CONWAY, AR — Customers called out a Conway business owner they said had been wrongfully taking their money, but the business owner said he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Some former customers said they split their payment with One Stop Boat Shop. They gave the owner, Paul Reeves, the first half before getting service they said Reeves guaranteed would take a few weeks to a month. Many months later, the customers said they were still waiting for complete service and to get their boats back.
This was just one of the general complaints. The group of 10, made up of former customers and employees, stood outside the shop demanding Reeves give them their money back and take responsibility for his wrongdoing.
“Don’t take our money and tell us that you can do the job and that you did the job and then you didn’t,” said Britni Stephens.
Stephens said she took her boat in to the shop to have its motor repaired and was told she’d have it repaired in time for her vacation. She told reporter, Leah Uko, that for months she could not get in contact with Reeves.
“We still to today have not gotten anyone on the phone. It’s all through text messages.”
Stephens got her boat back at the end of May and said the motor didn’t start. She said she paid Reeves $1,800 for the incomplete job, which she paid a few more hundred dollars for another mechanic to fix.
Reeves and his son Ryan, who helps run the shop, said the job Stephens wanted would have cost $3,000 at the least and she didn’t want to pay.
Speaking off-camera to Uko, Reeves admitted he had problems with customers in the past, but said it was because they brought in boats older than 20 years and expected repairs to be done overnight and for prices so low no one boat repair shop would offer.
According to former customer, Tina Roberts, Reeves’ claims were false.
She said last September she and her husband brought two boats in to be winterized. They continuously called and asked Reeves to cover the boats as they would get damaged from bad weather. Roberts said Reeves never did and when they got their boats back there was significant wear-and-tear damage.
“I was highly upset,” Roberts said.
When asked about the exterior damage, Reeves pulled up a photograph in his phone that dated back to September showing similar damage that was barely visible. He said the damage was already there.
“That stain is dated 9/27/2014.”
It wasn’t just former customers making claims about the boat shop.
Michael Jones said he worked for the boat shop for four weeks and quit after he witness Reeves sell motors he didn’t own and after he stopped paying him.
Jones said when he told Reeves what he was doing with people’s motors wasn’t ethical and possibly illegal.
“Just said, ‘he’ll never know the difference,” Jones said.
To this claim, Reeves stated that Jones did not quit after four weeks, but was fired after about two months due to incompetency. Reeves said Jones always performed faulty repairs. He admitted that he accidentally wrote a check to Jones with the wrong name, “David Jones”, which he said Michael still cashed.
In the midst of all the dissatisfaction, was Kevin Gauvey, a customer of three years who said he had no issue with any repairs.
“I mean, they ran into some issues, but it’s something you’re going to deal with a 1993 model boat.”
The biggest problem the former customers had with Reeves and his son was not the money lost, but the lack of communication. Many said in order to get a hold of him they had to constantly show up at his business when it opened in the morning.
Reeves said he would not change how he communicated with customers. He said for the last few months he had been dealing with medical issues that made it difficult to complete repairs in a reasonable amount of time. He said 70 percent of his customers were aware of his health condition. When asked why all customers weren’t informed, he said it was none of their business, despite the fact they were doing business with his shop.
“9-6 [p.m.] that’s up to me. That’s what voice mail is for.”
One customer on Monday filed an incident report with FCSO involving Reeves and his shop.
Another former customer and her husband demanded Reeves cancel their transaction and give them their boat back, which he refused. According to police, because half a payment was paid for the service, in order to get the boat back, the couple would have to pay the remaining balance.
Leah Uko contributed to this report. To follow story coverage with Leah Uko on Facebook click here. To follow story updates with Leah Uko on Twitter click here.
Some former customers said they split their payment with One Stop Boat Shop. They gave the owner, Paul Reeves, the first half before getting service they said Reeves guaranteed would take a few weeks to a month. Many months later, the customers said they were still waiting for complete service and to get their boats back.
This was just one of the general complaints. The group of 10, made up of former customers and employees, stood outside the shop demanding Reeves give them their money back and take responsibility for his wrongdoing.
“Don’t take our money and tell us that you can do the job and that you did the job and then you didn’t,” said Britni Stephens.
Stephens said she took her boat in to the shop to have its motor repaired and was told she’d have it repaired in time for her vacation. She told reporter, Leah Uko, that for months she could not get in contact with Reeves.
“We still to today have not gotten anyone on the phone. It’s all through text messages.”
Stephens got her boat back at the end of May and said the motor didn’t start. She said she paid Reeves $1,800 for the incomplete job, which she paid a few more hundred dollars for another mechanic to fix.
Reeves and his son Ryan, who helps run the shop, said the job Stephens wanted would have cost $3,000 at the least and she didn’t want to pay.
Speaking off-camera to Uko, Reeves admitted he had problems with customers in the past, but said it was because they brought in boats older than 20 years and expected repairs to be done overnight and for prices so low no one boat repair shop would offer.
According to former customer, Tina Roberts, Reeves’ claims were false.
She said last September she and her husband brought two boats in to be winterized. They continuously called and asked Reeves to cover the boats as they would get damaged from bad weather. Roberts said Reeves never did and when they got their boats back there was significant wear-and-tear damage.
“I was highly upset,” Roberts said.
When asked about the exterior damage, Reeves pulled up a photograph in his phone that dated back to September showing similar damage that was barely visible. He said the damage was already there.
“That stain is dated 9/27/2014.”
It wasn’t just former customers making claims about the boat shop.
Michael Jones said he worked for the boat shop for four weeks and quit after he witness Reeves sell motors he didn’t own and after he stopped paying him.
Jones said when he told Reeves what he was doing with people’s motors wasn’t ethical and possibly illegal.
“Just said, ‘he’ll never know the difference,” Jones said.
To this claim, Reeves stated that Jones did not quit after four weeks, but was fired after about two months due to incompetency. Reeves said Jones always performed faulty repairs. He admitted that he accidentally wrote a check to Jones with the wrong name, “David Jones”, which he said Michael still cashed.
In the midst of all the dissatisfaction, was Kevin Gauvey, a customer of three years who said he had no issue with any repairs.
“I mean, they ran into some issues, but it’s something you’re going to deal with a 1993 model boat.”
The biggest problem the former customers had with Reeves and his son was not the money lost, but the lack of communication. Many said in order to get a hold of him they had to constantly show up at his business when it opened in the morning.
Reeves said he would not change how he communicated with customers. He said for the last few months he had been dealing with medical issues that made it difficult to complete repairs in a reasonable amount of time. He said 70 percent of his customers were aware of his health condition. When asked why all customers weren’t informed, he said it was none of their business, despite the fact they were doing business with his shop.
“9-6 [p.m.] that’s up to me. That’s what voice mail is for.”
One customer on Monday filed an incident report with FCSO involving Reeves and his shop.
Another former customer and her husband demanded Reeves cancel their transaction and give them their boat back, which he refused. According to police, because half a payment was paid for the service, in order to get the boat back, the couple would have to pay the remaining balance.
Leah Uko contributed to this report. To follow story coverage with Leah Uko on Facebook click here. To follow story updates with Leah Uko on Twitter click here.