Quarrel with a charter company over the boat damages

[vlathom]

steppencat.

Thanks so much starting this thread. It's a subject that more cruisers need to know about.

Vicki Lathom

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Tingum

Hopefully all is on a credit card. Protest to the card company, they tend to side with the customer.

I said that once on this forum and you would think I was the devil incarnate. Certain elements on this board, and certain companies like this greek one, don't want you to know your credit card rights.

I agree, if its on the CC... challenge it.

[meirriba]

For future reference only: usually you can lower or cancel your deposit by paying additional sum to the charterer. E.g. a payment of $100-200 will lower the initial $2,000 deposit to something like $500 (never zero).
I have always took this option when chartering. If a charter did not offer such an option I looked for a different wendor.

[meirriba]

To the current situation: it seems that you cannot recover your cost. Only path is go to court and there you will probably loose as your word be set against the statement of the charter company.
A more ethical/client attuned company will not charge you for items that malfunctioned as an outcome of wear & tear but will charge you for breakages that were an outcome of improper handling.
Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the above.

[SimonV]

Originally Posted by OnTour

It's a Bavaria


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OnTour, could you quantify your comment please ?

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[bsurvey]

go to namsglobal.org hire a surveyor in Greece to represent your interests. his opinion will hold up in court or with the insurance company for the charter co.


sound to me like they are shaking you down

[steppencat]

Originally Posted by bsurvey

go to namsglobal.org hire a surveyor in Greece to represent your interests. his opinion will hold up in court or with the insurance company for the charter co.

Thank you, but I did it the other way: I reported the situation to the coast guard, and they promised to send the surveyor. This made the owner VERY upset. He started to scream at me, grab my shoulder etc. right at the coast guard office. Very unpleasant situation.

[valhalla360]

What is the total damage cost you got hit up for?

Unless it's several thousand, it's probalby not worth hiring a surveyor and taking it to court (not sure if it being in the Greek court system would make a difference). Unless you want to take it on to prove a point.

If it were me at this point in the process, I would go forward with the assumption it's a lost cause and decide how much effort you want to put into hassling the owner. Challenging the credit card would be a low effort action as would notifying the local authorities but I wouldn't plan on it resulting in your money back.

(FYI - my original post was not to imply that you were lying or exagerating just that you often get a totally different feel if you hear the other side of the story)

[steppencat]

The cost is actually quite small - 200eur for the winch and 70eur for the railings. It's more about justice than money. I feel robbed and that's an unpleasant feeling.

[valhalla360]

I understand your frustaration but for euro270...my nieces would break out into the chorus from Frozen...

[zboss]

270 eur? Like 300 dollars? Not worth your time.

[Dockhead]

I chartered for years before I bought my present boat. It was an experience like that (with a charter company in St. Vincent) which caused me to give up chartering and buy another boat.

You are at the mercy of the charter operator for a sum too small to fight over legally. For that amount of money, it's not even worth going through consumer complaint processes. Much greater damage was all the cruising time you lost screwing around with technical problems.

Just forget about it (be sure to review the charter company, however, in appropriate resources). Next time, don't charter the cheapest boat you can find. Carefully select the charter company and choose a reasonably new boat. Choose a charter company with a reputation for keeping their boats in good shape. You wlil pay extra for that, and boy is it worth it.

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[steppencat]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Next time, don't charter the cheapest boat you can find. Carefully select the charter company and choose a reasonably new boat. Choose a charter company with a reputation for keeping their boats in good shape. You wlil pay extra for that, and boy is it worth it.

Thank you! That's what I plan to do next time

[ruby tuesday]

The Moorings - fantastic firm - no baot older than 5 years and nearly every boat is privately owned in the scheme - so basically what you're sailing is someone else's pride and joy but run through a proper management company and yes it does cost a bit more but hell its worth it - i've had 6 charters in the carribean through them every boat fantastic -- got to the point where i was gunna jump in and buy a boat through their scheme but i didnt want a cat cos cats are too big for the marinas and then there's bringing it uphill coming back to the UK.

feel sorry for you but hell thats greece - its gunna be trashed - most of the decent firms are like The Moorigns no boat older than about 5 years and meticulously maintained. Even the Sunsail ones are bang on and they're a bit older than most but well specced and well priced too.

like you said you for the bargain bucket option so am surprised that it didnt sink on you

[Stu Jackson]

Many years ago we did a "house exchange" with a guy who owned a sailboat charter company in the BVIs. He gave us a free trip on one of his boats and he would (evntually) come to use our house (he was from Toronto).

We got this C&C 36. Nothing ever worked. First day engine wouldn't start at Norman Island, they came over from Nanny Cay and "fixed" it.

Next day it started, we sailed over the The Rhone, engine wouldn't start. Called them up, they said "Can you said back to the base? I said "Sure, but have you looked out your window?" There was no wind.

"OK," they said, "We'll be up with a replacement boat by 1500."

And they were: a 50 foot Beneteau.

We had a lovely time.

The owner never did come to use our house.

Look, good stuff and bad stuff happens all the time.

Sorry to hear about your misadventures.

You have the right conclusions though.

Better luck next time.