Absolute poor service

[rubberduck]

As some of you know, I had an Absolute 41 which had a teak swim platform problem, still under warranty, which they flatly refused to honour despite the efforts of Trevor (UK dealer from whom I bought the boat) & many others. Fortunately I decided to extend the platform & so had the teak replaced at the same time, a few grand which fortunately I could afford. Great shame as the quality of the boat was second to none.
So much so in fact we have replaced her with an Abs 47. The sliding roof seals have started to leak & I asked Absolute if they could point me in the right direction. "sorry mate don't make that boat anymore. Needless to say an email chain ensued, with several sent by us unanswered ending in find someone local, we cant help & are not interested.
My engineer, copied in on emails said "what rubbish service", but has fortunately managed to refurbish existing seals.
I have not published emails but felt this should be commented on, as I do with good service from the likes of BCU.
I would never buy another NEW absolute, which is a shame as I have the funds to do so, silly people.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Absolute were featured very strongly at Boot this year and displayed and talked a good un.... As with so many things real life not as the hype

 

[petem]

That's frustrating. Historically, Fairline have insisted that all customers go via the dealers for parts but they are today launching a new service where customers can order parts (even for older boats) directly from the factory.

Here's the link if anyone is interested - Enquire.

 

[Portofino]

The seal will be a common part albeit highly likely to be from an Italian manufacturer.
Is there nothing in the boat handbook , or any clue ? Even say a port hole name to google and see if they do sliding roofs as well ?

A few years ago I contacted Ferretti about a door lock part .....you know there after service / parts ....email .
I got back a polite response along the lines they did not own the Co then , and don’t support anything that predates there acquisition.
So i then found the original factory address in Roma from the boat handbook , you know stuff like Amartis signature sign off etc .
Contacted the factory which was still making boats , more or less same staff but a different name XL yachts .
They put me in touch with the original parts supplier .
I later enquired about the cockpit cover material and the Roma guys , put me in contact with the supplier who is based in Venice .
Google translated the initial emails out of politeness to get back perfect En response.
Another example I went straight to Barka for a table leg ( as it was labelled ) arrived within 48 hrs to Cannes .
The DHL tracking was interesting ( don’t tell Greta Thunberg ) We can drive past Genoa the Barka factory on our normal commute .
About an hour after I paid , Van collects the parcel from Genoa , takes it to Milan , ....plane to Paris , plane to Nice , Van to the marina office .Crikey what a carbon footprint eek ...sorry Greta .

Summary .....bypass everyone and go straight to the factory.

 

[CLB]

I hate to say it but it's not like you weren't warned of their poor attitude to after sales service. You must really love the brand to go back after the first boat, I would have been looking for an alternative for boat number 2, not 3

 

[rubberduck]

I hate to say it but it's not like you weren't warned of their poor attitude to after sales service. You must really love the brand to go back after the first boat, I would have been looking for an alternative for boat number 2, not 3

Its not a huge problem, I'm sure I could find the supplier if I tried hard enough. How hard would it be to have just emailed me the suppliers name. This is why I wouldn't buy a new one, this way I am not reliant on them. The boats, at least the older ones are superb.

 

[Richard10002]

I hate to say it but it's not like you weren't warned of their poor attitude to after sales service. You must really love the brand to go back after the first boat, I would have been looking for an alternative for boat number 2, not 3

Not in the same league, but it took two purchases before I vowed never to buy another Lenovo product again. I have not been able to cure the wandering mouse buzzing and stalling videos, and Lenovo have been no help whatsoever. Bang up to date with all the latest drivers I can find.

Same with BT for a variety of reasons, one of which happened many years ago, and another yesterday.

I think we often give a product we like a second chance, particularly when, mostly, it beats the competition.

NB: There was a point where my policy of "never buying from them again" would have meant me running out of places to buy stuff from, so I guess you have to pick your battles carefully

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I dont think dreadful service is a problem with just a few boat manufacturers but with the whole boating industry. If I treated my customers as I have been treated by some boat manufacturers and dealers/brokers in the past, I would have been out of business years ago. The amazing thing is that none of them seem to realise that providing good service promotes customer loyalty and selling spare parts to those customers can be very profitable

Basically the boating industry is a cottage industry stuck somewhere in the latter half of the 20th century

 

[stelican]

Reply to above post.
I think many bosses treat it as a non stressful hobby and to some a passion

 

[petem]

I dont think dreadful service is a problem with just a few boat manufacturers but with the whole boating industry. If I treated my customers as I have been treated by some boat manufacturers and dealers/brokers in the past, I would have been out of business years ago. The amazing thing is that none of them seem to realise that providing good service promotes customer loyalty and selling spare parts to those customers can be very profitable

Basically the boating industry is a cottage industry stuck somewhere in the latter half of the 20th century

People don't buy a particular boat because of good service. They buy it because they think it will snap knicker elastic at 100m.

 

[Bouba]

That’s a real shame because Absolute are top of my wish list. But between you and me, Beneteau aren’t any better

 

[jrudge]

Made worse by the legendary " marine markup" that makes money even more of an issue. Further the boats can be anywhere increasing the cost of servicing.

Neither are excuses ( and indeed many things can be done for almost nothing - like passing on the supplier detail of the seal as in this case) but the dealers are mostly small firms, half their margins is discounted and the manufacturers seem to make it all the dealers problem

 

[Portofino]

I had a very positive experience with Sunseeker in La Napoule .Its the CdA, HQ and the service centre was on the marina but as they expanded it moved to a unit on port inland about 2 miles away .
Eg The single Vac flush bog stopped working and they put me on “ priority repair “ promising a fix within 24 hrs .Two guys arrived with a van load of parts at 9 pm that same day ( reported after lunch ) left at 11 pm all serviced repaired etc .We had two small kids on board .Month later about €1000 bill all in .
I bust the rear stern light so took it off and went round to enquire .....they were busy as mid August all the techs out but the pretty ladies just gave me a huge box with 30 different lights in and said take it , find the part and rtn the box to the sales guys on the marina .A few months later I got a invoice €30 + tax .....obviously no labour .
Another occasion I thought I had a slight leak in a window ....completely baffled with all this sika 352 , 391 nonsense ....more so as it €30 a tube I went round to enquire “ which sealant “
Tech gave me his 1/2 used tube ( opened yesterday) and another full one .Said “ bring it back no charge “
Kids bust a tiny piece of plastic that holds a mozzi net .....Contacted Poole by phone , .79 pence each + postage £3 .A pack of 5 arrived next day for that amount .
A trim ram failed not a biggie , a racing snake of a guy come within a few days again in the evening about 6 pm in August to fix .I couldn’t reach ( too big ) and did not fancy playing with old corroded hydraulics.Again about €1K a month later the bill arrives .

After I sold it obviously I kept in touch with them .I struggled to get Fr yards and airco guys to understand exactly what I wanted to retro fit some new airco into the Itama .
Sunseeker put me in touch with one of there local subcontractors....who was actually an Italian working the CdA .What a great guy solved all my problems and installed some excellent kit .

So I reckon Sunseeker SoF outfit are truly fantastic......they get the after sales thing .


I can’t really blame Ferretti, probably because the old Itama factory still does boats so through them I,am connected tote parts supply chain so to speak .
How ever in doing the leg work tracking them down I used Roma’s Itama dealer a nice lady and ended up on there data base so get invites to Ferretti events like the prestigious Monaco preview , which we have attended twice now .She likes fussing with our little dog .Its rather nice sipping free champagne by the pool on the 5 th floor overlooking the “ boats “ @ the Monaco Yacht club , wondering which one shall I helm next .Its a test drive show .Obviously with the Pershing 140 a few couples go out and the guys take it in terns .With the Itama 62 last year I had it all to my self in 2 M chop saw 42 knots ....I did ask the skipper if could WOT it btw .
So iam not whinging about being looked after by the only two mobos manufacturers I have had . As a side note last year a new sales guy was not sure on the “ little dog policy “ so asked a senior guy who was Chinese ( senior event / board room guy ) who simply waved the dog on board .The dogs been good thus far not cocked his leg up .

Apologies to Deleted User though on his boat once

tbo the Pershing 140 had some sort of resin bomb proof flooring throughout the boat the stewardess said it would be ok if the dog had a wee m as she put a bowl of chilled water down for him after she made our drinks .
He didn’t .
Turns out that floor a resin ( think corian work tops ) is a stupid price / M sq ,

 

[TonyR123]

Have spoken to various owners (sunseeker, fairline & pearl) around my current port and all have been positive about the service they have received and getting issues dealt with. All helps when deciding on the next boat. For my current boat the absolute 52 fly was in my last two and luckily (by sounds of this thread) I didnt go for it.

 

[MapisM]

People don't buy a particular boat because of good service. They buy it because they will snap knicker elastic at 100m.

Good thing that I just swallowed my coffee before reading your post, P. Otherwise, you would have made me spray it all over the keyboard.
Best description of the average boat buying process ever - bar none. ?

 

[Seastoke]

People don't buy a particular boat because of good service. They buy it because they will snap knicker elastic at 100m.

So you do still wear them Pete.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

People don't buy a particular boat because of good service. They buy it because they will snap knicker elastic at 100m.

I must be doing something wrong then because its never worked for me! The only snapping elastic on my boat is the elastic in my swim shorts after a couple of weeks on my boat boozing and eating

 

[MapisM]

Haha, since you've seen which sort of timber boat I called home for many years, you can easily guess that it didn't work for me, either.
Though I must say that the cool factor (so to speak) did matter a bit, back in the days when I bought the Fountain...

 

[PowerYachtBlog]

To be fair boat it is a out of warranty, and what is it nowadays like ten years old. I mean even with cars over ten years old going to OeM for parts is never straight forward, and these sell in the thousands.
Unfortunately the boating industry is behind not little to the car industry, and it will never reach that standard due to production of scale. Also 90% of any boat is out sourced.
I had a similar problem with the hard-top of first generation V65, Princess never replied they did after a year, but then I had an engineer which reworked the whole system which was flawed to say the least.
I can say a dozen of stories of different boat manufacturers since the down turn of around 2010 things seem to have gotten worse too.

Gobbi who owns Absolute used to be very good in after sales service, I was still getting parts for my 1994 27 Sport up till 2006, and four of those years they where owned by Azimut-Benetti.
At that time I used to go directly to them. With the 335 I only needed a manual and most things I check who makes them and go direct, somehow I always managed in 11 years plus of ownership.
I think Sunseeker do offer some good service in some areas, though the price of this service is not cheap.

 

[rubberduck]

Its not as if I'm asking anyone to hold stock, just a little customer service, such as an email suggesting possible suppliers.
Having said that, from 2021 buy a £200 washing machine & parts will have to be available for ten years, a several £100k boat not so much.
Eldest son who will inherit business, property etc has already expressed interest in a new flybridge, top of his list Fairline, Absolute didn't make the bottom.
So their poor service has cost them much, as he too loves the boats.