Irish Rover
Well-Known Member
There's another thread on this in the Liveaboard Link section but I thought it might get more exposure here and be of interest to others contemplating buying or selling in Lefkas. This is the other thread http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?493893-Lefkas-area-brokers
The boat I bought was advertised for sale by a broker in Lefkas. According to everything I was told and the contract details I received the boat belonged to a sole owner. I received a contract signed by the sole owner and a Bill of Sale signed by the sole owner. As I was in Turkey and the brokers in Lefkas and the owner in a third country everything was being done by e mail and couriers. One of the documents I was to get as per the contract was the previous Bill of Sale which was required in connection with the registration of the boat in Jersey. After everything had been completed and the boat was mine [OR SO I THOUGHT] the broker e mailed me the previous BOS. As soon as I saw it the alarm bells sounded. The previous BOS showed my sole owner had bought the boat jointly with his wife so to my simple mind he was not entitled to sell it. I called the brokers and got stonewalled until I contacted to ABYA around 10 days later. The brokers then produced an Acte de Vente showing the wife transferred her share entirely to her husband for a consideration of €1 TWO DAYS AFTER THEY BOUGHT IT JOINTLY. No explanation as to why. The document was not witnessed and the Jersey Registry understandably rejected it out of hand. I insisted we go back to basics and that I get a Bill of Sale signed by both the husband and wife and that's what eventually happened after a lot of arguing with the broker who behaved as if I was being totally unreasonable.
The brokers had keys for the boat and a few documents I needed to collect and I owed them €43.11 which was deducted by the bank from a transfer I sent last October so I advised them I would be calling to their office last Thursday week. They insisted I make an appointment at a specific time even though I would be popping in just for a couple of minutes after driving from Athens. This was just more of the bloody minded attitude I had come to expect from them. I should also say that they did not make it easy for me to see the boat last September and I had to push hard to get an appointment during a short visit to Greece.
This is the text of an e mail I sent to them after I got home last week with a small irrelevant section omitted
"Further to my visit to your office last Thursday I have to say that the level of your inefficiency is only matched by the level of your rudeness. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised I was asked to sign for receipt of an original Bill of Sale while being presented with a torn and poor copy. Your office never had the original signed bill of sale. Do you check anything? I crossed off this item from the list and signed it. What followed was pure farce and clearly demonstrates your total lack of understanding of proper procedure. After I had signed the document you altered it as if it had been so when I signed it.
You are supposed to be a businessman but you behaved more like a spoiled child when I was in the office. You never once acknowledged my presence and almost strained yourself not to make eye contact. You appeared to be on a phone call but it’s strange how you stopped it while speaking with xxxxx without asking the person on the other end to hold.
There was a mistake made at the outset of our business but it could have easily been sorted amicably. If you had returned my call, said sorry and talked to me about the best way to sort the problem we would have had no issues . Instead you tried to bulldoze your way and treated me with contempt"
It may well be that my experience with this broker is unusual and exceptional and it may very well be they have thousands of happy sellers and buyers on their books. However I've been around a long time and in business a long time and I consider myself a fairly good judge of character and I would definitely think the guy I dealt with in Lefkas is not well suited to a job where sellers and buyers feel they are dealing with a person who knows what he is doing and values their business.
I have not named the brokerage as I do not want to do anything to compromise the forum but if a Mod clears it I will be happy to do so.
Sorry for the long post but if I told the story in full detail it would run to pages.
The boat I bought was advertised for sale by a broker in Lefkas. According to everything I was told and the contract details I received the boat belonged to a sole owner. I received a contract signed by the sole owner and a Bill of Sale signed by the sole owner. As I was in Turkey and the brokers in Lefkas and the owner in a third country everything was being done by e mail and couriers. One of the documents I was to get as per the contract was the previous Bill of Sale which was required in connection with the registration of the boat in Jersey. After everything had been completed and the boat was mine [OR SO I THOUGHT] the broker e mailed me the previous BOS. As soon as I saw it the alarm bells sounded. The previous BOS showed my sole owner had bought the boat jointly with his wife so to my simple mind he was not entitled to sell it. I called the brokers and got stonewalled until I contacted to ABYA around 10 days later. The brokers then produced an Acte de Vente showing the wife transferred her share entirely to her husband for a consideration of €1 TWO DAYS AFTER THEY BOUGHT IT JOINTLY. No explanation as to why. The document was not witnessed and the Jersey Registry understandably rejected it out of hand. I insisted we go back to basics and that I get a Bill of Sale signed by both the husband and wife and that's what eventually happened after a lot of arguing with the broker who behaved as if I was being totally unreasonable.
The brokers had keys for the boat and a few documents I needed to collect and I owed them €43.11 which was deducted by the bank from a transfer I sent last October so I advised them I would be calling to their office last Thursday week. They insisted I make an appointment at a specific time even though I would be popping in just for a couple of minutes after driving from Athens. This was just more of the bloody minded attitude I had come to expect from them. I should also say that they did not make it easy for me to see the boat last September and I had to push hard to get an appointment during a short visit to Greece.
This is the text of an e mail I sent to them after I got home last week with a small irrelevant section omitted
"Further to my visit to your office last Thursday I have to say that the level of your inefficiency is only matched by the level of your rudeness. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised I was asked to sign for receipt of an original Bill of Sale while being presented with a torn and poor copy. Your office never had the original signed bill of sale. Do you check anything? I crossed off this item from the list and signed it. What followed was pure farce and clearly demonstrates your total lack of understanding of proper procedure. After I had signed the document you altered it as if it had been so when I signed it.
You are supposed to be a businessman but you behaved more like a spoiled child when I was in the office. You never once acknowledged my presence and almost strained yourself not to make eye contact. You appeared to be on a phone call but it’s strange how you stopped it while speaking with xxxxx without asking the person on the other end to hold.
There was a mistake made at the outset of our business but it could have easily been sorted amicably. If you had returned my call, said sorry and talked to me about the best way to sort the problem we would have had no issues . Instead you tried to bulldoze your way and treated me with contempt"
It may well be that my experience with this broker is unusual and exceptional and it may very well be they have thousands of happy sellers and buyers on their books. However I've been around a long time and in business a long time and I consider myself a fairly good judge of character and I would definitely think the guy I dealt with in Lefkas is not well suited to a job where sellers and buyers feel they are dealing with a person who knows what he is doing and values their business.
I have not named the brokerage as I do not want to do anything to compromise the forum but if a Mod clears it I will be happy to do so.
Sorry for the long post but if I told the story in full detail it would run to pages.
