Comments on St. Maartens Ship Yard

[robert sailor]

We used the services of St. Maartens Ship yard when we installed our new Beta Engine. I should have waited and chose another yard but we had waited so long for the engine we wanted to get it in ASAP and they were the only yard that could take us on short notice and now I know why!! We knew the cost of tying to their side dock before going there which is $55.00 a night which is a real dirty crumbling piece of broken concrete with no water or electricity but we felt it was going to be a short stay and just sucked it up. What we didn't know was the cost of the crane but we had done enough due diligence with a couple of other yards so we expected to pay between $100-$150 for the 20 minutes we needed it to drop the engine in. When we asked for the invoice they were too busy to get us a copy but when we finally did get it they had charged us a combo crane and snorkle lift of $280 plus 2 days more than we had been there plus a 6% administration fee, a 5% credit card fee and a 3% environmental fee. When I questioned the combined crane fee all I got was that is the fee, end of question plus I should feel good because their normal fee was $350 for the crane. I tried explaining that for that amount of money I could have the boat lifted out of the water and chocked. Anyways they just stuck to their guns so I cancelled their invoice on my CC and I gave them their full fees in cash except for the crane fee which I reduced to $200 which is still way more than I should have paid.
If any of you are getting work done in that yard, don't give them your credit card upfront. Secondly really think twice about getting anything done there as there are much better choices.