Piling on the cost of mooring
BE VERY careful when bidding for a mooring in an auction, as Canal & River Trust have 'arranged' it so that you will be paying much more than you actually bid in another CaRT rip-off, with boater Andrew Bailes explaining:
I have recently been the lucky winner of a Long Term Mooring auction, and am in the process of arranging to pay by Direct Debit. The mooring went for a very generous £4,000 per annum. Being a miserly sort, and not having a great deal of disposable income, I worked out that £4,000 when divided by the 12 months present in every year, equalled £333.33 per month. This was just within tolerance.
An extra £320
Upon receiving my Mooring Agreement I noted that they requested a first payment of £480, as representing 4% of the entire three year period. This was just about ok by me. They then revealed that they expected a payment of £360 per month. Having done a little maths I realised that I would then be paying £4,320 annually. This, it struck me, was wrong.
Their form went on to explain that, over the three year period, I would be making 32 equal monthly payments. Aha! Thinks I, but there are 12 months in every year (as I mentioned above) and that, in total, I ought surely to be making 36 equal payments. Upon querying this with the relevant authority (over three days and many unanswered answerphone messages) it was explained to me that in the third year of the mooring agreement I am to be given three free months. The last three months.
Paying for 'free' months
Therefore, if I were to terminate the agreement at any time before the expiry of the agreement, I would still have been paying for these ‘free' months, regardless of my inability to use them (unless, of course, I was to return to the mooring during those months and demand my pro-rata share as measured by my excess payments during the period of my residence there).
Why ever would CaRT want to arrange things this way? Is it even legal?
Unfair and misleading
It strikes me that this is both unfair and misleading. Misleading because I was under the impression that I was bidding for a £4,000 per annum mooring, to be told that it is in fact a £4,320 per annum mooring, and having budgeted for such, now need to either find an extra £27 per month, or to decline the mooring and make a one-off payment of 4% of the whole three year contract (£480) for putting CaRT to the trouble of having to explain to me that there are, in fact, only 11 months in every year...
A very disgruntled boater.