PITA new owners

Next time you answer a query Just politely say to them there are a lot of things with boats you just have to work out / find out for yourself. Say you have helped them out a lot but you are really busy with other things. Say you will try to answer any more questions if you get time. It's a big hint, hopefully they will get the message.
 
You could put their email address on block (junk mail settings) if bothering you. Otherwise, like others have suggested either don't respond, or perhaps make a point of waiting a few days before responding if you feel you need to.

One never knows what a new owner will be like - for boat, house, car etc. When asked for my email address from a boat buyer, via the broker, I gave a secondary email address - one used for Autotrader adverts etc.
As it transpired I had a few reasonable questions, which I promptly and fully replied to - happy to help. But if this had turned out to be like Robin's I would have simply dropped that email address and opened another one for the purpose.
 
Look on the bright side - Their money is in your bank account.
If you have the time, you could offer them a refresher coarse at a suitable rate.
To be charitable, it is difficult to take it all in in three hours, casting my mind back 16 years, when I bought LinR, I did contact the previous owner 2 or 3 times after purchase regarding things that are now obvious.
 
I have been in regular contact with the people I bought my boat from ..... but just calling in when for a chat and a drink we are nearby in Croatia. However, I did once email Antonio when I was on the boat when my "weather station" suddenly stopped displaying the outdoor air temperature. I spent about 2 hours searching every nook and cranny for the matchbox-sized wifi sensor which had to have been mounted "outside" but in the shade and away from direct sunlight.

Once I received the reply from Antonio I could replace the batteries. :o

Richard
 
When we sold our boat, at the very last stetch the new owner through the broker found something insignificant that didn't work and requested a drop in the price of £200. I agreed but thought it a little wrong but there you go.

A couple of weeks after I get an email asking a question about a random switch at the helm. I said it would cost £200 to get the answer.:).
 
Last edited:
Well I sold my boat just before xmas and have received a number of questions since. They have all been understandable and I have been very happy to answer.
Even at a 'knockdown price' its a big investment for folk. Especially if its their first boat - as my buyer's is.
You should calmly tell them if you think some of their questions are unjustified.
 
When I bought our present boat, I asked the owner a few questions, and quickly established that he knew very little about it. Things like, " Oh, that socket has never worked". Turned out that it worked fine if another switch was operated. We spent nearly a week familiarising before setting out for home.
 
i want to make clear that I like the new owners just fine, but would like to get past this stage of the separation process. Because we are selling up our waterborne existence we gave away a whole heap of stuff with the boat that would normally have been sold separately or retained for future use. That included very comprehensive toolkits, electrical and mechanical, an entire brand new spare Ray marine wheel pilot all galley utensils including high quality pans, even a pressure cooker, electric coffeemaker, TV and DVD player, whole heaps of spare shackles, snap shackles, blocks, complete signal flag collection, spares for electrics, electronics and engine, complete sets of (current) pilot guides, charts, even a leather bound ship's log book. To be fair they did send us a $50 gift card for a local restaurant to say thanks, which was appreciated.


SO maybe I'm being a little unkind. I have sold many boats over a lifetime of boating however and never had this degree of follow up They are supposedly soon moving the boat to it's new home 200 miles away which may be the time to leave my phone turned off off and set up an automatic email 'away on vacation, cannot reply ' message
 
I think that some of the issues encountered stem from the fact that every boat is essentially different. It's not like buying a car where the pedals and controls for lights and so on are generally in the same place. That said, I sympathise with the OP in that being constantly bombarded with questions about all manner of things could quickly wear you down. I recently bought a new to me boat, and in the first couple of weeks pulled it to bits in order to see where everything was, the routing for cables and pipes, etc. I feel more confident now that if something goes wrong I will be more able to find and fix it.
 
A lot depends on the level of boaty knowledge and experience of the new owners. When I sold my previous boat to a couple of dreamers, I spent quite a lot of time writing out the details of all the various systems and idiosyncrasies, and giving it to them. I suspect that this saved me from having to answer a lot of questions.
 
ricky_s said:
When we sold our boat, at the very last stetch the new owner through the broker found something insignificant that didn't work and requested a drop in the price of £200. I agreed but thought it a little wrong but there you go.

A couple of weeks after I get an email asking a question about a random switch at the helm. I said it would cost £200 to get the answer.:).
Click to expand...
I think you were completely right to do this, as presumably they had at the point they insisted on this £200 reduction the boat was virtually theirs and would have completed the pre-sales process, survey et al. Thus in an instance they destroyed any good will from you, and this is all too common especially in property transactions, as well as boaty ones.

My last buyer did similar with a crass reduction required based upon some ridiculous engine survey comments from an engineer who could not fault the engines, but to be clever suggested the buyer should have £2,000 off the price 'Just in case', which I declined to agree to, although I did remain patient until he took the boat away, after that I heard very little.

I do think this is a rod you can easily put in place if you become too involved with a sale, and is one very good reason why you pay a broker.
 
On viewing a number of YouTube channels this is not unusual for new to sailing people in your part of the world. On one channel I have yet to see the sails up! In other words "all the gear, but no idea".

When are you coming back to the UK?

You could point them at this forum, I am sure they will have a great reception and can discuss what to do with an anchor. Alternatively, I can give advice at my usual charge of $1,000 a day or part of.
 
Part of this problem is technology lead. It is very easy to fire off an email when you would think twice about phoning and actually speaking to someone. You can always just answer the more sensible emails and claim the others never arrived.
 
Well, if you are lucky, they are YBW forum members and have already got your message loud & clear!

It does sound a little over-needy, although your example of his unreasonableness was that he asked the purpose of an unlabelled switch that will only work when a breaker switch (labelled?) located elsewhere is thrown, and even then it does something the other end of the boat so you might not hear it. I've kind of got some sympathy for him there. I'm experienced enough to guess that a switch like that might well be a windlass, but maybe he isn't?

I suspect that the test sail was more that, than showing him through the detail of everything? Complete assumption of course.

You have my sympathy, however - it's frustrating. I've just sold mine, and am waiting for the first set of questions!
 
jac said:
HM

Mine on the market at the moment so better start bracing myself!

Robin - you don't fancy buying another 36cc do you? AT least you'd know the answers to some of the questions already!!!!
Click to expand...

nice boats fort sure and we got ours up better than new too, she sold in two weeks for $75000 + 6% tax so he got a real bargain. We thought about moving on board but want to do that in the UK, even thought about shipping her back but the reality is we are better travelling unencumbered and buying again over there. We need more space ideally on a live aboard, so probably around 40ft sailer or a tad less motorer. yours should sell fast I would think. What are you looking at buying next?
 
Polly's Kettle said:
Well, if you are lucky, they are YBW forum members and have already got your message loud & clear!

It does sound a little over-needy, although your example of his unreasonableness was that he asked the purpose of an unlabelled switch that will only work when a breaker switch (labelled?) located elsewhere is thrown, and even then it does something the other end of the boat so you might not hear it. I've kind of got some sympathy for him there. I'm experienced enough to guess that a switch like that might well be a windlass, but maybe he isn't?

I suspect that the test sail was more that, than showing him through the detail of everything? Complete assumption of course.

You have my sympathy, however - it's frustrating. I've just sold mine, and am waiting for the first set of questions!
Click to expand...

The windlass control at the pedestal is labelled up/down and was listed as an 'extra' on the brokerage specs. The new owners do not inhabit non-American fora as far as I know....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top