Smelly X-Boat - who will win?

[awol]

Savoury tale from Sailing Anarchy .... waaa my boat smells

Pity the story links to the Daily Mail but it may be true. Looks like popcorn may be needed!

 

[Concerto]

The winner by a nose....................................

 

[Bobc]

Oops. A good friend of mine had a new one of those delivered last spring. Sounds like a bit of a one-off though hopefully.

 

[pvb]

The rudder issue may well be genuine, but is surely easily fixable. The allegation that the seawater systems have become infected and this will stop the antifoul working is surely open to debate?

 

[Bobc]

Sounds to me like they're being a little un-reasonable in their claims.

 

[Robin]

The rudder issue may well be genuine, but is surely easily fixable. The allegation that the seawater systems have become infected and this will stop the antifoul working is surely open to debate?

same with smelly tap water,

 

[dunedin]

Only the lawyers, as ever

 

[Frogmogman]

I guess they feel, had they wanted a smelly boat, they could have bought an old one.

 

[dom]

Great link, pure comedy!

"The design of the rudder is such that it causes violent broaching and extreme heeling......" ?

"The yacht was exposed to water containing hydrogen sulphide ......causing the anti-fouling coating on the hull to become discoloured and ineffective," ?

Mine becomes discoloured and ineffective each year ?

 

[matt1]

You have to feel for x yachts in all this. What a tosser of a customer. These sorts of vexatious claims could bring a company down.

 

[Stemar]

Park your boat in Portsmouth and the antifoul is ineffective from the moment it gets wet

As for the smell, how do bacteria from the sea get into the fresh water system without operator error?

From my point of view of near perfect ignorance, something stinks, and it isn't only the boat. Maybe he thinks he can afford more and better lawyers than X boat. Can't help thinking it'd be cheaper to throw the boat away and buy another one than go to the High Court.

 

[Robin]

Park your boat in Portsmouth and the antifoul is ineffective from the moment it gets wet

As for the smell, how do bacteria from the sea get into the fresh water system without operator error?

From my point of view of near perfect ignorance, something stinks, and it isn't only the boat. Maybe he thinks he can afford more and better lawyers than X boat. Can't help thinking it'd be cheaper to throw the boat away and buy another one than go to the High Court.

Freshwater smells are not uncommon on first use after a period of inactivity, have had it occur in past but it goes instantly after first run of a tap.

My very best wishes to X BOATS. and this 'owner' getting stung with all costs.

 

[ip485]

While I agree with all the posts so far, it will be interesting to hear what x boats sought to do to resolve the perceived problems. It always surprises me they end up in court as there would seem to be relatively easy and cheap fixes. Of course perhaps they did exactly that, but sometimes the parties are determined to dig in.

 

[Frogmogman]

While I agree with all the posts so far, it will be interesting to hear what x boats sought to do to resolve the perceived problems. It always surprises me they end up in court as there would seem to be relatively easy and cheap fixes. Of course perhaps they did exactly that, but sometimes the parties are determined to dig in.

The Andrew France v Discovery Yachts case should warn X yachts not to be complacent about this.

They need to be able to show that they have taken their customer's complaints seriously, and have done whatever is necessary (within reason) to remedy the problems, and not just ignore it and hope it would go away as Discovery seemed to do.

 

[pvb]

The Andrew France v Discovery Yachts case should warn X yachts not to be complacent about this.

They need to be able to show that they have taken their customer's complaints seriously, and have done whatever is necessary (within reason) to remedy the problems, and not just ignore it and hope it would go away as Discovery seemed to do.

The situation is rather different, as the boat was bought from the UK dealer, so that's who the legal action is against. The dealership is owned by an Irish guy, with the majority of shares being held by an Irish company. The dealership is a small operation, with a number of charges against it according to Companies House records, and in the last accounts it declared a profit of £22K in 2019. As you'd expect, there are lots of related party transactions. The customer has, I believe, very little chance of getting anything, even if the Court awards him something.

 

[Frogmogman]

Fair point.

 

[ip485]

I am surprised the action is entirely against the UK dealer if this was a new boat.

 

[rotrax]

Under UK consumer law the seller is responsible for the product being fit for the purpose intended and of satisfactory quality.

The court will now decide if it met those two criteria.

 

[ip485]

True, but the seller will undoubtedly have a claim against the manufacturer, if he met his commissioning resposibilites and it was a manufacturing fault.

 

[dom]

True, but the seller will undoubtedly have a claim against the manufacturer, if he met his commissioning resposibilites and it was a manufacturing fault.

Not necessarily, it depends on whether the seller was set up as an agent or distributor. X-Yachts may or may not have some liabilities under general legal principles although one would need to have sight of the contract and a lot more of the details to take a view on this.

Aside from which, while the claim as reported by the Daily Fail seems ridiculous, there is bound to be a lot more to this story ...not to mention the other side of it!