Advice please - Mooring Fees

[Rob B]

I have recently moved mooring from a British Waterways on line mooring to a private marina.

 

My British Waterways mooring permit ran from 1st November 2006 to 31 October 2007.

 

I contacted British Waterways local office on 31st October to inform them that I did not wish to renew my mooring permit and that I have already relocated my boat to the private marina.

 

British Waterways have accepted my termination but have said under item 30 of the British Waterways Mooring Terms and conditions, I am going to be sent an invoice for one further months mooring.

 

I have questioned this based on my expiry date and that the mooring terms and conditions do not give any reason for British Waterways to invoice based on the notice period from the customer. I've but been told that there is nothing the mooring officer can do it's in the terms and conditions.

 

Am I missing something?

 

 

 

TERMINATION

29. This Agreement terminates at the end of the period specified.

30. You may terminate this Agreement before then by giving one

month’s written notice of termination to our local office

specified in this Agreement.

31. If you terminate this Agreement by giving notice, we will

make a part refund of your Mooring fees where the Boat

leaves the Mooring Site on or before the notice period

expires and you return the Mooring permits to us when your

Boat leaves the Mooring Site. Any refund will be the

difference between the short term fee for the Mooring for the

period up to expiry of your notice and the annual fee paid.

The short term fee is a monthly charge of one tenth of the

annual fee.

[sueb]

I have recently moved mooring from a British Waterways on line mooring to a private marina.

 

My British Waterways mooring permit ran from 1st November 2006 to 31 October 2007.

 

I contacted British Waterways local office on 31st October to inform them that I did not wish to renew my mooring permit and that I have already relocated my boat to the private marina.

 

British Waterways have accepted my termination but have said under item 30 of the British Waterways Mooring Terms and conditions, I am going to be sent an invoice for one further months mooring.

 

I have questioned this based on my expiry date and that the mooring terms and conditions do not give any reason for British Waterways to invoice based on the notice period from the customer. I've but been told that there is nothing the mooring officer can do it's in the terms and conditions.

 

Am I missing something?

TERMINATION

29. This Agreement terminates at the end of the period specified.

30. You may terminate this Agreement before then by giving one

month’s written notice of termination to our local office

specified in this Agreement.

31. If you terminate this Agreement by giving notice, we will

make a part refund of your Mooring fees where the Boat

leaves the Mooring Site on or before the notice period

expires and you return the Mooring permits to us when your

Boat leaves the Mooring Site. Any refund will be the

difference between the short term fee for the Mooring for the

period up to expiry of your notice and the annual fee paid.

The short term fee is a monthly charge of one tenth of the

annual fee.

 

Phone customer services at Watford 01923201120 and ask them to sort it.

Sue

[smileypete]

I have recently moved mooring from a British Waterways on line mooring to a private marina.

 

My British Waterways mooring permit ran from 1st November 2006 to 31 October 2007.

 

I contacted British Waterways local office on 31st October to inform them that I did not wish to renew my mooring permit and that I have already relocated my boat to the private marina.

 

British Waterways have accepted my termination but have said under item 30 of the British Waterways Mooring Terms and conditions, I am going to be sent an invoice for one further months mooring.

 

I have questioned this based on my expiry date and that the mooring terms and conditions do not give any reason for British Waterways to invoice based on the notice period from the customer. I've but been told that there is nothing the mooring officer can do it's in the terms and conditions.

 

Am I missing something?

TERMINATION

29. This Agreement terminates at the end of the period specified.

30. You may terminate this Agreement before then by giving one

month’s written notice of termination to our local office

specified in this Agreement.

31. If you terminate this Agreement by giving notice, we will

make a part refund of your Mooring fees where the Boat

leaves the Mooring Site on or before the notice period

expires and you return the Mooring permits to us when your

Boat leaves the Mooring Site. Any refund will be the

difference between the short term fee for the Mooring for the

period up to expiry of your notice and the annual fee paid.

The short term fee is a monthly charge of one tenth of the

annual fee.

 

In addition to what Sue says, get the full names of anyone you deal with, record the date and content of any discussion, and ask if you can write to them or another person in BW to get confirmation of their decisions in writing.

 

cheers,

Pete.

[Supermalc]

Apparently all BW moorings are now up for tender. Someone today said he had been asked to put a sealed bid in for a mooring at Bardney Lock.

[debbifiggy]

I have questioned this based on my expiry date and that the mooring terms and conditions do not give any reason for British Waterways to invoice based on the notice period from the customer. I've but been told that there is nothing the mooring officer can do it's in the terms and conditions.

 

Am I missing something? YES

TERMINATION

29. This Agreement terminates at the end of the period specified.

30. You may terminate this Agreement before then by giving one

month’s written notice of termination to our local office

specified in this Agreement.

31. If you terminate this Agreement by giving notice, we will

make a part refund of your Mooring fees where the Boat

leaves the Mooring Site on or before the notice period

expires and you return the Mooring permits to us when your

Boat leaves the Mooring Site. Any refund will be the

difference between the short term fee for the Mooring for the

period up to expiry of your notice and the annual fee paid.

The short term fee is a monthly charge of one tenth of the

annual fee.

If you read the above carefully you will see that if you have a BW mooring, end of garden mooring or even Farmers field end of garden mooring (L1,2 or 3) you are required by the terms and conditions you signed up to when getting your mooring permit to give BW one months notice of your intention to leave. You cannot leave it to the last day of your mooring permit validity to give notice. Under the conditions which they granted you the mooring in the first place they are entitled to charge you one month short term (i.e. 10% of the total annual fee). Really sorry mate. Loads of people do not read the small print on the mooring t&c's. I recommend to everyone that you read what you are signing up for carefully and do it the right way as it's going to save you and them a lot of grief in the long run. You may not agree to it but that's what you sign up to when you take on a mooring where a BW permit is required.

 

Bit of a downer for a Friday night. Am going to have a glass of wine, lighten up and go to bed :-))))

[bottle]

29. This Agreement terminates at the end of the period specified.

 

Therefore the agreement ends on that day, and not renewed, the same as insurance for cars, homes boats etc.

 

There is no basis for further charges.

 

30. You may terminate this Agreement before then by giving one

month’s written notice of termination to our local office

specified in this Agreement.

 

This requires one months notice if the person requires to terminate the agreement before the date.

 

The original poster was good enough to inform BW that he did not wish to renew, he did not have to do that he could have just moved.

 

So I believe that no further payment is necessary.

[debbifiggy]

Therefore the agreement ends on that day, and not renewed, the same as insurance for cars, homes boats etc.

 

There is no basis for further charges.

This requires one months notice if the person requires to terminate the agreement before the date.

 

The original poster was good enough to inform BW that he did not wish to renew, he did not have to do that he could have just moved.

 

So I believe that no further payment is necessary.

Good point. But have you tried running this past a local BW mooring person? What do they say? Surely we all need to be singing from the same hymn sheet or whatever. Personally I would like this 100% clarified as we currently pay for a BW mooring and want to be totally clear on stuff and others views help us. I personally read the mooring t& c's that whatever you have to give BW one months notice that you are going to leave or you get charged the one month notice. End of story.

[Rob B]

Thank you all for your advice.

 

I have communicated with BW via email throughout so I have all details who told me what and when.

 

I've also contacted the customer services dept at Watford and will follow their complaints procedure as advised.

 

I have read the T&C's cafefully and cannot see anything that says I must give one months notice should I not wish to renew my mooring permit.

 

When I cancelled my SKY TV viewing recently, I was referred to the t&c's I signed that clearly state I must give one month's notice. This is good clear an unambiguous communication. I don't feel BW's is any of these things.

 

I wonder if your local mooring officer implements the t&c's in the same way.

 

Rob

[Rob B]

Thank you for your advice.

 

I followed the BW complaints procedure and.......

 

I received a letter of apology from BW and had my invoice cancelled. The BW mooring conditions don't currently stipulate any notice period required at the end of a annual mooring agreement.

 

 

 

Rob

[carlt]

If you read the above carefully you will see that if you have a BW mooring, end of garden mooring or even Farmers field end of garden mooring (L1,2 or 3) you are required by the terms and conditions you signed up to when getting your mooring permit to give BW one months notice of your intention to leave. You cannot leave it to the last day of your mooring permit validity to give notice. Under the conditions which they granted you the mooring in the first place they are entitled to charge you one month short term (i.e. 10% of the total annual fee). Really sorry mate. Loads of people do not read the small print on the mooring t&c's. I recommend to everyone that you read what you are signing up for carefully and do it the right way as it's going to save you and them a lot of grief in the long run. You may not agree to it but that's what you sign up to when you take on a mooring where a BW permit is required.

 

Bit of a downer for a Friday night. Am going to have a glass of wine, lighten up and go to bed :-))))

And yet they can just say to the boater "Sorry pal, we're not renewing your mooring because we want to give it to the highest bidder."

 

Not very civil and no sign of service.

[gralyn]

And yet they can just say to the boater "Sorry pal, we're not renewing your mooring because we want to give it to the highest bidder."

 

Not very civil and no sign of service.

 

Is there any evidence of that?. I was under the impression that all the moorings up for tender were empty at the time the tendreing process started.

[carlt]

Is there any evidence of that?. I was under the impression that all the moorings up for tender were empty at the time the tendreing process started.

Ok, maybe a bad analogy. How about "Hey, we're evicting you!" or "You know that waiting list you were on...."

[Sir Nibble]

Damned good result tho'. I wonder how many have paid up? If BW are billing people on a misinterpretation of their own rules I hafta wonder how accidental it is, 'cos it looks like a scam to me.

[carlt]

Damned good result tho'. I wonder how many have paid up? If BW are billing people on a misinterpretation of their own rules I hafta wonder how accidental it is, 'cos it looks like a scam to me.

If it was any other organisation I might think scam but with BW it's probably just blatant incompetence.

 

Explain the rules to them and, as long as they understand them, they usually come into line.