Seateach Chandlery - Your thoughts please!

robmcg

robmcg

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In the spirit of bringing to peoples attention poor service, after a distasteful conversation with a rather obnoxious man at Seateach today, I was wondering what other peoples experience was of them. I only rang to cancel an order I had placed the day before due to circumstances beyond my control. Their customer services comprised of not listening, being hostile and eventually putting down the phone on me while I was still trying to speak. I find it a very strange way to conduct business and was wondering what other peoples opinions were. I thought I was doing them a favour by cancelling the order before it was dispatched to me - obviously not. Oh yes and he wanted to keep 20% of the order value back for cancelling as well. It's not like he had to restock the item - it hadn't been packaged or dispatched yet. I suppose I'm just a bit..........mystified really /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I have only been to the new shop a couple of times although i went to the old one many times. No complaints but i got the feeling that staff in the new shop were less friendly.

The terms and conditions which you can find on a link to from the homepage says this about returns.

<span style="color:red"> If you have changed your mind:</span>

If You have simply changed your mind about your order and You wish to return your goods, then in line with the Distance Selling Directive (DSD) You can do so provided You inform us of this decision within 7 days from receipt. The goods must not be opened nor used and must be ‘as new’ when returned to Us. Once you’ve informed Us of your decision to return goods under DSD, You have 28 days to do so at your own expense. Once goods are received at Sea Teach, We’ll issue a full refund for the cost of the goods to your original payment method. Please note this policy does have some limitations and does not apply to business customers

Your treatment does not seem comparable with a full refund if you just sent it back
 
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. I suppose I'm just a bit..........mystified really /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]... so am I. I use them regularly, and never had anything but 100% good service from them. But then I never had to return anything.
 
I have only used them once a couple of wks ago and was very impressed how quick the order arrived.
Phoned the order about 10am for Plastimo r/r spares, and had them by lunch time next day, to Glasgow.
Must say the guy I spoke to on the phone was very helpful.
It is possible they had your order packaged ready for posting, meaning they would have to undo it again, assuming it was a postal order.
 
Order was not even at their premises. It was an item of clothing and first they said it had been dispatched. When pressed he admitted it hadn't been dispatched because they didn't carry the stock - however they had tried to order it from a supplier. When I pointed out that I had no way of knowing if the stuff they adverise in their online shop is in stock with them or has to be ordered from their supplier I was told never to order from them again and the phone went down. Still don't know if I'm going to get a refund. Besides they had more than enough time to cancel the order with their supplier as it hadn't been dispatched from there either.
 
I've had mixed experience there ... When it first opened it was run by 3 blokes ... 2 were very pleasant and helpful and the 3rd was a grumpy old git ... with him you felt like you were disturbing him and answering a simple question required a massive effort and counted against you. That said - it was just a feeling and I never had a problem purchasing there - in fact they even gave me discount (long before they moved) just because I was young and went in there to buy little bits'n'bobs ... even got my first (and only) Mirror spinnaker from there - £15 !!

Probably worth a call back and hopefully you'll get someone different to ask about your refund.
 
I think you probably need to speak to whoever runs the whole show, or send them a letter or email. quote the terms relating to returning goods... i.e. if you had received them, your only cost would be return postage and they would refund the cost of the goods. As they havent been dispatched, there is no postage to be paid either way, so you should be refunded the full payment made.
 
Sounds like you might not get your money back that easily. Strongly suggest a formal letter complaining about the treatment (do you know the name of the sales person?) that your cancelation was within their published terms and that you expect a refund of £xx, whatever it is, within 7 days. Write to the MD by name. They have to read your letter as a potential small court claim, so it has to be detailed and free from acrimony.

Your money may have already been refunded, but the MD should know how his staff behave, at the very least!

Civility costs nothing!

PWG
 
All seems such a shame really as I was literally about a week away from ordering rigging, a mainsail and a few other bits from them - over a grands worth. Needless to say I will take my business elsewhere. By the way Peter - my mantra in life is that manners cost nothing so couldn't agree more!
 
Thanks for bringing it to our attention. It would be nice now if their MD would register as a member here and tell us what he is going to do to make sure that this behaviour doesn't happen again.

Well done for posting here....that'll SeaTeach 'em! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
My wife has just reminded me that when we visited their shop in early February 2005 they were so rude that we complained and walked out of their shop - nobody tried to placate us or find out what the problem was.
 
I live in Emsworth & will usually go to the Harbour Chandlery. Seateach is the place to go if Harbour don't have what I want & I need it in a hurry. Harbour are most helpful and have on a number of occasions lent me their chromate paste tube rather than sell me a tube. Or, they wouldn't accept a credit card for something small so I just took the goods and payed next time. Not sure they'd do this if they didn't know my face though.

I once took a safety line to Seateach have a new end crimped on. They refused saying I needed to have a whole new line made up. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the original other than the fact that for some reason, the previous owner had a temporary end made by makeing a loop in the wire. A visit to the local rigger had a new end crimped on immediately with my 5 yeard old heaving on the press.

Interesting how just one person with a bad experience posting here can have such a bad effect on a trader. Almost 300 people aware of a small number of problems & at least £1k lost. Power to the people. Let's not abuse it though everyone makes mistakes.
 
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I once took a safety line to Seateach have a new end crimped on. They refused saying I needed to have a whole new line made up. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the original other than the fact that for some reason, the previous owner had a temporary end made by makeing a loop in the wire.

[/ QUOTE ] I dont think thats unreasonable. If I were in that business I most certainly would not have wanted to repair an old, possibly damaged and already botched bit of safety gear! Lawyers and insurers would make mincemeat (and lots of money!) out of a claim if it failed later!
 
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then in line with the Distance Selling Directive (DSD) You can do so provided You inform us of this decision within 7 days from receipt

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THe DSD allow a customer to cancel an order and receive a full refund at any time, and without reason, before the goods are delivered. The additional 7 day period is, although contractual, goodwill on behalf of Seateach. Even if the goods have been dispatched at the time of cancellation, it is the vendor's responsibility to arrange return. You have no obligation to even post them if the vendor offers to pay. If you paid by credit or debit card your card provider will suspend payment if you complain. There should be no problem getting a refund.
 
Had mixed experiences with them.

Great service in the past as per Clyde-Wanderer for R/R spares. However, recently contacted them about a windlass advertised in PBO to be told that the price in the current edition magazine was no longer applicable due to:

1. long lead time between placing advert and appearance in magazine
2. increase in price of stainless steel
3. labour problems in Italy

"Special" price quoted on the day was about £100 more than advert price - when I declined to buy the reception was frosty.
 
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Interesting how just one person with a bad experience posting here can have such a bad effect on a trader. Almost 300 people aware of a small number of problems & at least £1k lost. Power to the people. Let's not abuse it though everyone makes mistakes.

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Wouldn't it be neat if we could come up with a rating for suppliers a bit like ebay? With comments from satisfied and not so staisfied customers. I bet ybw would be very nervous about it though!
 
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. I suppose I'm just a bit..........mystified really /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]... so am I. I use them regularly, and never had anything but 100% good service from them. But then I never had to return anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

Same. I've used them over mailorder & visitied in person last summer. FOund them a great help.
 
My experience with SeaTeach - much the same as Fireball. Grumpy old git put me off them!

As to coming up with a rating for suppliers - it would be wide open to abuse, the same sort of problems eBay has/had, the vendor themselves signing up millions of times and posting 'great company' feedback.
 
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I once took a safety line to Seateach have a new end crimped on. They refused saying I needed to have a whole new line made up. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the original other than the fact that for some reason, the previous owner had a temporary end made by makeing a loop in the wire.

[/ QUOTE ] I dont think thats unreasonable. If I were in that business I most certainly would not have wanted to repair an old, possibly damaged and already botched bit of safety gear! Lawyers and insurers would make mincemeat (and lots of money!) out of a claim if it failed later!

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Absolutely. But if that is the reason common sense suggests that it is put forward to the potential customer as to why their request has been refused. No scope for misunderstanding and doesn't leave a customer feeling p155ed off.

In my experience however, such poor customer service and bad attitude is generally an indication of more significant underlying problems with the business. Attempts to claim a proportion of an order value as a cancellation fee (in breach of their own T&Cs may suggest a degree of financial stress within the business.
 
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