Fwd: "Tiare Taporo III" arrived by m.v. Annegret at Fethiye April 7th.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 9 June 2018 at 07:05
Subject: Fwd: "Tiare Taporo III" arrived by m.v. Annegret at Fethiye April 7th.
To: contact@chamberofshipping.org.tr
Cc: Murat Toprak <info@yachtbrokerageturkey.com>, Kaptan Denizcilik <kaptandenizcilik@gmail.com>, Interdolphin/ Captain Yunus <yunus@interdolphin.net>, INTERDOLPHIN SHIPPING AGENCIES CO - DERINCE / GOKHAN GULLE <derince@interdolphin.net>, Levent yıldırım <levent.first@gmail.com>, Claire Jones <cjmoonsilver@gmail.com>, "Derks, Marieke" <Marieke@sevenstar-asia.com>, "Jongerius, Chris" <Chris@sevenstar-asia.com>

Good morning,

We are emailing you to ask for your help in resolving a very sad situation which has developed following the haulout of our New Zealand registered yacht "Tiare Taporo III" at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard in Fethiye. We shipped her to Turkey by Sevenstar Yacht Transport and she arrived on April 7th. For your information we attach an email we sent yesterday to the port agent for Sevenstar who acted for us when we arrived.

We are at our wits end to know how to resolve this issue because no-one including the yard owner, Mr. Levent, or his partner, Claire Jones, will answer any communications that we initiate.

We have listed the boat for sale with a Bodrum based broker and we are hopeful that he may be instrumental in effecting a sale, but we still need to talk to the yard owner in order to complete the antifouling and get her back in the water.

This situation has completely destroyed our plans for sailing Turkish waters  and further extended sailing in the Med because our health (mental and otherwise) suffered at the hands of the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard and the situation that developed there. We are both 71 years of age and, although we have hauled out in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Thailand a number of times, we have never experienced the degree of obfuscation, and absolute incompetence that we have been and are experiencing at Fethiye (Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard).

If you cannot directly help us could you please give us an indication of where we might go for advice because this situation (which is not of our making) will not be helpingTurkey's hitherto excellent reputation with visiting foreign flagged boats. 

We look forward to your urgent reply.

Thank you

Jim Donald and Jean Tallentire

Germany

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Donald <tiare.taporo3@gmail.com>
Date: 7 June 2018 at 23:03
Subject: "Tiare Taporo III" arrived by m.v. Annegret at Fethiye April 7th.
To: Kaptan Denizcilik <kaptandenizcilik@gmail.com>
Cc: Interdolphin/ Captain Yunus <yunus@interdolphin.net>, INTERDOLPHIN SHIPPING AGENCIES CO - DERINCE / GOKHAN GULLE <derince@interdolphin.net>

For attention: Mr. Serhan

Good morning,

We have a very sad story to relate as regards our experience at the Hakan Yatcilik Boatyard (Mr. Levent).

Through yourselves we were recommended to haul out at the above boatyard for normal maintenance plus some other small jobs including a leak around the top rudder bearing.. We duly hauled out there on April 25th. We thought that we should only need to remain hauled out for approximately 2 weeks.

Immediately after we hauled out, the rudder was removed from the vessel and a new bronze bearing/rudder tube ordered from Istanbul. At that stage we were happy that the work was being done promptly. However, the work then stopped and we could not easily speak to Levent as he seems to be a very volatile character and would barely speak to us. However, we had met his partner, Claire Jones who is an English woman who has a boat maintenance business in Fethiye. For a short time she acted as the only means by which we could have any communication with Levent.

In the meantime we carried on with painting work above deck which we had always intended to do ourselves but at the same time we were becoming increasingly concerned that no work was being done by the yard. Then it was agreed that we should supply the paint for painting the hull above the waterline. So we purchased enough International Toplac from the Kalyon Chandlery for 2 coats of Toplac. Levent organised his painter and work started but it very soon became evident that the painter was not competent and much paint was wasted with coats having to be re-sanded and re-applied. Then, through Claire, Levent told us that the Toplac was no good (!) and that they would use Turkish paint instead. In fact this was just an excuse to disguise the painter's incompetence. The real problem was that invariably the painter did not actually start painting until between 10 and 11 in the morning by which time it was getting too hot. When we suggested that the painter should start at 7am and finish for the day no later than 10, Levent accused us of being "slavedrivers"!!!!!!! At this point communication completely broke down and even Claire announced that she was blocking our email. 

We could not understand this as we had never been rude or abusive - only complaining about substandard work which as owners we had every right to do. All this nonsense meant that our budget for accommodation off the boat at the Anna Apart Hotel, Calis Beach and car hire from FE Car Rental blew out by approximately TRY7,500.

As well as all this no other jobs which the yard had agreed to carry out were done and we could never get any sensible answer. Eventually some 6 weeks after we had originally hauled out, the rudder was replaced on the vessel. At the same time the painting was "finished" to an inferior standard.

Along with all of this, Levent had been insisting on payment in Euros, although even to this day he has never given us any sort of invoice or formal claim for payment.. We continued to tell Claire that we could not pay in Euros unless he gave us his bank details to enable a bank to bank transfer. This is because our bank accounts are in New Zealand and we can only obtain Turkish Lira from ATM's in Turkey, but we could send Euros by TT transfer. Eventually we had an arrangement with Claire that she would meet us and we would give her an interim payment of TRY5,000 for Levent, but then she rang us and cancelled the meeting. We tried to contact her again because we were leaving Turkey in 2 days time as we needed a break from the whole situation which was driving us mad! We were unable to meet and so we are now in Germany staying with friends of Jean's.

To summarise, the yard is disorganized and the management is appalling. The owner/manager, Levent, is impossible to communicate with. He is rude and abusive in person and does not respond to emails, texts or phone calls.

Meanwhile the yacht which is wooden is still in the boatyard baking in the heat. Jean does not want to return to Turkey because she says she fears for our safety. We have listed the yacht for sale with a Bodrum based broker (Murat Toprak - ph. no. +90 5336527767) and frankly we hope that the boat sells because I don't think that Jean can return. It has developed into an awful situation and we can see no easy solution. The purpose of this email therefore is to inform you of the situation and to ask you if you can possibly help us to resolve it.

In the meantime we have applied for 12 months temporary residency for Turkey and that was approved not long before we left.

We are almost at the stage of deciding to abandon the boat altogether which will be an emotional and financial wrench as she is a historic New Zealand vessel and has been our home for the past 9 years.

We urgently need some sound advice from someone such as yourselves. We will greatly appreciate hearing from you.

Regards,

Jim Donald and Jean Tallentire

Germany 

Virus-free. www.avg.com