Paradise Marine Rip off, never again Gulf Shores, Alabama

I to own a Business and also agree that a sale is not made until a desposit is made. However to the Big Picture I have been a customer of Paridise Marine for several years now, and think that Gene and his staff go out of there way to help each customer that walks thru the door. Mistakes happen, this is true in every business. Get over it. Gene and his staff show honesty and integrity in the way they conduct there business. I would recommend  Paridise Marine very highly and will continue using them for all my boating needs.

As a business owner myself, a deal isn't locked in until a deposit is made.

I used Paradise for the first time last week for service on my boat and I can truly say they exceeded my expectations in every way. D.Chavis

I DID tell you the boat was sold on the 4th, the day before you got here, because that was when the sale took place. That was clearly explained in my first rebuttal to your first post. I personally did that sale at 10 AM Wed morning on the 4th and took the deposit on a credit card. Obviously you are not happy with the boat being sold and I cannot change that, but even if I had given you $500 you would still be angry.

At least people who read this report will know that we tried to offset you inconvenience and did not take for granted the fact that you drove all that way for nothing. We knew that it was a product of unfortunate timing with a Major Holiday in the middle. Again, we apologize but I do not plan on cutting Matt's head off to make you happy. Public apologies and the gas reimbursement are all we can offer.

People are human and they make mistakes. Matt feels bad about it and so do I, he made no commission, and he did not purposely want to make you angry. I was not privy to the conversations you and Matt had, but my salesman almost always ask for deposits to hold boats. That is our normal procedure to hold a boat and prevent a sale. If not any other salesman can sell it.

I am the face of the dealership and I trust that most folks will look at this and make their own judgement about our dealership and its reputation. we want people who read your post to know that as well. I am done with any rebuttals to your reports, all I can do is state and clarify the facts as best I know them.

Gene Myers
Owner
Paradise Marine Center
Gulf Shores, Alabama

 First Gene he never asked for a deposit never , and you told the me boat was sold on the 3rd thats when i talked to Matt so from the 3rd to the 5th someone couldn't let him know until I was 5 min away. Yes you did give me a 100 but that does not make up for the 3 men driving 9 hrs to be told oh we sold that boat 3 days ago Matt is just to ( stupid) my words to read his email.  Just bad Business     

John

I need to make a point to clarify this situation and explain that this was an unfortunate misunderstanding and not a RipOFF.

Here is our rebuttal: We had a used pontoon boat in inventory and it was listed online. We were closed on the 4th of July and all employees, including my salesman, Matt were off on Wed the 4th. Early on the 4th, I came in to do some last minute paperwork in my office and answered  an incoming phone call from a customer who had seen the boat online. He said he wanted to buy the pontoon boat that we had listed and I took a credit card deposit on the phone and wrote up a sales agreement. I immediately sent an email out to my salesman with a sold alert that they would see on Thursday morning showing the boat as sold.

The customer from Baton Rouge who filed this report, apparently talked to Matt about this boat on July 3rd several times. At around 5:30PM and after we had closed Matt talked to the customer who said he would come over on Thursday to see the boat. Matt asked at that time, for a deposit to hold the boat and customer deferred saying he wanted to look at the boat first. I can assume that he and Matt both thought it would not sell with us being closed.

On Thursday morning at 8AM when we opened for business, Matt came to me, and said he had a guy coming from Louisiana to look at the boat and possibly purchase it. I told him I had sold it the day before and asked him to immediately call the customer and tell him the boat was sold and not come. Matt told me he was probably more than half way by that time.

Matt immediately made that call and said the customer was just half an hour away from our dealership and would continue his journey to see if we had other boats. He said the customer had called him earlier that morning, at home, on his cell phone, not at our office, to let him know he was coming.

Matt had no idea that I had sold the boat because it was a holiday and he did not know I was going to the office on the 4th. On Thursday morning, he not even reached his office to check his emails or for us to talk before he learned the news of boat being sold. It was an unfortunate mistake and no malice was intended. A deposit is required for us to hold a boat and the gentleman did not give us a deposit. In all honesty Matt may have assumed that the boat would not sell since we would be closed the next day. But it was a mistake, regardless.

I met the customer in the showroom and personally apologized to the customer for the error. I also handed him a $100 bill to offset his fuel costs for his drive. He neglected to mention this fact in his post which I think was unfair. I offered my apology, and I helped offset his costs. I tried to do the right thing, which is what we always do. He did give up a lot of his time driving over, that I agree with. For that I offer this public apology one more time.

We have a good reputation but we are certainly not perfect. This incident shows that, but a Ripoff is something I think happens with malice or deceit and that was not the case. I feel I have to defend our reputation and appreciate the opportunity to state what happened in its entirety.

Thanks,
Gene Myers
Owner
Paradise Marine Center