Brinsfield Boat Basin Deposit not refunded Portland Oregon

If you are an abusive employer and fire or have a lot of angry employees walk of the job, and you don't take the time to train new employees, ( or don't mtake the time to learn yourself) it's a nice excuse. I wonder why instead of calling the customer several times that week the "new girl" wasn't just shown what to do to refund a deposit. Less time consuming then several phone calls. 

When I worked at Brinfields Boat Basin, Dale Peterson was the owner. When he fired me the Oregon Employment Department deemed it a Hostile Work Enviroment. I don't know if this is the current owner but Mr. Peterson was a sexiest bigot who said the most derogatory racial and sexiest slurs about his customers out of their hearing. Unfortunatly it was within my hearing. Then he would walk back outside with a big salesman smile and continue on. He continually lost his temper and screamed at me over things I had no control over. Minutes later he would ask me to lunch, as if nothing was strange about that. He was inapproriate and made disgusting explicitly sexual comments. I could tell when he was going to be abusive because he would keep at it and the worst was the gleam in his eye. He clearly got something out of this behavior, to what end I don't know, power trip, just plain abusive. Glad I didn't stick around to find out.

When I started I cleaned up a mess delibertly left by the last "girl". Checks were stuck in odd places, accounts all messed up. I got a lot of lost titles sorted out. I even saved them from hot water with the Oregon Marien Board and the DMV. Not all the "girls" are going to stick around very long and this worked better for Dale. He would have someone to yell but never actually train. This goes to show how much the customer was valueed at Brinsfields.

I think that part of the lack of training was because Dale didn't really know what was suppose to be done or how to do it. Some of his temper was probably from frustration.  But, he could have learned, even if he had to try really hard. There is no excuse for the level of disrespect from a business person and I resent that he put me in the position of having to be party to his messed up attitude by making the comments in my hearing. It was a deliberate act to talk about detailed sexual stuff within my hearing, not accidently but delibertly, and not once or twice. I am not talking about off color jokes (which I miss) or things said with the intent that all would think amusing. No one with his disregard for inviduals, customers and employees, deserves to continue to act as though they are just a good old boy trying to sell a boat.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I have never written a negative post about anyone or anyplace in my life. I am retired now so don't need to sorry about job references. It is a sad thing when a women is so dependent on a job to support her family that she is made party to, or fears objecting to behavior that brings down the entire human race.

Addressing each claim individually:

"I touched base with Rafael a few times in the following week to let him know that we were delayed would be crediting back the deposit shortly"

False. *Every* contact was initiated by me, which only gave indication that broker didnt care since the deal was already closed. 

"and despite my efforts to keep him updated he decided to contact the better business bureau and write this report, "

False. Company could never provide proof of alleged refund, not even a transaction number or credit card records. Best they could give was the date the alleged refund happened, which did not match with my Chase credit card (see below for the reason why). Broker got upset after being contacted by BBB, even blamed it on Chase ("Now it's between you and your bank!"). Funny.

"even though by that time the refund had already taken place."

False. True refund only happened 2.5 months after alleged refund, and only after I faxed copy from credit card statement and threatened to take legal action. In the last phone conversation, the finance lady actually spelled out to me the credit card number used to refund... and that credit card number did not belong to me! It wasnt even the same card used initially, or the one used for the first successful refund. She had basically transferred $500 to someone else. The silence was deafening. Still not sure if management ever understood what happened or if she kept quiet.

"all deposits were refunded"

True. Sadly it took 10 weeks instead of 1 week, about a dozen phone calls, 1 fax, and 1 BBB entry.

Personally I dont think they are dishonest. Just disorganized. They spend 10 weeks trying to get evidence of their actions and finally gave up. Broker put his faith on finance department, got burned.

Rafael
Portland, Oregon
U.S.A.

In regards to Rafael's complaint:

On March 25th Rafael put a $500 deposit on a boat and scheduled a river trial, then later cancelled, at that time his deposit was refunded.  Two weeks later Rafael made another offer on a different boat, a deposit of $500 was put down on the boat which was purchased on April 11th 2009.  Following the purchase it was agreed that the deposit was to be refunded because the boat was paid for in full, and Rafael was informed that the new office girl was not aware on how to credit the deposit back and once the owner comes in in the following week we would get that taken care of.  I kept in contact with Rafael the following week to let him know that we were still waiting for the owner to come in and he that it should be refunded any day only to find out that he had already made a complaint against us.  Brinsfield's Boat Basin does not keep deposits and they are always 100% refundable.  All deposits in this matter were credited back to Rafael's account as promised that week.

In regards to Rafael's complaint: 

In March 2009 Rafael placed a $500 deposit on a boat that he had made an offer on and scheduled a river trial.  The following week he cancelled the deal and river trial and his deposit was refunded.  Two weeks later Rafael made an offer on another boat, scheduled a river trial, gave another deposit for $500 and purchased the boat on the 11th of April.  The deal went well with both parties happy and it was agreed upon that once the new office girl learned the refund process for the credit card machine we would credit back the $500 deposit, because the boat was paid for in full.  I touched base with Rafael a few times in the following week to let him know that we were delayed would be crediting back the deposit shortly, and despite my efforts to keep him updated he decided to contact the better business bureau and write this report, even though by that time the refund had already taken place.  Brinsfield's Boat Basin does not keep deposits and kept in contact with Rafael even after he purchased the boat to let him know that we were still working on this, he stated that he understood our delay, but yet still complained.  No one was ripped off here and all deposits were refunded as promised.