Lefkas area brokers??

[Carmel2]

Any good or bad reports??? Buying and selling??

 

[Irish Rover]

I've copied and pasted below a couple of comments I made on another thread. I hope it helps.
Strange how so many of us seem to have had issues with brokers in Lefkas. I was messed around big time by a broker there and they only started taking me seriously when I contacted the YBDSA. For what it's worth, the YBDSA were excellent when I contacted them and the CEO herself got involved and was very helpful.
I only had contact with 2 brokers in Greece and both were worse than useless. They try to make potential buyers feel like they are doing them a favour answering questions or showing a boat. In one case the brokers antics last September cost the owner a likely sale and the boat is still for sale. In the other case I bought the boat despite the best efforts of the broker not to give me an appointment to view when I wanted it and the broker made a complete mess of everything thereafter. I haven't dealt with brokers elsewhere and I don't know if they're all the same but personally I would not recommend to any buyer or seller to use a broker.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Paul I can't name any by name but I will say there any an hand full one in Lefkas and one on Peravaza marina two on Nirdi and one run by a well know charter company , all brits one very close to Brit if you know the broker you know who I mean , then there a couple of one that run out of Athens I had some kind of dealing with all of them one way or another , no way I would put a boat on their list of ever bother to view any of they boat , that not to say their boat are crap, just the brokers .
Off cause some people would have had good experience with them at some point, but as business people go there are some way near the bottom of my list.
If anyone wishes to use them to sell their boat I would strongly suggest that you Approach them as a buyer and see how quickly they respond to you and see how quickly they can arrange viewing , if they can't be bothered with you as a buy what chance do you have listing your boat with them .

 

[Mr Cassandra]

As I have said before Be Very aware of a V. or his other firm G. with his brother.

 

[Pasarell]

I bought my boat through a broker in Lefkas. It took a great deal of patience to not walk away just because of the attitude of the broker.

 

[Carmel2]

Reckon we could open up shop and make a few Bob between us?

 

[Irish Rover]

I mentioned in my post above that I contacted to the YBDSA when I was having a problem. It was actually the ABYA http://www.abya.co.uk/ but they're essentially all the one organisation. As I said they were excellent and I would recommend to anyone who feels they are being messed around by a broker to contact ABYA or whatever professional organisation the broker lists on his website or blurb. ABYA has a code of practice http://www.abya.co.uk/information/code-of-practice.aspx and a formal complaints procedure. You do not have to be a client vendor of the broker to make a complaint. If you are a buyer dealing with the broker and he has done something contrary to the code of practice or indeed failed to do something required by the code then you can complain. I would say the biggest penalty for any broker who is the subject of a complaint is the embarrassment it causes because the complaint is investigated by a disciplinary sub committee comprised of senior members of the association in other words his competitors who will take great delight in his predicament and no doubt have a good laugh at his expenses down the pub. I made an informal complaint and as I said it was dealt with by the CEO but the delightful part was that one of the principals of the firm was a sitting ABYA committee member. My business with this broker is not fully finished and I'm reserving my position but I may well still go ahead and submit a formal complaint.

 

[affinite]

As I have said before Be Very aware of a V. or his other firm G. with his brother.

+1

 

[chrisgee]

I bought my boat through a broker in Lefkas. It took a great deal of patience to not walk away just because of the attitude of the broker.

 

[chrisgee]

Same as me. Never met such uselessness,arrogance, rudeness etc etc. The only way you get anywhere is to deal with the UK office.
Just amazes me how such inept people keep their jobs for so long.
Incidentally I find that Colin of Pinnacle Yachts in Corfu is so diametrically opposite he deserves his success.

 

[Irish Rover]

Same as me. Never met such uselessness,arrogance, rudeness etc etc. The only way you get anywhere is to deal with the UK office.
Just amazes me how such inept people keep their jobs for so long.
Incidentally I find that Colin of Pinnacle Yachts in Corfu is so diametrically opposite he deserves his success.

I my case the UK office was no better than the local office and I was actually told in the end it was the UK office who had messed things up and was directing matters at every stage. They only started paying attention when I involved the ABYA. I don't expect to be in the market again for a long time but whenever I am I will not under any circumstances deal with a broker. There are plenty of perfectly good boats out there being sold privately and there is no way any leech of a broker is getting any of my money ever again.

 

[duncan99210]

I had dealings with one of the Lefkas brokers whilst trying to help a mate sell his boat. I found the broker to be useless. Given the money he would have collected as his fee, he seemed determined to do his best to ensure that anyone other than him should do the work. He would appear briefly with a potential buyer then announce he had to do something else and leave me trying to show someone over the boat when we had to communicate in German (chap was Italian) because the broker failed to produce the promised translator. And so on and so forth: wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.

 

[Cariadco]

So, who's going to be first to declare who everyone's talking about?

 

[Irish Rover]

So, who's going to be first to declare who everyone's talking about?

From reading the thread there is no doubt there are at least 2 brokers in question here and maybe 3. In my case, as I said at #7, my business with the broker is not fully finished and I'm still considering whether to submit a formal complaint to the ABYA. I expect to conclude my business with them this week and I will decide what to do then. I'm not afraid to name the broker in question but I don't want to do anything now which might compromise a formal complaint to the ABYA. I can't see why anyone would be afraid as long as they're telling the truth.

 

[rodsuter]

Looking forward to your "naming and (maybe?) shaming", as soon as possible - I need to move forward with my planning and hopefully avoid any rough weather. Would you consider sending me a PM if I cross my heart it won't go any further ?

 

[macd]

I can't see why anyone would be afraid as long as they're telling the truth.

Perhaps more to the point, using (recognizable) initials in no way protects the author against libel action.

 

[Irish Rover]

I agree everyone needs to be careful about what they write. I certainly wouldn’t write anything I couldn’t prove to be factually true. I am not ready to publicly name the broker I dealt with for reasons already stated. I can say without any hesitation I would not consider buying another boat through the same broker again regardless of the attractiveness of the boat or the price. If any of my friends was buying or selling I’d advise them strongly to steer clear. Even at enquiry stage they were not very accommodating even though I was traveling from Turkey to view the boat involving an international flight and almost 1000 Km car journeys. The trouble started after I parted with my money. Their inefficiency was breathtaking. I went to their office today to collect keys and paperwork and even then they couldn’t get it right and the level of rudeness was unbelievable.