Bob Reed's St Clair Sailboat Center

Tim Kavanaugh _{on Google}

Jul 2nd, 2021

Impossible to get anything done.
I’ve reached out to Bob on every platform available, and I’ve only been able to talk to him once - for about 1 minute. I don’t understand how anything productive gets done here.
After reading the long review on this page, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve had the exact same experience and I just can’t do it anymore.
Voicemail always full, no answer on cell phone, doesn’t respond to emails, doesn’t respond to text messages. Maybe he’s a fax guy.
Good luck

Anne G _{on Google}

Jun 14th, 2020

If you aren’t buying a very expensive boat don’t even bother. Definitely never list your boat with this man if you can help it.
It was so difficult to even get ahold of Bob to ask questions or look at the boat we wanted to see. We finally got a friend of a friend to show us the boat, still never spoke to Bob. After we looked at the boat Bob finally called but after less than 5 minutes said he wouldn’t talk to us unless we put down money on the boat. He said he was too busy to be bothered with people who didn’t give him money. We had been warned by two other people who own boats that he was like this and another broker and the marina staff, he has a terrible reputation amongst his peers, but he had the listing so we had no choice. We offered to pay for a survey and had one scheduled, but Bob refused to allow it unless we put down 10% of the asking price. That might be a standard thing, but we felt like Bob was shady based on our dealings and didn’t want him holding our money. We felt like we wouldn’t get a fair deal from someone who worked that way so we walked away. There’s always more boats.
Five months later and it’s the end of season, the boat we looked at was still for sale. We re-approach Bob about the boat because now the owner is looking at having to store this boat again. We’ve also now looked at a number of this type of boat across the country and know what it needs to be ocean worthy (our intended purpose). He answers on our call, lucky. Then proceeds to tell us how busy he is and how hot the market is. Instantly used car salesman tactics. The boat has sat there, in storage for over a year now. We offer him a price reflective of everything we now know, because we now know the boat needs a 15k replacement on it because we’ve seen a bunch of these. We also say we’ll buy it with no survey which puts us in a precarious position because the engine could be worthless, it’s 25+ years old with less than 200 hours on it, not a great thing for a boat engine. We are cash buyers. We know he’s sold this exact style of boat for less than we offer and we almost bought one in Texas for this price. So we know it’s not an insane price to ask, and if you minus the storage fees the owner is going to have to pay, it’s really not that crazy. He gets instantly offended, calls our price ludicrous and basically hangs up. Even if the price was ludicrous, which it wasn’t, but let’s say it was, he could have come back with a different price. We looked at the boat once, there’s no survey, it’s been sitting over a year. We would have paid more than we offered, but he didn’t even come back with anything, just hung up and now refuses to respond to emails.
The real thing is that he would have gotten close to his asking price at the beginning of the season if he’d just taken the time to show us the boat and let us get a survey in May, but he was “too busy” and “only talks to people who give him money” his words. I feel sorry for the owner. He could have sold his boat at the beginning of the season. We had the full asking money in CASH and were willing to pay that price with a survey. Bob wasn’t willing to take more than 5 minutes on us and find that out. Bob is so difficult to deal with and money hungry that he scares off potential buyers with his shadiness. Can you imagine if it were your boat he was selling?
It’s a shame for everyone involved. Oh and we still haven’t met him. He’s too busy. We’ve talked to him a total of less than 15 minutes.

Sheri Orlando _{on Google}

Dec 16th, 2019

What a knowledgeable, kind man! Though we weren’t one of his clients, Bob helped us haul out our boat and get it squared away for the season. I had just repurchased my family boat and on the day we had to take down the mast and haul out for the season, Bob was at the marina and came over to give us a hand. The next day, he checked in on us and gave us tips, and even supplies, for squaring away the mast. His knowledge was evident and his kindness will never be forgotten by me or my family.

Wellesley Row _{on Google}

Jan 23rd, 2019

Bob Reed is metro Detroit's sailboat expert hands down. Goes above and beyond to satisfy customer requests. His passion for sailing is contagious and his knowledge about boats is endless. Do yourself a favor if you are thinking about buying a sailboat and visit Bob at St. Clair Sailboat Center.