Are my expectations too unrealistic?

ashtead said:
Generally would use Arthur's in Gosport who are always friendly and run by real sailors
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I knew Arthurs well. The couple who ran it became quite good friends. I clearly remember Jill but Im blowed if I can remember the old boys name?
Anyway, when Haslar Marina first opened they had a portakabin store on site. My wife worked there for a year or so. They were renowned for drawers full of screws, nuts and bolts etc....but a nightmare to inventory!
Her most well known customer was Gary Glitter. Used to pop in for teabags and biscuits.
Also forgotten the name of the one in town. Yellow painted brick building opposite what used to be Campers. My daughter worked there for a while.

Oops, drift a daisey!
 
NormanS said:
Ann, at Tobermory (Seafare) died a couple of weeks ago. I don't know what the implications are for the business.
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Oh dear. I'm very sad to hear that. She was a very nice woman who ran an amazingly good shop - she seemed to pull off, as Nancy Black's didn't - the trick of balancing stuff for sailors with stuff for general visitors.
 
dom said:
No Steve, your expectations are reasonable. Force 4 staff in Port Hamble appear to be cut from the same cloth.

My favourite is YouBoat in Gosport, small family chandelery and better for it!
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Them, Arthurs and Ocean (formerly SeaTeach). OK I get a bit of friendly abuse at the latter two but they're always welcoming and I do know them rather better and I give as good as I get. Force 4 staff have always been a bit of a lottery. Personally I'd not use the Chichester, Bursledon or Lymington branches.
 
Someone should start a poll on on those in the area as there seems to be a poll on many things nowadays. I believe that those mention by capnsensible might have retired a good few years ago so cannot help on name though unless the current owners tell me . Certainly never remember the portacabin , there has in the past been an attempt to run one from the Haslar units but never seems to succeed . Slight thread drift but there also used to be a motor mechanic for volvo who moved out and it would be great if some local mechanic moved in now that the Malcolm has departed for warmer lands.
 
Just to stretch the drift a bit further, when the Mary Mouse Lightship bar opened at Haslar Marina, my wife and my son and daughter all worked there at one time or another. A friend of my son working thereat the same too eventually left and set up his own sailing school with his wife in Spain.
At the end of April and again in early May, Im doing a couple of teaching jobs for them out of Ayamonte on the river that forms the border with Spain and Portugal. In Ayamonte there is a chandlers run by a Brit who we know from when they used to advertise in the Straits Sailing Handbook that my wife got published for a number of years.

Small world!!!! ;)
 
KompetentKrew said:
I found them particularly helpful at Poole, but also at Chichester. Can't say I've had a bad experience with Force 4.
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The staff at Chichester were very helpful and pleasant when we were down that way as were the Lymington crew. I actually can’t think of anyone we met in the time we were down on the Solent prepping the boat who wasn’t- it’s a miserable ditch to sail in but a fantastic place to get boatie work done.

Edit - I just remembered, the brokers at Bursleden....
 
steveeasy said:
Hi,
In my own little bubble I drive down to my boat every other week. I usually pop in to the same chandlery, sometimes I spend a tenner, sometimes I spend £500. This week I went in three times. £85, £30, and a modest £10. On the second occasion I was handed my change by the manager without any sign of a thanks. Then today no please or thank you at all. like I was not there. Its been like this for 2 years. almost all the staff have an arrogance, the manager can be pleasant but does exactly the same thing. I discussed it with him today but I don't think he understood the importance of being curtious

Only last year my wife pointed out how friendly everyone is at marinas and on the radio. Ive allways found without exception everyone to be pleasant and friendly. So why would retailers not show the same respect to the very same people ?. Is it a regional thing or is it more of something more sinister ?.

I know I should just take it on the chin or man up and say something, but im past all that. when I go to do my boat I do so to enjoy the whole experience and my mindset is to be polite and respectful to everyone.

The chandlery is Force 4 In Bursledon. ill not ever go in again. I run a retail business and its part and parcel to use please and thanks to everyone no matter how much im under pressure. Are my expectations really too much Today ?.

Steveeasy
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Unfortunately depends who you get. Pip is good there as is the lady who's name has escaped me but an older gentleman served me the other day and couldn't have created a worse impression. It was like I had asked for the moon on a stick when I simply asked him to cut some rope. I even said to him "well I'm sorry if I have put you out" after he had sighed and tutted at me …..and this was after I had waited at the till for an eternity btw. Like you say, it may not be a huge single purchase but over the years I have spent a small fortune there.
 
I work in a retail business (leaving at the end of this week to go sailing!!) and we pay good money to an external agency for them to do mystery shopping to find the very customer service feedback that the OP has identified at no cost to Force 4. We want feedback so we can reward the good people and 'improve' the bad people. (Stick a bomb up their R's - I love that expression.)

You might send a letter or email to the Force 4 HQ and tell them that they have got a problem. That should improve everybody's experience.
 
I used to go a particular tool shop in Grays. Now third generation I believe, but I have moved away.
I would go there 2-3 times a week
Response would be something like
"You again. what the F..k is it now"
I would tell them & the reply would often be something like
" Oh that's in the first floor store over the car park - get it your self we are busy"
2 of my carpenters worked there on a Saturday because they enjoyed the banter & they said that it was like that with loads of customers.
But if a lady walked in, everyone would have to wait whilst she went to the front of the queue & got served with absolute politeness
My wife sometimes went there for me & used to say how delightful they were !!!
Brilliant shop to deal with.

As for chandlers I go to Yachting Solutions in Burnham & always use them instead of the internet because i want them to be there when i need them.
On top of that the owner is friendly knows me by christian name. Asks about my sailing & plans. Gives good advice. Always has time to chat about anything. Will do his best to give a discount on bigger items if he can. Will go out of his way to get small item in ASAP & has been known to drop stuff to my house to save me a trip to Burnham. A proper shop keeper that one wants to see survive.
 
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Daydream believer said:
As for chandlers I go to Yachting Solutions in Burnham & always use them instead of the internet because i want them to be there when i need them.
On top of that the owner is friendly knows me by christian name. Asks about my sailing & plans. Gives good advice. Always has time to chat about anything. Will do his best to give a discount on bigger items if he can. Will go out of his way to get small item in ASAP & has been known to drop stuff to my house to save me a trip to Burnham. A proper shop keeper that one wants to see survive.
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Good for you. The cheapest short-term route is not always the best in the long term.:encouragement:
Peter
 
Have to say I’m surprised at the OP’s experience at the Bursledon F4. I use both they and the F4 down the road by Swanwick Marina a fair bit and find both very helpful. I cant recall a time when politeness has been an issue.
L
:)
 
Well I can assure you I don't try to find issues such as this. quite frankly I found the experience quite upsetting. I cant think of any reason why staff would be so rude. Sure there are times when the person serving you can be distracted, its a one of, but on 3 occasions they were more bothered about gossiping to each other than take the time to say Thank you. sure if I wanted something the manager would be only to pleased to help. id not bother asking any of the others.

The situation was compounded by the normal greeting I receive from where I keep my boat. Actually for the first time in several years im wondering why I bother if the people whom I have to deal with are so uninterested and rude..

I run a similar business and when my customers turn up, they don't want to be greeted with a grunt or staff that cant be bothered to say thank you. If they are treated like that it makes them unhappy and guess what they leave. Still some businesses don't give a dam and some need too.

Steveeasy
 
I was in Force 4 Burseldon briefly on Sunday morning - first time in ages, having spend loads over the years and been on very friendly, chatty terms with the staff - but found the (duty) manager, an older bloke, to be the least suitable person to either manage or serve. He didn't answer my simple question, and the children on the till seemed uncomfortable.
 
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