Fairline Parts

petem

petem

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
19,109
Location
Cotswolds / Altea
www.fairlineownersclub.com
Fairline have rightly come in for some flack in the past for offering a poor parts service. Based on the consignment of various obscure goodies (original red and white fender tails, bathroom cabinet hinges, washer nozzles, locker stays, cockpit drinks holder) that I received today it would appear that these days seem to be behind them. They're never going to be really cheap and it might take a few weeks for them to source the parts but at least they can supply them again.

As a reminder, you need to order through one of the dealers or Bates Wharf (who I ordered through). The factory don't deal with retail customers directly (not even me)!
 
I'm still waiting for bates to get back to me... been waiting weeks already


Ian


petem said:
Fairline have rightly come in for some flack in the past for offering a poor parts service. Based on the consignment of various obscure goodies (original red and white fender tails, bathroom cabinet hinges, washer nozzles, locker stays, cockpit drinks holder) that I received today it would appear that these days seem to be behind them. They're never going to be really cheap and it might take a few weeks for them to source the parts but at least they can supply them again.

As a reminder, you need to order through one of the dealers or Bates Wharf (who I ordered through). The factory don't deal with retail customers directly (not even me)!
Click to expand...
 
They are shocking.

I was quoted a price for seats by the factory (£3500k odd ). Factory decided then to simply not reply. All I wanted was for someone to take my money.

Eventually Bates got involved after I emailed all and sundry saying this was getting really rude if nothing else.

A rather disgruntled md of Bates called me moaning he was making no money out of the deal and took payment.

Many months go by and no seats. I email. They email factory etc. In the end I just called Capital Seating and found out what was going on ( who could not take my order in the first place due to the deal with Fairline ) and finally got them.

I don’t know Bates from Adam but the whole Fairline parts thing is very broken. I don’t normally bother posting tales of woe on here but Pete your post sadly does not reflect reality as confirmed by the post above.

I appreciate they want to build new boats but they need to support owners who remember by parts ( even if not Fairline specific - switches, filters etc ) constantly. The factory from the build sheet knows 100% what this part is so there is the oportunity for a decent business here and more importantly establishing customer loyalty and relationship.

I have had 3 fairlines, one brand new. With service like this and boats.co.uk not in the middle of the deal to just fix it I see issues.
 
jrudge said:
They are shocking.

I was quoted a price for seats by the factory (£3500k odd ). Factory decided then to simply not reply. All I wanted was for someone to take my money.

Eventually Bates got involved after I emailed all and sundry saying this was getting really rude if nothing else.

A rather disgruntled md of Bates called me moaning he was making no money out of the deal and took payment.

Many months go by and no seats. I email. They email factory etc. In the end I just called Capital Seating and found out what was going on ( who could not take my order in the first place due to the deal with Fairline ) and finally got them.

I don’t know Bates from Adam but the whole Fairline parts thing is very broken. I don’t normally bother posting tales of woe on here but Pete your post sadly does not reflect reality as confirmed by the post above.

I appreciate they want to build new boats but they need to support owners who remember by parts ( even if not Fairline specific - switches, filters etc ) constantly. The factory from the build sheet knows 100% what this part is so there is the oportunity for a decent business here and more importantly establishing customer loyalty and relationship.

I have had 3 fairlines, one brand new. With service like this and boats.co.uk not in the middle of the deal to just fix it I see issues.
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J, I agree there's no excuse for rudeness. As I tell people, don't email the factory as they do not supply direct to the public. The only way to get this to work is to order from Bates and make them chase on your behalf. If it's not working then you know Russell's contact details and Richard Bates is very approachable too.
 
Turning away from my issue for this to work there needs to be a real catalogue on line.

If not you will end up with a long speculative email chain. I for example needed drinks holders. I just got them made. No idea hey still sold hem for non production boats etc. They may have all sorts of things but I suspect that to most of us approaching the factory is vendor of last resort when we have run out of all other options.

Before they went bust the last Fairline parts bloke was amazing. On the phone he told you what it was how much and they offered free shipping worldwide to any dealer.

After sorting what you needed you then involved the dealer last wth the order

It will always be like this as the dealer does not have the same records and knowledge as the factory.
 
I dont often post on here but I thought I would chime in on this on and say that its not what you know, it's who you know. It seems that everyone is overlooking the most reliable source of Fairline parts. Heather@hcsmarine.com She has a wealth of knowledge of all things Fairline, particularly the older models and more importantly access to most of the parts!!! She usually gets things done in a very timely manner and works best with Email communication which also rules out the human error of unrecorded conversation. I have sourced lots of obscure parts from her without incident and would reccomend her without hesitation
Give her a try. Heather@hcsmarine.com
 
magichands said:
I dont often post on here but I thought I would chime in on this on and say that its not what you know, it's who you know. It seems that everyone is overlooking the most reliable source of Fairline parts. Heather@hcsmarine.com She has a wealth of knowledge of all things Fairline, particularly the older models and more importantly access to most of the parts!!! She usually gets things done in a very timely manner and works best with Email communication which also rules out the human error of unrecorded conversation. I have sourced lots of obscure parts from her without incident and would reccomend her without hesitation
Give her a try. Heather@hcsmarine.com
Click to expand...

Shame she didn't reply to my email when I was after some fabric!
 
jrudge said:
Turning away from my issue for this to work there needs to be a real catalogue on line.

If not you will end up with a long speculative email chain. I for example needed drinks holders. I just got them made. No idea hey still sold hem for non production boats etc. They may have all sorts of things but I suspect that to most of us approaching the factory is vendor of last resort when we have run out of all other options.

Before they went bust the last Fairline parts bloke was amazing. On the phone he told you what it was how much and they offered free shipping worldwide to any dealer.

After sorting what you needed you then involved the dealer last wth the order

It will always be like this as the dealer does not have the same records and knowledge as the factory.
Click to expand...

J, you do realise that a lot of commonly required parts can be ordered online....

http://www.bateswharfparts.co.uk/product-category/fairline/

You can even order steering wheels!

Even the burgees that I had made for Fairline!

As you know there is a BOM (Build of Manufacturer) for each boat built that lists all of parts that went into the build. The factory hold all of these, I'm not sure if Bates have copies.

As for drinks holders, I asked for an "aft cockpit drinks holder in green" and it arrived a few weeks later (made to order by the original supplier). As I've said before, (old) Fairline made the mistake of letting the suppliers own the IPR for some of the parts so FL are sometimes constrained when they want to order parts.

Pete
 
Couple of experiences to add balance to find the norm .
Sunseeker although changing owner s and constantly re vamping ,more so recently , we’re good .
Just quote the HIN , either in the SoF a large field site open to to punters in an industrial zone a miles back ,or direct with the factory .
Daft little plastic things ,like Mozzi net clip holders ( kids # pillow fighting ! ) - post a bag and do,not even invoice .
Me smashing the lenses in IMO rear NAV light —- Ok tried googling could not source —- SOF site had a box full , not labelled , so take the box ( about 20 versions ) and return .
Bill for €40 some months later .
Sealand dreaded Vac flush bog parts parts —- hold stock ( rapidly shifting items - infact in the SoF they have a dedicated bog engineer ! )
So alls happy with SS in the SoF .It was as you would expect the after market support .

Itama
Ferretti grp bought it in 2005 ish and move production around Italy not once ,but twice ,they also were aggressively buying up other brands , re structured time n time again at one point an Italian bank owned most of it , finally Chinese sugar daddy wades in .In all but name , they were bust ,and there was a lot of upheaval back and front of house .

Top heavy PR dept - suspect a kick back from Ferretti North America — customer service “ have a nice day “ —- sounds daft in a Italian accent btw when you ring Italy
Face book , internet , PW protected sites , Bill gates and Mark Zuckerburg will be proud of them :)

Once you get caught up in the marketing dept at a boat show or inquiry — your knackered re “ newsletter s “ bombing you :cool:
Ok we accepted 2x invites to the Monaco preview and free for all on water testing etc — nice and Tnx btw !

But coming to the point
Parts —- nope
Yup nope , “ no can do - have a nice day “ - “ we don,t hold the records “
“ i am afraid your boat is before we took over ( 2005 ) and we have no records “
“ I,am sorry we can,t help you - we only deal with xyz “

So they wine n dine you literally :cool: presume in the hope of a sale ? But the aftercare shutter comes down
Anyways as it happens there’s a whole repair / refit infrastructure by XL marine and others in the same Factory in Roma , same guys .
I found out eventually via an Itama owners forum , not by Ferretti .
So I am Ok now .
 
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petem said:
J, you do realise that a lot of commonly required parts can be ordered online....

http://www.bateswharfparts.co.uk/product-category/fairline/

You can even order steering wheels!

Even the burgees that I had made for Fairline!

As you know there is a BOM (Build of Manufacturer) for each boat built that lists all of parts that went into the build. The factory hold all of these, I'm not sure if Bates have copies.

As for drinks holders, I asked for an "aft cockpit drinks holder in green" and it arrived a few weeks later (made to order by the original supplier). As I've said before, (old) Fairline made the mistake of letting the suppliers own the IPR for some of the parts so FL are sometimes constrained when they want to order parts.

Pete
Click to expand...
Pete
Can you put these BOM lists for Fairlines on your Fairline Owners Website? I would be keen to have a T40 list.
Cheers
 
petem said:
Shame she didn't reply to my email when I was after some fabric!
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May have been an oversight or an Email problem as I have ordered a ton of parts from HCS and never had a problem. She usually confirms reciept of an enquiry with an day in my experience.
Perhaps worth sending another Email? Heather used to do the parts for Boats.co.uk so Definatley worth a try.
 
bluetooth said:
Pete
Can you put these BOM lists for Fairlines on your Fairline Owners Website? I would be keen to have a T40 list.
Cheers
Click to expand...

I don't have the BOM's and in any case, all they tell you is the name of the Fairline part that you wish to order. So they might say something like:

Windscreen wiper nozzle 123456 2

The 123456 being the Fairline part number and the 2 being the quantity. They won't tell you who the original manufacturer was. Obviously, when you order a part, providing you can give Bates the boat model and build number, the first thing that they or the factory will do is to check the BOM so that they can source the correct part for you.

Please remember that a lot of the parts are supplied by third parties so Bates / Fairline are always at the mercy of those manufacturers and their lead times may be considerable (months not days in the case of seats and the like).

Pete
 
It always amazes me when I hear about manufacturers of any kind of complex machinery who ignore the potential spare parts side of their business. Margins are usually so much higher on selling parts than selling the original machinery. I know that boats are mainly a collection of non proprietary parts but as this thread proves, many owners are willing to pay a bit over the odds for a good service and a single point of contact. Not only that but if existing owners are regularly ordering parts from the dealer or manufacturer they build up a relationship which means that when they come to order a new boat, they dont think about going anywhere else
 
If you think how much time you waste ( well I do !) finding parts

If you could just say 2 engine service kits , gen service kit , set of ac filters, pair of wipers, 3 light fittings , 10 light bulbs and a file gague delivered to mallorca that has real value. No messing about with measurements and part numbers.

Also remember on boats there is a huge common parts bin so much of this would not require daft numbers of bits.
 
magichands said:
May have been an oversight or an Email problem as I have ordered a ton of parts from HCS and never had a problem. She usually confirms reciept of an enquiry with an day in my experience.
Perhaps worth sending another Email? Heather used to do the parts for Boats.co.uk so Definatley worth a try.
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For your info, Bates Wharf tell me that Heather (HCS) gets parts from them (I have no idea what proportion). Heather isn't an official dealer so cannot order direct from Fairline.

Sadly, everyone (Heather, Bates, Fairline) is to some extent at the mercy of the original suppliers and occasional delays can be experienced for older boats (like mine). I'm told that for newer boats (c. 2010 and newer), availability of parts is much better.

My advice, is to order in good time to avoid disappointment.

Incidentally, I was told that the wait for engines is horrendous, 8 months or so, so prey you don't need one of those!

Pete
 
petem said:
For your info, Bates Wharf tell me that Heather (HCS) gets parts from them (I have no idea what proportion). Heather isn't an official dealer so cannot order direct from Fairline.

Sadly, everyone (Heather, Bates, Fairline) is to some extent at the mercy of the original suppliers and occasional delays can be experienced for older boats (like mine). I'm told that for newer boats (c. 2010 and newer), availability of parts is much better.

My advice, is to order in good time to avoid disappointment.

Incidentally, I was told that the wait for engines is horrendous, 8 months or so, so prey you don't need one of those!

Pete
Click to expand...

Pete,

Which is why the manufacture ( in this case Fairline) is the source of last resort.

You call Bates, Bates call Fairline, Fairline Call the manufacturer, Manufacturer send to Fairline, Fairline send to Bates, Bates send to punter ..!

The only party adding value is fairline as they know what the part actually is ... but dont really see parts supply as their business ( as far as i can see).

For most parts the likes of boats.co.uk will know where the original came from. For much of this is it obvious - i replaced a fan yesterday - it has an EC Smith logo and part number.

There will be some bits where the origin is not that clear - Exhausts for example don't all come from Halyard - only bits of it.

Finally if it has a fairline logo on it. The man who makes the illuminated Fairline logos ( very nice) i met at the Palma Boat show. Great I will have one of those - cant sell it to you ( which I understand as it is a fairline logo part).
 
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