marina charges for someone to work on my boat

[Phillipuk]

If I get someone to work on my boat to fit say autopilot my marina do not offer this service so I have to bring someone in and yet they (the marina) charge me £10.

Now my boat is out of the water Im still being charged the same fee for work being done even though the boat is parked on a car park.

I asked them today why they do not charge visitors to use the cafe??

is this a normal charge or am I being ripped off?

 

[omega2]

you do not say where you are but if you were in Bradwell a charge of 10% of the hourly rate of the fitter of your choice is levied, and if you are on the hard or in your berth you pay the same rent even though a visitor may be using it

 

[PCUK]

Doesn't meatter where you are, you are being ripped off. But that is the nature of the boating industry in the UK, if you can't afford it then P*ss-off!

 

[lookout]

not uncommon sadly - tho places I've been charge £25+ vat per man per day - but admittedly only if the marina/yard in question can't supply an on-site guy to do the work. - what does yr contract say exactly?

I think mdl make a charge too for off-site contractors ( waffle re checking they have insurance etc, for safety of berth-holders ) but I dunno if they bother enforcing it?

 

[volvopaul]

Thats the name of the game though to be fair if its a public area then they may not be able to enforce it though the visitors are actually lining there pocket, here this all the time.
Wy dont you tell us where it is so we can all be aware for the future.

 

[rubberduck]

Go to a decent marina. Let them know there are alternatives available, market forces & all that. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Elessar]

Nothing to the charge if you sell the boat when its in a marina.
Both charges only payable if you're daft enough to tell them.

 

[Phillipuk]

PC UK

Thats a hell of an attitude you have

 

[TRH]

Name and Shame the Marina,You owe them nothing when things get tough,we know who to avoid.

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

I think this pure unjustice
you boaters should rebel to all this stupidity
marina charge for doing nothing????
whats next to give them your Credit Cards and tell to go shopping with it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Major Catastrophe]

How to find a good marina.

"Hello, Mr Marina owner. Will you charge me if I sell MY boat whilst it is sat in your marina?"

"Nope."

"Will you charge if someone needs to get onto my boat to do some fettling?"

"Nope."

"Sum up all the charges you make."

"Berthing, lifting, erm, berthing....no, I've mentioned that. Er, I think that's it. You may want to slip the lad a few quid to slap some anti foul on the bottom, but you will still have to pay me for the lift, and I just remembered, if you want some leccy, there is a modest charge for that as well, but that is optional, just like the Wi-Fi we had put in"

"Good, Mr Marina owner, I would be pleased to park my boat on your water."

 

[Kawasaki]

[ QUOTE ]
How to find a good marina.
"Dear Mr Marina owner,
If I pay for 12 Month's berthing and I move My boat for 6 Months for fettling and repair, will I still have to pay the full Hit?"


"Yep"


"Even though You rent the Spot to someone else in the Meantime?"


"Yep"


Will My Berth be "Mine" when I return?"


"Nope"


"Will My warps , fit the berth You give Me when I do return fit My next alloted Berth?"


"Dunno, don't care"

"My shorepower hook up cable got nicked whilst I was away, can I borrow one till I get another?"


"Haven't got one Mate"


"Will I be charged if I stick a Satellite dish on this pole by My Temporary, is this really My spot? berth"


"Dunno, thinking about that One"



"Good, Mr Marina owner, I would be pleased to park my boat on your water."

[/ QUOTE ]

 

[alan006]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

Here I go to get some flack, if you want to hear the other side of the story.
The problem for marina operators is that we have to pay large overheads and this means our labour chargeout is always about twice what an independant will charge who comes in without these overheads.
The other problem is that Health & Safety are making us more and more accountable for what happens in our yard. Even if we do no work on someones boat if an accident happens they will get us involved.
In order to keep our engineers employed we need to compete on a level playing field so outside people can expect a charge. We had a case recently which is typical where a new customer with a trailer boat was asking us to do some wiring on his boat, it all went quiet, the boat went away for a couple of weeks then reappeared rewired. I was told that another berth-holder had done it ( cash in hand) in his spare time. I don't blame the owner we are all looking for a bargin but if yards want to compete they have to do what they do.
We don't charge outsiders to come into our yard but I pay other yards for my men to work in their yards. In the future I will probably have to consider bringing in this charge.
If yards can't compete and keep their experienced employees when a serious job needs doing who will do it? The other thing I see is when a job goes wrong the independants ( not all of them, a lot are first rate blokes) melt away like shadows (no insurance)!!!!!

 

[lovezoo]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

Sorry, but charging a fee to allow outside contractors in is a restrictive practice and is a straightforward rip-off, as is charging a percentage if a berth holder sells their boat. In our marina this doesn't happen and the berth fees are about one third of the fees on the south coast - you are getting stitched up.

Perhaps if more people kicked up a fuss the marina operators wouldn't get away with it.

 

[volvopaul]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

A client of mine wanted his boat cleaning and polishing, as its for sale and he wanted it to look its best to obtain a sale, 6 weeks later the marina where he keeps the boat still had not carried out the work after numerous attempts to get them to do it.
He informed them that he was going to instruct another company to carry out the work, guess what they said, no way ,now that is restrictive practice!

 

[alan006]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

Personally, I don't charge boat owners if they sell a boat in our yard if they sell it themselves. I think it is unfair on the honest ones who come and tell you, so when I took over I stopped it.
If you compare a boat yard to a large garage, you wouldn't dream of working on a car in someones garage. I think its a fair comparison. We can all think of examples where one side or the other has behaved badly, but be wary of the independants who moan about this, have you seen their insurance cover, how do they react when there is a problem? The yard will be there and should stand behind its work. I think the Health & Safety people are wrong to drag yards into things where they were not involved but they are an easy target as usual.
I don't suppose I will change many opinions but there you go.

 

[capsco]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

You are making some fair points Alan, and you seem to be a reasonable proprietor but, when you say you would not dream of working on your car in someone elses Garage, you miss a vital point, if I was paying to keep it there, as in a boatyard, I certainly would dream of working on it.

 

[fireball]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

Alan - I know you've said you don't do it ... but look at it from this way:

Would it be reasonable to charge an owner if he works on his own boat?
Then, would it be reasonable to charge an owner if he and a friend work on his own boat?
Taking that on - would it be reasonable to charge an owner if a friend works on his boat for him?

The only point the marinas seem interested is when there is money changing hands ... then they (like our beloved government) want a bit of the folding stuff too ....

you mention about H&S and insurance ... well, the site H&S is down to the marina anyway ... and insurance is between the individual and the independent engineer - although I can see that there would be a few grey areas if the boat blew up and damaged surrounding boats ...

Marine services should be sold as a service on price, quality and reliability ... if a marina cannot sell it's services in competition with the independents then perhaps they should consider subbing to a few chosen independents thereby reducing their own overheads....

My only experience with a boatyard service manager was one who was great at the tidiness of the installation (electrical - instruments), but couldn't diagnose any faults and missed vital bits of kit (light bulbs) and had the cheek to charge RRP for the kit as it was an insurance job.
My only experience with the independents was complete apathy ... none called me back in a reasonable timescale - hence the work was done at the boatyard.
As we are on a private swinging mooring we paid nothing extra to anyone for doing nothing.

 

[lookout]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

ho ho

have had a yard in Chi harbour try n charge me for working on a friends boat ( well, charge him ) even tho no money was changing hands, nor do I fix boats for a living.

they got really nasty about it actually, hmm


something similar tho far more polite & measured over at Fareham too - some places see the profit/markup/outside-man charges as their absolute right unless the owner does it all himself w/o help.

 

[Dave99]

Re: marina charges for someone to work on my boat

I agree with quality, one of the marinas in the South do not allow any outside contractors in what so ever. They used to have their own valeters onsite, but now they don't. Apparently the old people used to be useless. It is shocking that people put up with such rediculas contracts. If the marina allowed contractors then the inside company would have to be reasonably good to get the work.

A lot of the marinas charge the contractor directly - obviously this gets passed on to the boat owner as a hidden cost.