Alright guys, I hate that its come to this but I reckon its what this forum is here for....So heres my story. I started looking to buy my first bowfishing rig back in December of 2012. After several weeks of looking i kept going back to Toms 1870 weldbilt because it looked to be a newer boat and in good shape. Over a 4-5 week period I pm'd, texted and called Tom numerous times and talked about his boat while i continued my search for a boat. I'm not a boat mechanic so I was looking for a turnkey deal and not so much into a fixer-upper. Tom assured me many times that his boat was in excellent condition and ran great with no problems. I explained to Tom that I was interested in his boat quite a bit and also that the cost would stretch me past what I originally intended on spending. We finally ironed out a deal with a genny and he agreed to throw in an old bow at which time he told me "This is truly a turnkey rig now!!!" I left out early one morning to meet him halfway between where we lived. My first mistake was that we werent meeting at the water for him to run it! I explained my nervousness in this but again he assured me that the boat ran great and nothing was wrong. So we meet up in Jackson,Tn at a service station. The boat looked like it did in the pics. We bagan going over the motors and stuff. He dry started the outboard very briefly saying it would be fine as long as it didnt run but a few seconds and started the fan motor also. I noticed electrical tape on the fan prop blades and questioned as to why it was on there and he told me it was fine that he put superglue on the blades and wrapped them with tape so that they didnt split. So I ended up buying the boat and heading back to Arkansas. That Friday night me and a buddy took her out to run it. We had a helluva time getting the outboard to start and when we did an alarm kept flashing. Tom wouldnt take my calls but texted me back and told me that there was prolly air in the lines and it should work itself out that the boat had ran perfectly a couple of weeks before when he had it out. We didnt stay out too long and had a rough time starting the outboard everytime and it ran really rough. A friend of mine agreed to take a look at the outboard and would see what he could do, said he would change all plugs and the water pump. In the meantime i sent pics of the fan prop to powerfin who responded and told me how dangerous the fan blades were especially having my 7 year old son aboard with me. I ordered 3 new blades which set me back about $500. I gave my buddy $300 to buy parts as he needed to work on outboard. I continued to text and call Tom throughout this explaining to him what was happening. I asked him to help me out by sending me back some of the money I gave him to help with the expenses. He told me he would see what he could do when he got back into town. After a week or so of me trying to reach him he finally responded through text and told me that he didnt see any reason for him to help me out. I explained that I thought i was getting a turnkey boat and that i had stretched myself to buy the boat in the first place and was stuck! I also asked if he knew about the problems with the boat. He said it always ran fine for him. I told him it was upsetting and I hoped he did not sale this boat to me like this on purpose and he told me he understood because he had it done to him before. Since then Tom will not respond anymore. Ive had the boat now for a month and a half. Ive replaced fan blades, water pump, water pump housing, plugs, fuel cell, fuel lines, upper lower unit bearing ( i think is what he called it), added a whale tail for porpoising and its still not running right. Looks like the fuel pump may have to be changed which is another $500. Im close to another grand in this boat already not including any labor and have only had it on the water once. I recognize my part in this whole deal....I'm not a boat mechanic and I was to trusting in what I was told. I should have taken more precautions before buying a boat from someone I did not know personally. I bowfished years ago and have always wanted to get back into it and get my own boat. So far its been a nightmare and very disheartening. This is my experience thus far and i'm hoping that this is a warning to others that not everybody on this sight are what they present themselves to be.
Feedback for Tom Banks
clward
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wanna sell the rig? lol im looking for a fan boat myself, and since your fixing all the cons i will give you your money back lol.
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It's sad actually that he is pulling this crap I hate to see it happening to you man, maybe he will man up and do the right thing. In my opinion he needs to buy the boat back or give you some money back.... best of luck man
I offered the boat back to him for what i paid for it with his old blades back on it. He told me he wanted something different and thats why he sold it. Then said he has spent some of the money. Asked what he proposed and i dont know is all i got...
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I was wondering the same thing ..... Sorry to hear your troubles Clward .. hope in the end its a great boat for you ..
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3,390 Posts
You can't expect him to buy it back a deals a deal no doubt that it sucks. But I guarantee you this I'll never do business with him and nobody else on here should either if he doesnt atleast step up and admit he was wrong and help you out on fixing a couple of big things. Maybe he will step up and do the right thing
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Yea it does really suck for you but I know in my experiences in the 3 boats I've owned its up to you to figure out what's wrong with the boat before you buy it. Even when I sell stuff like truck boat w/e I always write on the bill of sale "as is". The guy that bought my rig never even looked at it just had his bro bring me cash, but I sent that dude tons of pics an vids of everything to keep from running into this sort of thing. So far he seems to be happy with it.
I know there is little to no comfort we can offer and I dnt know you or tom, but like I've had to do chalk it up as a lessoned learned. Don't ever let it happen again an triple check everything lol. Good luck with the boat, she is a pretty one.
I know there is little to no comfort we can offer and I dnt know you or tom, but like I've had to do chalk it up as a lessoned learned. Don't ever let it happen again an triple check everything lol. Good luck with the boat, she is a pretty one.
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I know everyone is looking at tom like he is the bad guy here...and I really Dont know him and he Dont know me that good but I went out on this boat twice when he had it and the boat did not have any problems it didn't seem like everything run fine both times we ran up river with the outboard and used the fan for at least 6 or 7 hours both nights and never had any problems I was actually trying to get the money to buy it but I had just bought a house the bank would not let me borrow anymore I know if I bought the boat and it messed up then guess what its my baby now so I fix it I went through it a couple times with some trucks and a boat but I didn't contact the guy I bought it from for him to buy it back I still liked it so I dropped a little more money in it and made it what I wanted and dealed with it u can't really expect him to buy it back thou
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1,539 Posts
Superglued fan blades would have made me walk away, or re-negotiate price. Thats probably one of the most dangerous things it could have had IMO. Now I gotta go look at his for sale ad and see if he listed that, if not he did false advertise in my eyes.
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1,245 Posts
ok so you just said it didn't run rite....did I catch that right and he aint trying to make tom look like a bad guy hes giving his experience with the guy and you also said you dropped a lil more money not half again wat the boats worth.....he would more than gladly stand up and clear toms name if he even attempted to make it right in all his ads it says he built everything less than a year ago then when the fan blades went wrong he stated he had bought them from somebody else
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Nah the boat ran fine when I was on I'm sure tom Dont care if he clears his name or not all I'm saying is it was a nice boat when I was on it
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164 Posts
You do know stuff breaks right? Just bc it ran good with you on it doesn't mean it ran good when Tom sold it and Tom should want to clear his name if he real thinks he is doing right by not helping him out then why don't he get on here and say something instead he just looks at it and gets off without saying anything. He needs to clear his name bc just like someone else said on here that they would never buy anything from Tom now I feel the same way and I'm sure there are some others that feel the same way just my .02 cents
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Well that's your opinion but u said stuff breaks right? So what if tom sold the boat then the guy who purchased didn't know what he was doing and tortured it I'm not saying anything about the guy who bought it I Dont know him he might be a hell of a guy and know boats well but u can mess a lot of stuff up fast and I understand that
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Btw I'm just sharing my opinion like the rest but I'm looking at it both ways when most read the first paragraph and automatically think tom is wrong the last time I sold a truck was the one in Luke Bryan video we rode in trucks its the first one u see the truck was perfect I sold it to a guy that lived not far from me a couple days later he called and told me a sold him just that the transfer case came out I was about to help him out until my buddie was in the guild where he had took the truck ad sent me a dang pic of the truck buried to the floor board in a mud hole that's where I got burnt it might be different but I'm just saying
I didnt expect him to buy it back, it was just a thought. I stretched myself out to buy a boat that I hoped I wouldnt have to put a lot of money in right from the start. I was told everything was less than a year old. I also learned a valuable lesson. But I do know that I could not misrepresent something and sale it to someone no matter how badly i wanted to get rid something.
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3,390 Posts
Part of me was hoping you and Tom would get ignorant on here lol
I took a friend of mine from work that knows a lot about boats and engines with me the first and only night its been out since I have had it. He wouldnt even tun until tom told us why the alarm was going off. After that we barely even tan the outboard because of how rough it was running. We fanned around a bit and went home. If I woulda known up frint there was issues at least i could have made an informed decision but thats not what happened. Now ive spent $800 with no labor costs yet amd its still having problems. Dang i know u gotta keep putting money in them but i didnt expect to spend $15k and immediately start havin to spend more
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Yes I know stuff breaks but the boat has only been on the water once since he bought it and it wasn't right then so nothing has broke since Chris has had it. If Tom was in the right he would have already got on here and said so he may eventually get on here and say something but he should have right when it got put up
Why is that?
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