We have soon discovered that the boat (s/y "Vivie") is not that fine and well equipped as we expected and were promised. When me and my crew arrived in Lavrio port on Saturday, April 28th 2007, we started taking over the boat from the delivery person (who was not a Golden Sails employee). So all together we have paid 660 EURO to Golden Sails for the charter. Both bank transfers were acknowledged by Mr George Papageorgiou from Golden Sails (the owner). As required by the contract, I have transferred 20% of the charter sum (1320 * 20% = 264 EUROs) in December 2006, and 30% (1320 * 30% = 396 EUROs) in January 2007. In December 2006 I have signed a yacht charter contract proposed by Golden Sails. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to us. While such business model (one-man show) is not necessarily bad in general, it fails miserably if the owner is not available in case of problems, and is not willing to assist its clients. It doesn't have the employees and infrastructure like the big charter companies (people in charter bases/ports dedicated to solving any technical or non-technical problems that may pop up when chartering a boat). As far as we know, it charters its own boat (or boats?) and works as a charter broker (offering boats that belong to other companies).
Golden Sails seems to be a one-person business (Mr George Papageorgiou). In case there is more than one Golden Sails company, or if there are companies with similar names, here are some details of the company we dealt with:Īddress: Taxiarchon 11, Alimos, 17455, Athens, Greece See details of the case and supporting documents. Since then, we haven't heard from Golden Sails (no answer to our phone calls and mails) and haven't received back the money. Mr George Papageorgiou accepted to meet us on Monday, April 30 (but didn't finally come) and again on Wednesday, May 9th (again, canceled the meeting). We explained our position and stated that we expect to get back the money that we paid (following the contract conditions that was proposed and signed by Golden Sails). We were finally contacted by Mr George Papageorgiou from Golden Sails on Monday during the day. We chartered another boat from another company and sailed away the same day. One forth of the charter time passed on Monday 9am, so we decided to cancel the contract. Our contract said "if the boat is not ready within 1/4 of the charter time, Charterer can cancel the contract and be given back the money already paid". The situation didn't change until Monday morning (almost two days after the charter start). We had no idea if, and when we would eventually be able to sail.
In short: we were left in the port, with incomplete documents (so we couldn't sail away) and with no means of talking to anyone from Golden Sails (no answers to our numerous phone calls). We tried to contact Golden Sails, and its owner/contact person, Mr George Papageorgiou on Saturday afternoon, and whole Sunday, with no success (we called many times the office number, and Mr Papageorgiou mobile number). The person who delivered us the boat (who was not a Golden Sails employee) was not able to arrange a new, valid EPIRB report. It turned out that the EPIRB annual test report was expired (it was valid until March 2007), so we were not allowed to leave the port and sail. In the afternoon we took over the boat, and went to the Lavrion port authorities to get the crew list and other documents stamped. The first day of the charter was Saturday, as usual. We have paid Golden Sails 50% of the charter price (660 EUROs) by February 2007. We chartered a sailing boat s/y Vivie from Golden Sails for the period 28 April to. This page describes our bad experiences in chartering a sailing boatįrom Golden Sails yacht charter company in Greece. Golden Sails yacht charter in Greece - review and BAD EXPERIENCE Golden Sails sailing boat (yacht) charter in Greece
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