The bad and the good

[billmacfarlane]

THE BAD: A company called Marine Force. You'll see it advertising in all the yottimags. It's a company that has risen phoenix-like from the ashes of various chandlers that went bust this year. A new and better service ? In your dreams. My order included a liferaft and 3 new wide C map charts. I ordered the 4 weeks ago. I phoned after a week to be told that they couldn't get me a liferaft as the manufacturers had none in stock and couldn't give a date for supplying one. They are still advertising the liferaft in this month's yottipress . I went to my local chandlers and bought an identical one straight off the shelf. It cost me a little more but at least I got one. I phoned today to check on my C map charts. They said they are unable to get them at present as they do not not have an 8 MB ( 8 megabyte ) cartridge to download them i.e 3 weeks after the order was placed they can't be bothered to source one. I told them as politely as possible to get lost.
THE GOOD : A hour after my advising Marine Force to go take a long walk from a short pier I phoned a company called HME who trade from Mercury Marina on the Hamble. I told them I wanted 3 of the new 8 MB C map charts. No problem I was told. They'll be ready tomorrow - come and pick them up. Incidentally , I was told that there are now Super Wide Charts and 2 of those that I wanted are now on one cartridge at a saving of £150. That's what I call service.
What really gets me is Marine Force didn't seem to care that it was losing my order. Why ? Guess who won't be using them again ?

 

[david_e]

It sounds rather ominous to me, like the company can't get supplied, probably because of non payment or past history. Shame that traditional chandler has to suffer because of companies like this; I know it's a free market and competition is encouraged but the problem lies primarily with the wholesalers/distributors/manufacturers who supply the very same people who stung them the year before. In a relatively small market place like chandlery this can have damaging effects overall.

The advice to buyers is do what you eventually did and go to an established specialist. They might not have all the stock but they got it for you, the mail order bods appear to have everything, but in reality could just be ordering from sales made and operating from their lounge or a virtual office.

Thanks for the warning.

 

[vyv_cox]

I think that Marine Force is Cruisermart renamed, they use the same telephone numbers. Cruisermart went bust for a variety of reasons: very low profit margins on high cost equipment, especially electronics; cash flow problems perhaps related to their purchase of so many other companies, and difficulty of obtaining high quality staff. A great pity because the original company was not at all bad.

I agree with you, nowadays I try to buy from a company that will give me the goods to take away. It may be more expensive but I know I have them. Many small chandlers are open to negotiation on the cost of expensive equipment.

 

[AndrewB]

Bizarre retailing.

The small local chandlers that I have dealt with for years can't afford to carry too much stock, and is struggling with the difficulty of fulfilling orders, given the turmoil among supplies.

Recently this lead to a bizarre situation. I wanted some power switches (value about £100) fairly quickly. The chandler located the supplier, put them on order, expected in 3-4 days. When I returned, they showed me a note from the supplier, saying these were on 28 days delivery. "Ah," said my chandler, "I know you want them quick, and I've contacted the manufacturor who can supply them by return of post. But we aren't allowed to do that. So here's their phone number, let me know and I'll knock the price of the p&p off your next order with us".

What IS going on?

 

[Paulka]

Another horror story!

I needed some replacement parts for my Goïot main sheet track. Thus I went to my friendly chandler, and asked if he could provide me what I needed.

The name of Goïot seemed to provoque an allergic reaction, which I first didn't understand.
He then took the phone (in my presence, and with the speaker on) and called the exclusive Goïot agent in Barcelona. Believe it or not, the answer was :"We have no time right now, call later!" No, no, not :" .... please, call later!"

On the fourth call, Blanc & Boats from Barcelona, finally found the time to tell us the requested spares were not on stock, and the delivery time would be minimum 3 to 4 weeks, which in Spain easily means 2 to 3 months! .... or even more!

I then tried some more local chandlers, which all had similar nervous smiles when they heard the name of Goïot!

As I am a tightarse, and as I love my main sheet track, I then called Goïot in France, and explained the situation. I was then told that the parts I needed were on stock, and could be despatched rapidly, provided I send them a written order, what I immediately did, by fax.

Some days later, having got no reaction to my order, I called them anew, asking if the parts had already been sent. The answwer was: "You MUST go through Blanc & Boats In Barcelona, Goïot do NOT deal with private clients.".

Just to be sure, I asked in written my order to be confirmed. This was ignored!

My friendly chandler tryed to get at least some reaction from Blanc & Boats, without any success.

As a result I am now confronted with the necessity of replacing my main sheet track. At the moment, I lean toward an Harken one.

Any experience with Harken - bad or good ones?

I really think we need some sort of "Hall of Shame" either on this site, or on any other.
What do you think Kim? ;-)

Paul

 

[JeremyF]

Re: Another horror story!

There used to be a site that covered marine trading horror stories. The URL got posted here once, but I've lost it. Does anyone know if its still around?

I suspect that IPC would be concerned about hosting a Good, Bad, Ugly section to the forum, as they could find themselves in hot water if an aggreived supplier decided to have a pop. However, if there were enough disclaimers, dissasociating IPC with the content, it should be safe . What do you think, Kim? It works for eopinions.com for the litigious US audience.

Would be good to be able to applaud good service, as well as flag concerns.

Jeremy Flynn

 

[bedouin]

Re: Another horror story!

There's a very nice man somewhere on the South Coast who specialises in Goiot - I think his address is on the Goiot website

 

[Oldhand]

Re: Another horror story!

Harken Mainsheet tracks are great - change immediately as there customer support is second to none.

 

[Guest]

Re: Another horror story!

Recent experience shows excellent service from Marine Electronic Services (MES), Windward Marine and Jimmy Green Marine. The local chandler at Clyde Marina is also excelent.

*VERY* poor service from Compass 24, wouldn't touch them again.

Regards,

Peter
http://www.mistressofmourne.com

 

[JeremyF]

Re: Another horror story!

Ive had good service from Compass the 3 or 4 times Ive ordered from them. Just need to watch their pricing; sometimes its great, other times they are out by a factor of magnitude. e.g. JRC 1500 radar asking £1300 when the going rate is £860.

Jeremy Flynn

 

[kimhollamby]

Re: Another horror story!

The site that was going to name and shame didn't get off the ground. It was also on very dodgy ground.

Disclaimers don't help us and as everyone here knows we don't full personal details for users so deflecting any attempted action off would never work and in any event would be a weak response. Ironically if there was so much as a comma in the wrong place in a post, a 'shamed' company against which there was a genuine complaint might wind up making quite a lot of money out of a claim, which would be a bit silly.

I've sat in the middle of enough disputes to know there is always two sides to every story. Sometimes people get horribly screwed; occasionally there are those that set off on a vendetta about a company that may be partly caused by things that are their own fault.

In my own experience of buying things (not just marine, anything) a hall of shame would eventually name every trader, such is the way cock-ups can occur. Admittedly it might also, through volume, highlight the better and the worst examples - and importantly the companies that have great after-sales support. But I'm afraid it would attract the nutters as well as the genuine complaints and could turn out to be quite misleading.

I think what happens here is closer to being more useful from all parties' points of view. Criticisms tend to be balanced more often than not and there is an open opportunity for people to provide counter-comment and other experiences if they are applicable.

That requirement for 'balance' is vital, both in dealings with companies and on anything reported in magazines; 'hall of shame' smacks of tabloid sensation and we know where that tends to lead more often than not.

kim_hollamby@ipcmedia.com