Tuesday 23 October 2012

Sick to the bottom of my stomach

Wow.. how do I write this without resorting to a major rant.....anyhow here goes, might be of interest to some.

You might remember this post.....clicky here

Well on Monday I received this.....

Dear Mr Wells

Please forgive this unsolicited email, but we thought you might wish to be informed that L'Attitude Adjustment is now available again after the agreed sale failed to complete.  If you would like an appointment to view, please let us know.

Kind Regards

ABNB Team


How delighted we were. Straight onto the email and arranged a second viewing on the Wednesday morning at 10am.

Viewed, loved the boat again and within 6 hours of viewing the boat we had made an offer quite close to the asking price and within £500 of the price the boat had been sold for previously. On the home straight now, finances secured and advised ABNB of this with an offer to buy the previuos survey to speed things up.

Then we got this......

Dear Neville & Rachel

I can confirm receipt of your email and that I will discuss with the vendors the details of your offer.  As you probably know, they are in Canada at present therefore we have to take account of the time difference for phone calls etc - I will let you know as soon as possible the outcome of the conversation.

One complication has arisen in only the last few hours - the previous interested party had been asked to contact us regarding the refund of their deposit, but have instead, today, informed us that they have reconsidered and wish to put forward a new offer.  In these circumstances (when more than one offer is received in the same working day) both offers must be put to the vendor and their decision reported back to each of the interested parties (no details of any offer can be revealed to any other party, of course, for ethical reasons).

I can fully understand that this will be a frustration to you, taking into consideration the previous circumstances, but we have done nothing to influence the timing of these events and can only proceed in a manner designed to be as fair to all parties as possible. 

Kind Regards



Now call me cynical...... add in your own perception of what was happening here.

Just now received this......

Dear Neville & Rachel

I have now received the vendors' decision regarding the two offers put to them for L'Attitude Adjustment, one of which was the offer from yourselves.

I am afraid that I have disappointing news in that they have instructed us to accept the offer of the other party.  I am particularly sorry to disappoint you a second time regarding the same boat, and empathise with you that the timing of the receipt of the other offer was very unfortunate for you.

I can only hope that another suitable boat comes onto brokerage in the near future, and wish you well in your search.

Kindest Regards



The timing of the other offer was 'very unfortunate for you' I'd have to agree with this 110% What to make of it ....well that is down to your own interpretation.

We are so very frustrated. Its not just about all the time taken in viewings, time taken off work, financial arrangements etc, but the dreams that get shattered in an instant.

Well onwards and upwards as they say. I think I need to get out on Waterlily sometime soon!

13 comments:

Adam said...

If the owners really have accepted another offer from people who've already messed them about, then the only logical conclusion is that they've got a screw loose.

Nev Wells said...

Adam,

They took 48 hours to give us the decision. So they must have thought it through....I'd have liked to have communicated with them directly. They could have read my blog, seen my passion for the waterways and bottom line would have had some vicarious cruising as I blogged about life aboard their old boat. Well not to be, the timing and time delays were interesting to us but in the end we are not going to get to buy the boat. It gave me a bad weekend for sure, lots of reflection but no one died, just a big big disappointment. Now when are you getting your paint job??

Nev

PS - Maybe an article for the magazine, the trials of buying and selling ??

Adam said...

Communicating directly with the vendor is undoubtedly an advantage. When we bought BR, the previous owner was living on board, so he showed us round and we talked offers etc.

The paint job is taking place right now. BR is due out on Monday, although there's a slight question about that now because the foggy weather is making the air damp, which means no painting today.

Andrew said...

This is not right ! how can it be !
" logical conclusion is that they've got a screw loose."

Too true me thinks.

Tom and Jan said...


Something doesn't sound right about this...... and I don't think I would want to purchase a boat from a broker who operated this way!

Anonymous said...

Speechless just speechless

Norwyn

Neil Corbett said...

As if it wasn't stressful enough negotiating to buy a boat! We feel for you.

If I were the seller I would have told the other buyers to B. off, knowing that you had put in a fair bid.
I suspect that ABNB don't think much of the vendor's actions either.They always seem pretty straight when we have talked to them.

Neil & Kath

Anonymous said...

The whole buying a boat thing is illogical. I've found a boat that we are really really interested in, (subject to surveys etc) the guy says urgent sale. You'd think he would respond to emails, phone calls or text messages. But I've got nothing. His loss. Keep looking the right boat will be out there. Liz.

Halfie said...

Despite my having been in a similar situation of being gazumped I would have to agree with Neil: the brokers could probably have done little else to remain fair. As the go-between they must develop a pretty thick skin as this sort of thing probably happens all the time. So... put this behind you and keep looking! You didn't fancy that boat with the Gardner engine I told you about, then?

Nev Wells said...

John,

I agree with you over the broker, I'd have liked to have been given the option of my offer to the vendor before the others put in their revised offer, the timing was just so bad for us. Was it Daniel Okley? The layout just did not do it for us. But we are looking at 2 on Saturday morning, another Severn Valley plus something at the other end of the specification spectrum....with a two pot air cooler lister in its own engine room. It's Tony Redshaws boat so the engine should be in top condition ! I'll let you know how we get on

Anonymous said...

This boat was moored at our home mooring & we happened to meet the new owners yesterday, at a lock, on their way to their new mooring with her. The lady told me they had considered leaving the boat where she was but the broker was a 'bit off' with her so they have decided to go elsewhere. Your comments explain that one.

Adam said...

Have you seen this one, which looks like exceptional value for a 2011 boat:
http://abnb.co.uk/boat_pages/2349web/2349abnb.php?BoatID=2349

Nev Wells said...

Adam,

Yes one we have noted, no bath plus its pushing our price and its ABNB, scared by the experience for sure.

Thanks for the link though,

Nev