Pissed off - posted on the other board too
 

but thought I'd post it here even though a lot of you are the same guys, but it feel better to vent about BS

Am I way off based to be pissed off about this??
so I have been at the same Marina for 3 years now. Right down the street from my house, boat on a lift. Marina is nothing special, in fact it is kind of on the lower end as far as amenities, etc. But I have been very loyal, I've recommended the marina many times on this site to people, and have tried to get him a lot of business. This year my rental renewal came and he raised the rate $1000 for the year. THe lift was a good deal before, but I am totally bent out of shape about this. $1000 may not seem like a lot to everyone, but in my opinion, as a businessman/woman, you don't just raise your rates 50% in one year with no warning. The owner lives at the marina, I see him when I'm down there all the time, talk to him, bs with him etc...never said a word, just sent the notice. So I called him and told him that there was no way I could pay $1000 more per year, and his excuse was
"yeah, I know, two other people have offered me that for the slip so I wanted to raise it to get the amount I'm getting offered and bring it more in line with that." So here I am....spun up, but want to know if I'm overreacting I guess. Not that I'm gonna do anything about it, other than tell the story to others so they don't get screwed like I did thinking they had a slip long term only to have them be outbid and out on their asses!

Thanks for letting me vent!!!

I wonder if the two that offered him more are from another marina paying more than that. IT just sucks that you can lose your spot. Times are tough for everyone. They raised my rent for my trailer spot down at Taylers Island this year. Makes it hard.

Maybe there is a silver lining in it somewhere. I hope it works out.

Guess I should have said, I pulled out the minute he said that and let him know why. I'm in a slip down south right now until April and then on the trailer so I can go all over...the marina really is not a very good marina, it's just the principal of the thing!

Mark; paint your bottom and follow me:eek:. Hey,Hey,Hey I meant to my marina:D. 5th (Marty)

While I understand his wanting to maximize his revenue from the slip, there is HUGE value in a loyal customer who pays their bills. To price you out of the slip seems foolish in order to run the risk of getting a rentor who doesnt pay bills on time or is not reliable year to year to whether or not they are coming back. With a shrinking boating community, I think he is foolish to risk losing a loyal customer..

Mark,

Part of me agrees with Marty..Paint that bottom and get into a decent marina...The convenience is awesome, as you well know...You have to make more excuses to pull it and put it on a trailer than just to leave it in the slip, hop in, and catch fish...

That is a tough amount for a low to nothing level marina...Think mine is less but at least we have running fresh water, electricity, bathrooms, grills, places to hang out, etc....1K for something nice is still steep but at least it would be nice....

Come join us down on the Bodkin...We are friendly !

Mike

Sorry to hear of the troubles with the marina Mark...seems as though customer loyalty is pretty much gone these days...it all comes down to the dollar......
I would be pretty worked up also but there's not much you can do about it...
I would go fishing......:D

Just makes me feel thankful that has not happened to me yet. I am in a similar situation, except so far my marina operator has been very good to me about customer loyalty. They treat me well fitting me in when I have service problems, have not raised the rent on the lift in over 3 years, and part of it is because they don't have to track me down to get their money from me.

I have been at my marina since 1989 and while like yours, it does not have all the best ammentities and it is a long way by boat to the good fishing, it is right down the street, cheap gas on the river, no speed limits and I use it more because of that.

I think I would have done the same thing you did pulling out especially if you can trailer to good fishing grounds and while not really wishing your old marina operator ill will, hope he finds out that going for the money over taking care ofa loyal customer sometimes costs you more in the long run.

$1000 all at once sucks, a few $ each year maybe. I went through this about 5 years ago with the boat ramp I use. They doubled the ramp pass from $150 to $300 a year. I called the main office and said I have been using this "crappy and it is" ramp for 15 years and it's not worth $300.
They could care less so I went a mile down the road to another ramp for $150. The problem was this ramp is it's on the Rhode River and I live off the South river and stop by friends piers and then out to the Bay to get back to the ramp. Also you can only launch one boat at a time and I don't like waiting for idiots that are inconsiderate BSing, making sandwiches, putting on lotion while tying up the ramp :mad: The next year I handed a check over for $300, just make sure you consider the other options before you are willing to give it up.

Part of the stickler is that he lowered it last year by $100 citing "the economy" in order to keep business and then this year he did this. oh well, now i can be where the fish are and not have to pay so much in gas!