i love my narrowboat

one of my friends is still there and no change

I am happy to say my cheque finally cleared, my friend was told she would get a cheque this week for her refund!! watch this space hi Frank I boat is Cape Clear, however I left end of August having only been there for 3 days, I have managed to get all my mooring fees back, albeit having the cheque bounce and go through the second time..We are at Billing and love it. My friend is at Wigrams, and she likes it there, (she was going to Barby) but is now trying to get her deposit back...good luck in trying to find somewhere..Sue When we were having a look round and their son was there helping, he and Penny who I assume is his mother were having a huge row and he was f###ing and blinding at her.. god help us if that is private education standard,it was awful and they didn't seem bothered that we were nearby listening to it all..

Oh dear it is awful that so many people have paid their deposits and unable to get them back, my friend went Friday to get her deposit back and Mcmaster said he would post her a cheque, it begs the question as to why he could not write it there and then and postdate it for next week. when he shows you round he promises you the world but upset him and you soon feel the sharp end of his tongue.. good luck to all wanting their money back and I will be contacting the ASA and Trading Standards..

We use Stoveglow in our Becton Bunny and with the ecofan we find it great for overnight burning too, we get it going then shut it all down and leave it and it heats our 60ft boat lovely, we do have rads as well which is what we would use to just heat 'a la cottage' (prounounced in a french accent:-)...in the morning when going to work during the autumnal season when a fire is not really needed to be burning all day and night. we pay £8.50 20kgs which is reasonable.

When we were there, Tony was boasting that they were 85% full, so with £400 deposit from each boater that makes £36,720.00 that they have of innocent peoples money and no way will they get it back!! OUTRAGEOUS great stuff, will make contact...

I wrote in my letter to him that I would use legal system to recover my money, which is why I think he paid up. however with the rumours of them being insolvent I think it would have been a waste of my money and time!!

We have a 3 bladed ecofan and think it is great..so much so that when we had a house we used to have it on the logburner there too..

Well I am seriously keeping my fingers tightly crossed that the cheque clears this time, I can not afford to lose £1,125.00...I have had a notice of risk of redundancy from work and so have to watch the pennies!!!. and for all the other people who are wanting their money back, I wish them all the luck, as it will not be easy

Once my cheque is cleared and funds are in my account i will be contacting all Trading Standards and the one you have mentioned ASA..many thanks

We have boats moored either side here at Billing Marina and have no issues with them whatsoever. once your boat is fitted out you will not notice the noise, If ducks at 5am is all you have to worry about!! bring it on, what a wonderful life we have :-)

At a marina we were at last year we paid £12 quarterly charge and 9p a unit, whichI feel was v reasonable,

We too have been caught out by the owners of Barby Marina. We paid a deposit for a bankside mooring with 'own private garden', we were assured that when we arrived there would be water and electric in place. We arrived later than expected and were greeted with not hello and welcome to your new mooring, but 'can you come in the office and pay your mooring fees'. Thank god we did not pay the full year that we had intended to, just a 3 month one of £1,125 approx. We should have heard alarm bells ringing as we had not even tied up. we were also told not to tie up too tight and ' pull my mooring rings out'. The pontoon are of a poor design, and fixed to a light weight breeze block on a bed of cement. One tap from a narrowboat and the seal would be broken hence when we moored we pulled the boat in by hand. We went to the office and paid and my husband mentioned that there was still no water or electric installed, Tony said 'don't worry it will be in tomorrow'. (the old saying tomorrow never comes, is very prealent in this case)we were shown the tap which is the only one that is situated on the so called 'quay side' which is hardcore glass (lots of resident boaters dogs have cut their paws) and would have meant a hose of in excess of 250 metres was required,or it owuld have meant moving the boat through a slalom course of 'RSJ' awaiting their pontoons. After we were loaned a key to the gate padlock on the road frontage of the marina, as there was no more left for the boaters, we had to then go and get a key cut. day 2 it poured with rain and our 'private garden' was a quagmire of mud, there was no path to the boats, my husband thankfully had made a decking path which he brought back with him from work that day and laid it to the pontoon, the boat was filthy with syrup like mud that stuck to everything. My husbands vehicle got stuck in the mud and Penny (Tony's partner) ripped into my husband saying he had made the carpark an eyesore and was most put out that he had made skid marks on her 'MUD'. We were shocked at her behaviour and made us feel very unwelcome and we knew then that this was A BIG MISTAKE. we bought a cantilever umbrella to shade our pontoon in the hope of sunshine and were promptly questioned by Tony whether the umbrella 'was a permanent structure'. which then confirmed it was a mistake to come to Barby Marina. we gave notice on day 3 that we were going due to the lack of facilities, and that our leaving day was day four It was unbearable and the only facility inplae being the bin and was rigourously policed by Penny as to what could and could not be put in the. We infact took our rubbish off site for the 3 unbearable days we were there. When I said to Tony that we were going the next day and mentioned the mud, he said in a very condascending voice 'what do you expect when it rains.' They in my opnion seemed more interested in building an ornamental bridge rather than fitting essential facilites such as pontoons, water, electric. We then waited with bated breath for our refund.his reply was 'I have not had my key back' which was laughable as 'i had given it to Penny on the way out on day of departure. He then said he would post it to me. 7 days later still nothing. I phoned again and he said he would post it that week, I then sent them by recorded delivery a 2 page 'A4' letter of complaint, pointing out to him that he was breaking the law under the 'Trade description act' etc and gave him 7 days to pay or I would take legal action. A cheque arrived, I banked it. IT BOUNCED At the time of writing this it is still in the clearing process for the second time. Once it clears I WILL be contacting Trading Standards. I feel very sorry for the boaters who are there as they have no facilites and electric via a generator until 9pm when it is turned off. Have no elsan or pump out facilities and hae to go to Hillmorton or Braunston to empty them. Barby Marina unfinished, steer well clear..