Impounded boats in Mexico

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

Im sure the marinas didnt mind the extra 10's of thousands of $$ in revenue this made for them, id be surprised if non of that found its way into officials pockets.... Just sayin ,,,

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10's of thousands of Dollars....Don't let reality get in the way of your "just sayin" because the Marina's in Mexico have been jam packed with Cruisers for years and they didn't need to force anyone to stay.

If anything this lost them money by helping to give the crazy impressions you just posted. How could it be that I cruised Mexico for 4 yrs without a single bribe, mordida or "greese the process tip" being demanded, asked for, or hinted at? Old Sterotypes are hard to break, about as hard as chat room cruise rumors.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by mottseng

WOW....harsh!!!!

Not really....it was a stereo-typical, sexist statement. I would say the same and have, with either sex. Just check the joke thread out some time.

Sorry everyone for the thread drift.

[zeehag]

this is one update...this man was first one to go to sat with his clearance....to learn much later that he is victim of a clerical glitch with paperworks.......i dont think he will mind if i send this along......

John Hards
Mar 5 (2 days ago)


Hey Richard,

Thanks for the TIP updates, to learn of some bright spots and offer to leave none behind. Perhaps you can engage your FONATUR supporters for help with the still impounded boats in Banderas Bay. That is, with a visit from SAT on Monday Pelican just added 38 more pages to her Nuevo Vallarta impound documents including a bill for $84,028.82MN due in 45 days. Recall that the "fault" on the TIP for Pelican was that the Banjercito in Salina Cruz knowingly entered my FM3 ending date as the ending date for the TIP. However, with one more trip to PV, I now learn that there is no need to get a new permit as we "no longer have the boat". Go see SAT.

At SAT in PV they advised that the original 18 page document encoded a requirement that gave me only 10 days to object to the results of the "visit". Of course, I did object to the results but contact was limited to the marina personal and Banjercito as they are the only ones that have ever viewed any TIPs for the boat and they saw nothing wrong with my payment six years ago. In English the TIP is good for "a period of ten years" and I do hold a previous TIP with a blank ending date so expected that SAT could resolve the issue. Wrong, and in addition SAT can provide no help now as the "case is in the courts". This could be an advantage as 6 years of stopping in marinas has provided many co-conspirators "in failure to report the tax dodge "!

Today, the marina was surprised to learn that SAT got to Pelican's slip without their knowledge. And I was surprised to hear from the office that "Banjercito can not be trusted to properly fill out Banjercito forms" and that in Spanish "good for 10 years could mean "...up to ten years". Perhaps the form does need rework not to mention common sense.

Likely that Pelican will sail without papers as at 75 my SSI check does not cover expenses like this so any help would be appreciated. Perhaps there are others with a similar issue? Next slip, Conor, just came aboard with your reply to his contact so thanks in advance. Laura is right "only in Mexico" and she was manager in Puerto Escondido where Pelican was first chartered some years back.

Thanks, Pelican John and La Leoncita Lolita
John Hards, svPelican, Marina Nuevo Vallarta `

[Celestialsailor]

I really thought we were over all this crap down here but apparently AGACE continues to save face by throwing their weight around. The story below is about a sailor retiree whose TIP was misprinted by Banjercito. I saw the same thing on my friends TIP, where the put the expiration date as the same as his visa rather than the 10 year allowed. He and I went to Banjercito to "modify our TIP's and paid a mere $54 to correct their mistakes. It seems they just make it up as they go along. This in from Latitude 38...


A $7,000 Fine for a Typo Made By a Mexican Bureaucrat?

"March 7, 2014 – Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico
A representative of Hacienda, the Mexican IRS, has told 75-year-old American John Hards of the Nuevo Vallarta-based Pelican that he is to be fined 84,000 pesos — a little under $7,000 — for a typo in his Temporary Import Permit. Hacienda told Hards, who lives off Social Security, that he could get a 20% "discount" if he pays within 20 days. Hards was given a 55-page document, in Spanish, explaining the fine. That AGACE would spend so much time and effort on an easily explained typo that wasn't of Hard's doing defies understanding.
Hards had previously told Latitude that he ran afoul of AGACE, a subagency of Hacienda, in late November over a typo on his TIP. "I got my 10-year permit at Salina Cruz in 2009 when returning from a granddaughter's surfing trip south. As I was getting a 10-year permit in 2009, it obviously should have had a "valid until" date of 2019. Unfortunately, somebody at Banjercito, the military bank that collects fees for TIPs, mistakenly wrote in '2010' instead of '2019' in the "valid until" space. 2010 was the date my then-tourist visa expired, which has nothing to do with a TIP. After my boat was impounded in late November, a very nice lady at the new Banjercito office in Puerto Vallarta patiently explained that the "valid until" date has no meaning for a 10-Year TIP, and that since my current TIP was indeed good until 2019, I couldn't get a replacement."
Despite the hassle when his boat was first impounded, Hards wrote the following: "I have many friends who worry about me, and may get too fussy with perceived threats, but I am thankful every day for my retirement in Mexico." Given the fine, we're not sure how Hards feels now. He's spent the last couple of days looking for lawyers.
When Hards returned to his boat on Thursday, he was informed that he could no longer deal with AGACE/Hacienda, as the matter had been turned over to the courts. Except for attorney fees, it seems this is a good thing, because any halfway fair-minded judge is going to dismiss the fine.
That any part of the Mexican government could not accept its responsibility for the typo on Hards' TIP makes us want to bang our head against the wall. We've spent 30+ years being the biggest promoters of nautical tourism to Mexico, and then they pull something like this that is so unfair and so stupid. It's not uncommon for Mexico to reduce fines from an initial $100,000 U.S. to $25, but even if that happens, or if the court throws the judgment out, it's still outrageous. For what it's worth, the few boats at San Carlos Marina that didn't have any TIP were fined just $113.
The other day we received the following email from a member of the King Harbor YC: "I am scheduled to be in this year's Newport to Ensenada Race, but will probably withdraw. Even though my crew might call me a wimp, I absolutely cannot risk my boat being part of an AGACE hassle. It's not my crew's boat that would be embargoed."
So the situation in Mexico continues to be this: For the vast majority of owners of foreign-owned boats in Mexico, everything is hunky dory, and they are having a grand time. But for those unlucky few who still haven't had their boats released after three months — despite being perfectly legal — or for those who are getting screwed by Mexico's myopic sense of right and wrong, it's an ongoing nightmare".

- latitude / richard

[Dulcesuenos]

Yeah and my comment about money going to officials is the one thats going to keep people from going ......pftttt

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[rebel heart]

It's been funny watching Rich at Lat38 finally be a little critical towards the more frustrating aspects of Mexico.

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