The tale of a Greek Tragedy...just without the hero

The dream was sailing round the Ionian Sea discovering unchartered waters (I did say ‘dream') zipping about with the wind in our face and the fresh salty air filling our lungs and blowing away the stresses and strains of everyday life. The reality was a catalogue of errors focussing on a broken boat which limped along until we were forced to give up and hitch a ride with a friendly yacht owner.

The boat in question was the Sea Ray which was chartered from an organisation called Hellenic Charters, run by ***. Despite a complete acceptance of blame (read: incompetence!) they, Hellenic Charters, has continued to rub salt into the wound by withholding my refund, to which they agreed. In spite of numerous telephone calls and emails to *** both during and after the holiday to keep him fully appraised of the appalling situations, trying to get them resolved and with him accepting all the way through that none of the problems were in any way my fault and giving me promises that I would have my money refunded I am still waiting. So, as a result I have been forced to tell my tale and relay the message that Hellenic Charters and any business run by *** should come with a health warning!
Our holiday of a lifetime, bareboating a luxury motor cruiser around the Ionian Sea trip was scheduled to last ten days concluding on 30th August. I paid a deposit in advance of the trip (totalling Euro 2764) with the balance (Euro 2764) paid in cash to their representative on arrival at Corfu Marina.

However, it wasn't long before cracks started to appear. The original contract stated that the boat would be ready for use by 2pm. It was in fact 5pm before the boat was ready, the paperwork complete and we were able to receive a briefing on how to operate the boat and take it out for a test drive with XXX, who we understood to be the key technician for Hellenic Charters at Corfu Marina.
We were prepared to overlook this initial glitch. We were in holiday mood and ready for the adventures which lay ahead. Little did we know that the ‘adventures' we had not anticipated would begin shortly after we had left Corfu at 6pm and we were in the middle of crossing the Ionian Sea. These adventures could also be described as a very frightening nightmare when without warning both engines cut out and we were enveloped by the sounds of loud alarms ringing! Imagine the scene; two of us on a boat which is completely devoid of power, bobbing about in the Ionian Sea with large passenger ferries and cruise liners dotted around us. However, rather than panic (just yet!) we put our training into action, donned our lifejackets, had the emergency flares at the ready just in case any large ships decided to set upon a collision course for us and we sounded a PAN-PAN; no one responded!

Resorting to more basic measures we called YYY (the agent for ***) who told us to call the technician, XXX.
XXX endeavoured to talk us through some boat maintenance instructions...to no avail and we were left in a powerless boat with darkness looming. Eventually, around 8pm, and as it was getting dark he arrived in a boat he had borrowed from a friend. It took him 45 minutes to disarm the alarms and to get the engines going again. Had we known (or been told) that the alarms were fire alarms going off, we may well have chosen to set off in the dingy as we were sitting on around 700 litres of fuel! XXX took the helm and towed his friend's boat back to the Marina.

By this time it was dark and, it would be fair to say, our holiday had not got off to a great start. We tried to remain optimistic and consider the days and adventures which still lay ahead. However, even the most optimistic optimist would have struggled to have kept a sense of humour when the port engine failed upon arrival at the Marina, with XXX at the helm!

At 3pm the next day, and three engineers later, we were told the boat was fixed. We hopped on board and headed off once again for Platarias Marina. The engines seemed to be fine...it was just the trims which weren't working which meant, at a speed of 15 knots, the bows of the boat were very high in the area making visibility difficult.

The next day, and once again surrounded by many other boats, the port engine failed again along with the generator. This meant we had no port engine, no hot water, no air con and no kettle point. This boat was quickly starting to resemble a rowing boat...just without the charm. We managed to limp to a small place called Mongonisi and drop anchor. We reported the problems to *** and XXX who, once again, tried to talk us through a remote fixing session. This didn't sit very comfortably with us (have you ever seen how complicated an engine bay is?) so we told him we would prefer an engineer came to look at the vessel. We were told someone would be with us at 9.30 the next morning.

Now you would have thought that, by now, we would now be clean out of optimism. No, daft as it may now seem we actually thought ‘9.30 the next morning' meant ‘9.30 the next morning'. In fact it didn't even mean the ‘next day'. At 2pm we were told the engineer couldn't come till the Monday and we would have to wait with the boat till then. So essentially we were asked to sit and wait on what now resembled a floating hostel!

On Monday morning (well still ‘just' morning, as it was 11.30) the engineer turned up. After tinkering for just shy of an hour he concluded that he was unable to fix the engine and that one of the trims was broken. He did manage to fix the generator so even though the boat was still lacking an engine and trim we could have a cup of tea (small mercies in a crisis. And we are British after all!). The engineer told us that the Sea Ray would need to be taken to the mainland where a diagnostic review would take place. We relayed this to *** who told us we would need to take the Sea Ray (or Sea Rat as it is now, not very, affectionately known) to the mainland and that we weren't to exceed 7 knots. When we had been planning our luxury trip we had not considered ‘workshop sessions in boat engineering and maintenance' nor ‘transportation' of said broken Sea Rat yet, for our money that is all we had, so far, received.

On Tuesday we departed Mongonisi and, as instructed, kept to a maximum of 7 knots. An engineer met us at Platarias and spent 90 minutes running tests on the boat. Eventually he concluded ‘it was broken' (obviously a sharp one!) and that it would require a part which would need to be delivered from Athens. This would take 4 days.

So the reality was we were essentially stranded in Platarias. After various negotiations with is (none of which was reasonable) we concluded that giving it up as a lost cause was probably our best option. So we agreed with Dimitris that the boat was not fit for purpose and he would arrange for Thanasis to collect the boat on Thursday 27th August (the next day) and undertake the final checks. It was agreed that a full refund, minus two days (we were too tired to argue further) would be returned.

On Thursday we cleaned and then left the boat and checked into an apartment in Platarias. At 3pm XXX arrived with a member of staff to collect the Sea Ray. He inspected the boat, requested our return of the boats papers, to which we complied and confirmed to us, and witnesses who were with us, that the problems we had experienced were NOT caused by us.

A couple whose yacht was moored next to the Sea Ray in Platarias (who are affectionately known as our saviours) offered to sail us, and our luggage, back to Gouvia Marina on Saturday in time for our flight on Sunday. This left us with one day which we spent in Platarias.
On Saturday we boarded our ‘savours' yacht, with our faith firmly restored in human kindness, and set sail for Gouvia Marina. Upon arrival we checked into a hotel. On Sunday we flew home; full of bitter disappointment.

Now if you have managed to keep up with this saga you will recall that a few paragraphs back I mentioned that a refund had been agreed. This was confirmed in writing and therefore, I assumed (as any reasonable individual would) that I would be treated in an honourable way and receive my refund. Neither of which has occurred. In fact treated dishonourably would be a far more appropriate term, as would ‘had over' and ‘cheated'!

I last spoke to *** on the 1st October when he, once again, reiterated that we had done absolutely nothing wrong and promised faithfully that the money would be refunded. True to character he still not refunded my money and has resorted to ignoring all of my attempts to contact him. It is now fast approaching 3 months since a refund was promised and I seriously doubt that he has any honourable intentions.
So buyer beware, if you fancy a trip of a lifetime around the Ionian then steer well clear of *** and Hellenic Charters for fear of being the star character in a Greek tragedy. I can say for sure though, that the tragic characters in this tale will not be accepting the predicament imposed on them!