Slagging off marine companies

uxb said:
And to praise good service?
....

But will praise the service from Ardverk, Bruntons, Kemp and Plastimo.
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I will nominate Sovereign Sailing in Kinsale - James being the most laid back broker I've met, and going out of his way in being helpful.

Eugene Tubridy, surveyor in Kinsale - so easy to deal with.

Scott Sandford at TS Marine - talks down to earth common sense about Beta engines, and very helpful in supplying it. Similarly Cliff Moggridge at Winchservicing; Rose and Chris at Darglow; I could go on.

I believe there are a lot more businesses providing good service than there are bad, but its a fact of life that negative customer perceptions are more openly stated than positive ones.
 
The companies who have been slagged off deserve it. Keep things in perspective, they really are a small minority out of many thousands of small great business.

My recent positive dealings with the trade have been with Crusader Sales - for new rigging and furling system - order for new main now placed. Arthurs Chandlers in Gosport, and Ocean Safety. All really great companies who will enjoy my continued custom :)
 
RichardShead said:
And as for those magazines ....

The British Marine Industry is one of the best in the world just look at every component on your boat, the clothes you wear and just about every other element to do with boating and it will be British. ..
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Would have been until the 1980's, but no longer! A Cradley chainmaker told me in 1990's that they could buy well made Chinese chain for less than the cost of the metal in the UK. So they went "factoring" from "boxes".
 
I found Sailspar extremely helpful, and always mention them when the question of masts etc comes up.

Emsworth Marina chandlery also do a very good job.

Westaway sails have always given me excellent service ( and sails ) though some people seem to say the opposite.

Marine Superstore at Port Solent gave me excellent service when a bit of electronics kit proved rubbish, refunding me without quibbling.

SAC graphics do a very good service, quickly.

Piplers of Poole gave me very good service - and prices - on lifejacket / harnesses.

Chris of CB Marine at Chichester Marina did some excellent stainless fabrication for me, at a very reasonable price.

There are more good guys, it's just a shame the impact the bad ones have !
 
Submariner! said:
The companies who have been slagged off deserve it. Keep things in perspective, they really are a small minority out of many thousands of small great business.
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Too right. Really, my point is that at this time of year sailors are ready to rip companies apart like in some gladiatorial arena without too much thought.

It's due to the dark and cold, the January blues, and the lack of sailing !
 
The old rule of customer service is that if you please a customer that might tell a couple of friends; upset a customer and they’ll tell twenty.

I can heartily recommend Sam Bingly, an independent at Swanwick who works his socks off for very reasonable rates. Specialities are paint / varnish / anti-foul and polishing etc.

Also, BDA Marine, also of Swanwick. Both Bob and Dave are very knowledgeable and skilled (ex Moody’s). Happy to let you work alongside and learn from them so that you do the manual / unskilled stuff and they get on (and only charge for) the skilled / difficult work.

No connection with either except that I am a happy customer.
 
RichardShead said:
And as for those magazines ....

The British Marine Industry is one of the best in the world just look at every component on your boat, the clothes you wear and just about every other element to do with boating and it will be British. ..
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Really ? What about all the undersized lightweight un-seaworthy equipment fitted on most AWB's ?

There are one or two companies/sole traders here in Gosport I could name as being rip-off conmen who's standards of workmanship & safety are totally unacceptable, but to do so has legal implications. One in particular, a marine electrical/electronics Co, I would not trust to change the batteries in my emergency nav lights. An examples of their recent work being the installation of a bank of batteries, solenoid, switches & associated wiring for a windless on a friends Moody. When he came to haul his anchor the windless motor would not switch off. There was no isolating switch installed. Imagine the implications. On inspection it turned out they had wired the solenoid such that once excited it held itself on. Clearly they had not even test it. On this occasion no one was hurt & there was only light damage. Could have been so much worse. Cost my friend 2 1/2K and another 2k to put their work right. (My friend is reluctant to pursue them through the courts because of his position. He is a BIG bloke and I understand matey is going to get a bonk on the nose next time he see's him :D )

As in any service type industry you have to sort the wheat from the chaff. Not always easy to do.
 
MoodyNick said:
I will nominate Sovereign Sailing in Kinsale - James being the most laid back broker I've met, and going out of his way in being helpful.

Eugene Tubridy, surveyor in Kinsale - so easy to deal with.

Scott Sandford at TS Marine - talks down to earth common sense about Beta engines, and very helpful in supplying it. Similarly Cliff Moggridge at Winchservicing; Rose and Chris at Darglow; I could go on.

I believe there are a lot more businesses providing good service than there are bad, but its a fact of life that negative customer perceptions are more openly stated than positive ones.
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+ Rose and Chris and Darglow
 
MoodyNick said:
Too right. Really, my point is that at this time of year sailors are ready to rip companies apart like in some gladiatorial arena without too much thought.

It's due to the dark and cold, the January blues, and the lack of sailing !
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It's really hard for customers to ignore shortcomings in the service they receive because it's a quiet season for the marine industry.

What is the expectation here?

Restaurants don't get forgiven for poor food on Mondays, because the first part of the week is often quieter.

With respect, any other industry takes customer complaints as a prompt to improve.

Seems like most of us have had many instances of good service from the marine leisure businesses. But there are certainly many operators who get by in this cottage industry by just moving on from one customer to the next, and delivering sub standard service or products.

In fact I would have thought that it was good for the industry if the poor quality operators are exposed.

I'm confused by this thread.

Garold
 
PhillM said:
Also, BDA Marine, also of Swanwick. Both Bob and Dave are very knowledgeable and skilled (ex Moody’s). Happy to let you work alongside and learn from them so that you do the manual / unskilled stuff and they get on (and only charge for) the skilled / difficult work.

No connection with either except that I am a happy customer.
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Me too, they have done great work on my yacht, including replacing the windows, we also have Jeff at Swanwick Marine Engineers who does great work
 
Sandyman said:
Really ? What about all the undersized lightweight un-seaworthy equipment fitted on most AWB's ?

There are one or two companies/sole traders here in Gosport I could name as being rip-off conmen who's standards of workmanship & safety are totally unacceptable, but to do so has legal implications. One in particular, a marine electrical/electronics Co, I would not trust to change the batteries in my emergency nav lights. An examples of their recent work being the installation of a bank of batteries, solenoid, switches & associated wiring for a windless on a friends Moody. When he came to haul his anchor the windless motor would not switch off. There was no isolating switch installed. Imagine the implications. On inspection it turned out they had wired the solenoid such that once excited it held itself on. Clearly they had not even test it. On this occasion no one was hurt & there was only light damage. Could have been so much worse. Cost my friend 2 1/2K and another 2k to put their work right. (My friend is reluctant to pursue them through the courts because of his position. He is a BIG bloke and I understand matey is going to get a bonk on the nose next time he see's him :D )

As in any service type industry you have to sort the wheat from the chaff. Not always easy to do.
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I know its shutting the stable door etc. but I dont think I would have written the cheque/ entered the pin.no without a full test of the work. Perhaps thats just cynical ol' me........
 
rotrax said:
I know its shutting the stable door etc. but I dont think I would have written the cheque/ entered the pin.no without a full test of the work. Perhaps thats just cynical ol' me........
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Wholeheartedly agree. The person who did the work is a Mr Flash, Mr Bling know it all gobs**te who gained my friends trust & confidence, so when he told him all was well he accepted it & payed up.

The person concerned has now been banned from doing work in this marina. He had a boat in this marina which he has now moved to Haslar marina. Staff there have now been informed of his standards of work in the hope & expectation that they will also ban him.
 
Sandyman said:
Really ? What about all the undersized lightweight un-seaworthy equipment fitted on most AWB's ?
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Which are adequate for the job they have to do and every purchaser has the option of upgrading during agreeing the purchase spec.

I get a bit fed up with owners of old boats that are far heavier than they need to be slagging of AWB's.

I have owned 3 AWB's that have been on the charter market for in total 14yrs so have done more miles in a variety of skippers hands including probably some less competent skippers. I have suffered no failures due to size and I did not upgrade anything except always went for the larger engine option. One did suffer minor damage in a knockdown in a F9 off Dieppe but I suspect the skipper had too much sail up. The boat got everyone to safety and was sailed back to the UK before undergoing repairs.

I suspect a number of sailors complaining about inadequacies of AWB's are talking out of their backsides while they repair their heavy old boats and while the owners of AWB's enjoy themselves sailing - not needing any repairs even though in your opinion the equipment is undersized. Why I even know of a person for was a very contented owner of a Twister that is now happy sailing a production boat!

I think you need to speak to people that really know about heavy usage like the charter boats in Greece, Croatia, Turkey and the Carribean that are ALL AWB's with (in your opinion) undersized un-seaworthy equipment and that successfully do millions of miles per year and get yourself educated.

I do accept that the AWB's are the equivalent of a Ford motor car and that there are lots of nicer more expensive cars and boats but can we stop being stupid and just accept that nowadays they all will get you from A to B and in the case of cars often more reliably than some more expensive models.
 
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Sailfree said:
Which are adequate for the job they have to do and every purchaser has the option of upgrading during agreeing the purchase spec.

I get a bit fed up with owners of old boats that are far heavier than they need to be slagging of AWB's.

I have owned 3 AWB's that have been on the charter market for in total 14yrs so have done more miles in a variety of skippers hands including probably some less competent skippers. I have suffered no failures due to size and I did not upgrade anything except always went for the larger engine option. One did suffer minor damage in a knockdown in a F9 off Dieppe but I suspect the skipper had too much sail up. The boat got everyone to safety and was sailed back to the UK before undergoing repairs.

I suspect a number of sailors complaining about inadequacies of AWB's are talking out of their backsides while they repair their heavy old boats and while the owners of AWB's enjoy themselves sailing - not needing any repairs even though in your opinion the equipment is undersized. Why I even know of a person for was a very contented owner of a Twister that is now happy sailing a production boat!

I think you need to speak to people that really know about heavy usage like the charter boats in Greece, Croatia, Turkey and the Carribean that are ALL AWB's with (in your opinion) undersized un-seaworthy equipment and that successfully do millions of miles per year and get yourself educated.

I do accept that the AWB's are the equivalent of a Ford motor car and that there are lots of nicer more expensive cars and boats but can we stop being stupid and just accept that nowadays they all will get you from A to B and in the case of cars often more reliably than some more expensive models.
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As someone who is agonising about a possible switch from an older Swedish boat to a new(er) French one, you've just made my day!

Mark
 
Sailfree said:
Which are adequate for the job they have to do and every purchaser has the option of upgrading during agreeing the purchase spec.

I get a bit fed up with owners of old boats that are far heavier than they need to be slagging of AWB's.

I have owned 3 AWB's that have been on the charter market for in total 14yrs so have done more miles in a variety of skippers hands including probably some less competent skippers. I have suffered no failures due to size and I did not upgrade anything except always went for the larger engine option. One did suffer minor damage in a knockdown in a F9 off Dieppe but I suspect the skipper had too much sail up. The boat got everyone to safety and was sailed back to the UK before undergoing repairs.

I suspect a number of sailors complaining about inadequacies of AWB's are talking out of their backsides while they repair their heavy old boats and while the owners of AWB's enjoy themselves sailing - not needing any repairs even though in your opinion the equipment is undersized. Why I even know of a person for was a very contented owner of a Twister that is now happy sailing a production boat!

I think you need to speak to people that really know about heavy usage like the charter boats in Greece, Croatia, Turkey and the Carribean that are ALL AWB's with (in your opinion) undersized un-seaworthy equipment and that successfully do millions of miles per year and get yourself educated.

I do accept that the AWB's are the equivalent of a Ford motor car and that there are lots of nicer more expensive cars and boats but can we stop being stupid and just accept that nowadays they all will get you from A to B and in the case of cars often more reliably than some more expensive models.
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Dear oh dear, did we have a bad day in the office ? :D

I can't be bothered to get into an argument with you. I know what I see on a regular basis.
 
MoodyNick said:
Its only 20th January and already this year there has been serious criticism of Hot Liquid, NBS/BMF, Reliance, noisy marinas, sailing schools, Finngulf/Aboard back in the frame, and the Rocna saga which has been running longer than Coronation Street.

OK, many companies have really screwed up to get themselves into desperate straights.

However, is it any surprise that the marine industry is struggling through a major recession when its customers are so negative in their outlook and push the boundaries with their comments ?

Maybe its just S.A.D.
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No, you do a **** job then you get criticism, there is a company here in NI, locally called Boatwreck. Just because that tends tobe what they do to your boat when they work on it.
 
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