Universal Marina Hamble River

[volvopaul]

It’s not very often I post about other companies and how they practise but an email notification from the owner of the said marina just made me very annoyed.

For those that know me I’m a placid person , not much gets me annoyed unless it’s worth being annoyed about .

On Friday I received an email to state I and others can no longer go on site to work unless I pay either a £60 annual fee plus £1 per hour parking charge or , wait for it £800 per year to park which includes the £60 admin fee.
There excuse is that they only want the right people on site.

My reply to this was as you can imagine very negative , my thoughts are they are just another marina operator trying to capitalise on the boat owner . I know they raised there berthing charges considerably to the point people left in big numbers , now it seems the greed hasn’t ended.
I informed them I wouldn’t be paying and would if asked to work on any of there berth holders boat to take them to other marinas where they can be lifted out .
I’d assume then that these charges would apply to surveyors which along with my charges will be passed on to the end user the boater .

I work in many marinas , Premier , MDL , private marinas, the private ones are the good guys, they don’t charge anything , some MDL marinas don’t charge at all, occasionally some Premiers ones do , it depends where I go.
What I am getting at is that if I was to pay the requested annual fees to each one id be faced with over £2000 per year just to gain access, this is plain stupid and totally unfair because I am a 1 person company I am expected to pay the same amount as the bigger dealer companies that probably employ 10 engineers that could all be on site at the same time.

I have discussed with managers about this but have drawn a blank every time , the Universal statement just made me laugh at there attempts to get yet more cash from the boater especially as they only operate from one site .

For any of you that do Facebook take a look at the negative responses relating to this about Universal Marina.

I am sure some of you will have different views, whatever they may be I have mine.

 

[mlines]

Yep, myself and another berth holder voted with our feet.

 

[henryf]

I can understand your frustration.

I can however see some sense in what they are saying. Forget the £800, but £60 to register you, check you have the necessary insurance and essentially weed out the string of chancers who rock up claiming great skills only to run away when things go wrong. They will also want to protect their commercial tenants who pay good money to be on site.

The £1 an hour is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things. Try being a trade in London for the week, just finding somewhere to park is a miracle let alone how much you have to charge the customer factoring in a few parking fines every now and again. They are providing convenient parking for you close to the boat and I suspect disposing of old oils & such.

I don't use Universal so have no affiliation or particular love for the place but can possibly see something of the other side.

For my own part I'm happy to say that Dean & Reddyhoff / Haslar marina continue to act in a very fair and customer orientated manner so there are alternatives if people feel strongly. Ultimately boats move and so as owners we can vote with our feet.

Henry

 

[[2068]]

It's annoying, but I think I would simply pass on the extra costs to my customers, having explained where they have come from.
Then customers can vote with their feet if they find that they are all getting larger invoices from their preferred contractors.

As an end customer, I wouldn't be expecting an engineer to "absorb" the extra costs.

.

 

[mlines]

That is exactly what will happen, the charges get passed onto the little man at the end of the food chain, the user.

Put a line on the invoice "Marina Charges" to make it clear to the end user that he is paying twice, once to keep his boat there and once to let an engineer on-site to maintain the boat.

 

[volvopaul]

I can understand your frustration.

I can however see some sense in what they are saying. Forget the £800, but £60 to register you, check you have the necessary insurance and essentially weed out the string of chancers who rock up claiming great skills only to run away when things go wrong. They will also want to protect their commercial tenants who pay good money to be on site.

The £1 an hour is neither here nor there in the great scheme of things. Try being a trade in London for the week, just finding somewhere to park is a miracle let alone how much you have to charge the customer factoring in a few parking fines every now and again. They are providing convenient parking for you close to the boat and I suspect disposing of old oils & such.

I don't use Universal so have no affiliation or particular love for the place but can possibly see something of the other side.

For my own part I'm happy to say that Dean & Reddyhoff / Haslar marina continue to act in a very fair and customer orientated manner so there are alternatives if people feel strongly. Ultimately boats move and so as owners we can vote with our feet.

Henry

Haslar are one of if not the most friendly marina I work in that is a large operator, it was the £800 bit that made me post this Henry.

 

[henryf]

That is exactly what will happen, the charges get passed onto the little man at the end of the food chain, the user.

Put a line on the invoice "Marina Charges" to make it clear to the end user that he is paying twice, once to keep his boat there and once to let an engineer on-site to maintain the boat.

Exactly this.

The only questionable thing is how to deal with the £60. Is is right that the first person to use you from the marina pays £60 and everyone else gets it for free or do you take the view that over the course of a year you're going to work on several boats in that marina so apportion some of the cost to each, say £10-15 per boat ?

Either way you are in the clear and it's down to the boat owner to take the matter up with the marina office if they feel aggrieved. Would the marina squabble over £20 on a £10-12k annual berth ?

Henry

 

[[2068]]

... over the course of a year you're going to work on several boats in that marina so apportion some of the cost to each, say £10-15 per boat

Something like that. I'd have a "marina charges fund" - each boat pays something based on an estimated split.

 

[Whitelighter]

Is your business that marginal that £60 is going to break you?

Carparking is a charge that is hourly so just pass it on to the customer: a twin engine service is what? £2k+ - I doubt an extra £24 for parking is going to make anyone say ‘well I won’t get it serviced then’.

As for who pays the £60? First customer/all customers/you I guess it’s abkyr the same as 1-2 hours of your labour charge so again not huge.

The £800 charge is nuts, but you don’t have to pay it so it’s a non issue. You’d have to have 81 days of guaranteed business there to even think about paying it.

Guess what - Mari as are commercial businesses and they’ll charge what they think is right. There is an admin cost to them for checking your liability insurance and your membership of qualified guilds etc. Look at it another way, you are a proper decent Marine engineer (so I have been told) so this will stop all the cowboys undercutting your business. Every cloud.....

 

[Boat2016]

The parking bit is a p*** take when the berth holder pays for a berth that includes parking, that shouldn’t have to be paid for twice. When paying several thousand for a berth I would expect to have who ever I wish visit my boat and work on it when ever I say, I wouldn’t be blackmailed out of more money in this way. I did once have a look at Universal but didn’t really do it for me, was lacking the atmosphere you get in most other places so never went back. Went past with a friend last summer and couldn’t believe how many boats were high n dry at low tide, would at least expect my boat to remain afloat all the time, if I wanted a mud berth there’s far cheaper places to go.

 

[nicho]

The parking bit is a p*** take when the berth holder pays for a berth that includes parking, that shouldn’t have to be paid for twice. When paying several thousand for a berth I would expect to have who ever I wish visit my boat and work on it when ever I say, I wouldn’t be blackmailed out of more money in this way. I did once have a look at Universal but didn’t really do it for me, was lacking the atmosphere you get in most other places so never went back. Went past with a friend last summer and couldn’t believe how many boats were high n dry at low tide, would at least expect my boat to remain afloat all the time, if I wanted a mud berth there’s far cheaper places to go.

And the hike from the furthest downstream pontoons to the marina facilities is a marathon. They are virtually next door to Mercury Marina!! We looked, but it was not for us.

 

[rubberduck]

I know these marinas are there to make money, but some of them really take the pee. If they ever get me to sign their terms which is rare as most are hopelessly inefficient, there is much crossing out accompanied by the words "do you want the money or not" Most of the terms wouldn't stand up anyway.

 

[henryf]

Haslar are one of if not the most friendly marina I work in that is a large operator, it was the £800 bit that made me post this Henry.

Hence the reason we are still here after a zillion years

I think there is a difference between Universal saying you must use Joe Bloggs for service and saying we need to check everyone coming on site to ensure they are insured, safe & legal.

The £800 charge is probably aimed at someone who essentially bases themselves at the marina without renting an actual unit and wouldn't apply to someone such as yourself.

Henry

 

[volvopaul]

Is your business that marginal that £60 is going to break you?

Carparking is a charge that is hourly so just pass it on to the customer: a twin engine service is what? £2k+ - I doubt an extra £24 for parking is going to make anyone say ‘well I won’t get it serviced then’.

As for who pays the £60? First customer/all customers/you I guess it’s abkyr the same as 1-2 hours of your labour charge so again not huge.

The £800 charge is nuts, but you don’t have to pay it so it’s a non issue. You’d have to have 81 days of guaranteed business there to even think about paying it.

Guess what - Mari as are commercial businesses and they’ll charge what they think is right. There is an admin cost to them for checking your liability insurance and your membership of qualified guilds etc. Look at it another way, you are a proper decent Marine engineer (so I have been told) so this will stop all the cowboys undercutting your business. Every cloud.....

Hi Jez , no £60 isn’t the full issue at all and no it won’t break me , what is the issue is that these operators are always hitting the outside contractor .
You would not believe how bad it is some days to get keys for a boat without filling in endless amounts of forms , companies changing there goalposts all the time .
I know for a fact they don’t like outside contractors , I’ve been told by one company that will remain nameless. I also know that operators encourage boat owners to use there tenants before the likes of Tompa and myself , but ask yourself a question, and this isn’t aimed directly at you . Why would be asked there in the first place , the simple answer is because owners have tried the on site companies and they give poor service I’m told .
Only last week I removed a gearbox from a boat , when I told the owner where I was going to take it for repair he immediately said no way because he had been stung before that’s why he had me on his boat .
The whole job is getting out of hand , I’m mid 50s now and hopefully I won’t have long to go.

 

[rubberduck]

Hi Jez , no £60 isn’t the full issue at all and no it won’t break me , what is the issue is that these operators are always hitting the outside contractor .
You would not believe how bad it is some days to get keys for a boat without filling in endless amounts of forms , companies changing there goalposts all the time .
I know for a fact they don’t like outside contractors , I’ve been told by one company that will remain nameless. I also know that operators encourage boat owners to use there tenants before the likes of Tompa and myself , but ask yourself a question, and this isn’t aimed directly at you . Why would be asked there in the first place , the simple answer is because owners have tried the on site companies and they give poor service I’m told .
Only last week I removed a gearbox from a boat , when I told the owner where I was going to take it for repair he immediately said no way because he had been stung before that’s why he had me on his boat .
The whole job is getting out of hand , I’m mid 50s now and hopefully I won’t have long to go.

Pay the £60, put it on customers bills & itemise it, its not right but life is too short, just keep doing a better job than them, you win, customers may walk, not from you but the marina, I would.

 

[Ian h]

I think it is Berthon Marina where I have been told they have a no outside contractors policy. You have to use the onsite services,

I guess though that if you know this before you take a berth its not so bad

 

[alandalus11]

In the grand scheme of things I don't think the charges are that bad. The £800 isn't worth considering unless you work in one marina for the entire year and nowhere else. The £60 to register for the year and then car parking at £1 p/h I don't think that's too bad. An additional amount on a customers bill for parking is nothing when compared to a twin engine service. I know it's the £800 that go you annoyed but that really something you don't need to pay.

 

[Whitelighter]

Surely registering addresses one of your moans that you spend hours filling out forms every time you visit?
Here you lay £60, fill the forms out once and every time you visit they just waive you through.

Surely if everymarina allowed you to register this way you’d be quids in on the time you’d save form filling?

 

[Firefly625]

Paul

Feel free to contact me if every you have a job at Universal. You can park at Mercury load your tools in my dinghy and motor to Universal to the boat you are working on...

 

[Sailorsam101]

I agree with Paul.

The £60 is a con...what checks do they do..how do they decide that a person is right to work at their marina?

Is membership to an approved marine trade body enough?

The parking is obviously designed pure and simple to keep contractors away. If i can go for a drink in the Bistro there for a few hours why can't Paul park for free...the only difference is that he is taking work away from the marina.

Other than the above i can't see any justification for it.