De Valk brokers Holland

[TimelessHelm]

Anyone had any experience of buying a boat through De Valk in Holland?

Reason I ask is that their operation looks very professional; excellent website and top quality listings with many high res photos and detailed inventory, for (almost) all the boats they offer. prices seem OK. Example:
BAVARIA 32 CRUISER sailing yacht for sale | De Valk Yacht broker

Wondered if the reality loved up to the presentation.

I would honestly rethink any decision to use De Valk. We are currently in litigation with them because they never sent the final monies to us after the sale of our yacht. They did not use a secure third party escrow account and was hacked! We have had to hire lawyers in The Netherlands. A year later, the case is still ongoing. This was our life savings!!!! Don't be fooled by the pretty pictures.

 

[TimelessHelm]

Anyone had any experience of buying a boat through De Valk in Holland?

Reason I ask is that their operation looks very professional; excellent website and top quality listings with many high res photos and detailed inventory, for (almost) all the boats they offer. prices seem OK. Example:
BAVARIA 32 CRUISER sailing yacht for sale | De Valk Yacht broker

Wondered if the reality loved up to the presentation.

We bought through De Valk in 2006.
Wouldn't hesitate to do so again.

You are very lucky! We are currently in litigation with them because they never sent the final monies to us after the sale of our yacht. They did not use a secure third party escrow account and was hacked! We have had to hire lawyers in The Netherlands. A year later, the case is still ongoing. This was our life savings!!!! Don't be fooled by the pretty pictures.

 

[TimelessHelm]

I bought my boat in Palma thro' De Valk, the broker and office staff were friendly, professional and extremely helpful. The company also operated a client (escrow) account which is a practice not followed by all brokers. This was important to me as it was my first experience of dealing with a Dutch broker in Spain.

Sadly, they did not do so with our transaction and they wired our money to some unknown bank in Germany when we are in the US. They never authenticated the wiring instructions and lost our money. We have had to file a lawsuit against DeValk for same.

 

[Koeketiene]

A 4 year old thread revived by a new member.
Whose sole contrubution has been to slag off a broker.

I find this odd.

 

[SaltIre]

A 4 year old thread revived by a new member.
Whose sole contrubution has been to slag off a broker.

I find this odd.

Do you have more recent experience of them than 2006?

 

[TimelessHelm]

Yes, we listed our yacht with them 2018. I was doing research by reading the forums to ascertain if this has happened in the past with this particular broker. I paid no attention to the date of the thread. I simply responded with my experience, as the thread is so titled. De Valk is the topic of this thread. My sole contribution stands, as I have had a wretched horrible experience with De Valk. If comments are no longer allowed four years later, then with all due respect, commenting should be turned off and not allowed.

 

[Koeketiene]

Do you have more recent experience of them than 2006?

In March I viewed a couple of boats they had on their books.
They were friendly and helpful at all times.

 

[Lightwave395]

We bought through De Valk in 2006.
Wouldn't hesitate to do so again.

Me too back in 2003, bought my Dehler 35 through them, excellent company to deal with I thought

 

[SherrieEloise]

Yes, we listed our yacht with them 2018. I was doing research by reading the forums to ascertain if this has happened in the past with this particular broker. I paid no attention to the date of the thread. I simply responded with my experience, as the thread is so titled. De Valk is the topic of this thread. My sole contribution stands, as I have had a wretched horrible experience with De Valk. If comments are no longer allowed four years later, then with all due respect, commenting should be turned off and not allowed.

 

[SherrieEloise]

Dear TimelessHelm,
I know this is a very old conversation but I had the worst experience with De Valk in the Netherlands. My husband and I put a large downpayment on a yacht that De Valk was selling. After the survey report, we decided to back out and not go through with the purchase. This was at the height of Covid. The broker told us that we could back out but would lose our 60,000 Euro deposit. But there were repairs to be done. He informed us if the repairs were less than 5% of the value of the boat, we still would forfiet our deposit. Anyway, we went through with the sale, found another nearby yacting company and after more than 2 years found a buyer. But we were informed that a piece of documentation was missing - a CVO - and it would take at least 18,000 Euros to obtain this. Sorry this is taking so long. We need to find an attorney in The Netherlands who will take our case. I am 73 and my husband is 83. I think this is a case of elder abuse amoung other things. Please contact me at sherriesanet@gmail.com if you see this. Thank you so much.