Powercats Ltd of Cornwall Sold me an unfit boat - A Public Letter

sadcatowner

sadcatowner

Member
Joined
16 May 2008
Messages
40
Visit site
We bought a Powercat 525 Evolution brand new from the builders in February 2008 and paid £37000 plus.

Since we got it back we found,

Sharp screws protruding into the Cuddy area which cut my hand.

The bimini was faulty and unusable.

The bimini frame collapsed onto me and gave me a lump on the forehead.

The electrical system failed underway in the dark etc etc

We got a marine surveyor in to examine it and he found it did not comply with EC Recreational Craft Directives and was dangerous!!!

In particular the batteries are NOT in a ventilated space - which is in direct contravention of statutory regulations.

There are many other dangerous defects.

Yet the boat was signed off as compliant with EC directives.

We should never have been sold this boat.

We have requested a refund but Powercats will not respond with any proposals!!! We are taking legal action but it would be much simpler if Powercats simply refunded us now and thus avoided all the hassle of the legal process.

This is a public challenge to Powercats of Units 2,3, & 6, 53 Cardrew Way Redruth Cornwall, their phone number is 08452 493 525, their website is www.powercats.co.uk

When are you going to pay us back our money plus the costs we have incurred and arrange to take it away?

We have rejected the boat clearly and it should never have been sold to us in the first place.

The eyes of the boating community are upon you.

What are you going to do?
 
Re: Powercats Ltd of Cornwall Sold me a Dangerous Boat - A Public Lett

Good on you in being willing to stand up for your rights.

If power cats Have any sense they will offer to refund rather than face the loss of business from the word of mouth bad publicity that I can promise you is very powerful.

I hope it all works out for you - just keep up the campaign and they can choose how much they value their name.
 
Re: Powercats Ltd of Cornwall Sold me a Dangerous Boat - A Public Lett

gang warily !

I'd think very carefully before relying on a single surveyor's report to claim that the craft is illegal. It may be a matter of de minimis , or a minor trangression in a production run. It does not necessarily mean that the boat is unfit for purpose.

I suggest you withdraw the posting, despite all the understandable anxiety the purchase is causing you, and go for negotiation, rather than blasting all your ammunition off in one go.

Softlee, softlee, catchee monkee.
 
Re: Powercats Ltd of Cornwall Sold me a Dangerous Boat - A Public Lett

Yup. Not the place to be airing your grievances.
Carry on with the legal route and maybe look at a more clued-up lawyer.

This sort of airing on a public forum may come back and bite you on the bum.
 
Re: Powercats Ltd of Cornwall Sold me a Dangerous Boat - A Public Lett

Our surveyor knows what he is doing and is an expert with many years of experience and many many qualifications.

This boat has already nearly killed us - which is why we called the surveyor in first of all.

This is not minimal.

There are numerous life endangering defects.

There were at least three ways that we know if that this boat could have made me a widow, a mother of a dead son, or dead myself.

This is not anxiety over a purchase.

I am not anxious in the least.

I am just disgusted that a boat builder is able to sleep at night sending a boat of this dangerous quality out to be used by a family.

This has been rumbling on for too long now. Every day that passes increases the chance that someone else might be in danger.

I am not prepared to 'softly softly' anything.

I'm not catching monkeys.

I'm trying to save lives.

If Powercats can explain how these defects are NOT dangerous I will be as happy as anyone else.

I would love to know that ALL their boat buyers are safe.

I don't know that.

It seems that the only way to make them take this seriously is to jump up and down with big boots on.

We have nothing to hide at all, so we have no reason not to put this online.

It is all on my blog anyway.

We have Trading Standards looking into this, and the British Marine Federation as well. But all we get from Powercats are vague letters which appear to be 'holding' action rather than any concrete proposal for realistic resolution.

They have hinted at mediation but made no suggestion as to what the terms of that mediation might be on their part so we are unable to proceed in that direction.

We are being forced to spend more and more money on legal costs.

I can only assume that Powercats are hoping to break us financially so we will go away.

Not an option.
 
Well thanks for having the integrity to re-list the post - I hope it stops the unjustified criticism from those who claim you delete posts to put the advertiser in front of the reader.

So Powercats of Cornwall - can we hope to see a response please and hear your side of the story?
 
Thank you Dan for reinstating the thread.

I hope we will see some response from Powercats.

My two main aims in this are

1. Being able to reassure myself and the public that Powercats are selling a safe product, so I can stop worrying.

2. Getting a refund on our boat (plus a bit extra to cover expenses so we aren't out of pocket) so we can begin looking for something else to get us out on the water.

I would hope that Powercats would be wanting the same thing at least as far as point 1 is concerned.

If they aren't going to help me achieve aim 2 I would like to know why not?

I will be working out how to get pictures etc displayed of some of the problems I am talking about and will be adding them once I have done so.
 
As this thread has semi-disappeared because of the delay caused by pulling it over the weekend, it would appear to me to be appropriate to bring it back to the top of the list (albeit under your own miissive about phots).
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yet the boat was signed off as compliant with EC directives.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its amazing the this is self certification by the builder.

Have you email Power Cats of Cornwall to tell them that when someone types in their company name ' Powercats of Cornwall' your story about their boat is actually number 2 in the list?

Send them a link to this story on the forum as well as the other thread that has already passed 1000 views.

I mean evert time I type Powercats of Cornwall it helps it near the top..... then again I could list their models like PowerCat 625 to try and link the story to anyone asking about that model.

Such free advertising is is priceless.... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
The boat won innovative boat of the year in 2006. It is a British builder trying to break new ground. Very sad that bad publicity for a small UK boat builder may damage its future. I hope it gets sorted out quickly without messy court action.
 
I agree with all that Victor but the publicity is because the company is not dealing with the issues.
`it has been made aware of the thread. It has to choose to either face up to its responsibilities or face the bad publicity.

What is not an option is for it to sell an illegal boat and get away with it. The boating trade needs the bad being weeded out from the good - not a continuation of the terrible state of affairs that I witness year in year out.

If the company is reading this post I ask them to respond quickly and repair the damage that they are inflicting on themselves - the cheapest way to do that is to refund on the boat. That will be cheaper than any other option now that the matter has become public. The bad publicity will live with them for years and its not doing Cats any good either.

So please PowerCats of Cornwalll - wake up and act now.... there is a small time window in which to retrieve the situation.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My two main aims in this are...

[/ QUOTE ]If what you and the surveyor are saying is correct, 'course aim #2 if 100% legitimate.
On the other hand, frankly aim #1 just doesn't sound honest.
You're pursuing your own interests, your counterpart does the same with his ones, it's as simple as that really.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My two main aims in this are...

[/ QUOTE ]If what you and the surveyor are saying is correct, 'course aim #2 if 100% legitimate.
On the other hand, frankly aim #1 just doesn't sound honest.
You're pursuing your own interests, your counterpart does the same with his ones, it's as simple as that really.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see why aim 1 wouldn't sound honest?

If you read my blog you will see that once we realised the situation with the electrics we contacted Trading Standards straight away to report the problem.

We had already spoken to them about 'our interests' when we thought the only problem we had was a few screws sticking through and a dodgy bimini.

We had not reason to report the more serious problem (and spend a lot of time and money doing so - calling from Greece is not cheap) other than to ensure that the public was being protected.

I don't know who you are referring to as my 'counterpart' - my husband?

The Trading Standards DO NOT act for individuals and will not get my money back for me. That is what our solicitor is for.

Do you suggest that we don't try to get our money back?

Personally I believe that it is right to do what we can to ensure the safety of other boat buyers as well as to try to get our money back.

I find it astonishing that anyone wouldn't see that as the right thing to do.

Why do you question my honesty?

If a boat you bought nearly killed your loved ones could you sleep at night if there was any chance that it could happen again to other families if you didn't alert people?

All I know is that I couldn't live with myself if I just pursued the money refund and then heard that some other family had suffered a loss or injury.

To me that is a far worse outcome than losing some money.

I believe however that the money is what matters to Powercats and that it is that which will concentrate their minds into sorting this out.

If we were given our money back and yet had no reassurance that things had improved in their production system - I would be very very unhappy.

If when we had reported these serious problems to them they had acted what we perceived to be an appropriate manner suggesting they understood the seriousness of the situation, and if they had given us the evidence it was a one- off and would never happen again.

If I was sure their production controls system was a safe and secure one.

Then this thread would not be here.

Believe it or not - your choice.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My two main aims in this are...

[/ QUOTE ]If what you and the surveyor are saying is correct, 'course aim #2 if 100% legitimate.
On the other hand, frankly aim #1 just doesn't sound honest.
You're pursuing your own interests, your counterpart does the same with his ones, it's as simple as that really.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't see why aim 1 wouldn't sound honest?



[/ QUOTE ]

I think he meant by 'counterpart' anyone else who had a problem and was pursuing Powercats.

Whilst I have full sympathy for your plight and I sincerely hope you resolve the issues - hopefully a refund - you undermine your case by declaring that you have taken up a campaigning role to police Powercats product safety and to 'protect the public'. Whilst getting a refund for yourself, even as a class action, is perfectly legitimate, taking on a consumer champion role to question the safety of Powercat's products could be perceived as a malicious revenge tactic.

Concentrate on your reparations and leave the consumer campaigns until after you have won.
 
What is wrong with the UK today?

Traders can sell dangerous and misleading products and endanger the public.

But if anyone shows any concern about anyone but themselves - it can be 'percieved as malicious revenge'!!!!!

I am so sick and tired of all this.

Literally.

We moved to Greece to give our son and ourselves a relaxed, stress free lifestyle.

My family has various health issues and I am the one 'healthy' individual who has to care and cope.

The boat was suppose to be our one treat to allow us to unwind and enjoy oursleves. It was our last purchase from a UK company and was a final show of faith in the UK.

We hoped it would be a point of interest for our Greek friends. Something to be proud about.

In the first 6 months since we moved here I have had no illnesses at all. Then we got the boat.

I had cuts and bruises then the stress of this all began to tell, and I have had colds and various infections due to being 'under the weather'.

I am sick of being treated as some sort of weirdo simply because I have the audacity to be concerned about others as well as myself.

I hardly think a personal blog, and a few posts on a couple of forums counts as being a consumer champion in any case!!!

I am no champion. I am a sick tired fed up house wife with a disabled son and husband - no doubt people will believe that is a lie too unless I post up their medical records!!!

Our surveyors report stands. The defects are facts. Once trading standards have sent their reps there will be their report as well.

I wanted to warn other people because if someone had warned us, it would have saved us from danger and all this upset.

I am so sorry that more people don't see this as a perfectly valid stand point.

It just confirms that moving from the UK was the best thing we ever did.

I have friends staying fro the week arriving today.

So I will not be online very much as I have better things to do with my life.

This is no campaign - if I campaigned you would know about it in no uncertain terms.
 
Well, I tried to be sympathetic to your plight and try and point out what I saw as a flaw in your strategy, so I will wish you the best of luck and bow out of the debate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top