"Christmas staff fund charge" on my marina bill?

[docmirror]

I'm new to yachting. We bought the boat, in the marina back in Sept. The marina staff hasn't exactly been very useful or gone out of their way to assist in services. The place is clean enough, and the facilities are suitable, and decent, but nothing out of expectations of a retail establishment run by competent people.

I just got a preview of my Dec bill and there's a $20 charge that I didn't pre-authorize and is not in their contract terms of service for: "Christmas staff fund charge". I've totaled up the number of slips, and there are 15 piers with ~35 boats per pier for a total of < $10,000 for their Christmas fund.

Now, I'm fine paying for good service. In fact, I'm giving my boat mechanic a $200 bonus for taking good care of MY boat, and seeing it is safe and ready to use. But - $10,000 for the marina staff? Is this a yacht 'thing'? Am I going to be hassled for refusing to pay it? And, I am going to refuse to pay it. If they gave outstanding service, or they were doing something extra I would let it stand.

Advice appreciated, but I'm still not going to give them $20 bucks just by adding it to my monthly bill.

 

[Silvertip]

Just saw a story about tactics like this at Niagra Falls where a "fee" was automatically tacked onto some hotel, restaurant and sight seeing venues. Turns out you don't have to pay these but unless you ask and they can show you where it is mandatory, don't pay it and ask that it be removed.

 

[racerone]

If half the folks pay this fee , they will do well.

 

[Lou C]

That is exactly why I will only have small boats, that frees me from the highway robbery of "marinas". No thanks, I'll keep doing everything myself as long as I can.

 

[flashback]

I kept my sailboat at a marina for many years but never heard of anything like this.

 

[racerone]

Many in the service industry now appear to think they are entitled to a tip or gratuity.------And how many folks tip the pretty bartender the first day on the job ?-----Those same folks rarely tipped the person filling the gas tank in snow , rain extreme cold.----" Tipping "-----should only be a city in China.

 

[docmirror]

I just noted that I used the 'lesser than' rather than a 'greater than' symbol. I still can't believe that the staff are entitled to some $10,000. I've seen and talked to 4 people there, maybe there are a couple more that I haven't seen. Let's say there are 10 people on 'staff', that a $1000 bonus for each for basically doing their job.

When I first started going there, I stopped at the ofc several times during working hours and the place was locked up. I've also requested a few minor things from the marina, and was told that's not part of their facilities.

It's a nice facility, and they do keep it up, but I don't think I need to pay them $1000 for having a pulse and a job. I wrote them an email back and told them to either remove the charge or show me where it is in the contract terms of service.

 

[flashback]

The way I understand you are paying 20 bucks not 1000.00…

 

[docmirror]

The way I understand you are paying 20 bucks not 1000.00…

$1000 per staff person for 10 people. My 'contribution' would be $20 as stated in the first post.

 

[flashback]

Ok I got it. I was a yard monkey in times past and the pay was crap.

 

[airshot]

Just like fuel charges, transportation surcharge or any other name that can be thought up.....just extra money!!
When fuel prices soared years back they started the fuel surcharges to recoup the added fuel costs...but, did anyone see those removed when fuel costs dropped back down?? We put up with these fees and accept them so they are gonna use it as ling as they can... I always question them and try to get them removed, sometimes I cant but normally get some type of reduction or elimination completely. How many folks dont pay attention to their bills ??? Many will never notice that is why they get away with it !!!

 

[docmirror]

Maybe I got extra irritated because they use the pressure or presumed guilt of a 'Christmas' gift. Not being a Christian, I have no problem with the celebration of his birth, but I don't feel compelled to pay some office wanker who may, or may not be a follower, but will gladly dip into the pot of gold. I'm also not advocating a 'holiday' gift taking, which is more neutral, but still guilt-driven.

It also passed my brain that this was some kind of long standing process that generally puts the arm on those who can afford a yea-chet.

 

[stresspoint]

hell no , you pay enough in fees and for marina services , let the marina fork over the xmas bonuses out of their absorbing fees.

now , what i would do so as no hard feelings with staff > think back over the year and look at staff that have gone out of their way for you and drop a 50 in an envelope , hand it personally and say thank you.
i bet 2 or 3 envelopes this year turn to 10 next year and you will be first served when the others in the marina that paid the 20 to the boss /owner on the bill get to wait in line.
coming from a working man , a personal approach is always best IMO when it comes to people on a working mans wage.

if no staff have gone above normal duties then , well you pay nothing

 

[racerone]

True story------I was at awards party on an island after major sail boat race.-----Free beer was handed out.----Had one early after it started.----Then I was faced with a mass of people around the tables to get my second treat.-----Held my glass up high with folded bill in my fingers.----Before I walked away I spotted about 20 glasses held up high hoping for the result I got.----Staff was working hard to pour hundreds of treats that warm day.

 

[tpenfield]

Sounds like a $10,000 fund for the holiday party. When is it and where?

 

[Sprig]

Here’s my take on this. I agree it’s wrong of the marina to charge the tip or staff fee and I would voice my opinion to management. I probably wouldn’t pay it but for sure I wouldn’t spend more than a few seconds dwelling on it.
I’ll bet you spend many many thousands a year on your boat, maintenance, birthing and on and on. Never give a second thought to those expenses. $20 is minuscule, a drop in a big barrel, chump change,practically nothing. I don’t understand why you are making a big deal of it, why you are wasting your time worrying about it. Just make a decision, pay it or don’t pay it and move on.

 

[stresspoint]

Here’s my take on this. I agree it’s wrong of the marina to charge the tip or staff fee and I would voice my opinion to management. I probably wouldn’t pay it but for sure I wouldn’t spend more than a few seconds dwelling on it.
I’ll bet you spend many many thousands a year on your boat, maintenance, birthing and on and on. Never give a second thought to those expenses. $20 is minuscule, a drop in a big barrel, chump change,practically nothing. I don’t understand why you are making a big deal of it, why you are wasting your time worrying about it. Just make a decision, pay it or don’t pay it and move on.

i agree 20 bucks is miniscule in the big picture of boating , however ,the principle here is the marina should foot the bill for the staff party not the customers.
as i posted , i would without hesitation give the guys that do the work a 50 envelope rather than give the business they work for 20 that they have tackd onto my bill..

 

[docmirror]

hell no , you pay enough in fees and for marina services , let the marina fork over the xmas bonuses out of their absorbing fees.

now , what i would do so as no hard feelings with staff > think back over the year and look at staff that have gone out of their way for you and drop a 50 in an envelope , hand it personally and say thank you.
i bet 2 or 3 envelopes this year turn to 10 next year and you will be first served when the others in the marina that paid the 20 to the boss /owner on the bill get to wait in line.
coming from a working man , a personal approach is always best IMO when it comes to people on a working mans wage.

if no staff have gone above normal duties then , well you pay nothing

If there was a deserving person on the staff, I might do that. I might have left a $50 in the dock box, and tell them where to collect it. But - like I said, they haven't exactly been very helpful since I started renting in Sept. I questioned my first bill electric charge as it showed me using 65KwH and I was only in the slip for 15 days. WTF? So, they decided to just axe that from my bill after I complained. I also have gone to the ofc a couple times during their shift, and there's a clock on the door 'be right back' with a 2-3 hour window un-staffed. Again, WTF?

From my POV, while the facilities are good, and the people are nice enough, they ain't doing anything a general retail host would do as a function of nominal business.

 

[docmirror]

My other 'tip problem' story. I'm an engineer, not sales. I went into one of our largest accounts as they were having plenty of issues with the equip we sold, and were hinting about going to our competition. Sales went along to work on their feelings. I found the problems, corrected them, they went a month with no issues, and signed a big PO for a deal with us. The sales guy made about $60k on the commish and he invited me and guest to our company private box at the AA center to watch the Mavs during the playoffs.

The cost of the box for that game was big bucks, and sales was paying the freight. The customer got 10 tix, I got two, and the sales guy brought his wife. We had a great time, the AA host staff were outstanding. Drinks, snacks, cigars, smiles, nodding, scraping, etc. The Mavs were ahead by 17 at the start of the fourth quarter, and people started to leave. Somehow, me and my wife were the last ones in the box, as everyone sort of faded away.

Here's the crew from the AA staff standing at the door, after pouring drinks and stuff for a couple hours. Ruh-roh. We didn't have that kind of cash on us. I asked the head girl if there was an ATM, she said yes but they closed out before the end of game for security. It was embarrassing. We had to go down to customer relations to use a card for the tip, and they wouldn't give us cash advance. I figured the tip up at $50 per person for $700 total, 14 guests. I sent that in on my expense acct and it was declined, as I wasn't in sales, and really had no promotions allowance. I hit the salesman up, and said; 'dude, bring $700 in cash to the ofc, and you can deal with corp'. I gave him a piece of my mind after that as well.

 

[docmirror]

Here’s my take on this. I agree it’s wrong of the marina to charge the tip or staff fee and I would voice my opinion to management. I probably wouldn’t pay it but for sure I wouldn’t spend more than a few seconds dwelling on it.
I’ll bet you spend many many thousands a year on your boat, maintenance, birthing and on and on. Never give a second thought to those expenses. $20 is minuscule, a drop in a big barrel, chump change,practically nothing. I don’t understand why you are making a big deal of it, why you are wasting your time worrying about it. Just make a decision, pay it or don’t pay it and move on.

Not that big a deal, if all I'm doing is complaining on a internet forum. However, as noted in my first post, I'm new to this and wondering if this is a common thing in the yacht marina world, and if I'm out of line telling them to pound water. Now that I've told them to pound water, it's a nothingburger, as long as it doesn't affect how they treat me and my boat there.