lazy croc house boats,,,lucinda,,, need help

[choppa]

a fellow employee booked a couple of weeks away on the ""40' sunbird"" with the above company 12 months ago

he has contracts and receipts to validate the booking etc etc,,,

he phoned them 2 weeks ago to finalise payment etc,,,to be advised that the company has had a change of ownership,,, and they had to do some investigating to organise etc

calling them back today,,,he was advised that the """sunbird""" was involved in an accident that has left it unseaworthy,,, but smelling a rat at play,,,, no authority that we have called is aware of any accident that has involved this vessel,,,including harbour and marine,,,,local police

seems like a double booking to me,,, but the crunch has hit hard when the operators have advised they have NO other vessel to supply in lieu,,,and for him to claim against any holiday insurance that he MAY have taken out

any one up that way shed some light on this??????????????????

[stevedemon]

HI choppa sounds to me like you mate needs to take this not only to fair trading but also the marine board as they come under the same code of pratice as charter boats and hire boats if they have double booked then they must replace your mates money in full
if the facts are they have had a mairne incident then it should have been reported the the marine board if not then they are due for an inspection from the board the same as any vessel in survey

All marine incidents must be reported particually if the vessel under survey has been made unsea worthy and must be inspected proir to returning to service for the safety of all crew personel and public safety

have your mate request the incidents in writing and as to where it was place in the incident report to the marine board and also have your mate let them know that he is takingthis to the fair trades practices and the marine board for the facts are that if this is true then it is not his fault and all monies paid is fully refundable regardless of change of ownership when you take over a business you also take over any monies paid by the public for previous bookings do not let them get away with it they will try a con job

Cheers
Steve

[Dirtysanchez]

Sure sounds like BS to me, if he has receipts etc and they are unable to fulfill their end of the agreement then according to fair trading he is entitled to a full refund without condition.

Like Steve said, demand that they substantiate the claim that the vessel was damaged, and evne insist on visiting and seeing it if that is logistically possible

For them to say he should be claiming on his insurance is a big cop out, they are probably on the verge of folding and knkow they should be refunding his bucks, but probably don't have any cash to give back

Good luck

[choppa]

its more a case of inconvienience than $ outlayed,,,

the trip has been planned for ages and this is just a part of it,,,, to reorganise different venues etc at this late stage has thrown a real spanner in their plans,,

what makes it smell worse is he contacted the port authority who would not confirm an accident,,, but went out on a limb to say that the vessel has been on the slipway getting water pumped outta it,,,,(this all sounded good,,, until they called him by his SURNAME),,,this is a little piece of information that he didn't advise them,,,

when he asked if they had been in contact with lazy croc h/boats to know his surname,,,,they went into defensive mode,,,and said nothing,,,,,,,fishy heh

[stevedemon]

HI choppa
mate it is a inconvienience but he should look at some else to go now and demand his refund but also let the guys at the hire place word of mouth is bad publicity to but also let the fair trading know what has happened and they will take it from there as for the port authority statement then it maybe true better to find out now than if your mate was on the vessel but still demand the refund as it is there stuff up have you tried to see if the are other hire places in the area unfortunately these things are sent to ty us and try us they bloodywell do

Cheers
Steve

[Jim_Byrne]

Choppa,

Hinchinbrook Rent a Yacht are based at Cardwell at the Northern End of the Channel and have a number of good boats to hire.

I suggest your work mate call and see if they have somthing similar available. I know these guys are good reliable operaters!

Dont know much about the others.

Cheers

Jim

[jim_farrell]

I'd ask them to organise "hinchinbrook" if you want to go done that path.
Failing that, there are numerous BnB writers on Ausfish who must have contacts or advertisers in the lucinda area who can shed some light on the truth with the company.
I'd also contact harbours and marine, explain your predicament and see if they can supply a statement.
Lastly, get a solicitor to do up a letter in legal speak asking for a full refund or else. I wouldn't risk trying to change dates or using the company at all.

Good luck to your mate.

Jim

[Needmorerum]

Wow, good to hear about this now. A couple of us are heading up that way next year for a houseboat trip, have to remember this one.

Cheer
Corry

[keen_as_mustard]

ah lazy croc...very interesting company that one.

hired a houseboat from them a couple of years ago, and when we arrived to board we got a fairly big shock. although it was the boat they had shown in their website (which is currently off-line!) they had only posted certain photos of the better bits - this boat was not pretty. for the price we really did expect more. when we questioned the owners, all they could say was "people only use this for fishin anyway mate".

I am no snob, but this boat is pretty rough - very basic facilities.

I do believe Hinchinbrook Rent a Yacht are more professional, but they were booked out (probably a sign of a good business!)

as I said, this was a couple of years ago - but, new owners don't sound any better!

[flatheadmark]

Well folks, I will be able to let you know first hand, due to pick up "cloud nine" on sat 21/10 with 4 other guys.

[choppa]

all the best on your trip mark,,,, i'll post the name of the """vessel""" that the work collegue finally did snare,,, :D :D,,, i've got a pic at work

he's up there from monday,,,,for a week,,,, and like jim posted,,, i think he got it from rent a yacht,,,

i'm positive that he must have run over a cat,,, everything that was planned fell apart,,, but he looks proffessional,,,,i'm just glad that i'm here,,,,and he's there ;D ;D ;D