Sunsail Charter UK

Thats interesting to note, they hadn't told us that!

I guess that opens up a whole seperate conversation about whether its safe for a novice crew to be out in those conditions!

I definitely wouldn't even consider it if I was skipper, but on this trip we would hire a professional skipper.
 
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I do not understand the OP's problem. Sailing is an occupation which is very weather dependent. If he cannot cope with the uncertainty of the weather, perhaps he would be better following other interests, - vast choice.

The company's T&Cs are perfectly clear. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't have to take it. Sorry, but no sympathy from me.
 
Good to see so much support for Sunsail on here. Has the world started spinning the other way :confused::confused::confused:

Regards the OP's original post got to say I agree with him. Weekends hire in the summer is a sizeable lump of cash. Whilst the weather / conditions may be beyond the control of the charter company, in the same vein it's also beyond the control of the charterer. I'm assuming the OP is saying that it's unreasonable for the charter company to keep the charter fee if it's the company refusing to let you take the boat due weather. And if they don't mind you taking it out in dodgy weather then take the boat. Sunsail are used to people breaking their boats anyway

Fair winds:D:D:D
 
deuc02- Spot on.

NormanS- Please explain where I've asked for sympathy?

I thought I'd explained the situation fairly clearly, but perhaps not. Sunsail seem to imply that if the weather is bad and they deem it unsafe for me to go out, they take my money and tell me to go away.

If you don't have a problem with that, then I suspect you are a very happy go lucky person and good for you.

I personally find that unreasonable.

That doesn't mean I need sympathy, I am of course free to choose an alternative company, my point was that I felt it was unreasonable and I wondered if it was the norm, as in my (limited admitedly) chartering experience so far, when I enquired (with small companies, but I would assume they had more to lose than a larger one like Sunsail) they said that I could choose an alternative day/weekend if the weather was unsuitable.
 
If you book a skippered charter or a training course (dinghy, power or sail) and it cannot go ahead due to the weather then it is pretty normal for the operator to offer replacement dates (but not a refund as he will have taken a hit already).

If however the customer decide its too windy/wet/cold etc then there is not normally a cancellation option.

Bareboat charter is however a bit different. With skippered charter the operator (skipper) makes the final call as to whether it is safe or not. However with bareboat the call is yours. If you book an apartment in the Algarve for a week and it is cloudy you don't get your money back! That said we (and I am sure many other operators) will replace a lousy weekend if our customers did not get afloat, however this is a matter of our customer service rather than contractual conditions.

In the decade I have been trading I have postponed one powerboat course due to weather and a small handful of yachting courses and charters. We have postponed quite a few own boat tuitions. As a former dinghy school we regularly had to postpone, this is one of the reasons we eventually discontinued dinghy courses in the UK. The market price balanced with the number of postponements due to weather made it unviable.
 
Makes sense to be honest Doug!

My original post was in relation to skippered charter (although looking back, I didn't actually state that in the very first post), so I would have thought a refund/re-schedule was pretty standard if the skipper called things off.

Apparently with Sunsail, that is not the case, which is dissapointing, but I guess it probably means somone else will take their business...
 
vjmehra said:
deuc02- Spot on.

NormanS- Please explain where I've asked for sympathy?

I thought I'd explained the situation fairly clearly, but perhaps not. Sunsail seem to imply that if the weather is bad and they deem it unsafe for me to go out, they take my money and tell me to go away.

If you don't have a problem with that, then I suspect you are a very happy go lucky person and good for you.

I personally find that unreasonable.

That doesn't mean I need sympathy, I am of course free to choose an alternative company, my point was that I felt it was unreasonable and I wondered if it was the norm, as in my (limited admitedly) chartering experience so far, when I enquired (with small companies, but I would assume they had more to lose than a larger one like Sunsail) they said that I could choose an alternative day/weekend if the weather was unsuitable.
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From some comments, there appears to be an issue with Sunsail, about which I know nothing.

However, if you charter a boat for, say six days, and the first two days are good, the next two days are so awful that you have to stay holed up somewhere, and the final two days are good again, do you seriously expect the company to re-imburse you for the two days that were unsuitable / unsafe to sail?
 
Nope, not in the scenario you describe, I agree a refund in that scenario would be unreasonable to expect.

What I'm worried about is all 3 days are written off because the skipper decides its unsafe to go out.

Its perhaps unlikely, but not implausible and I don't like the fact that I lose my money in this scenario.

If say day 1 was a write off, but days 2 and 3 were fine then fair enough, I may feel slightly hard done by, but I probably can't complain too much about that.
 
Always remembering the charter company also has the choice of whom they charter to. At the end of the day it is all down to price, if you want the sort of 100% weather guarantee the OP seems to be seeking them every day prices fly out the window as the company will have to maintain a fleet of standby boats to cover the load after every bad weather event
 
I would have assumed charter companies are struggling like every other business at the mo, so I'd be suprised if they could pick and choose!

That said, if they have the demand then fair enough, basic supply and demand laws rule supreme :-)

That aside, I've never asked for a 100% weather guarantee, to re-iterate I was saying that Sunsail in effect can choose not to take the boat out for all 3 days of my potential charter and take all my money, having offered zero service.

If I lose a day, so be it, I understand and accept that, if the Sunsail skipper says we can not take the boat out any day, I expect a refund/re-schedule.
 
One other point to note is that for most charter companies other than Sunsail, the charter company is acting as manager not owner of the charter yachts. So when you book your charter and pay your fee for the week, the majority of that money will be paid on to the owner of the yacht. Eg someone like Sailfree. The charter company has a duty of care to the yacht owner to ensure that his precious yacht is not unreasonably put at risk of damage, hence the usual rule that no-one leave port if more than F7 is imminent. Given that the relevant yacht may be fully booked for the rest of the season, it is probably difficult for the charter manager to offer (at whose cost???) a replacement week.
I think the OP should take out cancellation insurance as one would for most other RENTAL transactions.
 
Bad weather?

Back in the days when I ran a charter fleet in Lymington, we had a large bunch coming down from London for a day's corporate charter, skippers and all. A storm was brewing but they insisted they were tough enough and set off from London. By the time they arrived it was blowing a hooly and sadly we said No Sailing. Much discussion ensued, wimps were mentioned and there were suggestions that we were being unduly cautious. Things that I suspect this OP feels as well. We came up with an alternative corporate plan for the day (shooting, go-karts etc on the Isle of Wight) and reluctantly their party set off on the ferry to Yarmouth. Half way across the ferry was making really heavy weather of it, spray up over the bridge, everything was shaking, cars drenched with each wave that broke over the bow. The customer's MD turned to me and confessed that he had been wrong, "Thank god you didn't let us out in this , we could have been killed!"
 
Indeed, with sailing I definitely tend to take an overly cautious approach, or were you suggesting I might think the charter company were being overly cautious?

I have no problem with the charter company being safe, I would almost certainly stay in, when a professional skipper would deem it acceptable to go out!

However unfortunate as it may be, if the decision is to not go out, I would expect a refund/re-schedule.
 
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SimbaDog said:
If you booked a hire car for a week & it snowed every day stopping you driving, would you expect the company to give you a refund? :confused:
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This was my initial thought but what if you booked a taxi and it couldn't get to your destination - would you still expect to pay?
 
vjmehra said:
I've been liasing with Sunsail about a potential Charter booking and they seem to be suggesting that basically we lose our money if the weather isn't good enough for us to go out in?

I find this very strange, if this is the case, what incentive do I have to ever book with them?

This is a direct quote from the e-mail:

Reading the terms and conditions, it almost seems to contradict what the sunsail representative has said, does anyone have any experience at all of dealing with them in this sort of situation?
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I'm assuming this is bare boat charter??

If I pay to go the Costa del Sol or Majorka for two weeks and the weather is carp I wouldn't expect to be able to claim the cost of the holiday back?? I'm not sure I see a difference?

They're not saying you can't take the boat out, just that it's your choice whether you do or don't... :confused:
 
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Just to re-iterate again, I'm looking to book a skippered charter, so its not my call whether we take the boat out or not.

Also, realistically what are the odds on adverse weather for 2 weeks in Southern Spain vs 1 weekend off the South coast of England?

I'll add the taxi analogy to my defence case ;-)
 
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