Customer: Jon and Cara Volmar
My wife and I wanted to take a moment of your time and let you know about the fantastic experience we had working with Al Pollak, one of your sales reps out of the St. Petersburg office. After dealing with a couple of other brokers and getting nowhere I placed a call to your St. Pete office and spoke with Al. He took some information about the type of sailboat we were looking for (mid to late 70’s 41′ Morgan O/I) and set up a meeting for that Saturday. When we arrived Al had a fistful of printouts of boats for us to look in our price range. He listened as we told him of our plans to outfit the boat and then take off for a year or more and explore the Caribbean. Within a month of first meeting with Al we had visited Miami twice, first to see the boat in person and then for sea trial and survey. Al was there with us every step of the way and we soon closed on a 1977 41′ Morgan O/I named Scotch Mist which soon became The Last Resort.
Eighteen months later in early 2008 I sent out an e-mail to friends and family detailing our imminent departure and to let them know of our web site to they could follow along on our journey. Al responded “You’re actually doing this? Can I share your web site with others who want to do the same?” Al told us of how many people he dealt with that had the same aspirations we did but never put their plans in action. I told him that he could give our web site to anyone he’d like.
Over the next year and a half Cara, our two cats and I made a clockwise circumnavigation of the Caribbean visiting 25 countries and sailing some 5,000 miles along the way. We stayed in touch with Al from time to time and towards the end of the journey when we were in Guatemala I contacted Al once again about being our broker to sell The Last Resort once we got back to Florida. As always he was extremely helpful and once we were back in Madeira Beach he provided pointers on how to get her looking good and ready to show to potential buyers. By early September she was ready to show and the listing was completed and two months later The Last Resort had sold to a couple from Canada.
We were able to realize a dream we had nurtured for over 12 years thanks in large part to Al’s hard work and encouragement. And when it came time to move on to other things he was right there with thoughts on how to get the boat ready to show to potential buyers and we ended up getting the price we were looking for. Now that’s service!
Al was not only our broker for both purchasing and selling our boat, but be became a friend and mentor before, during and after our amazing journey around the Caribbean and we’ll always be grateful for his help and knowledge.
So next time you see Al in the St. Pete office give him a pat on the back and a big thank you from Cara and I, he’s a true professional and someone you should value a great deal as a part of your business.
