Mermaid Marine Engines - Poor service

Philiz

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 Aug 2008
Messages
2,888
Location
Staffordshire Moorlands U.K.
www.shabiera.co.uk
After a recent trip to the Isle of Man I noticed the somewhat rough weather had caused the alternator bracket to break. I took it off and obtained the part number from my manual, i rang Mermaid on Monday to order a replacement, no-one available in parts as there's only one staff on, left number for call back. As expected, there was no call back, rang again Tueasday, there was none in stock, will get a price for manufacture and ring you back, again no call back, rang again, still no call back. So 'ive given up and am now getting a local fabricator to make me a stronger, better one.

I guess not all firms are like Garmin, Icom etc...............
 
My donk is a Mermaid 2712E. Early last year I visited them when in Poole & they were really really helpful. One chap in particular, Jason, I believe his name was, was the main man for spares, but he departed some 15 months ago.
 
Last edited:
If you have a complaint email j.townley@powertorque.co.uk Jon is/was the sales director of mermaids parent company and seemed to take an interest in another thread.

Mermaid used to be such a good company but in the last couple of years have fallen by the wayside. They really need to get their act back together or they will end up as another has been statistic, such a shame.
 
Tis a shame, always excellent service when Cyril and Barbara Snare owned the company. Seems now just to be a small (insignificant?) part of a larger organisation.
 
you need a ford tractor dealer

How on earth will that help?? Mermaid/Sabre took Ford Power Products 27XXXX industrial engines and marinised them.

Tractors used structural block motors of completely different design from the industrial engines, also Ford supplied long engines to marinisers without rotating electrics, who could generally source starters and alternators cheaper direct from the manufacturers.

Only relation with agricultural was the way Mermaid made their brackets.........
 

exactly, it cant be hard! a trip to a scrap yard should reveal a couple of dozen possibles.

oh yes and don't forget to say "Marine" or "Marinised" with a punnet or two of plums is the mouth it makes the invoice bigger :-).

so a man in a shed (mermaid) has gone - or is going - or cant be bothered; its not the end of the world - just yet. . . .
 
exactly, it cant be hard! a trip to a scrap yard should reveal a couple of dozen possibles.

oh yes and don't forget to say "Marine" or "Marinised" with a punnet or two of plums is the mouth it makes the invoice bigger :-).

so a man in a shed (mermaid) has gone - or is going - or cant be bothered; its not the end of the world - just yet. . . .

Wrong, same reason as stated in post #14, I aint stoopid :rolleyes:
 
Nope, nothing remotely similar. The marinisation means the bottom pulley is extended forward which in turn requires the alternator re-siting further forward. I think the part must be peculiar to mermaid. Thanks for looking though!

sounds like you need a man with welding gear then, or a pattern maker??
 
Having a Mermaid donk I was somewhat concerned to hear of these problems, so I e-mailed a contact to find out.

Here is her reply:

Good Afternoon Mr ******,
Thank you for your below e-mail, and your honesty, I can confirm that Mermaid Marine is still strongly trading, and I will pass over to our directors your findings as this is very concerning. I personally have not heard of this before now? And would also like to confirm that we do our best to process and complete any sales orders at a high standard, our support engineers also give 100% in helping customers who are in need of technical advise.



Once again, thank you for bringing this to our attention and I will pass this information onto our Managers and Directors.

Best regards

Then from their MD:

Hello Mr ******,

Sam has forwarded your email to me and I would like to thank you for taking the time to inform us of this situation.

It is quite worrying to hear about this kind of thing taking place but I have been in the business for long enough to realise that we cannot please everybody all of the time. As Sam has said we tackle everything we do with enthusiasm and a ready willingness to assist where asked, but we are obviously not always aware of how this is viewed in the market place.

I would be really grateful if you could let me have some examples of what you are seeing as it may genuinely be areas that we need to improve on.

Many thanks for your assistance in this.

Best regards

So it would seem that a rant on here has been worthwhile, for once :D
 
Top