Dusseldorf great and Oyster Yachts not so..

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Dusseldorf was excellent overall ! a pity the nice folks of Fairline were not present but really nice people from Princess kept me and 4 friends happy with inviting us for some beers & showing their nice lineup.

all in all very good experience!

But.. Oyster Yachts, incredibly unfriendly sales staff did not not want to allow me and my friends to their stand. They had a sales lady in Dusseldorf this Saturday afternoon who grinningly said:" it is not possible to see the boats today maybe come back tomorrow".. end of discussion from her side.. and this happened at approx. 3p-4pm with a few hours to go and also their stand looked dead empty..

If Oyster who make what 10 boats a year and they can afford to turn away boat owners of other brands and build this kind of image , then that is of course entirely their business and marketing strategy. I´m in the future looking to change to sailing but will stay clear of the Oyster guys as one thing I cannot stand, is rude and arrogant sales people when spending money.
Fortunately other sailing brands have mostly very nice sales people looking to give a good service so in that sense no issue. just wanted to share our experience with Oyster
 
Camelia said:
One wonders why anybody would turn way a potential customer?
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Probably because they had made appointments for customers with more potential.
It seems to me that Oyster have a fair idea about how to sell expensive yachts.
 
lw395 said:
Probably because they had made appointments for customers with more potential.
It seems to me that Oyster have a fair idea about how to sell expensive yachts.
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hehe exactly, because a firm like Oyster can read people and their wallet by their looks:)
 
lw395 said:
Probably because they had made appointments for customers with more potential.
It seems to me that Oyster have a fair idea about how to sell expensive yachts.
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That's certainly Oyster's pitch, but my impression is that they're not doing so well at the moment. In terms of "customers with more potential" my ex-boss and i were given the same sort of sniffy treatment by Oyster in the mid-1990s; he basically wanted to buy a boat as an "image burnisher" and had little idea about boats. In the end he got talking to a chap who spent hours with him and in the end offered to produce the "absolute pinnacle of design and elegance". Chap's name was Luke Bassani and a year later my boss was the proud owner of a £10m Wally; now that's what I call spotting potential.

But a word of caution - despite the Wally's bullet proof residuals (supposedly) he sold same yacht for circa £5.6m some three years later!!!

Anyhow, I wonder what would Oyster have said to this little chap?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRbzJ0L1Zn8

Here's another advert that was heavily influenced by the approach of Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche ...it laughs in the face of the (then) potential customers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ysj81EjAo

Companies like Porsche see it as a wonderful compliment when a customer starts to dream about their brand. Their instinct is to cherish and nurture this interest through actively engaging their interest and simultaneously pushing the boundaries of their products ...and that certainly seems to be good business for them!
 
dom said:
That's certainly Oyster's pitch, but my impression is that they're not doing so well at the moment. In terms of "customers with more potential" my ex-boss and i were given the same sort of sniffy treatment by Oyster in the mid-1990s; he basically wanted to buy a boat as an "image burnisher" and had little idea about boats. In the end he got talking to a chap who spent hours with him and in the end offered to produce the "absolute pinnacle of design and elegance". Chap's name was Luke Bassani and a year later my boss was the proud owner of a £10m Wally; now that's what I call spotting potential.

But a word of caution - despite the Wally's bullet proof residuals (supposedly) he sold same yacht for circa £5.6m some three years later!!!

Anyhow, I wonder what would Oyster have said to this little chap?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRbzJ0L1Zn8

Here's another advert that was heavily influenced by the approach of Ferdinand Piech, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche ...it laughs in the face of the (then) potential customers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ysj81EjAo

Companies like Porsche see it as a wonderful compliment when a customer starts to dream about their brand. Their instinct is to cherish and nurture this interest through actively engaging their interest and simultaneously pushing the boundaries of their products ...and that certainly seems to be good business for them!
Click to expand...
Oyster get many return customers, I also believe that if you need a boat & there is a long lead-in time they will sell you a brokerage boat & buy it back for similar £s when your new boat is ready
 
Were you genuinely considering buying a new Oyster?

If not then clearly the sales staff got it right :)

When I've looked round the Oysters at SIBS I have found them both polite an knowledgable (and no, I'm not in the market for a new Oyster - but I love a lot of the older models).
 
Oyster is a great brand with a great reputation. Hopefully the odd person getting the cold shoulder at a boat show will not disrupt that.

Over the past year I have been working closely with Oyster in search of a yacht for my boss. They have been fantastic and I commend them for their patience.

To say that they are in trouble seems strange. We were in their big boat manufacturing facility and it was full of yachts in various states of build. We agreed deal on a new yacht so there is another for there pipeline.

Perhaps the owners of the yachts at the boat show like to limit the number of people going on their boats. Remember unlike
Princess, Fairline and sunseeker these boats are all built to order, no stock boats that need to be shifted in a hurry.

Overall my experience of Oyster is way ahead of the motor yacht manufacturer we dealt with.

Also return customers, my friend has bought three new yachts from them, that's not bad....

Think the OP has an agenda....
 
nimbusgb said:
I went sailing aboard an Oyster that had cost the owner north of £5 million.

She has been on the market for at least 3 years and I have watched the price gradually plummet.

http://www.oystermarine.com/brokerage/listing/7/bare-necessities/

Now down to £1.85 m. Exclusivity is an expensive club!
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I often pass that boat in Lymington. Great looking boat but what on earth is it doing in the Solent?
I understand Bare Necessities is a Lingerie company but could be wrong.
 
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