Help with well known yacht broker dispute

[Wess]

Hello all- thank you for the advice. I thought a lot about what you all said and I think the general consensus is correct that the chase is not worth the effort. In the end, what I did was make up a short playlist of the worst things that the brokerage seems to be doing. If anyone is interested they can see what was going on here-

Phil is the only guy in he business we have ever had multiple people suggest we run away from as fast as we could. Sounds like that was good advice; yikes!

 

[yachtwork]

I just wanted to give you all a quick update on this broker saga. I figured the members were right and decided to drop the issue. I made up some videos about why I would not do business again with the company so others don't get burned, gave them a bad review, and left it at that. Then I see I got a response to my bad review and I noticed that their Google reviews are stacking up with new 5-star reviews in the last couple of days. On closer inspection, it seems their own brokers are leaving themselves glowing reviews on Google. Check it out here-
Crazy hu? Buyer beware.

 

[Talchotali]

That last video made my day.

I checked their review section via my phone, and sure enough, after your one star review, there is the 'gang of five stars' company employee roll call, just as you named them.

It is said that one well stated negative comment effects 256 future customers.

 

[MauiPunter]

Holy Fake Reviews for The Multihull Company!! That company must be as crooked as you are saying. Yikes.

 

[BrightAyes]

It will cost you $1500-2500 to have a competent lawyer review the documents, have a consultation with you, and give you a summary of your options. You might be able to get a demand letter written inside that budget too. It will likely fail.

Any deeper and the meter will be running. If you have to litigate and you don't have a lawyer in the family or close friend group, no way would $19k be enough to justify it. My general belief on US civil litigation is: $50k minimum for simple litigation unless (a) it's a slam dunk or (b) the situation is such where the winner recovers legal fees from the loser, making it more attractive to the lawyer. It sounds like in your case you made it very much the opposite from easy: (a) no written contract, (b) no due diligence on the broker, and c) no ongoing monitoring of the situation between the broker and boat owner.

DISCLAIMER*****The foregoing is general informational advice, not specific to any jurisdiction, and your reading of it and/or my provision of it does not form an attorney-client relationship between us. Seek legal advice from a licensed attorney in your area.

Can you provide photo-evidence of your licensure to provide legal advice across state lines?

 

[Bull City]

Are you a licensed yacht broker/salesman? I know nothing of FL governing such and am not a lawyer, but generally in the investment/insurance world, commission splits are permissible only with other appropriately licensed individuals. IOW, your arrangement with the broker may not have been permissible in the first place, depending on applicable law. If not legally permissible, you can’t go to court to enforce it.

This. In North Carolina, where I have a RE license, you cannot act in any way like a broker if you don't have a license. Although I don't know for a fact, the same may apply to yacht brokers. It depends on the state. According to Wikipedia, only Florida and California require yacht brokers to be licensed. Wild West everyplace else.

 

[wdgi]

Isn't this the guy (Berman) involved with Balance Catamarans, spoke to a new owner recently, kinda shrugged...

 

[longy]

Yes, he's heavily involved with Balance Cats