Jerry....All it takes is money. Sal ran out of money early on. Lets look at the Timeline. Today's M_23 is $78,000 without the trailer. As you might know, materials have doubled especially resins, sails, stainles steel, teak, rigging, aluminum, labor and daily overhead. I wish you had the balls to call me about this. However we can look at the timeline for this particular boat if you insist. FYI Sal's boat is almost complete; mast/boom/engine/interior/electrical/caprails/hatches/bowsprit/maststep/ etc are all at hand. Business demands that people make timely payments. What would you do? Here: TIMELINE Date Action Amount Paid Amount Due September 5, 2004 Start Boat $11,000 October 2004 Work Continues 0 November 17, 2004 Work Continues $11,000 December 2004 Work Continues 0 January 2005 Work Continues 0 February 5, 2004 Work Continues $8,000 Underpayment March 2005 Work Continues 0 April 17, 2005 Work Continues $10,000 Underpayment May 2005 Work Continues (Lacking parts) 0 June 23, 2005 Work Continues (Lacking parts) $5,000 Severe Underpayment July 2005 Work stopped-no money 0 August 2005 Work stopped-Lay off one employee- No money. September 2005 No money- Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 October 2005 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 November 2005 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 December 2005 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 January 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 February 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 March 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 April 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 May 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 June 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 July 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 Date Action Amount Paid Amount Due August 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 More than one year since payment. No profit possible. Project is dead. Liquidated damages/overhead/materials/labor exceeding cost. What are fair late fees? Service charges? Storage is taking up Valuable shop space. September 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 October 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 November 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 A personal check for $10,000 arrives. Bank of America refuses check After calling bank in Colorado. Check not used. 0 December 2006 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 January 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 February 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 March 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 April 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 May 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 June 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 July 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 August 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 Now more than 26 months without Payment. September 2007 No money-Storage Fee in shop 0 $380 September 21, 2007 Wire Transfer of $20,000 after 27 months of non- Payment. $20,000 credit Total October 2007 Total Storage due $9500 Date Action Amount Paid Amount Due October 2007 We start work after receiving a Partial Payment of $20,000. Storage balance……………………………………………………………………..$9500 M_23 Cost……Oct 2007 pricing………………………………………… ……..$75,000 Total due as of October 2007………………………………………………….....$84,500 Amount Paid as of October 2007……………………………………………… -$65,000 Balance in Arrears……………………………………………………………… $19,500 Late fees to be determined November 2007 We continue work 0 $19,500 December 2007 We continue work 0 $19,500 January 2008 We continue work 0 $19,500 February 2008 Parts/Mast/Boom arrives 0 $19,500 March 2008 More work and parts 0 still $19,500 April 2008 Money low. Work spotty 0 still $19,500 May 2008 Work when time allows 0 still $19,500 We are now down to 2 employees. We work on paying projects to pay the overhead and the payroll every week. Every once in a while we work on the M_23. Still no money is forthcoming from the customer. Starting and stopping this project over the years prevents us from ever making a profit or breaking even. Material costs have sky-rocketed. Labor and overhead increases every year. Recession. 17 months have passed since the last payment from customer. Not enough money to finish the boat in a timely manner. Another year and a half wasted. The total number of late months is 43. Notice no late charges or additional interest or service charges have been attached. Also notice no additional storage fees (the boat takes up one of only three large boat spots) have beed added the last 12 months. Bob
From: jerry@jerrymontgomery.org To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 16:53:44 -0700 Subject: M_Boats: open letter to Bob Eeg
Bob- what do you intend to do about Sal's 23? You may look at this as none of my business, but you're harming my good name and that matters to me. This is far from the first time I have been contacted by your buyers who have similar problems, and until now I've tried to stay out of things, explaining that I have nothing to do with you or your business and offering sympathy and suggestions but nothing else.
I know that I've heard only one side of the story, but if you indeed stopped work on Sal's boat two years ago when it was paid off I think that's inexcusable and sorry, but I think it's time the whole world knew about it. If you have a good reason for this behavior, let's hear it. Please send any response to the list to keep it in the open, and if you send the response to me only, you can expect me to forward it to the list at my option.
jerry
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