Documentation Warning - Don't get scammed

[IRGuy]

My documentation renewal occurs every spring. I am posting this warning here for the second year in a row.

Today I received a somewhat official looking envelope with the return address on the envelope stated that the the sender is the.. "Maritime Documentation Center" in Billings, Montana. I was never very good with geography in school, but I am pretty sure Billings, Montana isn't known as being a deep water port.

The letter urges the recipient to contact the Center to start your vessel's documentation renewal process, and states that there is a charge for this service, although there is no mention as to the actual costs involved.

While this might not rise to the level of an out and out dishonest scam, you can renew your vessel's documentation directly with the USCG with no need to pay for anything extra above the government's standard renewal charge. IMHO the look of the envelope and letterhead, plus the wording of the enclosed letter, appears initially to be a government issued official document. I am posting this here to inform the faithful that there is no need to use this organization's services.. you can save their fees and respond directly to the USCG documentation office after they send you their letter informing you that your vessel's documentation is up for renewal.

Save a few dollars and renew your documentation yourself, and instead send the money you saved to support our forum's leader/sponsor/adviser /resident mechanic / bookkeeper /webmaster Bruce.

[Tooeez]

I can second that, because they got me last year. Every year the CG sends a renewal notice, so when I saw the Maritime Documentation Center envelope I figured they had contracted the renewals out, like they do with the fishing permit, so I sent it in. Wound up costing $75, and the regular CG renewal letter arrived 2 weeks after I sent them the money. This outfit runs about as close to making a fraudulent representation as you can get.

[wlbsr]

ditto. throwing it away. Thanks