Pirates in the Med

[Paschal Phelan]

PIRATES IN THE MED.

I found my dream Gulet in Marmaris earlier this year and paid Euro 1 million to the broker Gulet Group. I had been searching for a number of years and got to well know Ceitin Korkut and his assistant Okan Korkut after many visits to Marmaris. I paid Gulet Group for the 45m boat and all appeared in order.
They then requested Euro 100,000 to deliver the boat to South Africa, which I paid. Part of the agreed arrangement was that I would spend a few weeks on board whilst it travelled through the Mediterranean. Gulet Group provided a crew of four under the captaincy of Serdar Bedir. The boat is a sailing motor yacht. After many requests over two weeks I asked the captain to sail the boat rather than motor all the time. Finally they raised the sails, and it was clear that they did not know what they were doing, and tore one sail. They quickly reverted to the motor! I informed Gulet Group that I was concerned that the incompetency at sailing would not only endanger the boat but their own lives out in the open Atlantic. After my report Gulet Group apparently terminated the contract through the office in Marmaris.

Captain Serdar was sent the following email in English and Turkish,

serdar let me know urgently position of the phealan good cordinates and take the new crew of owner to the boat and make sure the leaving boat to new crew all s okey on the boat and let me know your flight date to turkey atleast two day before so ı can send your tickets.i dont want any other explain or idear if you have anythink to say you seat with cetin and clear all with him.
contackt to mr cetin or owner of the boat with mails and inform them they can send new crew.
kaptan cengiz selcuk

Gulet Group said it would be difficult to get a replacement crew quickly and we agreed that I would find a replacement, which I did.
I tracked the boat to San Raphael in South of France and sent the new crew. Captain Serdar refused to allow them on board. They now hold my boat for past 5 weeks. Last week I sent another representative and again Captain Serdar refused to allow him on board. Captain Serdar says he is owed money, but refuses to say how much or provide me with a copy of his contract.

Ceitin and Okan Korkut the owners of Gulet Group refuse to be of any assistance and ignore my emails. They refuse to refund any part of the Euro100, 000 I have paid them to deliver the yacht the full way.

guletgroup.com is a very fancy website and certainly inspires confidence, however such brokerage firm appear regulated in Turkey by no one.

It is ironic that I decided to have the boat sailed 'the long way around' via the Atlantic so as to avoid Somalia pirates only to have my own crew pirate the boat instead!

Surely this is not the norm for business in Turkey in 21st century???

Any assistance or suggestions will be greatly appreciateD

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Paschal Phelan

Any assistance or suggestions will be greatly appreciateD

Boat is in South of France - go see a French Lawyer. If you have spent EUR1.1 Million on a boat then my guess is that you can afford not to nickle and dime your problem.

In your shoes I would want to make sure ASAP that the boat cannot go anywhere else until the problem is sorted. But then again, in your shoes I would not have spent EUR1.1 Million on a boat - I would have spent it on beer and loose women.

again .

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Boat is in South of France - go see a French Lawyer. If you have spent EUR1.1 Million on a boat then my guess is that you can afford not to nickle and dime your problem.

In your shoes I would want to make sure ASAP that the boat cannot go anywhere else until the problem is sorted. But then again, in your shoes I would not have spent EUR1.1 Million on a boat - I would have spent it on beer and loose women.

again .

I would have spent only a million on the booze and women and then wasted the rest...

[Katiusha]

Originally Posted by Paschal Phelan

Surely this is not the norm for business in Turkey in 21st century???

Any assistance or suggestions will be greatly appreciateD

[below is quite cynical, but we've spent time in Turkey and know of a multitude of cases very similar to yours]

Refund on such a big amount of money? To a foreigner? Unless you know some very powerful Turks, it's most likely impossible. You paid, and that's it. If you go through Turkish court system, it will take a few years, that other party will be found guilty, BUT they won't be required to pay money back - precedents abound.

You paid EUR 1.1 Mln and you still expect that Turkish office to function and provide service? Most likely not. The only way they will respond is if you will contact them saying that your friend is also interested in such an gulet and could they help him find one.
[You could spin it and say that he's interested, but quite disappointed in the delivery gone wrong. If they give you 100K back, he will buy another gulet. That might work.]

You are a foreigner with money in Turkey. It doesn't mean that all business is conducted in such manner, but scams and lack of post-sales service is certainly common in resort towns for foreigners who don't know People.

Do you have ownership papers for the gulet? If so, you can go to French police.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Paschal Phelan.

Good luck!

[carstenb]

Assuming you have ownership papers - have the french police "arrest" the yacht. Then it cannot leave France. Then get the police to evict the Captain and crew, and get your yacht sailed to where you want it.

Then the crew can sue you wages or whatever.

Do it today

[jacob30]

Hire private security (big guys and double the numbers). Show up at the boat at 4 am and remove them. Have your new crew standing by. It would be nice if the local police would do this but something tells me they will not get involved to this degree.

[WebWench]

I don't know if contacting the press or at least threatening to do so, might not get you some response from the company. A bad reputation would put a big damper on their sales.

[atoll]

contact my very good friend,and delivery captain he is very well connected in turkey,and internationally.

he will be able to advise

teoman.sariaslan at facebook.com


recent video from cnn of teo
http://video.cnnturk.com/2009/progra...oman-sariaslan

[jeremiason]

I find it strange that a man who spends $1.25 million dollars on a sailboat and another $125 thousnd dollars on a delivery is asking for free advice from this forum....

If you are truely who you say you are and for some reason you do't understand Maritime Laws... I would suggest that you hire a Maritime Attorney in France and get your boat back instead of wasting valuable time asking for free advice on this forum.

As far as the money you sent to Turkey... Was this the full amount for the delivery? If so, then you violated the cardinal rule of business.... Never pay the full amount for anything until the job has been completed!

With that said the Maritime Attorney probably will advise you that the crew has no standing to hold the vessel for ransome, since their employer is the company in Turkey, not you.

[Lake-Effect]

[anybody verified this, um, story?]

Note to any other millionaires paying cash for boat delivery - for EUR100,000 I could get you Joshua Slocum AND Sir Francis Drake.

[muammer]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

[anybody verified this, um, story?]

Note to any other millionaires paying cash for boat delivery - for EUR100,000 I could get you Joshua Slocum AND Sir Francis Drake.

I can have you paid not only 100,000 Euros but 200,000 immediately if you can get Mr. Slocum.

P.S. Beware that you won't be paid on any kind of reincarnation case! Institutes I contact with will only pay for original, live Joshua Slocum.

P.S.2 - No cloning allowed!

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by muammer

I can have you paid not only 100,000 Euros but 200,000 immediately if you can get Mr. Slocum.

P.S. Beware that you won't be paid on any kind of reincarnation case! Institutes I contact with will only pay for original, live Joshua Slocum.

P.S.2 - No cloning allowed!

No problem. Really. See for yourself:

Originally Posted by JoshuaSlocum

I'm like totally jazzed about this project. When can we start, dudes?

Your good-will deposit of only EUR90,000 (by Western Union) will ensure our fastest response. Watch for PM.

[bobconnie]

Sounds like a load of Crap to me !! anyone rich enough to buy a vessel for this amount of money, would seem to have enough brains to know how to contact the Officials in France to get his property released to his care and control !!! And anyone dumb enough to enter into a contract like he did is way to dumb to have earned the money to buy a boat like this !! If he knows that the crew he had aboard to deliver his boat could not sail it, why did he not sail it himself!! Any delivery Captain on this foram would have been very happy to have sailed this boat most anywhere for the amount of money he says he paid ! at least I would ! Hell if he would pay for the air fare I would bring folks who would take care of his problem, no problem !! LOL Sounds like to me this guy has more problems then just this boat !! Thats My 2 cents

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by muammer

I can have you paid not only 100,000 Euros but 200,000 immediately if you can get Mr. Slocum.

P.S. Beware that you won't be paid on any kind of reincarnation case! Institutes I contact with will only pay for original, live Joshua Slocum.

P.S.2 - No cloning allowed!

I think you will find that Mr Slocum signs onto CF as Boatman61 .

Well, the ages are about right.........