Webasto and Eber have been ripping us off for years

Eber fined after being grassed up by Webasto, who received full immunity despite being as guilty as eber. Oh dear.
 
I have owned a webasto before but now an Eber in my current boat, i have always looked at the hardware and could not just understand why my D4 should cost the equivalent of about 1800 pounds here in denmark for a full setup. This point became even obvious after i purchased a chinese copy of my eberspacher for my shed for 148 pounds! . That is a fraction of the other price. Now , i can see for myself that the electronics and wiring are not as robust as the eber but despite this, it has still been working fine, running almost everyday for the past month.
Which makes me to ponder that the original eber must be making one hell of a markup on their sales price. Just thinking aloud.
 
I think we have to cut eber a little bit of slack on their prices. They do have their R&D costs to recoup plus additional costs to ensure compliance with (probably ever changing) first world regulations.

The Chinese just cut and paste with little or no thought to regulations. Not saying that accounts for the whole difference, but it is worth bearing in mind.
 
Form an orderly queue at the small claims court...

"Any person or firm affected by anti-competitive behaviour as described in this case may bring the matter before the courts of the Member States and seek damages"
 
I note that the date of the case was July 2015. So nearly three years later the bar-stewards are still at it!

I have an Eber in my boat that is possibly never going to work again, so I had been looking at Planar and other makes but thinking that maybe it was them that were doing the ripping off. Now I will feel no guilt in buying a Planar.
 
Poey50 said:
Personally, I'm allowing myself a bit of smugness at having bought a Planar.
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Personally allowing myself a ton of smugness having bought a chinesium copy, fwiw that ruling maybe 3 years ago but it confirms my already dim view of the anything to do with the marine industry an industry increasingly characterised by arrogance and complacency in my experience.....F 'EM.
 
guardian said:
Personally allowing myself a ton of smugness having bought a chinesium copy, fwiw that ruling maybe 3 years ago but it confirms my already dim view of the anything to do with the marine industry an industry increasingly characterised by arrogance and complacency in my experience.....F 'EM.
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In fairness, the EU ruling primarily concerned the automotive industry, not the marine industry. I'd imagine the marine content of diesel heater sales is rather small.
 
pvb said:
In fairness, the EU ruling primarily concerned the automotive industry, not the marine industry. I'd imagine the marine content of diesel heater sales is rather small.
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The only variant component for a marine unit is the special skin fitting for the exhaust pipe. When I replaced a knackered 4 kW on my last boat with a new D4 I bought it from a truck dealer, and I had to buy no special 'Marine' parts, just make sure I specified 12v as 24v is more common for truck applications.

That I recall was £1,400 in ~2013, so I wonder if I have a claim, although I doubt I still have the receipt as that would likely have gone with the boat.

I expect both these firms will get there due comeuppance as these Chinese copy heaters increase their reliability, and become properly CE marked and then become marketed and sold by reputable UK / EU firms. The Planar Russian heaters had the same 'reputational' issues the Chinese ones have now just a year or so ago, but their reputation has transformed since one or two firms have offered proper support.

I've missed this Winter for one for my boat, but I expect by the end of this season the better / more reliable sellers will be well established and the current tales of shortages and damage will subside.
 
superheat6k said:
The only variant component for a marine unit is the special skin fitting for the exhaust pipe. When I replaced a knackered 4 kW on my last boat with a new D4 I bought it from a truck dealer, and I had to buy no special 'Marine' parts, just make sure I specified 12v as 24v is more common for truck applications.

That I recall was £1,400 in ~2013, so I wonder if I have a claim, although I doubt I still have the receipt as that would likely have gone with the boat.

I expect both these firms will get there due comeuppance as these Chinese copy heaters increase their reliability, and become properly CE marked and then become marketed and sold by reputable UK / EU firms. The Planar Russian heaters had the same 'reputational' issues the Chinese ones have now just a year or so ago, but their reputation has transformed since one or two firms have offered proper support.

I've missed this Winter for one for my boat, but I expect by the end of this season the better / more reliable sellers will be well established and the current tales of shortages and damage will subside.
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Indeed, serve them blinkin well right! IMHO arrogant, typical of their breed, a good bit of world market forces to shake em up especially when we leave the whole stinking corrupt mess we call the EU!
 
skipper_stu said:
Indeed, serve them blinkin well right! IMHO arrogant, typical of their breed, a good bit of world market forces to shake em up especially when we leave the whole stinking corrupt mess we call the EU!
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Can you please explain why this remark isn't simply racism?
 
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