Marina Run-Around

[SJ34]

Here's the scenario. My First Born is going to college in the Fall and after seeing the student housing rates ($950mo) I decided to put him on a boat in a marina just 3mi from the school.
After bowing to the marina's demands that my son be added to the boat title among other flaming hoops, we got onto the waiting list. After three months on the list we get the call that a slip is opening up on August 15th. The timing is perfect. We gave notice at the old marina, named the new marina as Additionally Insured as requested and began prepping the boat for the 80mi trip. Today I called the Marina to make sure they had recieved all of the required documents but instead the Marina manager gave me the run-around, played dumb and claimed that nobody at the marina had notified us that a slip was available and that we were very far down on the waiting list (initially we were first on the list and were just waiting for the first vacancy). She proceeded to give me a list of alternate marinas.
I know I'm getting the bums rush but do I have any recourse considering the only written correspondence I have is the notification that we are on the waiting list?

[therapy23]

You are screwed unless you sue and the court subpoenas their waiting list.

[sailingdog]

You're pretty screwed unless you have something in writing... even if they subpoena the waiting list, it may not do any good.

[camaraderie]

If it is a private marina I think you are out of luck. If it is a muni marina you can probably raise a major political stink and demand to see the waiting list and dates people registered.

[J36ZT]

SJ34,

It's lovely to hear someone else having trouble with a marina's management. Per chance, is this marina in California? Per chance, is your son planning on attending a maritime academy? If you answered yes to both questions, I probably know the municipal marina you're having problems with. I waited for a year to move to the top of the live-aboard list, suddenly to find out they had lost my paperwork. After another year of waiting, marina management claimed I had never returned paperwork to them (I filled it out and turned it in while at their desk each time).

Basically, you're screwed. If you answered yes to both questions, PM me and I'll give you some insider information. You'll still be screwed but at least you'll be able to go down fighting.

Hope it all turns out well for you and your son.

Skipper, J36 "Zero Tolerance"

[poopdeckpappy]

This pretty common, there was a guy on here that bragged about how he bribed a marina manager to get bumped up the list and saw nothing wrong with it

I like to know where this happened myself

[Sapperwhite]

Dish the name so the rest of us can have a heads up if we ever find ourselves doing business with the facility.

After all this trouble, do you really want to give these people your money and have to deal with them on a regular basis anyway? Seek a slip elsewhere.

[sailingdog]

If it is a muni marina, you could probably also turn to the IG or AG's office for help. If they're selling places on the waiting list, I'd imagine that it isn't quite legal to do so.

Originally Posted by camaraderie

If it is a private marina I think you are out of luck. If it is a muni marina you can probably raise a major political stink and demand to see the waiting list and dates people registered.

[SJ34]

Thanks for the input everybody. I don't know how to capture more than one quote so I'll respond to each of your replies.

J36ZT, it is a private marina in Southern California. The school is not a maritime academy. I am glad however to add some joy to your day.

Sapperwhite, I don't want to flame the marina just yet, at least not until I have exhausted all of my options.

As far as not wanting to do business with them. Who would I do business with? There aren't very many people left these days who wouldn't screw you over if there was a little profit in it. But that is a discussion for another day.

I am sensitive to the marinas concern about having an unsupervised college kid living on a party boat in the area, disturbing the neighbors and trashing the harbor. That's why my son and I am are going to the marina today to talk to the marina manager in person to show him what great people we are

Thanks again and I'll keep you posted.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by Sapperwhite

After all this trouble, do you really want to give these people your money and have to deal with them on a regular basis anyway?

That was my first thought. I'm of the opinion that if more people would tell business' that treat them poorly to just piss off, we'd have better products and services on the whole.

Jim