Even by the sad annals of rip-off boatbuilders, the tale of what Ben Harp Narrowboats did to NB Waiouru is quite extraordinary.
Last year New Zealander Tom Jones (he lives in Australia) set up his blog narrowboat-waiouru.co.uk to record the construction of the dream liveaboard boat he and his wife wanted built so they could spend their early retirement years on the waterways of England.
The Waiouru blog began promisingly last October (here's the first post) and described Tom's commissioning of Staffordshire-based boatfitter, Ben Harp.
The blog described the choices in shell (built by a separate builder) and interior layout, the money Tom laid out on equipment (which he bought online and had delivered directly to Ben Harp's meagre premises) and above all, the boat shell and stage payments, which amounted to tens of thousands of pounds.
Tom did all this from the remoteness of his Australian home, which he was later to call 'the tyranny of distance'. Nevertheless, he commissioned a reputable boat surveyor to keep an eye on the boat-build. But, in short, he was deceived, given the run-around and generally ripped off.
This began to be apparent even before he and his wife flew over from Australia, and they started legal proceedings to get back what was already finished of the boat.
In truth, they should have realised from the start how dodgy all this was. I mean, just look at what you have to do if you want to visit your boat under construction.
Does this look like an open business to you?
What was so shocking was how nasty the whole affair turned out to be, and how thuggishly Ben Harp behaved (and how his wife Kelly Harp seemed to join in on the fraud).
Harp didn't just try to prevent the owner from claiming his half-finished boat (by which time he'd already paid Harp about £91,000), he theatened him, mugged his friend and began to strip out the interior and steal the equipment already aboard - before finally - and petulantly - vandalising it.
This is plain bonkers, a man gone off the rails.
But what makes the story really fascinating is the methodical and painstaking care with which Tom stalked this angry animal, and how he eventually took back his property, all perfectly legally.
Tom has carefully written up his experience in a 7,000-word document, Despicable Ben Harp Narrowboat Builders (pdf)
It's a fascinating 25-page tale, and I'd recommend anyone who's having a boat built to read it. The bottom line is that Tom reckons he's lost about £83,500 on his boat, which includes about £25,000 in legal expenses.
What he's now got is a shell worth about £25,000, which he's attempting to have fitted out elsewhere. In short, he's no better off than if he'd not gone to law - but at least Ben Harp hasn't stolen his entire boat. And perhaps his experience sets some sort of useful precedent.
But who is this Ben Harp? Is he really the figure of Manichaean evil and incompetence portrayed in Tom's account?
Waiouru is not the first boat Ben Harp has worked on. Narrowbeam Dutch barge Trudy-Ann was an earlier attempt, and that owner's build-blog also turns out to be a dismal catalogue of problems.
I think it only fitting I restart telling my tale of woe and how we are overcoming the problems left by our builder Ben Harp.
... During the time at the marina I went round to see Mr. Harp to see about getting the remainder of the work carried out.
Despite promises on the first visit nothing happened and the second visit I got the order to fornicate elsewhere in his best Anglo-Saxon. At least we now had it confirmed that we could not expect the contracted work to be carried out.
The companies who built the shells also are angry. It's clear that they want nothing more to do with him.
But there is at least one happy customer of Ben Harp, and that owner also blogged his experience. It's only fair to mention it.
Ben Harp fitted out a boat called 4EverMoore, starting in late 2007, and it went smoothly.
I was following the 4EverMoore blog when I went past the boat a few months later and stopped to chat to Ben Harp.
I also persuaded him to pose for a photograph.
Kevin of 4EverMoore now writes:
Ben is no more the cowboy that people are saying he is than quite a few other boatbuilders that I am sure are out there!
Ben is a good craftsman, but with a bad temper at times, which now seems to be his downfall. But by no means have we found any of his workmanship on our boat to be anything but excellent.
And underneath that post, Graham Clarke comments
We fully support the views on this blog, as it fully reflects our experience of purchasing from Ben.
We have cruised over 2500 miles in Juniper since her build in 2006 and have absolutely no qualms in endorsing his product.
So can Ben Harp produce the goods? Well, does it matter, now that his reputation is shot? It's clear that he has a titanic temper, and he stands accused of thuggery and theft.
And, thanks to the £25,000 cost of Tom's litigation, he is definitely convicted of nefarious business practice and costing a customer over eighty thousand pounds?
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else is entrusting their life savings to him. But more to the point, I wonder how he ever thought he'd get away with all this?
Bruce,
Just because you had a boat built by Braidbar doesn't mean that they are the best builder's on the cut, nor does it qualify you to pass verdict on other boat builder's. I have been around boat's/ships for most of my life and know craftsmanship when I see it. We and several other purchaser's of BH boats have had excellent boats built and whilst we feel for the Jones's, a couple of bad boats doesn't mean a cowboy builder.
Posted by: Kevin Moore | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 05:47 PM
I'm glad the fella was convicted but is there no way for Tom to recoup his losses?
Posted by: Narrowboat Wife | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 11:36 AM
http://trudy-ann.blogspot.com/
Also more info on the various 'victims' here - http://www.narrowboat-waiouru.co.uk/2011/08/ben-harp-to-hell-and-back-again-chapter_03.html
Posted by: Mark | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 11:33 AM
Bruce, who are the other dissatisfied customers then? I think that if they don't go public, then they are satisfied customers.
Posted by: Andrew Denny | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 07:57 AM
I know of at least two other highly dissatisfied customers of BHN, so either the quality of his work is amazingly variable, or there are some easily pleased folk out there!
Cheers
Bruce
Posted by: Bruce Napier | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 07:52 AM
Good blog, can you get it into WW so the wider audience can see what this pirate has done, i did see it mentioned in CB and WW but it needs expanding on.
Posted by: Ian Smith | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 06:53 AM
On the pedantic side, "tyranny of distance" is a quote - from both a Split Enz song & a Geoffrey Blainey book -
Posted by: Wiggins | Tuesday, 23 August 2011 at 02:12 AM