Dickies - Customer Service

[Andrew38]

Whilst I don't want to comment on the recent commercial affairs at Dickies, that's already been well covered here, I think it reasonable to put a Beneteau owners view. For us the change has been seamless, despite losing good friends at their Brighton office, their Southampton office, particularly their administrator Anne-Marie, has continued to ensure that every level of support is made available. For instance......

On the very last day before leaving Charisma for the winter in Sant Carles (we'd spent a week sunning ourselves in October/November!) the Quick rib recovery capstan failed, this at the end of season 3 on a boat with a 2 year warranty. A check through the document case showed that unusually the manufacturers offered a 3 year warranty. Wanting to deal in English and knowing I could get it back to the UK I called the UK agent for Quick who, not very nicely made it clear that they just didn't want to know. I called Dickies in Southampton to ask if they had any bright ideas on what to do - the immediate response was "send it back to us, we'll get it sorted".

In the interim Quick themselves responded directly to me from Italy saying that yes the unit was in warranty and that if returned to Italy they would repair or replace it themselves, I sent that message to Dickies but Beneteau had apparently already responded to Dickies saying that they would supply a new unit anyway and ship it directly to Spain for me.

I had previously met up with Peter Dickie at SIBS and got personal assurances that a couple of minor issues which were still around from the warranty period would be sorted by Dickies whether Beneteau agreed them or not, so no complaints there even though technically they might have argued that this was an "old" company problem.

You can only really go on experience and their service in my case has always been extremely good.

 

[Nautibusiness]

Arrrr that would explain the picture of the windlass on Anne-Marie's facebook page.

She is a very good asset to Dickies.
Was exceptionally good at Marina Marbella and for those of us who regularly deal between marine dealers / brokers for copies of docs etc she is very sorely missed from where she was.

Well done Anne-Marie, Dickies and also Quick.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I bet the change has been seamless as Dickies will be bending over backwards to give the impression that it's business as usual. A bit of shame though about the suppliers who were shafted as a result of the administration (would that have anything to do with the attitude of Quick UK to your problem?) and any customers caught with deposits paid. I appreciate that administrations are necessary for UK PLC to carry on doing business but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when the same people rise from the ashes with the same company and the same assets as if nothing had happened

 

[Nautibusiness]

I bet the change has been seamless as Dickies will be bending over backwards to give the impression that it's business as usual. A bit of shame though about the suppliers who were shafted as a result of the administration (would that have anything to do with the attitude of Quick UK to your problem?) and any customers caught with deposits paid. I appreciate that administrations are necessary for UK PLC to carry on doing business but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when the same people rise from the ashes with the same company and the same assets as if nothing had happened

My point is about one particular member of staff - not a director - just the office administrator (not the administrators!) who has helped out the OP.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

My point is about one particular member of staff - not a director - just the office administrator (not the administrators!) who has helped out the OP.

Yes I understood that but I don't think that there should be a thread on this forum (rightly) praising a company for good service without providing a counter balance pointing out how that company (or rather, it's predecessor) has acted in the past

 

[Nautibusiness]

Yes I understood that but I don't think that there should be a thread on this forum (rightly) praising a company for good service without providing a counter balance pointing out how that company (or rather, it's predecessor) has acted in the past

Fair comment.

 

[andy59]

I bet the change has been seamless as Dickies will be bending over backwards to give the impression that it's business as usual. A bit of shame though about the suppliers who were shafted as a result of the administration (would that have anything to do with the attitude of Quick UK to your problem?) and any customers caught with deposits paid. I appreciate that administrations are necessary for UK PLC to carry on doing business but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when the same people rise from the ashes with the same company and the same assets as if nothing had happened

+1

 

[Neil_Y]

There are always good people in any company and it's good to recognise them for their efforts, they can often be the reason why a business succeeds.

But to suggest that the overall business is good with the history that we have seen is going to mislead those that don't know the whole story. As the same directors are running the business and that appears to be where the skills were lacking, it doesn't feel right seeing the company praised just yet.

At this stage praise the individuals by all means, until we can see how they perform as a business, the wounds are still a bit raw for those that lost money. You never know if they make a profit I might get a cheque.

 

[rubberduck]

Yes I understood that but I don't think that there should be a thread on this forum (rightly) praising a company for good service without providing a counter balance pointing out how that company (or rather, it's predecessor) has acted in the past

The way I see it, if a company or individuals persistently rise from the ashes, the run like hell. If however they have been trading for many years & come unstuck, then I tend to give them another, albeit limited, chance.