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Old 20-12-2013, 10:07   #1
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Anchor Outs Not Welcome?

I had an interesting first today. I went into the Melbourne Harbor Marina in Melbourne Florida for a pumpout, some water, and to dump some trash. I visit Melbourne every year for the month of December visiting relatives before continuing on to the Bahamas. In the past I have used the MHM because I have found it to be a friendly and easy place to and get a pumpout and water. In the past what I have done get two pumpout and two water fills during December while anchored out. Melbourne does not have a lot of marina options for Catamarans. Melbourne Harbor Marina cannot accomodate a Catamaran at all. When I'm ready to leave I have always filled my fuel tanks at MHM before heading south and that visit was well over $$300. In the past the pumpout was $10 and water and trash was free. The first time I was in this year the pumpout was still $10 and water and trash was $5. This was perfectly reasonable in my opinion. Water and trash service are not free to the marina and a reasonable charge is not a problem. Today when I went in there The pumpout was still $10 but he asked how much water I needed and I said 80 gallons. Which he said would be $20. I asked him why it was up from $5 only 10 days ago. He said it is what it is. When I pointed out I paid less than this for RO water in the bahamas he went off on a rant about "anchor outs" wanting all these services for free. I asked for absolutely nothing for free. In the Bahamas it costs quite a bit to make RO water from sea water so $.25 a gallon is reasonable. This guy pays .00433 cents a gallon for city water so 80 gallons cost him 32 cents. Five dollars for 32 cents worth of water is a pretty good profit in my opinion even if one includes the capital cost of running a pipe to the end of the dock. He pays a flat rate for a trash dumpster. A bag of trash does not change what he pays so anything he charges is money in his pocket. The city requires that he have the dumpster even if it's not used.

Before I retired there was an old business rule about never being rude or nasty to a small customer because you never knew when they might become a big customer or how many big customers he had as friends. Today I was a small customer. The guy I dealt with identified himself as the owner. Needless to say I'll find some where else to fill my tanks. Maybe $300-$400 worth of diesel is not worth his time, so be it. I don't know why business owners act like this, do they cruisers don't talk to other cruisers? This was the first time I had ever been treated so rudely by a Marina. I might not have been so offended if he did not go off on me for not buying a service he didn't offer (dockage for my Cat).
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Old 20-12-2013, 10:36   #2
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Right on, take your business and dollars elsewhere and publicize this guys actions to the rest of the community. Dollars spent are votes we cast every day. Cast them for the good guys, the honest and helpful guys, and shun the ones that deserve to be shunned.
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Old 20-12-2013, 10:45   #3
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Good for you! I won't be going there because of your comments.
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Old 20-12-2013, 10:46   #4
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Paul S:

You're exactly right, our $$ and the word of mouth are the only votes we can cast.

To the OP: We have encountered this attitude in the past, with this difference, that we generally just prefer to anchor out (where possible). There are some marina owners/runners who think anyone who chooses not to use their facility is cheating them of their livelihood. Rather silly of him, wasn't it, if there is no catamaran accommodation?

There's a lot of craziness in the world, eh?

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Old 20-12-2013, 10:55   #5
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Try Cocoa Village next year, reasonable and there's a great hardware store within spitin distance.
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:09   #6
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Isn't that Melbourne marina where the SSCA hold it's gams or whatever they do?
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:19   #7
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Time to move on.

Any marina that sells a fill-up should see other services as tiny accessory businesses and I'm surprised they charge at all. Depends also on whether those services are self-serve.

But re. the comment about not liking "anchor-outs;" I would have been very tempted to say "you enjoyed selling me $300 in fuel alright."

Well, he saved you the trouble of deciding on a tip.
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:31   #8
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Vasco, I believe you are correct about SSCA gams being held at civic center there.
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:34   #9
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Pick any place a bunch of yachts go and watch the prices climb.

There are also a lot of parasite liveaboards no matter how much this forum would like to defend them as "sailors".

I aim my dislike towards the parasites which is probably where that guy got his shitty attitude from.
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:35   #10
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Bill View Post
I don't know why business owners act like this...
Because they are stupid. I wonder if it's a new owner. New or old, though, attitude like that and he won't be the owner for very much longer.
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:38   #11
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

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I aim my dislike towards the parasites which is probably where that guy got his shitty attitude from.
You're probably right. But given that he obviously cannot tell the parasites from the valuable customers very well, he ought to keep his attitude to himself.

It just never ceases to amaze me what a large percentage of businesses provide truly horrible customer service.
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:52   #12
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You're probably right. But given that he obviously cannot tell the parasites from the valuable customers very well, he ought to keep his attitude to himself.

It just never ceases to amaze me what a large percentage of businesses provide truly horrible customer service.
Good customer service on the water can be super hard to come by for sure.

I just wonder how friendly I'd be if I dealt with everything from drunks on derelicts to rich a-holes nickel and dime'ing everything.

There's a boat here in La Cruz (nayarit, mex) that tried to bounce from a 30k yard bill in San Diego when I was there. Huge charter operation, big cat, bunch of thieves.
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Old 20-12-2013, 11:58   #13
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

hell most of the time that I go to the dock to fill up with fuel it really is for water. If they want to sell me the water I guess there wouldn't be reason to buy the fuel
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Old 20-12-2013, 12:06   #14
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

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I just wonder how friendly I'd be if I dealt with everything from drunks on derelicts to rich a-holes nickel and dime'ing everything.
I imagine more friendly than some. But then simply asking this question probably indicates that you know yourself well enough, and are smart enough, not to try to buy and operate a marina. The problem is the people who have no tolerance for dealing with the public, but still try to run a business where they HAVE to deal with the public!
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Old 20-12-2013, 12:14   #15
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Re: Anchor outs not welcome?

Personally, I think that folks who seem to dislike boaties should find a job somewhere drier...
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