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Report: #1507369

Complaint Review: Champion Marine Group - Clearwater Florida

  • Submitted:
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  • Reported By: Giselle — Dunedin Florida United States
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  • Champion Marine Group 2892 Gulf to Bay Blvd. Clearwater, Florida United States

Champion Marine Group Champion Marine and Motors LLC Champion Marine Outpost Marine Group CHAMPION MARINE GROUP = OUTPOST MARINE GROUP = DAVID PETRANTONI = THEIF CON ARTIST!!! STOLE CASH DEPOSIT!! NO BOAT!! Clearwater Florida

*REBUTTAL Owner of company: We have again searched our records and could not find anyone named Giselle

*REBUTTAL Owner of company: We are unable to verify this person as a customer.

*Consumer Comment: Giselle, You can mail a copy of your Ripoff Report to...

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My father went to the tampa boat show in March to look at boats. After a long year of COVID and quarantine we as a family were ready to get back in the water. myself, my father and mother, my brother were all going to put money in the buy a brand new boat to enjoy ourselves and especially for my brother who is a recently returned combat vet USMARINE CORPS with diagnosed service connected disability nerve damage and PTSD. we found through renting a boat that the most calming thing for him is be on the water so what better way than with a new boat of our own so we can go enjoy any time we wanted?

My father looked at the Clearwater models of boats offered by CHAMPION MARINE GROUP at the tampa show. he put down a big depsoit on a 24-ft custom ordered Clearwater. his sales man, doug, was very kind and as a fellow retired veteran assured my vet father and my vet brother that he would make sure we were very happy! We were all so happy! well that is where the dream ended and the nightmare began.

This boat was supposed to be delivered to us in 2-4 weeks. we Were assured of this by DAVID PETRANTONI the owner of CHAMPION MARINE. this seemed very unusual for s because every other boat dealer told us, no, it would be 6-10 weeks AT BEST for an ordered boat because of factories being backed up from covid and shortages in parts and motors. DAVID PETRANTONI told us he had open slots with the factory and we would have our boat in the promised time. We chose to cancel an order with a different dealer and give our money to CHAMPION based on this promise.

First red flag - David wanted the deposit in CASH all $10,000 of it. this was the only way to guarantee the order. the other dealer accepted a check. Okay we said. my father is very by the book and asked if we needed to fill out any forms because of all the cash "dont worry what you give us is between us and no ones business" is what he said. we were so excited about the boat we just went along with it. he also kept talking about making sure it was cash because of problems he had with his ex wife which i thought was an odd thing to mention to strangers.

Second red flag - four weeks went by, and we heard nothing in between. my father called a few times just to check not to bother anyone but we were very excited and had the rest of the money we just wanted to be on the water! My father is retired air force and is very soft spoken and kind, so when he called four times and was told someone would call him back he just went with it.

Thrid red flag - when my brother and me decided to stop by on our way home from tampa to CHAMPION MARINE dealership in clearwater, Doug was not there but david was. He went up to him and said "hi david its Sebastian is our boat in yet?" he looked at us like he had no idea who we were and just said curtly "no, no its not in yet your salesman should be talking to you about this not me" and went back into his office and closed his door. Not even a handshake and like we were strangers! I know this is a business and he is busy, but remember we interacted with him for probably 2 1/2 hours over two days at the show and PERSONALLY handed him $10,000 in CASH! I would certainly remember me doing that!! And even if he didn't remember, do you really talk to you clients like that???

So four weeks becomes five, six, seven, eight weeks later - still no boat. We call and stop by multiple times and nerly every time the only people who recognize us and we recognize are our sales man Doug, another older man Ron, and Frank who is the lot helper. Every else is different! the ladies at the front desk, the people in back. We are getting super concerned at this point because all we have is a hand written receipt and a hand written contract!

At this point, I start doing my research and i see that DAVID PERTRANTONI used to own OUTPOST MARINE GROUP in new port richey for five years and the place closed down because they lost boat manufacturers, owed banks hundreds of thousands of dollars, and had such terrible reviews online. I also learned that DAVID PETRANTONI was sued several times over deposits for ordered boats that were never ordered or ordered so late boating season was over or misordered and boats arrived with different colors, wrong motors, and such! and the people that wanted depsoits backs had to SUE DAVID TO GET REFUNDS! oh my gosh what did we do???

I decided to call Clearwater Boats directly and what they said SHOCKED US! They had received an order for our boat LAST WEEK - SEVEN 7 WEEKS AFTER WE GAVE DAVID THE MONEY! He also said it would be at least EIGHT WEEKS until we got our boat!

I was very angry and had to control myself. I called the factory back the next day and the president of Clearwater was very apologetic and i understand that they can only make a boat when ordered and paid for a deposit. I also learned that there is no way possible for them to make a boat like ours or any in 4 weeks!

I stopped by Champion Marine Group the next Monday they were open and wanting to make sure DAVID was there. I stopped for four days in a row and he was never until the Friday that week some one must have slipped up because I saw him getting out of a big white truck with CHAMPION on the side and learned that was his personal truck. It was there THREE OF THE FOUR PREVIOUS DAYS and he just made his staff LIE and HID in his office! I was furious! I told the woman at the desk and Doug very strongly that I needed to talk to David NOW and I wanted the TRUTH! Doug walked into the back to David's office and his front desk lady asked me to talk to her outside. She walked me around back allegedly to show me something as to why my boat was delayed when I turned around and saw DAVID climb into his truck and DRIVE AWAY OUT OF THE LOT AND ACROSS THE STREET PEELING OUT LIKE A CRAZY MAN. WOW! All this to avoid talking to me, an upset female customer!

As of today, April 24 2021, I am beside myself, my brother is VERY angry, and my father is on the verge of crying. All we wanted to do was enjoy time as a family and I feel the LIES from DAVID PETRANTONI caused us so much un needed stress for no reason.

My dad likes the boat! My brother too! We would've waited 8-10 weeks IF WE WERE TOLD THE TRUTH.

Here is the TRUTH! DAVID PETRANTONI WILL TAKE YOU DEPOSIT AND SPEND IT ON OTHER THINGS BEFORE ORDERING YOUR BOAT AND HOPE SOMEONE ELSE NEW BUYS SOMETHING SO HE CAN PAY FOR THE BOAT HE OWES YOU!!!!!

He has a track record of this! search OUTPOST MARINE GROUP and his name, even here on rip off reports. search the country court system for all his LAWSUITS. and DO YOUR RESEARCH. 

Do not buy from this SCUMBAG SCAM ARTIST CRIMINAL!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/24/2021 05:42 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/report/champion-marine-group/clearwater-florida-motors-llc-1507369. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
1Consumer
2Employee/Owner

#3 REBUTTAL Owner of company

We have again searched our records and could not find anyone named Giselle

AUTHOR: David - (United States)

POSTED: Saturday, August 07, 2021

Dear Ms. Giselle:

We again have searched our records and Champion Marine has no record of conducting business with anyone named Giselle, nor do we have any record of your claimed down payment in the amount of $10,000 cash, as you have stated in your response which would require form 8300 to the IRS.

Additionally you state the owner took $10,000 in cash from you at a boat show and that you were forced to give cash in lieu of a check. Are you then saying you brought $10,000 in cash to a boat show as I am sure the ATM did not give it to you. We admimately deny these false accusations and ask that you provide to us a copy of your purchase agreement as this will verify the legitimacy of these accusations, the boat purchased, date of purchase, and all financial information including amount of the deposit as we are unable to locate any customer in our database with the name you have provided. We can then compare that document against the original we have on file for verification. 

Furthermore, David Petrantoni has consistently told his sales staff not to commit to any delivery date as the industry has been experiencing shortages and has posted these shortage notice signs at every boat show to inform customers of a possible delay due to circumstances beyond our control. We stay in constant communication and have an excellent relationship with the Clearwater factory. We have not received a call from the owner or any other person in management to discuss any issue even closely resembling the events as described.

At no time has Mr. Petrantoni ever told a customer they can only pay in cash or mention anything pertaining to his personal life, this again leaves us to further believe this is nothing more than a made up malicious attack to try and cause harm to Mr. Petrantoni personally and within his business, Champion Marine, especially due to the very specific and targeted false statements made including his former business closing down. The fact is, Mr. Petrantoni sold his very successful former business to a large boat franchise due to health reasons.

The remainder of your response is further riddled with false accusations and you have provided nothing to substantiate any of them including using a false or undocumented name. If you were a real customer that we could verify, we would do everything within our power to rectify any unpleasant experience however, up to this point we have not been given anything truthful to begin that process and not one employee has any recollection of any of these events you have listed as ever taking place. Until then, we ask that you discontinue these contentious and false postings where you have chosen to use a social media platform that we and other businesses become helpless victims to malicious predators such as yourself in effort to cause intentional harm and spread false information.  We additionally ask that you provide proof of these allegations and the copy of your purchase agreement,  we have no way to resolve an issue unless we can verify the issue. Until then, we will continue to treat this as an act of business sabotage and will take legal recourse if necessary. 

To all of our current and future customers, we will continue to provide outstanding customer service, and do everything to make your experience with Champion Marine an enjoyable one.  

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#2 REBUTTAL Owner of company

We are unable to verify this person as a customer.

AUTHOR: Champion Marine - (United States)

POSTED: Thursday, August 05, 2021

After thorough research of current and former customers, we are unable to verify this person as a customer. The accusations contained in this review do not reflect the policies or procedures of Champion Marine that we have proudly established as a business. We adhere to all Federal laws mandating any transaction that involves a cash deposit and or payment of ten thousand dollars or more by filing form 8300 with the Internal Revenue Service.

Additionally, all transactions where monies are exchanged in any form, the customer receives a receipt reflecting the amount paid. We take pride in providing excellent customer service to each and every person, unfortunately in this circumstance we have become the victim of a malicious attack by an individual that has taken to the internet in an effort to promote false information.

We appreciate the continued support of every Champion Marine customer.  

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#1 Consumer Comment

Giselle, You can mail a copy of your Ripoff Report to...

AUTHOR: Karl - (United States)

POSTED: Monday, July 26, 2021

Dateline NBC and to 60 Minutes in New York. Maybe one of them will contact you and do a story on TV and expose the ones who defrauded you. The addresses to Dateline and 60 Minutes are available at this site. Just type in 271771 and they appear in Consumer Comment #1 at Ripoff Report 271771.

A Harvard Business Professor told his class of executives back in late 2004 that EXPOSURE is a corporation’s worst fear. You can read more of what the good Professor said by simply typing in 269041 at this site and it appears in the comment entitled “Blame it on a Lawyer” at Ripoff Report 269041.

Good luck to you!

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