Poor customer service

[Povremeni pomorac]

Sad to say in our experience things get worse rather than better once you sail abroad; my suspicion has always been that you're a more obvious 'transient/one-off' customer so no need to try for your customer satisfaction/loyalty/future business?
A few years ago in the USA a friend recommended and then enquired on my behalf with his local yard about some work which we needed doing and both price and a specific date/time for the job were agreed; having duly arrived a few weeks later, we then waited four days before the job was actually done and were then handed a bill for 4x the original quotation - 20% of which was for sitting on their ramshackle dock (at a rate 2x the price of the full service marina which we'd moved over from) , so only 3x the price for the original works and a point blank refusal to provide any sort breakdown of the account or explanation for the increase; "that's what you owe, now pay it or we call the cops."
Our by now somewhat embarrassed and definitely very annoyed friend intervened once again and under threat of losing his and perhaps other local yacht business to the opposition yard, our bill got reduced by 40%; the discussion over this being held right in front of us, during which the Yard Manager unashamedly justified the delay and price increase on the basis that "Heck Bill, when we quoted I thought it was for your boat/we always hike our rates and hours for any transient business/if it's empty then we make 'em wait awhile, so we can keep the dock earning."

 

[Moodysailor]

No whinge here. I would like to tell a story of absolutely fantastic service from a UK manufacturer who went way beyond the call of duty. It all begins when a blade of the propeller (from company A) fell off as we were crossing Christchurch Bay at the end of a month-long journey back from Portugal. We didn’t know what had happened after a clunk and excessive vibration but thought something had probably got wrapped around the propeller. One of the crew volunteered to dive down to take pictures with the GoPro and came back with the clear evidence that what was once a three-blade propeller was now a two-blade one. The advice from all concerned was to limp to the nearest port, which was Lymington, as the propeller would need to be replaced. Company A advised that repair was not really an option, as even though the propeller had recently (around 18 months) been serviced at the factory, it was more than 20 years old.

As fate would dictate, we arrived as the Southampton Boat Show was in full flight and so a visit was hastily arranged for the next day (the last Friday of the Show) to seek the best option for a new propeller. Company A would offer a discount but could not deliver for a week. However Darglow said they could have a new Featherstream propeller ready in a couple of days and I could pick it up from their factory in Wareham. I had had Featherstream propellers on other boats and had been impressed - the price was also a cheaper option.

Order placed with Darglow and Company A provided the dimensions needed for manufacture as the old propeller was still in the water. As promised the new Featherstream was ready two days after the Boat Show and a quick lift out was organised to switch them over. All was going like clockwork until the moment the new propeller was placed on the shaft - it did not fit. Wrong size for the shaft, wrong taper, wrong everything. Company A had given me the wrong measurements (an investigation is proceeding to find out how the records had been mixed up). Now we were left with a boat hanging in the air with no propeller. A quick call to Darglow who said if we coutdoor get the propeller back to them that afternoon, they would make a new one for the following day to the right size. On the folding bike with two propellers (I took the old one as well) and as promised, the new larger propeller was ready for collection at 11 am the next day.

Amazing, quite spectacular service from a small specialist manufacturer. The new propeller came back with me on the train and by 1430 it was on the boat and we were moving again. I was only charged for the extra for the slightly larger propeller and nothing for all the hassle I gave Darglow, who did everything they could to help me out as quick as they could.

This is a great experience, thanks for sharing. I was looking at Darglow recently, we aren't in the market now but maybe in the future and when we do go for a new prop, it will be them based on this

 

[Povremeni pomorac]

Quite appalling.

 

[BobnLesley]

In almost seventeen years of cruising/living aboard - admittedly i did most stuff myself - I can recall eight marine engineers/repairmen/mechanics whom I would unequivocally recommend; it's perhaps fortunate that we finished up in Whangarei in NZ, because we found three of those in our four months there.