Sun Charter Reviews 15

Worst experience we've had.

When we were handed the boat, it was full of ants (by the way, when we told them about this issue, they just laughed). The zodiac had no rigid floor and was minuscule (for 4 people on a boat with a capacity of 12), with an engine that had to be tried manually more than 10 times to start. We had to wait for 3 extra hours for the check in, they didn't even apologize.

The service was non-existent. We called them because the inverter was broken and they told us they didn't have time to come and replace it, so we spent a week without electricity.

They decided to charge for damages such as: +180€ for extra cleaning as according to them, the boat was wet (being their own fault as the windows were not completely watertight, so some water would come in when it rained.), or +300€ for check out and the diver who checked the ship's hull (BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS, by contract the check out was in the morning, but when we arrived we were told that if we did not check out early the day before at 5pm it was considered late check in - thus depriving you of an extra night on the boat for which you have already paid for!!!!).

They didn't want to give any explanation about the costs, they just said “we are not going to give any explanation, accept it and leave”. The staff was extremely unfriendly, even aggressive when we asked about it, saying that “we didn't know anything about boats” and accusing us of “being drunk 24/7”, they even called us Malaka!! They should never treat anyone like that.

In contrast to other reviews here, we had a very positive experience with Suncharter. I honestly can't think of a single complaint. The boat that we booked had been damaged by a previous client, so we were offered an upgrade, which we happily accepted (A Jeanneau 41). The boat was spotlessly clean, and all systems were in perfect working order. The team at Marina D'isola were super friendly and professional, which continued the excellent communication from the office team in Germany. We had a brilliant two weeks of sailing in that magnificent region. It was my second time renting with Suncharter (last year it was Mallorca), and we look forward to chartering with them again next year.

The ship was drivable, but had defects. When I complained, they didn't apologize, didn't fix any of the defects, didn't give a discount. The worker said to take over the boat as it is and if I discover other defects, to write an email. That's what I did.
The ship had several defects. According to one worker, they don't fix it. Only after the season. Examples of defects:
The struts of the upper windows were either completely broken or non-functional (hardened). It was hot, so I asked for a repair = replacement of the fixing struts. The worker said no, that they didn't have spare parts and made it clear to me not to think in that direction at all. It was high season, 30°C at night and there was no ventilation. We put a PET bottle in the window instead of a strut.
Some bulbs didn't light up
When you wanted to turn on the rear light, you had to turn on the front light on the main panel, etc.
Binoculars broken
Some handles did not hold their position, so they could not close, for example, the cabin door. The navigation system had a bad contact somewhere, so sometimes it started and sometimes it didn't.
There was almost nothing in the spare parts box. Everything in the tool box was rusted. The ship's battery lasted only one night, and of course we turned off all the larger appliances and only the anchor light was on.
I reported all the defects to them again at Check-out. They didn't even write it down let alone fix it.

When I wrote email to them (Ines, Jens) the very next morning about several other defects, probably the main one was a broken swivel between the anchor and the chain. We figured it out on the first anchorage. I took pictures and emailed everything. The leader of the charter boat solved it by saying that we destroyed the anchor. At the same time, we anchored once in a sandy bay, where it is probably impossible to destroy the anchor. When returning the boat, I noticed that they have 2 more damaged anchors ready at the front desk for other tours ... that's how they make extra money. I blocked the credit card for collection of this company (SunCharter.de).

They fraudulently filled out documents (e.g. they made me sign a half-empty document and later filled in undecided amounts and checked off undecided paragraphs. I found out by coming to the reception before leaving that they didn't give me copies of what I signed (they don't give it to anyone and they were surprised that I asked for it).

The worst boat rental place I have ever been to. The staff is really rude and the service is terrible. I have been renting boats for 10 years and this is absolutely the worst place. We waited very long to get the boat and when we got it they told us that that the bow thruster was broken. We ordered a boat with a bow thruster but they were trying to fool us. When we told them, they said that they didn't have any other boats. They also forgot to give us pillowcases and towels. The boat was in really poor condition with a lot of equipment that was broken or really old. It was hard to set sail and the mooring lines were bad. They were trying to blame us that we didn’t handle the boat correctly and wanted us to pay for it. Our engine to our dingy was bad and only worked half the time. You should never rent from this place. It's not a serious business they only try to make you pay more money than you should. The worst experience with a charter company ever. The whole thing is a big fraud and I totally regret that I rented a boat from Suncharter. Never again!

Completely worn out boats with motors not working that they tell you right before takeoff. Then they charge you for everything that besked because of bad condition. For them the bowthruster being broke when we get the boat is the worth the same as they charge to fix a roll for the sail braking when actually using the sail. The GPS even stoped working for two days…useless

Be careful in Mallorca with SUN CHARTER, if you are not German mother tongue, they will probably fool you. It was our case (we’re Swiss citizens) as well as for 3 other clients during the same week, French, English and Italian citizens. The base managers, Ines and Jens RIEGEL, are neither nice nor correct.

I have been booking at Sun for many years, but they got down to an in-acceptable low level of service. Some years ago, I got a 7 year old boat with its first (!) mainsail still set. This sail ripped in 14 knots of wind, due to its age. It costed us one day as we waited for the sailmaker to fix it. The repair was 220,- EUR but the base told us, not to pay the sailmaker, they would handle it. At the end of the week, I had to pay 1000,- EUR for ripping the sail, as the base told me, it now needed to be replaced and it was my fault to have ruined it!

A year later, I ended up on the same boat and: The mainsail was still set with the repair clearly visible!!! So I was obviously fooled by Sun and instead of paying 220,- for the repair, they took five times the amount - this is fraud!

I had many more unpleasant experiences with them (I sail between 4 and 6 weeks per year) like boats cancelled by them days before the charter started with no offer for a replacement, but the "offer" to cancel at no costs (SORRY, ARE YOU SERIOUS!?) and boats in more and more poor condition made me now leave Sun forever.

This company is going down, you should not be part if it!

I should have read the reviews of Suncharter before because there I can see I am not the first one to get screwed by them. Basically they are completely disorganized and give zero help if you need them, but they find all types of ways to take large amounts from your deposit. The most obscene part of the rip-off was that they charged a late deposit fee for returning the boat in six days while we had a seven day rental.