US documentation scam

[Chuck34]

Yes they are really backed up but the scammers do not get a pass to the front of the line

[wingless]

My plan for getting an extra month from USCG has been fruitless after many years of trying.

The renewal is submitted on-line on the last day of the expiration month (Friday, May 31), processed on the first day of the next month (Saturday, June 1 this year), snail mail in-hand on Thursday, June 6.

They maintained the May 31 expiration, even though it was processed in June.

The USCG Documentation Center is "hitting it out of the park" on renewals.

[Chuck34]

Just got my renewal in one week. Maybe they are starting to catch up.

[JBecher]

I too was misled by Maritime Documentation. I requested that they cancel my processing and a day later they say it's done but provide no proof. Then hide behind the CFR which, correct me if I'm wrong applies to the USCG collecting fees for documentation not private entities. Unfortunately my credit card sided with them because of their bs terms.



Where's Guido when you need him for a good 'ol kneecapping?

[igotscammed]

They got me for $600. The only way we are going to hit these guys is to punish their checkbook. They pay anywhere from $2 to $5 for every ad click from google. If everyone simply searched

coast guard boat registration

... and clicked these links and close the page without buying anything, they will have to pay for all of those ad clicks. Google is smart enough to see multiple clicks from the same ip address and/or session as invalid clicks so only do it once or twice. ... maybe once from your desktop and once from your phone.

If we all do that, they will be at least have to pay a little more for their disgusting scam!

I'm so livid right now.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by igotscammed

...If everyone simply searched

coast guard boat registration

... and clicked these links and close the page without buying anything, they will have to pay for all of those ad clicks....

Wow, so sorry you got scammed. It's an expensive lesson. And worse, it means that in this case, crime (or at best, dishonesty) did pay.

But it seems to me generating a high click-through rate will only enhance their search engine ranking. Do that and the scammers might not even have to pay for good placement. Even adding a link to their site from an otherwise legitimate site enhances rankings, so I hope no-one does that here.

[ttex]

They got me for 500 dollars when I first got my boat. I didn't realize what happened for a long time. Oh well. Live and learn.

[Shrew]

It's not a scam. It's a service. Much like NameChange services that take care of all of your accounts for you.

You choose to take advantage of their services, or don't. The URL makes it pretty clear where you are, which isn't:

National Vessel Documentation Center (www.dco.uscg.mil)

Branding them a scam due to a lack of paying attention doesn't make it a scam.

There are many, many threads that discuss this topic and US vessel documentation.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by Shrew

It's not a scam. It's a service. Much like NameChange services that take care of all of your accounts for you.

I've posted several times that there are actually people who prefer to pay extra for things.

Apparently they get defensive about it, too.

This is nothing at all like a service which actually does something for you which is tedious or complicated to do yourself.

When someone charges you $500 or $600, or even $50 so you can make a few clicks on their site, instead of the same number of clicks on the authentic site which charges $26 or whatever, that's a scam. When someone carefully designs their mailings and their web page to fool people into thinking they're something they're not, that's a scam.

If you fell for it, I'm sorry. If you fell for it and feel superior to the rest of us because you paid more, well, I'm not sorry at all. You're happy, they're happy, and you've obviously got more money than sense so it might as well go to the scammer as anyone else.

P.T. Barnum would be proud.

[M Porter]

Friends,
I got conned in my attempt to renew a colleague's vessel by Maritimedocumention.us - by agreeing to three years at $75 a year for a total $225. I realized my mistake 40 minutes from clicking "agree" and wrote to cancel the order.

Since then, I have disputed the charge with the credit card company to no avail since the company insists they give no refunds.

I have also explained I am not the managing owner or owner and with the information I inadvertently provided, they cannot actually renew the documentation. Still they refuse to refund any money (even for years two and three) and threatened to report me to the credit bureau for fraud.

The company absolutely refuses to do the right thing.

Michael

[wingless]

Welcome to the forum.

There have been zero instances reported where this has resulted in the desired outcome.

After payment to the service company, the potential issue is reclaiming normal USCG service to your address years from now.

Best wishes.

[Chuck34]

Originally Posted by M Porter

Friends,
I got conned in my attempt to renew a colleague's vessel by Maritimedocumention.us - by agreeing to three years at $75 a year for a total $225. I realized my mistake 40 minutes from clicking "agree" and wrote to cancel the order.

Since then, I have disputed the charge with the credit card company to no avail since the company insists they give no refunds.

I have also explained I am not the managing owner or owner and with the information I inadvertently provided, they cannot actually renew the documentation. Still they refuse to refund any money (even for years two and three) and threatened to report me to the credit bureau for fraud.

The company absolutely refuses to do the right thing.

Michael

Sorry they got you. Got me 4 years ago, but for only 1 year.
It's been my mission since then to spread the word here and other boating forums about this scam. Once enough people find out about this, the cash cow will dry up and they will find they are spending more money on postage sending out documentation reminders than the revenue they get in return.

[wingless]

My editorial comment is that the US reading skills are abysmal.

This reply highlights all the instances in the courtesy notice letter where the vendor states they are not USCG.

(FWIW, I was again not successful to gain an additional "free" month by renewing close to the last date, processed in the following month. They retained the same expiration date.)

[Thumbs Up]

For what it's worth, The USCG no longer publishes owners' addresses on their searchable database.

[belizesailor]

Wow, I just did a Google search on "NVDC" (the USCG's National Vessel Documentation Center...the official way to handle vessel docummentation)...about half a dozen other web sites showed up first, several with ".us" domain names, and all styled to look very much like the real NVDC's web page.

Note that the actual NVDC domain name is "www.dco.uscg.mil".