crusader sails are a rip off

[RupertW]

They have refurbed sails, supplied full roller reefing gear and sail, made a few new sails and offered very tailored and accurate advice to me on 4 boats over 30 years.
They are my goto company.

 

[Sailfree]

I'm surprised that the original post above has been allowed to remain. It is obviously badly written but more importantly, is patently untrue or is describing a different 'Crusader Sails' than the one we all know and use regularly without complaint.
I disagree with the ease that individuals seem to be able to use a forum to gratuitously insult others and think that this conduct is acceptable. If you have an issue with Crusader Sails then contact them and have it put to rights!! I know from the experience of 25 years that they are reasonable, straightforward people who will work hard at customer satisfaction issues. Of course if you have another agenda. . .

Disagree - Social media is a great way to report both poor performance and good performance.

As a consumer it has given us great power.

I have recently got great results by website monitoring feedback - in one case on Trust pIlot where I admitted ordering the wrong size - too big - my mistake. Replaced with correct size and postage refunded - Cotton Traders

On another I discovered the M & S 36" waist is not normal shops 36" waist after lockdown lack of exercise!! Retailer swopped them but in that case I paid postage.

Most recent example faulty new coffee machine and inability to contact customer services due to Covid. Now got resolution.

In all these cases I think websites and retailers are now offering a far better after sales service as they don't want even one bad customer complaint on social media - even if unjustified complaint.

All companies - even the good ones - have the odd failure but its how they recover the situation thats important.

 

[srm]

Going back to the OP.
When I bought my current boat it had a set of nearly new sails from a low cost far east sail maker. They were all too short in the luff and foot. I suspect the previous owner had measured his existing sails, probably laid out on his lawn. If they were not stretched to their designed length then the new sails will inevitably be too small.
Not a reason to complain about the sailmaker, but possibly an explanation for the origin of this thread.

 

[Sandy]

Going back to the OP.
When I bought my current boat it had a set of nearly new sails from a low cost far east sail maker. They were all too short in the luff and foot. I suspect the previous owner had measured his existing sails, probably laid out on his lawn. If they were not stretched to their designed length then the new sails will inevitably be too small.
Not a reason to complain about the sailmaker, but possibly an explanation for the origin of this thread.

The original post was nine years ago and with a post count of 161 when I looked they have long gone.

 

[Mistroma]

The original post was nine years ago and with a post count of 161 when I looked they have long gone.

OP last posted mid-Oct. 2020 and visited later in December, not that long gone and may well be back. However, the thread is certainly ancient and I think the only negative comment about Crusader came from the OP. We aren't even certain that he was dealing with the company others were discussing. I don't think the address was ever confirmed and he described a one-man band.

I might as well add my experience with Crusader as I'm posting. They supplied a new main and genoa in 2016 and were a little late with delivery. However, they waived the delivery charge from UK to Spain and the sails were perfect.

I had a small problem with wear on some webbing at the clew more than a year and a few thousand miles later. They helped diagnose the problem and it was due to the angle of pull. The original design would have benefitted from slightly larger pieces of plastic in metal slots holding the webbing. I paid a local sailmaker 60 euro to redo that section. The sails still showed no other problems at the end of 2020. I was perfectly happy with Crusader's service and quality.

Hopefully anyone reading this thread will take not of one "possible" complaint regarding Crusader and a load of others commenting about good service over a 9 year period. The company I dealt with are based in Hatch Pond Rd, Poole.

 

[gertha]

I remain on this forum
I standby my original post, for me Crusader gave a very poor service.
The boat is now sold, however I remain in contact with new owner, wretched sail is a thing of the past.
I now have an ancient cruiser racer of Finish origin with some super sexy sails made in Germany , these sails modified by a top notch loft in Levington.
My guess is if you sail a boat thousands of miles and achieve good performance then change sail and have crap performance , then change boat and sail thousands of miles with good performance you may know what you are doing
Now being a bit arrogant, but first in class on ARC should be something

Crusader let me down , it is the first and last time I have publicly expressed my dissatisfaction with a problem .

Crusader made a bad sail, it did not fit the boat, it had no shape, it was ordered tri cut delivered cross cut, to make it fit boat a lump was hacked off the tack,

simon ridley

 

[Sandy]

I remain on this forum...

Thanks for posting Simon.

I'd be interested to hear if you got back to Crusader when they delivered the sail?

I recently took delivery of a bit of work that both the supplier and I had spent a fair amount of time on at the design stage. Within 10 seconds I knew they had made a mistake and was on the phone, 30 mins later I was back at the workshop and they realised their mistake and the problem was sorted.

 

[NotBirdseye]

CRUSADER SAILS LIMITED is rated "Average" with 3.7 / 5 on Trustpilot

Given a TrustPilot review of 3.7, they're not the worst, but... there has to be better out there...

 

[sailaboutvic]

No matter how good experience people have with company some others at times have the odd bad one .
I had a set of sails made by a well respected loft Peter Sanders in 2010 and send to Spain , every email I send got a reply no more then two days later , they turned up a little late but no problem,
There where well made and set well only one problem , there was about 12 large pin pick holes near the top of the Gen , look like a very large need was used by miss take ( may not had been a needle ) I emailed the loft and send photos ,
I wasn't asking for them to be made good or looking for any discount just wanted to make them awhere the holes where there incase of a problem further down the road , three emails on and I never got one reply .
Which makes me thing if there was a problem with them would the company put the problem right .
I can honestly say the company had lost four customers over this as when ask about the sails and who made them I always said the sails where well made and fitted perfect but not getting a two sentence reply back to my email was just bad service .

Other who know the company and had also had a good service have said maybe my email ended up in a span box or got lost , well maybe but it's funny how non of my other email got lose .
Before anyone ask if I called them , no I couldn't be bother .
So you see guys now and then we can all have a bad experience with would normally be a good company .
Is how they deal with it is what made them a good or bad company .
It's a real shame because I was real happy with the sails but because of their after sale experience I wouldn't use them again .
I got the feeling because we was not local they couldn't be bothered if on the other hand we was just down the road they , it may had been a different out come .

 

[Old Fozzy]

I am about to take delivery of a new genoa from Crusaders. I chose them from personal recommendation and I have found all of the experience so far to be totally positive. Really helpful on both the measurements of the sail and improving my rig. The responses from other posters here would suggest that I am correct to be fully confident in my purchase and that the problem may well lie with the attitude of the OP.

 

[gertha]

No attitude, never is and never was..
I trust your new sail serves you well.
And Cusader goes forth and multiplies

 

[gertha]

Thanks for posting Simon.

I'd be interested to hear if you got back to Crusader when they delivered the sail?

I recently took delivery of a bit of work that both the supplier and I had spent a fair amount of time on at the design stage. Within 10 seconds I knew they had made a mistake and was on the phone, 30 mins later I was back at the workshop and they realised their mistake and the problem was sorted.

Yes I was in touch with Crusader multiple times.

the sail was delivered late for a race.

i advised at the time

we sailed 2000 miles

i moaned they did nothing

finaly met at boat, told my dynema halyard had stretched, no idea where that went with a sail too long for furler

sail could not and would not furl, it was a useless bag.

i am happy to remain with my judgement of Crusader 11 years ago, all I had from Crusader was an invoice for a bad sail and threats of court action.

 

[Sandy]

Yes I was in touch with Crusader multiple times.

the sail was delivered late for a race.

i advised at the time

we sailed 2000 miles

i moaned they did nothing

finaly met at boat, told my dynema halyard had stretched, no idea where that went with a sail too long for furler

sail could not and would not furl, it was a useless bag.

i am happy to remain with my judgement of Crusader 11 years ago, all I had from Crusader was an invoice for a bad sail and threats of court action.

Thanks for the reply.

Clearly very a very different experience that I've ever had with many UK companies.

 

[Robin]

This mess is a perfect example of why not to resurrect ancient threads, Once again only one side of an old and disputed dispute is being aired. Nobody is perfect and all make occasional errors and I suspect there is very much more to this than meets the eye.

Unless Crusader are given the right of public reply I think this thread should be permanently deleted and I'm surprised it has been allowed to rise again. much has previously been 'pulled' for very much less.

 

[Chris_Robb]

I have had superb service back in 2015 - new Vectron furling main perfect fit and even managed quite a bit of shape. when last put up(!) was totally unstretched. I would go back again any day.

 

[Mistroma]

I have had superb service back in 2015 - new Vectron furling main perfect fit and even managed quite a bit of shape. when last put up(!) was totally unstretched. I would go back again any day.

Same here, I bought a Vectron main in 2016 (fine vertical gold lines in the cloth). My main still looks in good shape and furls easily as it is thinner than the original Quantum sail. The original was quite thick but fell apart in the sun after about 7 seasons. The Crusader one is still perfect after 5 seasons of wandering around Spain, France, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy, Sicily and much of Greece. I'd certainly consider Vectron again. The most common problem with Crusader seems to be late delivery. I imagine that is pretty common with many sailmakers early in the season. They sent me comprehensive notes as I wasn't in the UK and they had to rely on my measurements. Any mess up with measurements would have been my fault, not theirs. They did come back to double check a couple of things in case I'd measured from a slightly different point. I think they increased the foot measurement slightly so that it was longer than the original. I thought it might be marginal if it stretched but was actually perfect and still allows room for tensioning today.

I think that this thread is actually a pretty good advert for Crusader.

 

[Robin]

I remain on this forum
I standby my original post, for me Crusader gave a very poor service.
The boat is now sold, however I remain in contact with new owner, wretched sail is a thing of the past.
I now have an ancient cruiser racer of Finish origin with some super sexy sails made in Germany , these sails modified by a top notch loft in Levington.
My guess is if you sail a boat thousands of miles and achieve good performance then change sail and have crap performance , then change boat and sail thousands of miles with good performance you may know what you are doing
Now being a bit arrogant, but first in class on ARC should be something

Crusader let me down , it is the first and last time I have publicly expressed my dissatisfaction with a problem .

Crusader made a bad sail, it did not fit the boat, it had no shape, it was ordered tri cut delivered cross cut, to make it fit boat a lump was hacked off the tack,

simon ridley

sails so sexy they had to be modified by another 'top notch' sailmaker ?

Hmmmm

First in what class in ARC? engineless or regular anything goes class?, plus of course even an old shoe box can blow downwind

Who measured for this bad sail, was it from a class drawing, IOR or similar race cert or was it DIY by owner measuring another previous SAIL laid out on the lawn? what cloth was specified and agreed? As a matter of interest, had I had sails made to the original IOR certificate dimensions on my one ton cupper they would NOT have fitted, fortunately I guessed as much and asked Paul Lees, Crusader MD to actually measure the boat not old sails or follow IOR cert.

SORRY BUT ONE SIDED SLAGGING OFF on social media should not be permitted IMO. I will try and follow my own advice on that in future too as I have been at fault myself albeit not on marine items.

DISCLAIMER:-

I have no relationship with crusader other than as a multiple times exceedingly happy customer. On a quick countback over 4 boats and many many years I had 15 sails made by them at their lofts in Poole(first at Cobbs Quay, later Hatch Pond) , plus several sprayhoods, dodgers, sail/stakpak covers etc and even upholstery work in early days, plus 2 complete new furling /reefing systems (on 2 different boats) and a complete re-rig on a one ton cupper including designing and installing a full 3 reef 2 line system all operable singlehanded from the cockpit. I covered around 100,000 miles over that time. When I foolishly moved to the USA for a time they made and shipped a new in-mast main to me there as well, all done in super rapid time (made and delivered in just 3 weeks) at way below US prices, even including all the delivery (transatlantic) charges.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Can I just say , many here have had good service from CS , one guy seen to had a problem , it happens , even to the best company .
Off course its one sided , every time someone calls out a company, its going to be one sided .
I don't think we should stop anyone from reporting bad service , one sided or not,
Or should we also stop reports of good service because there are one sided too?

As we seen in the pass the odd time a company manager will post and give their side when they are really being slagged off , for nothing,
im sure someone here as pointed CS to this thread , so they don't seen to want to comment and put the record right or on the other hand are rubbing their hands together with all the good publicity they getting ,

Everyone makes mistakes what really show the good from the bad is how they put them mistakes right .

 

[Pavalijo]

In post #1 the OP referred to Crusader Sails as a “one man band”.
When they provided me with an excellent service in adding a sacrificial strip and foam luff to a Vectran genoa that the previous owner had used for racing (so never furled) I visited the loft and they were clearly a sizeable outfit.
That was 13 years after the original post, but are we certain we are talking about the same firm?

 

[gertha]

This mess is a perfect example of why not to resurrect ancient threads, Once again only one side of an old and disputed dispute is being aired. Nobody is perfect and all make occasional errors and I suspect there is very much more to this than meets the eye.

Unless Crusader are given the right of public reply I think this thread should be permanently deleted and I'm surprised it has been allowed to rise again. much has previously been 'pulled' for very much less.

I

sails so sexy they had to be modified by another 'top notch' sailmaker ?

Hmmmm

First in what class in ARC? engineless or regular anything goes class?, plus of course even an old shoe box can blow downwind

Who measured for this bad sail, was it from a class drawing, IOR or similar race cert or was it DIY by owner measuring another previous SAIL laid out on the lawn? what cloth was specified and agreed? As a matter of interest, had I had sails made to the original IOR certificate dimensions on my one ton cupper they would NOT have fitted, fortunately I guessed as much and asked Paul Lees, Crusader MD to actually measure the boat not old sails or follow IOR cert.

SORRY BUT ONE SIDED SLAGGING OFF on social media should not be permitted IMO. I will try and follow my own advice on that in future too as I have been at fault myself albeit not on marine items.

DISCLAIMER:-

I have no relationship with crusader other than as a multiple times exceedingly happy customer. On a quick countback over 4 boats and many many years I had 15 sails made by them at their lofts in Poole(first at Cobbs Quay, later Hatch Pond) , plus several sprayhoods, dodgers, sail/stakpak covers etc and even upholstery work in early days, plus 2 complete new furling /reefing systems (on 2 different boats) and a complete re-rig on a one ton cupper including designing and installing a full 3 reef 2 line system all operable singlehanded from the cockpit. I covered around 100,000 miles over that time. When I foolishly moved to the USA for a time they made and shipped a new in-mast main to me there as well, all done in super rapid time (made and delivered in just 3 weeks) at way below US prices, even including all the delivery (transatlantic) charges.