# GIVENS MARINE Manufacturing ???????



## bartonman (Feb 14, 2010)

Has anyone purchased a new Givens Marine life raft lately. I purchased a new 8 person raft at the Annapolis Boat show in Oct 2011 and have never received it. When I called 401-624-7000 Givens Marine Survival Co. who currently has my used 10 man raft in for servicing, Lori said they sold the manufacturing side of their business to someone named John Furlong in July 2011 and she was laid off from Givens marine Manufacturing in January and no longer works for that Company. John Furlong was at the boat show with Lori Perrino the day I purchased my raft. He is now apparently missing in action and no one is answering the phones. Yesterday there was an answering system on the 401-624-7900 phone, today there is not. Just wondering if anyone else is out there, that is in a similar situation? Any information on this subject is greatly appreciated. I'm out $6690 so far.


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## olson34 (Oct 13, 2000)

Too late to put in a payment stop of some sort on your VISA, perhaps?
What's the word from your AG's office??

You're in a financial fix for sure.


Check with the Boat Show mgmt, and see if he even paid his booth rent. They may already be pursuing him in court....

Best of Luck to you.


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## Lake Superior Sailor (Aug 23, 2011)

Booth rent has to be paid in full before show..Dale


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

If you paid with a credit card, check with them. Typically credit card companies are pretty good with fraud cases and their chase abilities are a lot better than yours (or mine).


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## krazykoozak (May 24, 2010)

wow, that sucks. did you purchase with a credit card? if so, you still may have recourse. call the customer service centre and explain you would like to appeal the charge as you never received the goods. i have done this once in the past for a company that went out of business and received a full credit after an investigation on the part of the credit card company. they have insurance policies for just that sort of thing... best of luck.


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## bartonman (Feb 14, 2010)

What life raft would you recommend I get? I'm looking for an 8 man USCG approved life raft.


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## skiguy35 (Mar 12, 2012)

I had a client who had made a similar purchase at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat show. i too called Givens Service Center and found that the manufacturing company had ben sold off to this John Furlong guy who proceeded to take my clients funds and not ship him the two rafts he ordered. Lori Perion was very forthright and indicated she had worked with him but was let go with one days notice. it soudns like this Furlong guy has scammed a few people. I called show management to let them know about this, they didn't seem overly interested about it. It's too bad that there are people out there like this Furlong guy who are scamming boaters. this business is hard enough to make a living, now add crooks who are preying on people at boat shows. 

Please spread the word that John Furlong is a con-artist.


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## jkfink (Dec 12, 2002)

Givens Marine is no longer in business. The company is in receivership as of January 2012. I was buying a liferaft "on-time" from them. I gave them $4,000 in December and believe I may not recover these funds.


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## RGM67 (Mar 28, 2012)

Hello, I have been reading the treads here about Givens Marine Survival. I found this article in a Rhode Island newspaper and thought it might be helpful.

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND PROVIDENCE, SC. SUPERIOR COURT JOHN J. FURLONG, JR., Petitioner VS. GIVENS MARINE MANUFACTURING, INC. Respondent P.B. No. 12-0786 RECEIVERSHIP NOTICE Please take Notice that on the 19th day of March, 2012, an Order Appointing Permanent Receiver was entered by the Providence County Superior Court in the above-captioned matter. Said Order appointed Diane Finkle, Esq., as Permanent Receiver (the "Receiver") of Defendant, and specified that said Receiver was to give a Surety Bond in the amount of $10,000.00, with respect to the faithful performance of the duties conferred upon said Receiver by said Order. Said Order, the original of which is on file in the Office of the Clerk of the Providence County Superior Court, and which Order is incorporated herein by reference as if it were set forth in full in this Receivership Notice, contains, inter alia, the following provisions: "13. All creditors or other claimants hereby are ordered to file under oath with the Receiver at Winograd Shine Land & Finkle, P.C., 123 Dyer Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, on or before the 26th day of July, 2012, a statement setting forth their claims, including, but without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the name and address of the claimant, the nature and amount of such claim, a statement of any security or lien held by the claimant to which such claimant is or claims to be entitled, and also a statement as to any preference or priority which the claimant claims to be entitled to over the claims of any other or all other claimants or creditors. 14. That the commencement, prosecution, or continuance of the prosecution, of any action, suit, arbitration proceeding, hearing, or any foreclosure, reclamation or repossession proceeding, both judicial and non-judicial, or any other proceeding, in law, or in equity or under any statute, or otherwise, against said Defendant or any of its property, in any Court, agency, tribunal, or elsewhere, or before any arbitrator, or otherwise by any creditor, stockholder, corporation, partnership or any other person, or the levy of any attachment, execution or other process upon or against any property of said Defendant, or the taking or attempting to take into possession any property in the possession of the Defendant or of which the Defendant has the right to possession, or the interference with the Receiver's taking possession of or retaining possession of any such property, or the cancellation at any time during the Receivership proceeding herein of any insurance policy, lease or other contract with Defendant, by any of such parties as aforesaid, other than the Receiver designated as aforesaid, or the termination of telephone, electric, gas or other utility service to Defendant, by any public utility, without obtaining prior approval thereof from this Honorable Court, in which connection said Receiver shall be entitled to prior notice and an opportunity to be heard, are hereby restrained and enjoined until further Order of this Court." ENTER: Michael A. Silverstein, Associate Justice 3/19/12 BY ORDER: Susan M. Diggins, Esq. Supervisory Clerk
Published: 3/26/2012


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## bartonman (Feb 14, 2010)

Little too early to tell exactly what the entity who purchased the assets of Givens will be calling themselves. I can tell you I know who made an offer of $20000 that beat my $15000 offer for the assets. It was two gentlemen that claimed they were investor shareholders of Givens Marine Manufacturing Inc. There names were Tom Swift (lawyer) and Kiri Humphrey's (venture capitalist).

I objected to there being allowed to make an offer for the assets, but the judge allowed it anyway and gave them 3 hours to come up with the 10% certified funds deposit. They provided a bank check which the judge said was fine. Because there were two offers on the table for the assets, Diane Finkle requested to hold an auction between the parties in a side room of the court. I spoke to the judge during the hearing by telephone and also was called by Finkle to attend the auction. She stated, though Mr. Humphreys was bidding on his own behalf, he has the option to put the assets in the name of an entity of his choice. This made me feel like that had certainly already been determined. After her opening the assets up for auction, she said she had a bid for $20000 and ask would I like to make a bid. I replied, No. That seemed to catch her off guard. So the assets were sold to the two people who were involved with the company that sold rafts to many people (me included) and did not deliver them. So, they got the company back, and the debt is gone.

I wanted to move the manufacturing to Virginia and breath life back into this excellent product. I'm sorry that did not happen, but this deal stunk from the beginning. 
Under the circumstances, I second the warning to current and future owners of the Givens liferafts. During our due diligence we were provided letters from the Coast Guard that stated Givens Marine Survival Inc. and the Manufacturing entity were suspended from servicing and manufacturing USCG approved liferafts. They apparently failed to follow procedures and the certified inspection company refused to audit them anymore for failure to correct violations and failure to pay them for services rendered. Until these serious circumstances are corrected I suggest you do your best to have a reputable service company handle the servicing of your rafts. If you have a USCG Approved raft, maybe you should give the CG a call for help in determining if you can get a service company other than Givens to service your raft. Givens didn't let anyone else service the rafts they manufactured.

I purchased a 8 man raft at the Annapolis boat show in 2011 from Lori Perrino. In February of 2012 I sent my 10 man Givens liferaft to Givens for servicing. I told Lori I wanted them shipped together to save on shipping. That is when I was told the new raft I purchased was from a different company named Givens Marine Manufacturing inc. I told Lori she was the only person I ever talked too. She said she used to work for the "other" company, but was fired in January with no notice. Needless to say I never got my new raft I paid $6690 for.

And after this attempt at acquiring the assets of Givens, I am greatly concerned about the 10 man raft Givens Marine Survival serviced for me at a cost of over $1500. The envelope that came with my raft stated the bottle still needed to be hydro'd. When I asked Lori about this she stated everything was fine and it was done. The record does not reflect those comments. As much as I hate to do this, I am going to have to open my liferaft to inspect there work. I don't want to put my families life in the hands of these people. When I open and inspect it, I will videotape the whole event. And if I can get a Coast Guard official to stand by and observe, I will.

I am curious to see who pops up as the manufacturer of these rafts after the sale of assets. This was a tragedy that extends back to when the inventor Jim Givens lost control of his invention to the Perrino's. Jim Givens provided this world with the best raft in the world ( my opinion ) and if I ask anything, it would be to remember Jim Givens for the contributions he made to the industry which set the bar for the other liferaft manufacturers to provide safer liferafts.

To set the record straight, I saw another poster was under the impression Frank was Lori's husband, actually, Frank is Lori's father. 
Leading up to the sale of the assets, I noticed Lori was trying to sell a lot of rafts via Craigslist and on eBay under the username lorianna125 and on another website she operates called liferaftsonsale.com | "Marine Survival Equipment Specialists". Lori's email is [email protected] I thought she may have been attempting to raise money to make a bid on the assets. But that couldn't be true because, all the documents stated Givens Marine Survival would not compete with Givens Marine Manufacturing. And clearly these sales would be considered competing. And they wouldn't do something as unprofessional and underhanded as that. Are you picking up what I'm putting down?

Oh, I almost forgot, when we contacted the Tiverton tax assessors office concerning Givens Marine Survival Inc., they stated they have not paid taxes since 2008 and a man in the office overheard the conversation I was having with the lady in the office, and he said he went by the location personally and was told they do not operate that business there anymore. Though Givens Marine Survival Inc. is a corporation in good standing in Delaware, it is not registered in the state of Rhode Island. For a company who is "not in business" they sure got a lot of my money. They run many online type businesses from that same building, which is owned by Frank Perrino.


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

Dude, I read that whole dense block of words, and appreciate your story and predicament, but really, use some paragraphs! Have mercy on your readers!


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## bartonman (Feb 14, 2010)

arf145 said:


> Dude, I read that whole dense block of words, and appreciate your story and predicament, but really, use some paragraphs! Have mercy on your readers!


How's that? Better?


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## Rjbaren (Mar 3, 2006)

I have a little info that may help. You can contact the Rhode Island office of the Atty General consumer protection divison at 401 274 4400 xt 2401. Ed mund Murray is the atty who has delt with Givens for years as they have a very poor reputation and he has been in and out of court with them frequently. I was able to recover a portion of my loss from Givens and at least have enough to buy a raft from a reputable company.
You also can file a claim against the company through a law firm through July 26th also in Rhode Island. Mr. Murray has the information with who to make your claim. 
Stay on this and you will get some relief they do an excellent job at the Atty General's office and Givens does not like to go to court, they will do what it takes to stay out like try and settle your claims. Beware, Givens are not honest people they will tell you that talked with the Atty general's office and offer some BS when they really didn't talk with them at all, thay are just trying to feel you out and get you take agree to take as little as possible.
hope this is helpful good luck, I got some money back and you can too.


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## arf145 (Jul 25, 2007)

bartonman said:


> How's that? Better?


Gracias!


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## northeast (May 30, 2012)

Bartonman,

What area of manufacturing were you involved in?


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## Saltyrope (Aug 20, 2008)

bartonman said:


> Little too early to tell exactly what the entity who purchased the assets of Givens will be calling themselves. I can tell you I know who made an offer of $20000 that beat my $15000 offer for the assets. It was two gentlemen that claimed they were investor shareholders of Givens Marine Manufacturing Inc. There names were Tom Swift (lawyer) and Kiri Humphrey's (venture capitalist).
> 
> I objected to there being allowed to make an offer for the assets, but the judge allowed it anyway and gave them 3 hours to come up with the 10% certified funds deposit. They provided a bank check which the judge said was fine. Because there were two offers on the table for the assets, Diane Finkle requested to hold an auction between the parties in a side room of the court. I spoke to the judge during the hearing by telephone and also was called by Finkle to attend the auction. She stated, though Mr. Humphreys was bidding on his own behalf, he has the option to put the assets in the name of an entity of his choice. This made me feel like that had certainly already been determined. After her opening the assets up for auction, she said she had a bid for $20000 and ask would I like to make a bid. I replied, No. That seemed to catch her off guard. So the assets were sold to the two people who were involved with the company that sold rafts to many people (me included) and did not deliver them. So, they got the company back, and the debt is gone.
> 
> ...


Hi Bartonman. Perhaps like a lot of people, I think the Givens Buoy life rafts are a very good concept and I am sorry to see the raft off the market due to what seems like an ongoing problem first starting with the change over from Givens himself.
To the point. If you are interested in manufacturing Givens Buoy Life rafts then what is to stop you? If the patent has run out that was originally put in by Givens some years ago (Was it not originally a NASA invention?) then what is to stop you going ahead with your manufacturing. There are so many similar rafts out there now that are very alike and also in the interests of saving lives at sea by not making this 'type' of life raft available for open manufacture seems to be to be against the national interest of providing the very best survival equipment at the best price competition will allow without compromising build integrity.


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## bartonman (Feb 14, 2010)

The Givens life raft has been through a good deal of testing and has been proven in the field. Someone might be able to copy the design, and make a raft similar or even improve on it, but it is tough to compete from the ground up against a reputation such as the Givens life raft has. Of course, I'm talking about the product, not the Company. I checked in on the websites and there has not been any changes since the "auction". It seems as though they are just laying low and hoping the discussions go cold. They may under estimate how passionate people are about their safety. I still have a Givens life raft, and it was inspected by Givens Marine Survival. I do not trust it was done correctly, so I feel as though I do not have an adequate life raft for my vessel yet. A US Coast Guard person told me that the Givens life rafts reputation is well known from head quarters on up, but the management has screwed it up. The CG has revoked Givens authorization to service and manufacture CG approved life rafts, because they were consistently not following the regulations. The third party inspection company, refused to visit the site anymore, because Givens was not paying them and Givens was not applying corrections to deficiencies found during previous inspections. I was looking to revive a company with an excellent product, which would have been relatively easy. But it seems the same people who had their fingers in the pie, when all those rafts were sold during 2011 and not delivered, still have control of the company. The tragedy of Jim Givens legacy does not seem to be over yet. If you want to know more about how Jim Givens lost control of his company, look up and read the bankruptcy documents from the 90's. Then you will get a picture of the people in control of this amazing life raft designed by Jim Givens. May he rest in peace, and his family be proud of his contribution to saving lives.


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## smallboatlover (May 11, 2011)

i live near the given shop in tiverton rhode island and they went out of bussnies left the shop haven't seen them there since.


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## TropicCat (Oct 14, 2008)

Management might have bought the company out of receivership but are still on the hook for any outstanding claims. I hope all you guys follow through and make them pay through the nose.


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