aaargh and then aaarrrgh some more

Jools_of_Top_Cat

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Going to LIBS tomorrow, thought I would get some prices to take down with me. As I am hoping to make a decision on Top Cat's RADAR I thought I would do some searching about the interweb.

What is wrong with this industry, do they get there kids to make the websites.

1/4 don't work

1/4 have parts under construction and that famous call for best prices, well the whole bloody point of the internet is that I don't have to call, I can browse your products 24hrs a day and order 24hrs a day. I call and you give me a high price and bring it down when I um and ah, see what the market (me) can handle. I want your bottom line price, and I want to see it NOW!

1/8 Want my details before I can see their stock, well Mr Buissieman, sat in your office telling how the internet is over rated and you don't make many sales online, this might be the reason; if I walk into your shop and you have a kid with a clipboard asking all my details I turn about and walk out again, easy.

1/8 are so damn hard to navigate that I gave up before even finding the product headers, if you must use java and active X please learn how to use it, It is like trying to shop through a hatch in the wall, you ask for an exact product and they bring it to the hatch. I want to walk down the isles, I want to see all your stock, catorgorise it fine, but let me see for examle all your radars with ALL your prices and let me go from there.

1/8 don't actually sell what they list in the meta search tags, they just link to the manufacture's site, well I can do that myself thank you.

1/8 have a contact us page for cataloge after a luvlery front page that must have cost them 90% of their £100 internet budget which includes hosting and subscription. Well, here's the thing Mr MD. I know you are not going to reply to me, so I can't be arsed filling out the contact us form. Stop playing games and do it properly.

Many sites could learn from allgadgets, ybw.com chandlers and marinestore.co.uk, they all do what they say on the tin.

Why do so few companies sell yacht radar systems? I give up, why do so many marine electronic suppliers not have websites? 2 hours of my life that I can't get back.

THE INTERNET IS NOT JUST THE FUTURE IT IS HERE NOW. IF YOU WANT YOUR COMPANY TO KEEP YOU INTO RETIREMENT GET OFF YOUR LITTLE OFFICE CHAIR AND MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU.

End of rant, I am just fed up. Maybe I should offer to write some websites for these companies, I would make money for them.......



<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

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pelicanpete

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Well said! And this happens not just in the boating world but almost everywhere else too...

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starboard

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guess you need that radar to find your way around those site's....sometimes the fog is much better...good luck with your purchase

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Gunfleet

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It's not just the internet, Jules, it's a kind of bullying attitude from some jobsworth. I know a guy who owns a garage. A huge company wanted to have an account with him for odd supplies of fuel and the like. Nothing enormous, for their own convenience because they have a site nearby. He says okay. THen they send him a ten page document wanting references, bank accounts, place of birth grandfather's inside leg measurement etc. He rings the guy who is setting up the account and says, 'I'm selling not buying. You are free to use the pumps for cash any time you like.'

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Dirk

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Dont want to depress you but what makes you think the people at the show are going to have a brain between them let alone be able to explain how their new gaget works. You will be lucky to get a confirmed price from them!

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poter

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Yup! agree with your analysis, crap ain't they! It really is a very sorry state of affairs, when the supposed 'High Tech' industry can't even get off thier collective
Glutinus Maximus's (is that plural correct? what is more than one bum?)
& get it right,

For instance try & buy a train ticket online.

And, the other big frustration is broadband...I know I live out in the sticks, but I need broadband NOW befor all you townies. & when am I scheduled to get it?
I bet they get a man on mars befor we get a half reasonabl conn.

Ave fun I'm also at the boat show on Monday, to get some bits.... I hope the prices are keen!

try MES great site.......for electronics.
http://www.mesltd.co.uk/Products/system/index.htm

poter.

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by poter on 10/01/2004 22:13 (server time).</FONT></P>
 

webcraft

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The people who buy websites generally know nothing about the product they are buying, while the people doing the selling either know nothing about the web (salesmen) or know nothing about business (web designers and programmers).

I certainly don't think the marine industry is any worse than any other in this respect.

- Nick

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johna

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Jools

I agree with all you say. Re radar I assume you have accessed Yachtbits on <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtbits.fsnet.co.uk>http://www.yachtbits.fsnet.co.uk</A> Kevin Smith gives very good service.

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Blue_Blazes

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Not do they need to get off their fat Gluteus Maximi, but stop using them for brains too. I too get hugely frustrated with sub-standard websites and the amount of wild goose chases that directory sites and search engines send you on. I live on a little island and can't jump in the car and go to 3 or 4 chandlers on a saturday. I work 8 till 5, so I can't easily find the time to make innumerable calls to suppliers. Like you, I want to know what they sell, how much it is, and I want to be able to buy it there and then, nothing more.

Bill.

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charles_reed

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A kindly attitude

But wide of the mark when you compare UK chandlery websites internationally.

Condoning such incompetence only sends the wrong message - they'll commit commercial suicide, if they don't get it right.

So it'd kinder to be critical.

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charles_reed

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Probably part of their QAS

which is designed to prevent the very thing we're nagging the chandlers about.

Once you've filled it in once, on computer, it's done for all time.

Frequently the self-gratification of righteous indignation leads us into cutting off our own noses to spite our face.

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pvb

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Three of the best...

You're right, most UK marine supply websites are dreadful! I reckon the best three are probably GaelForce and <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtbits.co.uk>Yachtbits</A>. GaelForce has the quickest, slickest site, with an excellent search facility, and the prices are keenish. The MES site looks rather messy, but there are some good prices. And Yachtbits shows what a smallish enthusiastic business can achieve.

Interestingly, in the context of looking for radars online, have you been surprised by the distinct absence of Furuno?

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Joe_Cole

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FWIW I think that this is an excellent site.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.clamcleat.com>http://www.clamcleat.com</A>

The only problem is that you can't buy direct, and still have to go to a chandlers to get the things! However, the site is well put together and informative.

Joe

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Talbot

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the following may be of interest as good sites for radar

http://www.marineparts.co.uk/

and then in USA:

http://www.vitmarine.com/

American prices for JRC radar are dollars for pounds but the guarantee for a radar bought in the states is not honoured in this country.


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Gunfleet

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Bullying monopolies.

QAS? So that entitles them to ask all sorts of intrusive questions of a guy from whom they want to buy a few gallons of unleaded every month? It's bureaucratic bullying, plain and simple. They do it because they can, because they are the big battallions and in this case have a virtual monopoly over people they buy from and sell to. In any case they shot themselves in the foot - it's cash on the nail or a 20 mile drive!

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