BoatPix.com

[aa3jy]

Just received a somewhat personalized advertisement of a professional photography company stating they took pictures of our boat near the Bay Bridge back in September.

Anyone else done business with this company?

[SecondWindNC]

I haven't bought anything but I've been contacted by them. They take pictures of boats, usually from a chopper, and then contact the owners by tracking down boat names and/or registration numbers.

[zz4gta]

I cannot use language strong enough to tell you to stay away. Ask that same question over at Sailing anarchy. And watch out.

[MarkSF]

Instead of "stay away" wouldn't it be helpful to say WHAT problems you've had?

[mltroy]

Boatpix takes very good large format and (in our case) gorgeous pictures of your boat under sail.

When we bought our pictures, the deal was that we had to agree to pay for the package (I think around $500 - probably a lot more now) and you could send it back if you didn't want them. There was one 11x17 and the rest were 8.5x11. There were 7 different shots. It seemed like an outrageous sum until we thought about the cost of hiring a helicopter to pictures of our boat. At the time we hemmed and hawed because it was a lot of money for us. We didn't even ask to see the pictures until we knew we would buy them if we liked them. Many years later, we are glad we did it.

At the time they were good to deal with. There was a flaw in the printing of one of the photos. They replaced it quickly. A couple of years ago, the builder of our boat asked for and received permission to use one of the shots on his website. You can see it here:
recycLed rhodes boat buying of the third kind used, recycled, new

I'd definitely check out what people are saying about them in other places but if you want aerial photos of your boat under sail you may be in luck.

[Bene505]

We often find ourselves paying overdue library book fines. So I didn't take them up on their "pay us and send back for refund" method. If we got busy with something or forget, it would be very expensive for a few pictures.

Besides, they took pictures of our boat when I didn't have her all cleaned up and pretty. If we were ready, I'd be very interested in a picture or two.

Regards,
Brad

[zz4gta]

There are people who wanted to see the proofs before they put the money down. The proofs were sent, and the owners didn't like them. They sent them back.

Boat pix then sued the owners for the amount. When no final product was delivered.

They don't hire a helicopter pilot. They hitch a ride on a "driver's ed" chopers. Students piloting below safe altitudes and the "prop wash" has leveled dingies during regattas. They've even crashed the chopper into the water.

Many other cases not to use them. It seems that sueing potential customers is pretty status quo for them, that's my biggest problem with them.

[zz4gta]

My apologies. Your right, I have no personal experience with your company. And don't want to.

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[FloridaSailor1]

I think that it is a reasonable point that several people on these threads of sailnet have expressed happiness and pleasure with purchases from BOATPIX and they have a first hand experience. It is also a reasonable point that if you read the posts in the anarchist websites carefully that most of those posters don't have any personal experience with the company. None. The anarchist websites over the years have tried to encourage advertising buy helping protect advertisers from the venom and that is clear in several of the posts by the owner of the anarchist website in what was just posted. The BOATPIX guy seems to point out that there are customers that are complimentary and then haters that seem to have only internet knowledge of the situation. Believe half of what you see with your own eyes and none of what you hear. Don't believe anything you see on the internet unless the person says he has actual firsthand knowledge and there are several threads on this site started years ago where people are happy with this company and it only turned ugly when the owner tried to offer a more balanced perspective of who is really a customer.