UK ship registration renewal

[Charlie Boy]

We’ve just received our notice for 5 year renewal and now it seems like they want you to create an online account and then claim your vessel, to include proof do ID, Certificate of Registry and either the bill of sale (don’t remember if we have one or where it is) or a declaration of ownership. They claim that there is a video on how to do this (it isn’t visible on either my iPad or my Android phone) and then goes on to say that renewal costs just £35, when the reality is that their payment site wants to hit me for £72.
Is it me? Have I misunderstood?

 

[Stingo]

Check the URL. Perhaps it's a scam

 

[Charlie Boy]

It was a letter. All the right stuff including Official number and call sign

 

[Tranona]

It is a bit of a mess, but the £72 is for Part 1 and the £35 for Part 3 SSR

 

[Sandy]

When I went through the process I sent them a long feedback letter about some of the language used and how out of touch with reality it was. The feedback was acknowledged, but it looks like they still don't get the point.

 

[Daverw]

Agreed it’s a bit confusing at first, but when I got my head around it not too bad, the payment got me confused and did not let me complete and stayed as pending, Called them the next day and the lady sorted it in minutes and very quickly after, email received.
as long as they now have the info logged next time should be easy

 

[mainsail1]

A phone call worked for me.

 

[Poignard]

I renewed my Part 1 last month after first 'claiming' my vessel (which has been on the Registry for 55 years without a break). It cost £72.

Packing to come away sailing last Friday, I happened to notice the new certificate had the same expiry date as the old one!

A phone call sorted it out but I was not impressed that such a basic error could have been made. In future I will check what they do more carefully.

 

[Daverw]

Like a lot of gov departments the actual staff are used to have work arounds when you speak to them, I think that they do appreciate you trying first though, it seems is often just one bit that causes to most problems, ofcom are really good at helping

 

[SlowlyButSurely]

A phone call fixed it for me too. The lady I spoke to was very helpful and explained how to navigate the website and work around all the glitches.

She also explained that even though I had entered my email address on the renewal page this doesn't feed through to the system that emails out the new certificates so she had to do that bit manually.

It does work when you know how but how on earth did this website ever get through testing???

 

[tony_lavelle]

testing? UK government?

 

[Daedelus]

They buy it in using a company like SERCO who are truly outstanding at getting as much money off you as possible but nowhere near so good at producing what is actually needed.

 

[Charlie Boy]

completed the process today, but not without a call to the nice Welsh lady. The webpage has a ’Beta’ label on it but it feels more like ’Ballsup’. Short on info and advice. It really isn’t that tricky to sort, they just need to tell the user what the hell’s going on

 

[Daverw]

Yes the nice Welsh lady is a real asset to them, not sure if she runs the whole thing but both times I’ve called them she has both answered and sorted it