The French Riviera is a great place to spend a week or two in the sun in August. My friends and I are particularly fond of Nice, as it is ideally placed for us to enjoy the sea, travel to Monaco or Italy if we feel like it.

So two years ago we went to Nice for our summer holidays, but this holiday would be different from the previous one, as one of us had hit the jackpot by selling his company to a large group. So we spent our holiday days on a huge yacht that was anchored off the port of Nice, with the possibility of going to all the surrounding ports, so an incredible holiday. Or so we thought.

The beginning of the problems

If we had known about all the problems this boat was going to cause us, we would have stayed ashore as we do every year, or else we would have taken care to leave with a lawyer. Because things went so far, that we finally had to call in maritime affairs lawyers so that we wouldn't end up having to pay for the repairs of this famous yacht.

At the beginning of our stay, we met the yacht charterer and had a tour of the boat with him, everything looked great, the man was friendly, so things were starting well. Before we were allowed to embark, we were invited to a small ceremony to congratulate our friend and explain to us the things we needed to know about sailing, etc. And after this long two and a half hour meeting, we were taken to the boat which had been prepared and turned out to sea, ready to set sail.

The first thing that should have tipped us off was that we all felt like we were on a different boat, as we noticed details we hadn't seen before. But we just thought we hadn't paid enough attention the first time.

The revelation

The first evening went well, but several things were broken all over the yacht. Drawers, handles, malfunctioning taps, etc. It was at this point that many people thought that we were going to be accused of damaging things. So we took several photos and videos with the time of day to prove that we had just boarded the ship a short time ago and went to bed.

The next day, one of us jumped on the front of the boat to enjoy the sea when we woke up and that's when our doubts were confirmed. The whole front of the boat was damaged and scratched, whereas on the first visit the yacht was perfect and the owner had insisted on this. We understood that they had taken advantage of the long meeting to change the yacht for another one in a much worse condition and that they were going to do everything they could to make it look like a degradation on our part.

So we contacted the nearest law firm to explain the situation and find a way to regain the advantage. Fortunately for us, we had the videos and the owner was known for these shenanigans, so the maritime lawyer met us at the port so we could confront the owner. Seeing that we had figured out his game, he didn't even try to prevaricate and refunded our friend.