Stay far away from Brandy Glaettli's business and services Granola Boat Care …read more
I left the boat in her care and hired her to do a job she said she could do (replace the core and fiberglass on my boat's deck). She totaled my 51' antique Marine Trader, Island Trader Center Cockpit ketch (rare) sailboat. Quotes for repairs of the damages ranging from $200k to $500k+ in damages.
The job was supposed to take 4 weeks, per her invoice, 2 in wet slip at Sicipio Creek Marina, and then 2 more weeks at dry dock at Hayes Marine. All planned by Brandy
After 4 weeks at Sicipio Creek Marina, the dry dock was ready for me. I came down to florida to move the boat to find nothing had been done on the boat. Brandy then told me that she wasn't able to do any work over that month since it was parked by the restaurant (where she told me to leave it...and the only place it could fit at Sicipio with its full keel's draft) and she can't do fiberglassing work in front of "paying customers". Okay........ so i moved to the Hayes marine dry dock.
After more than three months, and attempts to increase the scope of work beyond what i requested, nothing was completed, and only 1/3 of the deck had been started and everyone i have gotten quotes from for repairs, including the dry dock owner, tells me that the work that was done was done wrong. Not hard to see based on the two asymmetric plywood joint ridges down the middle of the aft deck now.
I discovered from the dry dock owner that not only was there fiberglass slop all over the inside of my cockpit and inside the salon and galley, she ended up letting the boat flood so much that water came up through the sole of the interior of the boat, ruining the all teak interior of the boat. To add insult to injury, apparently on day one she inflated my life raft by pulling the cord, damaging my stanchions and nearly getting herself knocked off the deck of the boat to fall 16' to the ground. Not a word about it to me. Apparently they stabbed the liferaft and left it in the grass, dirt, and sun to rot. I had to discover all this from the dry dock owner who was surprised to learn I wasn't told about any of this. They caused other damages too, one of the most depressing is they cracked a chunk off the perfect teak railings around the mizzen mast (see photos)
I "ran" down to florida (from DC area) to try and mitigate damages to find the entire boat now filled with mold growing on the walls and ceiling and everything inside the boat due to Brandy / Granola Boat Care not having removed all the soaked cushions/blankets from the boat, letting them sit in the boat in the hot florida sun for weeks/months.
My State Farm agent helped me to navigate this issue and we filed an insurance claim with Brandy/Granola's insurance company: Granada Insurance (All Insurance Agency, Inc). Granada's Insurance agent Anthony, was super rude the first couple of times I and my agent talked to him both together and separately. Then they sent out an adjuster who took months to get to my boat, telling me "tomorrow" or "next week" like 30 times before actually making it to the boat (two hurricanes/trop storms hit my boat in the mean time). Then the adjuster said he needed a recorded statement from me to complete the claim and send to Granada, only to never contact me despite my numerous and repeated attempts to get him to contact me for that purpose.
Now months have gone by, my State Farm agent and myself can't get anyone at Granada Insurance (All Insurance Agency, Inc) to return our calls or emails.
I've had to file multiple complaints with Florida Department of Financial Services Granada / All Insurance Agency, Inc for help.
I just received word back from Florida Department of Financial Services and they tell me:
"The insurance company [Granada insurance / All Insurance Agency, Inc] indicates the claim investigation is ongoing. Granada states liability has not been accepted and may deny coverage due to lack of cooperation from insured [Brandy/ Granola Boat Care] . If the claim is denied, you may contact your own insurance company for repairs or seek legal action against the "at-fault" party."
So basically, because of the continued behavior of negligence and failure to properly communicate by Brandy/ Granola Boat Care (which is what originally caused this mess) Granada / All Insurance Agency, Inc, Brandy/GranolaBoat's insurance company, will not do their job either..... leaving me (and my insurance company) holding the bag through no fault of my own. Great.
Run far away from this place. They will destroy your property, not tell you about it, and then when you do find out, their insurance company will not make good on making things right for you.
My beautiful antique boat destroyed in the City of Apalachicola.