Hi Cockpit, I'm sorry I can't help I'm sailing my boat I'm the opposite direction, but just curious, did you buy SeaStar by ant chance.

Unfortunately, the trip has been cancelled.

Cockpit said..
Yes sorry, I should have updated this. The purchase has been cancelled due to my wife's health and the trip won't be happening.
I am still trying to process the way the broker and owner have behaved regarding the cancellation of the sale and that they are going to keep all of our deposit (nearly $10,000).
It was a genuine health issue and I cancelled well within 24 hours of the final signing...
And it's not like the boat just came on the market and they took it off for us, it's been for sale for well over 14 months.
And yes it was Sea Star.

Hi, sorry to hear of the ill health issue, I found myself in a similar position while we were renovating the house and some of the trades were absolute a*******s, taking advantage when my mind and efforts were with my wife, so I would suggest a conversation with fair trading to establish where you stand and then follow on from there. Don't just walk away and allow them to take the entire deposit.
Hope the health issue improves soon.
Cheers.

So my wife wrote the broker and owner an email apologising profusely and explaining her medical condition and how devastated she was by having to cancel the sale. She asked would they please reconsider and return at least some of the deposit as she felt bad enough we had had to give up the dream of the boat but losing so much money (a huge amount to us) was making her mental state even worse.
Last night she received an email back (2 days later) saying they were sorry for her condition but they would still be keeping all the deposit.

Then they said perhaps we would like to continue with the purchase and resell her ourselves to try and get some of our money back!?

So we cancel the sale 4 days ago because of my wife's health, and now they think we should buy the boat again and resell her in another state when they couldn't sell her in 14 months?? Yes I'm sure the stress of doing that that would be really good for my wife's mental state...

None of these people need this money, the owner is an ex naval commander and lives in a multi million dollar house and will never use the money. It's just pure greed and nastiness. Early this year we had a deal agreed on another boat and then the owners sold it to someone else for a few thousand more.
Sometimes you can really lose faith in human nature.

FreeRadical said..
Contact fair trading to get some advice.

Would anyone know which one to contact as I am in QLD but the contract was in NSW?
thanks

Keep trying with Fair Trading NSW. IMHO retaining some expenses would be reasonable, but not such a big lump of money.
If in the end, you still lose your deposit, please tell us the name of the broker.

The NSW Fair Trading allows for the deposit to be kept. QLD Fair Trading only allows for a few hundred dollars.

However the the ACCC states that a deposit can not been seen to be a penalty but rather and a genuine recovery of costs. I think the ACCC takes precedence over the various state Tradings.

I had the links to post earlier but got busy. I'll try and post the links tonight or tomorrow.

I think it might be fair for the seller to keep a small amount of the deposit but the full amount of ten thousand is a bit rude

hopefully karma might catch up with them

Regards Don

FreeRadical said..
Contact fair trading to get some advice.

+1 maybe a sympathetic lawyer too....

Wow just wow
Cant believe the broker is such a dick
I would be making a lot of noise to who ever will listen surely this is no what a deposit is about.

Looking at the boat stealers for sale page (Assuming this is the stealer in question) I came across this gem in the add for the Hans Christian.
quote "BBM Yacht Sales prides itself on honesty and a Customers for Life philosophy" unquote

I for one think if Cockpit doesn't get his deposit back we chip in.
Ill start with $100

Karma to him for his offer to go for a sail on his delivery trip.

Might need to be careful. If he has done nothing illegal there could be legal action he could take against people or websites that slander or libel him.
I would like to know if the owner is the culprit. I'd spread the word amongst the ex Navy community. But I would need to know the full story first to avoid making false allegations.

garymalmgren said..
I almost didn't even sign the initial contract

But, you did.

Gary

Yes Gary, I said I did...
So you are trying to make the point that I signed a contract which I know, but what is your reason for saying this?

I don't understand? Maybe you are a lawyer yourself and see everything in a black and white legal way?
Or are you just trying to get an extra kick in?

I think we need to leave this post for now and I will take what advice I can next week.
If I had an intent when I first posted about the deposit being kept it was to see if anyone else had had a similar situation that I could maybe look at to help us. And to let others know about what can happen in this situation.
I really appreciate the messages of support for my wife and myself on here and by pm but I absolutely did not intend this to come across as a sob story or begging letter. And we cannot accept any money however well intended it is.
Whatever happens we will move on and as we all know there are always many people worse off than us.
And yes I will put a review on their website when this is finalised.

We both believe things are either meant to happen or not, in this case we were not meant to buy the boat even though we were very close.

Thanks again