Just Catamarans Dania Beach FL

[InsuredApple]

Originally Posted by Tornadosailing

If nothing else, the past year of bigger boat ownership has taught me that the marine service industry tends to have lousy customer service, and often lousy repair service as well. Having to hound someone for weeks or even months just to give you an estimate for a repair seems to be normal. Then once you have the estimate, it's like pulling teeth to get someone to commit to a date. There are of course exceptions to this. Some people and companies have excellent responsiveness and customer service, but they are the exception.

All that being said, JC tends to be on the better end, which doesn't bode well for your future service needs.

That is also the sense I am getting.

Maz Ocean has been really good, we haven't had any issues with them - showed up when they said they would, did the work when they said they would... they did work on our Maretron system.

Our friends have had a great experience with Multitech Marine Services.

There are options, which is good. It's impossible to get a hold of anyone other than Rafael at Just Catamarans - owners seem to completely absent, there just is no escalating of problems and concerns. Oh well.

Lesson learned and shared

[DeepCut]

Just Catamarans : Went there due to "Great Reputation" .

Several issues. At least one being egregious to the point of "WTF were you thinking?" Not sure if this is localized to the job foreman or more systematic.

[geekoman]

Originally Posted by DeepCut

Several issues. At least one being egregious to the point of "WTF were you thinking?" Not sure if this is localized to the job foreman or more systematic.

Do you mean in their implementation?

[Freshly Hooked]

I purchased my cat through Just Cats with the help of Robert Taylor and had a wonderful experience very professional and great communication.

[emcmia]

Originally Posted by InsuredApple

That is also the sense I am getting.

Maz Ocean has been really good, we haven't had any issues with them - showed up when they said they would, did the work when they said they would... they did work on our Maretron system.

Our friends have had a great experience with Multitech Marine Services.

There are options, which is good. It's impossible to get a hold of anyone other than Rafael at Just Catamarans - owners seem to completely absent, there just is no escalating of problems and concerns. Oh well.

Lesson learned and shared

I have no experience with JC.
As an alternative, I also recommend Multitech Marine at Lauderdale Marine Center. I had a grounding issue 18 months ago, which damaged a rudder and drive train and which required some f/g hull work and bottom painting. Work commenced 3 days after haulout / 2 days after estimate. The total bill was over $4Ok; however, job was completed on time and less than original estimate! And boat was immaculate when delivered, with no deficiencies or latent/unrepaired problems (then or since).

[DeepCut]

Originally Posted by geekoman

Do you mean in their implementation?

Several issues, but the one that took the cake was 'REINSTALLATION" of the outflow from the holding tank. Apparently, forgot the thru hull until back in the water, and thus "short cut" was to mount the outflow to where the Thru-hull should have been with marine adhesive.... obviously did not drain very well.... at least not until

[n2climbing]

This is a follow-up to my earlier post. As of this morning we have been at Just Cats for 9 (business) days for some scheduled work (replacing a window, grinding rudder bearings and replacing a hot water heater element, a fresh water flush solenoid and a 120 volt receptacle) - all-in-all not a particularly lengthy or complicated list. Under Laurent's supervision the crew did the work extremely well and in less time than they estimated it would take. At they end they washed down our boat and invited us to their team cookout! IMO these guys are top notch. Our thanks in particular to Jen, Laurent, Kenny, Luke and Troy.

[Dulcesuenos]

We had a scheduled appt 4-5 years ago for a complete standing rigging replacement. We were half way to them from Tavernier when they finally returned my call and said they forgot To order the rigging. Huge inconvenience to us as I was flying out for work every week and wife was living aboard. Eventually is was done and They did come in at the quoted price, boat was a mess from old shroud covers, they did clean it. 1 year later I worked on a leopard 42 they had performed $50k worth of work on, I found non heat shrunk connections (cheap automotive grade) and improperly sized and positive wires making contact with negative wires in the bilge pump system causing shorts, also the customers entire victron inverter charger system was improperly wired. And it wasn't working correctly when he left but they actually told him to call the manufacturer. It was a 2 hour fix and was fine.
They can do good work but get estimates in writing and take nothing for granted.

[Sailbrandison]

Just Catamarans (although I've not used them) seems professional and nice. Their competitor at the same marina, Yacht Management....ANOTHER STORY:

I am shocked by the abject stupidity and unbelievable unprofessionalism of this company. Based on my experience (which has formed my opinion to follow), here is what you can expect if you use these people (and especially if you deal with Jamie): You will pay double for many of the items you choose to address and they will add a substantial percentage to the contractor's bill and pass it on to you; while some of that is totally understandable, due to the costs of operating a yard and limited space, I would have expected them to not invent work that isn't needed and instead to be truthful about it. Your appointment may be canceled if you dare react to Jamie's b**chy attitude with displeasure and you'll be left to start over. She did me a favor, because my experience is that such an attitude is also followed by terrible work product and service anyway. Her attitude is the result of being insulted that they are not getting some of the work on the boat after I offered them the most expensive piece of work needed (complete re-rig) and instead they opted to let me deal directly with the rigging company, so they could invent un-neccessary additional work at a higher profit margin (paint, fiberglass work, etc). IN MY OPINION, they are cheaters, rude and socially-crooked in their dealings. Keep sailing until you find a real "Yacht Management" company. Sail past these swindlers.

[fcftampa]

I appreciate your opinion.
This content is what gives value to the forum. As probably many of you have noticed, hotels globally have improved thanks to reviews, same with restaurants, dealerships, amazon products, etc...and hopefully it will carry on and end up rewarding those that provide honest service through the marine industry.
Even if what you say is just a biased personal 'accident' others will think twice and at least be prepared to deal with these relics of the disinformation era.

[Sailbrandison]

Regretfully I made the mistake of choosing these people. Before reading several reviews like mine online including one where the owner threatened to throw one customer off the dock. Does anyone know a marina in west palm to Miami that allows at least some outside labor and can haul a 23 foot beam? I will give the yard work if they want it but they all seem booked for weeks.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Sailbrandison

Regretfully I made the mistake of choosing these people. Before reading several reviews like mine online including one where the owner threatened to throw one customer off the dock. Does anyone know a marina in west palm to Miami that allows at least some outside labor and can haul a 23 foot beam? I will give the yard work if they want it but they all seem booked for weeks.

Cracker Boy is what you're looking for.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Sailbrandison.

[InsuredApple]

We are back in Florida for a ~$100k project, this time all the work is being done by MultiTech and Gerald, who is our project manager and has been amazing.

Just Catamarans also came back to fix some things -- wire run through the solar arch and broken WiFi extender. They did fix things but left a decent mess on the boat. Rafael at Just Catamarans is really great, it's usually techs that give us grief (e.g. going in the boat when we aren't there, leaving the door open so that our Doberman can roam around outside barking at people -- just keep the door closed and the dogs inside where we left them).

Anyhow, we are really happy with MultiTech, specifically Gerald. There are other people at MultiTech who really don't seem to care, but Gerald Webb and Thierry Menetrier (the owner) are awesome and make things right whenever there is an issue.

[InsuredApple]

Originally Posted by InsuredApple

We are back in Florida for a ~$100k project, this time all the work is being done by MultiTech and Gerald, who is our project manager and has been amazing.

Just Catamarans also came back to fix some things -- wire run through the solar arch and broken WiFi extender. They did fix things but left a decent mess on the boat. Rafael at Just Catamarans is really great, it's usually techs that give us grief (e.g. going in the boat when we aren't there, leaving the door open so that our Doberman can roam around outside barking at people -- just keep the door closed and the dogs inside where we left them).

Anyhow, we are really happy with MultiTech, specifically Gerald. There are other people at MultiTech who really don't seem to care, but Gerald Webb and Thierry Menetrier (the owner) are awesome and make things right whenever there is an issue.

Funny story... we were happy with MultiTech work -- until we found out it was done wrong. Gerald has since left MultiTech, and we are trying to "recover" damages from MultiTech for work that had to be done by other companies to fix their work (on our thruster install).

We did have a GREAT experience with Fleming Marine Composites, DFD (naval architect), and Wards Marine -- which worked on fixing the thruster install from MultiTech. We also had a crazy great experience working with High Seas -- which fixed our hydraulic leaks (which MultiTech also tried to do, and another company). Anyhow, I spoke too soon about MultiTech.

Quick notes on Just Catamarans...

I spent about 8 hours yesterday, working on fixing the caulking Just Catamarans did -- I have another 8 hours ahead of me. They did some silicone work as part of a small fiberglass job on our boat. The caulking Just Catamarans did was, um, not good. Instead of removing all the caulking, they just replaced 8 inches or so -- and water was leaking into our service bay and engine compartment every time it rained (or there was water on the deck). Just charge me whatever the cost is to do it right -- instead of making me pay for a lousy job that comes back to haunt me.

The oil change pumps Just Catamarans installed don't actually pump out the oil -- just sucks air. When I chatted with Rafael at Just Catamarans, his first response was "user error". Then he suggested that the impeller must be wrecked -- so I had to unmount the pumps and checked the impellers (they were good). I'm glad that Just Catamarans installed the pumps in a way that doesn't require me to unmount the pumps in order to check the impeller -- that was sarcasm.
I contacted the manufacturer, and they confirmed that the hose runs are too long. When we first hired Just Catamarans to install this oil change system... it was only when the pumps were installed, wired in, when Just Catamarans found out that our engines don't have the facility to install the pumps (as they are intended to) -- or any oil change system. So, all around, this was a disaster.

I could go on... but we are finding more and more work that Just Catamarans did, that turns out to be REALLY lousy.

Do the work yourself at least you'll know what you will get. No point in paying someone to... not actually do the work as it should be done.