york marina

[swifty]

I would also like to highlight Volvopaul's contribution to this forum. I have never met him personnally, but this has never stoped him from promply replying to the personal e-mails I have sent him with queries concerning my Volvopenta engine.

His contribution to this Forum is exceptional and the fact that he is willing to share his well founded knowledge is a credit to him.

Richard, everybody is entitled to their opinion, but in this case you are wrong.

 

[martynwhiteley]

I'm gobsmacked by Richard's responses on this thread. Maybe when he reads them again after a few sleeps he'll regret them.

I was having trouble deciding between York Marina and Burton Waters this year. I chose Burton as York did seem over priced. Thought about moving there next year though, but never will do now!

 

[volvopaul]

Thanks guys for your support comments, I have worked in this industry a long time, comments don't bother me I'm thefirst to admit if I'm wrong. I have sent an email to Richard at York as I don't think he knew me as volvopaul. As he has used my services in the past. I think he has dug a deep enough hole now to say he is relatively new to the marine industry( his father owned a builders merchants prior to buying y m ) so let's leave any more comments in our heads for now, unless of course anything else needs defence.

 

[Richard@YM]

Firstly i would like to apologise, i did respond in the heat of the moment which was a mistake. I hold my hands up.

I would like to point out though that if you re-read the comments on page 1 everyone is quick to jump on the bandwagon and criticise us which i think is unfair.

As a business you have no control over what people are saying on forums. A lot of these comments are potentially damaging and unfairly so. If we have made a a geniune mistake or someone has recieved a bad service we should have the right to reply and defend ourselves. We took a week to respond to a mooring application in a very busy period for which i have apologised.

Me and my team work very hard. I find it incredibly frustrating that the small percentage of the time we are not on top form people are quick to criticise and complain in public.

 

[Croc]

Welcome to the real world...people like to moan and boaty people seem to enjoy it more than most.
Having said that I have been in and around the marine trade for over 40 years and it is bloody inefficient.For some that is part of its charm the rather 19th century attitudes and there is real time and boatyard or boatbuilder time . Have you ever heard of a boat being delivered ahead of schedule?
To achieve any regular progress there has to be a programme of regular chivying along...do it regularly and you soon get the reputation of being a pain in the arse and they will do your job to get rid of you. That is half the battle. The other half is to pay up on time if not instantly because it has to be said in the marine trade not only are the yards dilatory so are their customers. Once you have gained your PIA status and coupled it with a prompt payment history you start to win the battle.
A few years ago I was parachuted in as commodore of a prestigeous yacht club. I could not believe it but on the morning following my election I had two phone calls and three e-mails of complaints. I followed every one up instantly... much to the complainers surprise. Sometimes I apologised,sometimes I defended other times I was was downright snappy....but very quickly the complaints disappeared. Dealing with the valid ones was normally quite simple and often just a matter of courtesy but slowness of reply or the ignoring of the complaint only builds up resentment and future problems.

 

[tinkicker0]

Firstly i would like to apologise, i did respond in the heat of the moment which was a mistake. I hold my hands up.

I would like to point out though that if you re-read the comments on page 1 everyone is quick to jump on the bandwagon and criticise us which i think is unfair.

As a business you have no control over what people are saying on forums. A lot of these comments are potentially damaging and unfairly so. If we have made a a geniune mistake or someone has recieved a bad service we should have the right to reply and defend ourselves. We took a week to respond to a mooring application in a very busy period for which i have apologised.

Me and my team work very hard. I find it incredibly frustrating that the small percentage of the time we are not on top form people are quick to criticise and complain in public.

1. It is a truism in business that if you do well for a customer he will tell 2 of his mates, if you screw up, he will tell 10. That's the way of the world.


2. No one will take great notice of comments on a forum as they are peculiarly skewed to the writer's mindset at the time.

3. No will ever take any notice of me anyway which is just fine and I advise them not to in my bio.

4. Everybody works very hard and encounters the same problems as you mentioned, you are not alone in this. I and my team work between 50 and 60 hours a week, starting at 05:30 every morning to turn engines round in record time for our customers.
We have got lead times down from 7 days to 4 days and we are all completely knackered. The customer still moans that we "took our time". Perception is king, his bus is off the road losing money and I can understand his sentiment even if the perception is actually wrong.

To put the record straight from an actual berthholder (along with racingfrank) and in response to some of the other posts:

I have a small 20 footer and never had a problem getting a berth so they don't discriminate against small boats. They do however want a pic of the boat before you take it there. Judging by some of the boats moored on the side of the river that barely stay afloat, I can respect this stance.

York marina is an extremely beautiful place and it is obvious that a great deal of money and hard work is expended in keeping it that way, right down to the tubs of bedding plants placed absolutely everywhere and the Xmas decorations at chrimbo.

The management are investing a great deal of money in upgrading all the facilities, the new toilet and shower block is top notch and puts my own bathroom at home to shame.

When first looking for a berth I enquired at York as well as another boatyard nearer to my home. The boatyard (cinder plot with a few portable buildings adjacent to a canal) wanted exactly the same mooring fee as York did even though the boat would not be on a berth but had to be kept in the yard on a trailer.

The site is very secure and I note the problematic electric swing gate has now gone and been replaced by an electrically operated sliding gate. This should stop the pikeys in the caravans from walking up and down the berths and spoiling one's champaign and caviar lunch; or pork pie and vimto in my case

The downside that the management is responsible for from my perception; is poor communications as stated previously.

It took 8 weeks to get my boat lifted and chocked ashore the first season and since it is raw water cooled, entailed a visit every night that frost was forecast to drain the block in case the boat had been taken out.

Despite constant assurances it was "coming out sometime during the week" it transpires that because when the girl asked the date I wanted it lifted, I answered "as soon as possible", so she put ASAP on the form in the date box.
When my form came to the top of the pile it was apparently put to the bottom again.

2nd year it took around 3 weeks due to some circumstance or other and despite requesting a phone call to confirm she was out and I could call in to drain the block and manifolds, no phone call, so she was sat on the hard all week in late autumn with river water in her innards.

3rd year, about a fortnight due to some circumstance or other although this time I got the requested text informing me of the fact.

Now I take her out and tow her home during the winter, easier on the nerves.


The only real downside other than comms that I have with york is the fact that the river up lock has a 6 knot limit so I can't open her up a bit and I don't fancy taking her down lock and having liquid mud circulate round my cooling passages. However I cannot hold the management responsible for that.

Oh and the marina is getting awful shallow in places. Already had to be moved once because my prop was stirring silt off the bottom and circulating it round the engine leading to a stuck open thermostat. Depth alarm goes off constantly. My boat is small but does have a 1 metre draught to the skeg, so maybe the Viking type river boats don't have this problem.

 

[mateyboy]

FWIW, I was recently talking to Phil Robinson at YM and he was really helpful and despite asking him if I could just browse he was more than accommodating; advice on mooring, the river & other general stuff. I would defo consider mooring there despite Goole being half hour for me from Wickersley.