Mmm brokers - don't you just luv 'em

jonic said:
Oh yes. It was a very deliberate set up.

Happens all the time.

All the time.

People brazenly lie.

It's part of the job unfortunately. :mad:


PS. I live in the New Forest :D
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Well at least that is an hour closer. I agree that sort of thing is wrong but it does not justify brokers doing the same and worse to potential customers. The problem I see for you is you get tarred with the same brush as the bad brokers
 
maxi77 said:
To be honest I think some brokers will take anything on and describe it as the owners wishes rather than honestly because to actually have the boat on the books costs them little and it makes it look as if they offer a wide choice. Of course they know the boat is **** so they just hand out the keys if any one wants to look at it and hope they potential customers will not get too pissed off. Also there is a place in the market for the boat that needs a steam clean inside and out before you even start to do any work, just don't pretend it is what it is not.

It does really piss me off when you are sitting with the cash to proceed in your bank account and you get treated like a bit of dirt on their shoe. To simply blame this on time waster and tyre kickers is really saying bad brokers are just the customers fault
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I agree.

Some without question operate a numbers game and provide a second rate service.

However I must stress there are some very, very good ones. They tend to be specialists or employ staff who have a real passion for boating, and are out on the water themselves at every opportunity.

But as Tranona says how do you know? As you are initially choosing the boat and not the brokerage firm if you are a buyer.
 
maxi77 said:
Well at least that is an hour closer. I agree that sort of thing is wrong but it does not justify brokers doing the same and worse to potential customers. The problem I see for you is you get tarred with the same brush as the bad brokers
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Indeed, which is why I pay so much attention to my testimonials.

On the other hand these threads also tend to paint a skewed picture and rarely do we have long running discussions about the real good guys!

But I would like to see the poor ones gone, for good.

I and some like minded colleagues who sit on the ABYA committee intend to increase the profile of the good firms this year, and publicise the level of service you should be receiving, so the poor quality firms find it difficult to justify their own lack of standards or service level.
 
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jonic said:
I agree.

Some without question operate a numbers game and provide a second rate service.

However I must stress there are some very, very good ones. They tend to be specialists or employ staff who have a real passion for boating, and are out on the water themselves at every opportunity.

But as Tranona says how do you know? As you are initially choosing the boat and not the brokerage firm if you are a buyer.
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I would suggest that sellers approach potential broker as buyers and then they will see just how **** the service they will get as sellers really is. That way at least more boats should fall into the hands of those who give a half decent service. I am well aware there are very good brokers and I have had the pleasure of dealing with some of them, I even bought a boat in the end.
 
jonic said:
..... rarely do we have long running discussions about the real good guys!
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That's never going to happen!

'I bought a boat, all the paperwork was in order and I'm happy' - threads don't tend to go 10 pages.....

'BROKERS!!! Arrgghhhhh!! - he called me a time waster!' - threads tend to have a little more life in them!
 
maxi77 said:
I would suggest that sellers approach potential broker as buyers and then they will see just how **** the service they will get as sellers really is.
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Indeed. The broker who is advertising KS noticed me looking at the pictures on his web site and, not knowing it was me, sent an email inviting me to view the boat. Presumably an automatic system as the email was very generic (eg warning that viewings must be arranged with enough notice to ensure the owner isn't out using the boat, when it's clearly up on bricks in the yard) and to be honest a bit of a turn-off.

I mentioned this to a friend, and he offered to ring up and arrange a viewing as "mystery shopper" to see what sort of service I was actually getting. Haven't taken him up on it ... yet :)

Pete
 
laffinskip said:
Numerous times I have been given the keys to the boat,& been told to have a look around (I could have been a thief) as it seemed to be too much trouble to get off their arses
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When I sold my boat, I took the chart cards out the plotter at the helm for just that reason, leaving them with the broker for anyone that wanted to validate that the thing worked. I don't know what happened, whether he left them on board, handed them over and forgot to ask for them back, or whatever, but come sale time they were nowhere to be seen. The rather infuriating thing was that he looked perplexed that it should have happened and discussed with himself out loud whether he should raise it with the marina manager....
 
The funny thing is that completely honest advertizing can actually raise a broker's profile! I don't recall the name of the broker (it was 40-50 years back, so I don't suppose they're still in business), but there used to be a broker who deliberately advertized complete wrecks in Yachting Monthly. Their whole listing was along the lines of "If you want a boat that has spent 10 years underwater, this is the one for you..."

So, perhaps if brokers advertized boats along the lines of "This one is a fine example of what happens when the owner hasn't done a thing on her for 5 years. She's filthy, the headlining's sagging off, and there's green slime everywhere. But underneath it all there might be a decent boat struggling to get out if you spend a couple of years cleaning her up...."

Of course, it worked for the broker I'm remembering because the brokerage had a reputation for advertizing that way! But it might be worth a try, if you could persuade the owner to see it that way.
 
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