chichester harbour dues - waste of money on admin

[PaulR]

couple of weekends ago sailed to east head in chichester for lunch stop, anchored, rowed ashore for stroll- in readiness for expected visit of harbourstaff rib and request for dues we had completed one of their harbour dues forms which allows payment by credit card, when rib came alongside and very pleasant crew asked for their payment we passed across completed card and received relevant thing to show in window - no complaints all fine but,,,

this week received through post a formal receipt for our credit card payment for the grand sum of £3.50 - not sure if they have to send one but if not does seem daft to incur admin charge and postage to send us receipt for payment made in person by credit card , would much prefer if they are going to charge to make sure every possible penny goes to the harbour rather than in pointless overheads or better still reduce or scrap charges

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
received through post a formal receipt for our credit card payment for the grand sum of £3.50

[/ QUOTE ] That is pretty daft. A couple of times I have paid for my anual licence at the harbour office and been rather surprised to get a receipt through the post a week or so later.

Presumably they had to send you the credit card receipt if the patrol wre unable to issue it it but in my case there was no need to send anything. You should have paid cash for such a small amount!

I reckon we should post our comments on their new forum!

 

[bobgoode]

Come on guys stop taking the p**s. They have to give a receipt, just like any business. Why did you not pay in coin of the realm for such a small ammount?

Now to the subject of the cost...£75 squids for the year for a 32 footer, seems good to me. Many years ago in Brixham I had to pay 250 for a 22 footer for sixth months.

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
They have to give a receipt, just like any business

[/ QUOTE ] When was the last time a filling station, a supermarket, any shop for that matter sent you a receipt through the post?[ QUOTE ]
Now to the subject of the cost...£75 squids for the year for a 32 footer, seems good to me.

[/ QUOTE ] Who was claiming otherwise?

 

[boatbuilder]

I thought that the reciept was the bit of paper that comes out of the till when you pay by plastic

 

[Frontier]

I think all these fees are a bit of a rip off, sure they need some income, but if I have to pay way cant I have a say. They use my money to enforce speed limits I dont entirly agree with and to provide a playground for dinghy sailing which seem to do exactly what they want.

Then when you pop around the corner into into the next harbour you have to pay again. I think one fee to go where you like would be better, then you wouldn't need all these little visitor fees. IMHO /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[[2068]]

Next time, pay in cash, esp if you want them to get all the money!

A credit card transaction for £3.50 is a loss making transaction for most businesses.

dv.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Any transaction for £3.50 that has to be collected by staff on the water is going to be loss making.

 

[VicS]

In Chi they patrol the busy areas like East Head collecting at busy times so they can collect a good few £5 (the weekend rate) on a fine saturday afternoon/ sunday morning.

True though that if people pay by credit card and a receipt has to be processed by the harbour office and posted there won't be much left of a fiver if any.

We got caught for using the visitors pontoon above itchenor one day last year. Half an hour later and they would have already gone off shift and we would not have been caught!

 

[[2068]]

D*mn, there goes that business idea I had for a waterborne ice cream service...

dv.

 

[peterb26]

I have just moved my boat from Chichester Harbour (after 9 years there) and for a 10 metre boat, my 2007 renewal would have been £90.

To be honest, I thought that this was quite a lot of money for the pleasure of motoring from Sparkes to the West Pole when we took a trip out.

However, one thing that amazed me about Chichester Hbr is that they actually LOSE MONEY on every prosecution they make for speeding in the harbour.

Apparently it costs them more in legal fees to prosecute each case than they recover from the fines.

I thoroughly endorse the speed limits in the harbour area - but after this conversation with the harbourmaster, I can see why there are so few prosecutions.

 

[kds]

"we would not have been caught!"

So ... can we presume you would have put the money through their letter box ?
If you did this while the assistant was not around in a shop - it would be called shoplifting !

Ken /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[DickB]

I was at Northney for 4 years and happily paid the Chi fees. I thought they did a pretty good job, and it was always a beautiful trip up the emsworth channel to Northney. Since they were resposible for maintinaing the environement I thought it was good value. (Compared to the marina fees it was chicken sh_t...

 

[fireball]

Of course - the harbour doesn't really pay to have the entrance dredged ... and doesn't pay for the upkeep of the navigation marks ... to name but 2 of the services that the office provide from the harbour fees.