Looking for anyone with recent experience with Barefoot Charters on St. Vincent. From the web site their boats look older but their rates certainly make the older charter attractive. I have second hand and old information about them, most positive in that they keep the boats in good condition.

Information from anyone with firsthand experience with them would be greatly appreciated.

Ken

Ken,

We chartered from them last month. We choose for an older boat (11 years old and a whopping 150 dollars (about 5%) cheaper than a 2005 version of the same length (40 ft)) and had a fair share of problems (badly leaking hatches and windows, numerous parts failing (almost lost the whole anchor with chain, chain jumped of (worn?) gypsy). Barefoot comment was we were the first to complain. They also said we should have gone over their checklists better (we did indeed sign a form (based on trust) for this). They also said 'small' problems are common on older boats. On day 8 of 14 they did offer to replace the boat; we declined because of all the hassle of changing for the remaining 6 days. Lucky for us we were just the 2 of us on a 3 cabin boat and used the only dry cabin to sleep in; with the regular 6 persons it would have been a real nightmare. Based on our experience I would not recommend Barefoot for the older boats.

Barefoot did not offer any compensation; instead they blame me for not checking the checklists. An other argumenst was that they have 22 years of happy customers and I was the first to complain. I guess my expectations were too high. Look at the TTOL forum (http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=528289&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1) for a short discussion of the subject.

Sigmasailor.

In the interests of equity:

I am afraid that the old adage of 'the customer is always right' is untrue.

Obviously not 100% of our customers have been totally satisfied over 22 years and I cannot imagine any other charter company who could claim a 100% satisfaction record. The nature of yachts is that occasionally things do go wrong. In 99.9% of cases, we will go out of our way to offer compensation where compensation is due, and to reach a swift and amicable resolution with any unhappy customer.

However, what we will not do is to accede to unreasonable demands based on unreasonable complaints from individuals looking for a free ride.

In this particular instance, we appraised the yacht's owner of all the 'complaints' and his own response was the same as ours.

I really wonder what 'unreasonable demands' have been made on unreasonable complaints. What would be the definition of unreasonable? Are 3 (of 4) leaking cabins the norm? Is it unreasonable to say something about locks not working, fire extinguishers missing, lines (worn) breaking, cars (furling system main sail) breaking or anchors jumping out of a (worn) gypsy? OK, maybe so but I certainly did not make any demands. Until now I have merely stated the facts verbally on our last day. We agreed I would put them on paper (have done so). I asked Barefoot for a reaction. Barefoot will not react to my written complaint. I also wonder what the owner has to do with it. I was told he hasn't seen his boat for at least two years. I will contact the owner to tell him my side of the story. As we all know there are always two sides to any story and I have no idea what story has been told by Barefoort.

To be continued......