I just came back from Athens where I returned the boat hired from
Yachting Power.
When I handed the boat over this morning I was told that diver found
damage on the rudder and I will be charged 1000EUR for the repair!
When I explained that I didnt hit the ground and I suspect that the
damage was done by previous crew I was told that it is my fault that I
haven`t dived and checked the boat properly!???
Can you imagine how shocked I was?
As we took the boat over in Samos which is not the home harbour of the
boat we suspect that there was no proper check done there.
We suspect that because the boat wasnt even cleaned properly.
The lady who was responsible for taking over the boat from us was very
nervous and shouted at us when we tried to explain that we couldnt
check everything including underwater parts of the boat.
After the boat was taken out of the water it turned out that the
damage was just a 15 cm long and 2cm high cavity at the bottom of the
rudder.
As I helped my father in building his boat I know such a damage might
be repaired in 2-3 hours after drying and matirials would cost approx.
5-10EUR. But they wanted 1000EUR!!!
After long negotiations we gave up and decided to pay and enjoy the
rest of the day.
Finally we were charged 300 EUR for crane!
And additional 100EUR for the repair.
This sounds reasonable but we spent 2 hours negotiating this price!?!?
I tried to show the facts only. The rest is up to you.
BTW. Another couple of facts about the boat (Sophocles 40):
- wind speed/direction indicator didnt work at all
- the outboard engine failed to work
- the depth sounder went crazy (over 50m) and showed depth like 1.7m
in the middle of the sea (according to the map over 200m) Can you
imagine that adrenaline in my blood when it happened for the first
time???
- the bow hatch was cracked and leaking
