From October 2001:

I've shared that tale with the NG previously. So, one more time... We
became interested in two boats in the Seattle area a while back. One
was
a 53 Skookum and the other was a 48 Northcoast, two completely
different
boats. Chuck had offered to represent our interests for boats in this
area. However, I felt an obligation to the brokers we had previously
made contact with and continued negotiating with the Northcoast and
Skookum brokers. The admiral preferred the Northcoast and I preferred
the Skookum.

A few weeks went by as the Admiral made convincing arguments for the
Northcoast. I called the broken to make an offer and was told the boat
had just been sold. Had we retained Chuck to represent our interests, I

believe that disappointment could have been avoided.


Two more weeks went by as I made the case for the Skookum in Anacortes.

The Admiral finally relented and I called the listing broker. Good
news,
the boat was still available and as the boat had been for sale for over

a year with no takers, the broker thought our offer would be accepted.
He called the next day to say he had spoken with the owner's wife and
that she had accepted the deal pending her husbands return (was
ferrying
a Nordhavn to Hawaii). We thought the deal was done.


A week passed with no new information so I started calling daily. We
were repeatedly told to rest assured and that the owner's return was
just a "formality", and "his wife had accepted the offer". Well, we
went
through 4 weeks of this uncertainty, unable to schedule reservations
for
the flight out to close.


Finally, we called one day to learn that the broker had just gone on
vacation and the boat was sold to someone else for $10,000 more than we

had offered and they were returning our check. We had been lied to and
this guy was using our offer to conduct an auction, IMO. I also believe

that had we hired Chuck to represent our interests this sad tale could
have been avoided.