Exchange sails? or not?

[Thomas Stanley]

Exchange sails, Ivybridge. (Not Westaways, who went under again last year)
I sent in 5 sails for them to sell in February, and heard nothing since. The stock reply so far is 'we'll come back to you'.
Ive seen threads here on getting money back -eventually-, but anyone with hints/ tips to extract my sails back? or are they gone for good?

thanks in advance for your help folks!

 

[MikeCC]

Same people. Get someone to collect them for you, preferably with photos to hand.

 

[xyachtdave]

Hey Thomas, welcome to YBW.

That company certainly attracts some heat on these forums for shocking service, I'm not sure if it is just run chaotically or they're a bunch of chancers fleecing sailors. Either way, avoid seems the best course of action.

Somebody on our yacht club facebook page actually recommends them so maybe it works for some.

Personally I'd take a friend and pay them a visit to collect.

Out of interest what were they and what sort of money was involved?

 

[jamie N]

I bought a spinnaker from them without any problems at all; courteous and prompt

 

[Thomas Stanley]

Hey Thomas, welcome to YBW.

That company certainly attracts some heat on these forums for shocking service, I'm not sure if it is just run chaotically or they're a bunch of chancers fleecing sailors. Either way, avoid seems the best course of action.

Somebody on our yacht club facebook page actually recommends them so maybe it works for some.

Personally I'd take a friend and pay them a visit to collect.

Out of interest what were they and what sort of money was involved?

Five sails including a small but almost unused spinnaker, a cruising shoot & snuffer also good. Also storm jib all to generally fit a 28 ft boat or say a 30 ft fractional rig. Two other sails that weren't the best. I chased early March and got a commitment to an adequate price, about £920 total as two were unsaleable.
They responded recently to an email saying they have a holding deposit the the downwinds, s o I'm going to give him a little longer, partly to give him chance redeem but admittedly lockdown will also give me problems unless I can find essential work in Plymouth. Do you know if 'Westaway' is the same as the westaway that were an agent for Jeanneau? that company seemed ok to deal with but maybe different people. -possibly academic as they filed for insolvency last year. Probably an average of two years between filings?

 

[Thomas Stanley]

I bought a spinnaker from them without any problems at all; courteous and prompt

ok, thanks for saying. was that recent? I wonder if their filing for insolvency last year changed them at all

 

[RJJ]

Is it, sadly, just terribly difficult to be broker/reseller of second-hand sails? Given what most of us do is just use what we have until it's unusable...?

I would love the answer to be no...

 

[Thomas Stanley]

The standards of the sails can be anything from almost new to, as you suggest, wasted. I've no issue with the sail qualities as Exchange did tell me the standard. But again, only after I chased.
I'm more bothered that it need constant pestering to get any response as a seller, and if they behave in the same way to buyers, no one will be interested in the sails, and hence no money for either the company and more critically, me !