so this motor was getting plenty of oil. Before the sales Mike was very helpful and stated they rebuild over 1500 motors a year. However, after the sales they are very difficult to deal with.

Once they get your money they act like youre a nuisance if you ask them questions. I dont recommend them, would not recommend them to my worst enemy. Not sure I have any recourse and suspect Im out $4000. I did some research and found the Better Business Bureau they had a rating of "F" and have had 9 complaints in the past 3 years. Four (4) of the complaints were product issues and five (5) were warranty issues. I did some further research and found several marine boat forums with numerous complaints about this company. At this point I dont think there is anything I can do and suspect I'm out $4000. I would not recommend them to anyone.