Reply With Quotehhm lets hope it is all just a simple case of crossed wires hey.
Hi all,
I am a fairly new member on here however I have been reading the chat boards for about 12 months.
Basically I have run into a bit of a problem regarding a new boat I am having built. About 12 months ago I was referred to Viper Boats by another member of Ausfish as they were building his boat. I arranged to meet Phil and have a chat regarding construction of a new boat.
To cut a long story short I have run into some significant difficulties trying to maintain contact with Phil from Viper Boats. So far the boat is 95% complete and was looking pretty damn good, but for the life of me I cannot get Phil to get in touch with me.
His phone and email is in the process of being changed to a different supplier (or so I am told), I have sent a letter via registered mail with no reply and even rung business's in the same street in Nambucca Heads and asked them to get him to contact me and I have sent him a pm..... Still NO BLOODY CONTACT from Viper Boats.
If anybody is friends with Phil or have had contact with him in the last 14 days please ask him to contact Ben regarding reaching an agreement to finalise and pay for completion of my boat.
Thanks for any help
BEN
hhm lets hope it is all just a simple case of crossed wires hey.
Hey Ben,
You can try shooting nickstock on ausfish a PM - I recall he had a few issues getting into contact with Viper Boats(But I believe he eventually got onto them).
Worth a shot anyway, and hope you get a good outcome.
Mick
Thanks Mick
funny you should say that as Nick is who reccomended Viper to me.....
Nick experienced what I am going through now......
Also does anyone live in or close to Nambucca Heads and if so would they be interested to pass on info for me????
Hi Superform
I am sure I saw something regarding Viper Boats on the local news lately.It had the local council embracing the business.It might pay to ring the Nambucca Council to find a contact for the business if they will give it out.
cheers
mark
Ben - sucks mate, hopefully just a glitch. Viper have a facebook page with contact details etc. There has been recent posts on the wall by a Glenn Bishop saying they have had dramas with Telstra.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...2475816&v=wall
Viper Boats in my opinion should NOT be allowed to continue trading.
I was told nothing but lies for over 12 months and on handover, I was given a half arsed, half finished, boat that I spent a lot of cash to get it up to scratch. I then cracked the hard top on my first trip out to sea and had to limp home with my tail between my legs with my anchor ropes holding my hard top together.
The boat was then freighted back 2100kms to Viper's Gold Coast shed to be repaired with an agreed build time of 2 weeks. 9 weeks later I had not heard from Phil and his shed phone was disconnected.
Alarm bells were well and truly ringing so I flew down from Cooktown on two connecting flights to see W.T.F was going on with the boat that I had paid for in full over 6 months ago. On arrival to the Gold Coast I found out that his landlord had locked him out of his shed as he was months behind on the rent. I then found out that he had towed my boat to NSW without my knowledge and I was absolutely wild.
After seeking legal advice I found out how little pull I actually had on the situation and decided to take alternative methods to get my boat back. Phil came to the party and personally towed my boat back from N.S.W that afternoon and although the marine radio aerial was snapped and very little work had been done I at least had my boat back in my possession.
I then outlaid more money to get the boat finished properly and after a 14 month saga, I finally had a good riding, handling and finished plate boat which I decided to sell on principal of not supporting Viper Boats after the dicked me around for over 12 months after we signed a quote stating 6 weeks from deposit to handover.
I then took the boat to a boat yard on the Gold Coast to sell it on my behalf, however it sat unmoved for a further 9 weeks. I pulled the boat out and towed to to a place on the Sunshine Coast and they sold it after about 2 weeks in their possession.
Viper Boats do not have the finances to safely and securely build plate alloy boats to an appropriate standard and I cannot believe that they are allowed to continued to run (or try to) a business.
I am all for giving a little custom builder a turn in the game however my honesty and trust with Viper Alloy Boats left me bent over the barrel with my hands tied behind my back..................
Way to go nick!!Originally Posted by SUPERFORM
I am guessing you went through all your drama after you sold the dump to The Super.
I know how it feels when you are trying to convince yourself that the boaty you signed on with is the right choice, you tell every one about the win you've had because you wanna believe it yourself. Mine is a Fisher and I am well happy with it but when and before I signed on I was warned about builders who shouldnt be, you just cant help wondering until the 11th hour.
If I get my last few shits and bits of warranty sorted without any drama then I am counting myself very lucky indeed. It can all go so very wrong very quickly.
Thanks for the heads up on Viper, I have heard a few mates mentioning them and if they don't already know I will see that they do. I was 12 months behind when I found out about Fisher Boats and the great mystery. Picked them from this forum as well.
Gleeeza
Damn sorry to head about everyone's dramas with Viper.
They built my 4.2, and I love it. I'm very happy with it. It took a little longer than originally stated (probably 9-10 weeks, as opposed to 6, but I can live with that for a custom built boat). But he truly went out of his way to get it finished for a long weekend for me. I was there in the last hours of him getting it finished, and he was sick as a dog, and working solo on a public holiday.
I hope they get their act back together, because if I was ever going to upgrade, they would have been my first choice by far.
Gleeeza,
I tried my hardest to talk Ben (Superform) out of signing any sort of deal with Viper Boats long before he had outlaid a single cent with this poor excuse of a company.
When I put Ben onto Viper, I was happy with the price that they quoted me, after I drove over 2000 kms to pick up my finished Viper and found out that I had a hull tacked together, alarm bells began to ring after I relised Phil is full of shit.
I personally spoke to Phil on the Friday were he assured me he would have my boat finished by the Monday. I was stoked and left Cooktown in my car to pick up my FINISHED BMT package. On arrival to his Gold Coast shed, I assumed that someone must be water testing my hull as there were no boats that within a month of being finished.
I warned Ben NOT to put a deposit on any product of Vipers yet Phil smoothed him over and smiled whilst he took his deposit.
I will NEVER EVER recommend Viper Alloy Boats to anyone as there is a very high chance that you will not get the boat that you paid for.
Ben is in the same situation as I was as Phil does not have enough money to pay for the materials , trailer and motor to finish the boat. Both Ben and I had to pay Phil 100% of the B.M.T for him to afford to get the materials & goods to finish the build.
- I also forgot to mention that my hull would not plane when I picked up the boat as it had 185 liters of water under the "sealed" floor.
- The boat was painted the wrong colour and not prepared properly and as such needed to be repainted.
- The transom pod had a hole in it which allowed water into the hull
- The fuel sensor was not installed correctly
- The fuel tank and filler was set up incorrectly and took over 20 minutes to fill.
- The motor needed to be lifted up a hole and be re propped in order for it to plane
- The canopy cracked with a massive 3 hours on the motor to which Phil replied "you are fishing in adverse conditions"
- I then found out that Phil had NEVER EVER had this hull in the water F.F.S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like I stated, my Viper was an absolute piece of crap in every way and it cost me thousands to get it up to a sea worthy , decent handling vessel.
Contrary to Nick's final product, I am so far very happy with the quality of my build, however I havn't had it in the water as yet. But from what I can see so far all looks good.
My major problem is the lack of communication I am experiencing and the major delays in completion. As said my boat is 95% complete and is having the finishing touchs put on it by a marine dealer in Brisbane, who are doing a great job by the way......
But I have paid 95% of the total price to Phil and the Brisbane dealer will not release the boat to me until the work they have done on it has been paid for (fair enough).
As I cant get in contact with Phil and neither can they, it looks as though I am going to have to outlay the extra $4 000 ontop of the quoted price to get my boat out of the Brisbane dealers yard and then chase Phil to repay the money to me.
A bit unfair in my opinion, as I have been very understanding and patient throughout this whole process........
even though you want your boat ASAP, I kind of doubt I would be paying the other guy and then try to get the cash from the builder, if you did that I reckon you could kiss your 4 grand good bye, well for a very long time anyway.
Yeah I agree Noel, but its now 10 months since I paid my deposit and I am not interested in waiting any longer, hence this thread....I am paying interest on a boat I dont have.........
Phil personally has had some issues and Viper also has had some unfortunate incidents, however business is business and its about time this build was completed.
I have gone out of my way to help Viper and even arranged a meeting and drove the 5hrs to Nambucca to have a chat with Phil to come up with a cheaper solution for him, only for Phil to do a no show.
Like I said I have tried everything except facebook as I dont have a facebook account, if anyone is friends with Viper on facebook, could they send them a message and ask Phil to contact me and arrange payment to the Brisbane dealer for completion......
Sounds like you have been more than patient with this circumstance, i know i woudnt have been.
Dept. of Fair Trading (or whatever equivilent might exist in QLD) might be interested in this?
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