Costa Del Mar Marine LLC Leslie Bentley Owner He stole my deposit of $5800 after breaching two boat deals Coconut Grove FL
In Early June, I inquired about a boat for sale on Boat Trader.com. Leslie Bentley contacted me and proceeded to send details on a few boats of interest. We liked one and he scheduled a sea trial in Key West. He required us to sign a contract and pay 10% deposit of $5800, which he stated in his email and contract is fully refundable and subject to inspection and sea trial.
He notified me the day of the sea trial that the owner had a severe stroke and could not show the boat so we needed to move on to another boat. He sent a few more and we liked a Sea Hunt. Again, we signed the contract on 6/28 and our deposit, Still in Escrow, was now under the new contract, again he stated fully refundable retainer.
I kept pushing him to send the seller signature on this contract which he never did. I kept pushing him to get the survey done ASAP. He supposedly scheduled the survey for the day we should have had the boat delivered from Tallahassee, 7/12. I emailed him the morning of the 12th and he said that the owner moved forward with another deal for $5000 more.
He did this 7/11 BEFORE our contract expired so now we lost another deal because Leslie, once again breached this deal. I told him that he has lost credibility and that I wanted our deposit returned immediately. He then said it became non refundable because we never cancelled the contract on the KEY WEST first boat contract. This is totally outrageous!
He cancelled that deal by never showing us the boat because of the owner's illness. He moved our deposit to the next contract which again stated it was refundable. We never saw or sea trialed the Sea Hunt either. Now Leslie has blocked my phone calls and is not responding to my emails. I just want my money returned so I can buy a boat with someone else.
I will also be contacting the FL Dept of Professional Regulations to report this company. There are 4 complaints filed with BBB and also one with Rip off report for his charter company. In addition, I will be notifying Help Me Howard. I hope to have a resolution to this matter soon.