Check Your Own Bed Linen - Really?

[ranworthbreeze]

On one of our Narrow Boat hires (6 of us) the towels supplied were clean but were were grey in colour not the white they should have been and had not been washed in fabric conditioner. 

We located a near supermarket and bought new towels and stowed the boatyard's towels.

 

 

[Heron]

Towels should not be washed using fabric conditioner as it affects their absorbency.

[Oddfellow]

4 hours ago, NotDeadYet said:

Perhaps I'm unusual - I read everything!  Even though odd bits of info are found here and there, not in one place. If it is so important to warn me about bedding, it perhaps should be stapled to my sign off sheet and pointed out to me.  At the end of the day this little strip of paper is simply the yard covering its you-know-what in case there is a cockup, never mind who is at fault.  Further to the fault aspect, I'm sure the boat hire business is not easy, and some clients are probably irritating in various ways.  However, it is a hospitality business and it is by no means the only business having to deal with issues - it's managements job to identify the issues and develop ways of dealing with them without defaulting to 'blame the client' mode.  Sorry, but that's not good enough.

Blame isn't the issue. It's getting it right so that the customer isn't inconvenienced and the yard incurs no further cost. If everybody does their job, there should be no mistakes. I would never have written that we wouldn't rectify errors; that's wrong. But there will be instances of wild mooring and so on that make instant rectification a challenge. 

The ONLY two times I think we got bedding issues was once at Horning when the whole mattress had been removed for airing and forgotten. It was a fold-down bed, so it being missing was unseen and ity was a returning customer, so they knew how the bed worked and wasn't shown on the handover. The other time was in February a couple of years ago: we went to Surlingham Ferry for the night and totally forgot our own bedding for the boat. That was bloody cold......

 

[Keebz]

I think a lot of yards do lack in personal customer care though, I’ve hired countless boats over the years from many yards but mostly from summercraft and no one came remotely close to sue and Brian and they gave the same if you was a returning customer or new, silverline was very close I must say, however most just tell you off before you even open your mouth 🤣

[Mouldy]

33 minutes ago, Keebz said:

. . . . .  but mostly from summercraft and no one came remotely close to sue and Brian and they gave the same if you was a returning customer or new . . . . . .

Eight of our last times hiring were with Summercraft and I have to agree.  The only other yard that came close (that we hired from) was Gale Cruisers at Chedgrave.  Sadly, that level of customer care isn’t found very often in life today.

[andyg]

13 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Eight of our last times hiring were with Summercraft and I have to agree.  The only other yard that came close (that we hired from) was Gale Cruisers at Chedgrave.  Sadly, that level of customer care isn’t found very often in life today.

Totally agree about summercraft, absolutely 1st class. Royalls were a pretty good outfit as well. 

[Ray]

It can't be denied that across all sectors that level of customer care becomes more and more uncommon.

But it is isn't all the fault of service providers. I generalise because I have no experience at all of Hire boat work but before I retired I did have several roles involving face to face contact with customers in various industries.

Many of you will have similar experiences but for those of you who don't it is impossible to exaggerate the level of rudeness and entitlement you encounter from seemingly ordinary decent folk. Of course this doesn't describe everybody but it is widespread and utterly soul destroying for staff and businesses who go the extra mile and have it thrown in their faces.

This is a bit of a rant I know, but you really have to feel the hatred of people like this when they don't get their own way. In the end service providers burn out and go for a general 'take it or leave it' attitude sadly.

[Oddfellow]

One of the contributing factors to the closure of Freedom. Not to put too fine a point on it, Sick to the Back Teeth of nasty, entitled people. Never again will I work with the public. 

 

[Meantime]

Possibly one of the most disappointing things at the moment is the treatment of hospitality staff, and yet all it takes is some patience, planning, understanding and most of all empathy. I shall be on the boat from Saturday and have so far already booked tables for Sat, Sun and Tues evenings. Mon we are planning to be somewhere with a few choices and take our chances, but by and large once we know our plans for the rest of the week we shall be booking as soon as we can. Even though things are improving I'm not expecting to just turn up anywhere and get a table and expect to be fed. I know menus will be shorter than normal and wait times will vary. I've already modified my expectations accordingly. I'm a lot less likely to be disappointed and that way will enjoy my break. 

[Keebz]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

Eight of our last times hiring were with Summercraft and I have to agree.  The only other yard that came close (that we hired from) was Gale Cruisers at Chedgrave.  Sadly, that level of customer care isn’t found very often in life today.

Being in that yard on change over day you always see the level of attention that was put into there fleet, every boat returns to a roof to water line foam wash, windows leathered and polished normally whilst 2 cleaners had a hoover going and cleaning inside ive seen cleaners from other yards go on and be on board for less than 10 minutes, I was really saddened when sue said they was selling the fleet I’m glad they still have a couple but I’ll really miss the blue and yellow fleet, the hustle and bustle on a Saturday the immaculate yard (it still is even as a private mooring marina) I hope we see the return one day of this type of yard 🤞🏻

[Keebz]

On a lighter note re customer service! My late father told me once he was in the office at brooms (in the 60’s) when a customer having a boat built was pushing for the final build cost of his boat when as quick as a flash broom(Martin I think, I may be wrong there) said “if you need to ask that you can’t afford it!.” Now that’s customer service😂😂😂

[andyg]

A few years ago I popped into summercraft, I was on board a fairly recently refurbished bathtub from another yard. I moored next to summercrafts own version of the same boat. Well the difference in presentation was all to obvious to see. I remember talking to sue about it and she just laughed and shrugged her shoulders. I've seen the way they prep their fleet and like has been said the exterior gets the same treatment as the interior Royalls done the same with there boats as well. Sadly with summercraft towards the end I do feel the interiors of quite a few of the fleet looked very tired. I believe gala girl has been refurbished before she's was put back to work. But exactly how far they went with the refurb I don't know. Gardenia girl could do with some new wood in the saloon as it was water stained and new upholstery wouldn't of gone a miss to be honest. But I personally wouldn't hesitate to hire either. 

[wooster]

i don't usually respond to threads like this but I'm fascinated by some of the reactions and can't help it!

I consider myself to be a friendly, reasonable, and mild-mannered person. In 30 years of hiring and owning boats, I can’t recall having a serious run - in with any of the companies I’ve used. Any issues ( there have been a few ) were dealt with in a friendly and helpful manner.  Mistakes happen and are put right. It’s the way of most reasonable businesses and customers.

The capitals would be a non-issue for me. The terse, unfriendly message abrogating all responsibility for a company mistake would. It makes assumptions that the hirer is responsible for any error in bedding provision and this is surely not a valid starting point. 

I feel that the correct approach would be to deal with such issues on a case-by-case manner and where the fault lies in the numbers supplied by the hirer on the booking form then they shouldn’t  expect the boatyard to go out of their way to rectify these ( although IMO this would be good customer service ) If on the other hand the boatyard made a mistake then they should rectify it with no inconvenience to the customer. This is good business and decent human behaviour.  I manage a business dealing with "the public", and if we make a mistake the business goes out of its way to rectify this and includes  a little act of compensation. We rectify it promptly and effectively and I believe this is only right. 

Those individuals who cannot behave politely to companies should be treated with firm declination of indulgence and not be given repeat service. I also agree that if people don’t like dealing with "the public " they should most definitely not be in the hospitality industry. 

It’s just  not good enough to say “the public are badly behaved and so unworthy of respect “ and behave as if  everyone is in this bracket.

Clearly we all have different ideas here but for myself, companies making hostile assumptions like this one would not get my business. 

Really, the best thing to do is to leave a review and let potential customers decide for themselves.

 

PS I agree that the current standard of written English is appalling!

 

PPS I find people, on the whole, to be kind, generous and friendly

[floydraser]

Clearly the company in the op acknowledges that mistakes and cock ups happen. Instead of an abrupt statement, a gentle heads-up may represent a hint at better customer service. Having made this acknowledgement, they have no excuse not to be ready for last minutes changes which, if they want the customer to go away leaving a return booking and a good review, they should carry out with good humour.

[grendel]

I am due to pick up my new to me car tomorrow afternoon, around lunchtime I got a call from the garage, it was an apologetic pre warning that the car might not be quite ready, the fuel injector they were going to fit was ordered last friday, it still hasnt arrived - this is a part that is normally available next day, the garage owner called me as he had just got off the phone with his supplier, who had assured him it would arrive tomorrow, but because he hadnt been able to do the work yet and i was due to pick up tomorrow, he called me to warn me, he also promised as soon as he knew one way or another he would call me again tomorrow, Of course, I dont need to pick the car up tomorrow, it can wait if it has to, so I assured him of this fact, that I would rather have the car done and working properly beefore I pick it up, than otherwise and I was happy to wait should that be necessary,

Needless to say though I have never used the company before, I am inclined to use them in the future now, all through the way they have dealt with this issue.

[floydraser]

7 minutes ago, grendel said:

I am due to pick up my new to me car tomorrow afternoon, around lunchtime I got a call from the garage, it was an apologetic pre warning that the car might not be quite ready, the fuel injector they were going to fit was ordered last friday, it still hasnt arrived - this is a part that is normally available next day, the garage owner called me as he had just got off the phone with his supplier, who had assured him it would arrive tomorrow, but because he hadnt been able to do the work yet and i was due to pick up tomorrow, he called me to warn me, he also promised as soon as he knew one way or another he would call me again tomorrow, Of course, I dont need to pick the car up tomorrow, it can wait if it has to, so I assured him of this fact, that I would rather have the car done and working properly beefore I pick it up, than otherwise and I was happy to wait should that be necessary,

Needless to say though I have never used the company before, I am inclined to use them in the future now, all through the way they have dealt with this issue.

I get that completely. They can take their time and do a better job rather than rush it, and they in turn will be happy to deal with you again in the future.

[Happy]

23 hours ago, Oddfellow said:

One of the contributing factors to the closure of Freedom. Not to put too fine a point on it, Sick to the Back Teeth of nasty, entitled people. Never again will I work with the public. 

 

  I hope you did'nt consider me to be one of them?!

[Keebz]

9 hours ago, andyg said:

A few years ago I popped into summercraft, I was on board a fairly recently refurbished bathtub from another yard. I moored next to summercrafts own version of the same boat. Well the difference in presentation was all to obvious to see. I remember talking to sue about it and she just laughed and shrugged her shoulders. I've seen the way they prep their fleet and like has been said the exterior gets the same treatment as the interior Royalls done the same with there boats as well. Sadly with summercraft towards the end I do feel the interiors of quite a few of the fleet looked very tired. I believe gala girl has been refurbished before she's was put back to work. But exactly how far they went with the refurb I don't know. Gardenia girl could do with some new wood in the saloon as it was water stained and new upholstery wouldn't of gone a miss to be honest. But I personally wouldn't hesitate to hire either. 

I personally think standards slipped when sue and Brian separated Brian being the boat builder but sue worked just as hard I can remember when her dad had the garage where Norfolk marine are now she worked there and was cleaning at summercraft before Brian had financial interest in the yard very often she would be cleaning ovens down on the service key due to sloppy customers I do hope they have a long happy retirement once they do pack up completely 

[BrundallNavy]

One of the few times we have hired I noticed that 3 fender were deflated, I asked if they could replace them only to be told not to worry as we had lots more.  I did have to clean the hull on our first night as it was so dirty and marked I was embarrassed to drive it.

The inside was spotless it was a shame they didn’t pay the same level of attention to the outside. My very first job at the tender age of 13 was working at Southgate's yard in Horning and my job was to scrub the hulls and clean the windows, all the saucepans were changed and the ones removed placed in a large container to soak. Oh those were the days lol. 

[grendel]

17 hours ago, floydraser said:

I get that completely. They can take their time and do a better job rather than rush it, and they in turn will be happy to deal with you again in the future.

well the story gets better, this morning i recieved a call from the garage again, still no sign of the injector, so they did the cam belt, and in preparation tested all the injectors and found them all good, instead the issue is with the Turbo- a lot more expensive to fix, but still the garage owner insists that when a car leaves them that it is right, so they will be fixing that now, all in the original cost, its not going to be ready until next week sometime as he has staffing issues to to one mechanic being on holiday, and another having tested positive for covid so in self isolation, so I will be patiently awaiting news of when it is ready, and the response I have had from this garage so far has instilled a trust in me that they are doing things right. ok I may have to wait a little longer, but for the right result, I am prepared to do that.

[grendel]

for me good customer service comes to the fore when there is a problem, and its the way they deal with the problem that distinguishes good customer service form ok customer service.

[andyg]

Why did the cam belt need doing ?? This is something a dealer wouldn't normally get involved in with a car they are selling on. Quick turnaround etc etc, using the correct diagnostic system would of told them it was a turbo issue rather then a injector problem. To many red flags there for me, sorry I would walk away from the car. You believe a car dealer at your own peril. Been there done that...

[grendel]

the cam belt was done because I asked for it to be done, I asked when it was last done and it was just coming up to the 10 years when it would need to be done (10 years or 150,000 miles on that model), they found what they thought was the injectors was the turbo, because they tested it, the issue with volvos is that generic testers dont give the same detail as the volvo one does and volvo wont issue them to non volvo garages,

you are correct when you say most dealers would not get involved in these types of thing, the fact that this dealerwont let a car go out until its 100% in my eyes is a bonus, not a red flag, they could as easily have sold me the car and not mentioned any of the faults they have, but they didnt.

[floydraser]

I started a new contract with Virgin for broadband and two sim cards just over a month ago. All went well until they cocked up the use of a pac code to keep one of the numbers. In that short time I could write another book about how staggeringly awful, what they laughingly call "customer service" has turned out to be.

[Smoggy]

That sounds like an ok car dealer to me, problems do occur but it's how they are dealt with that makes the difference, I'd far prefer to hear the truth I don't to hear than the lies that I do want to hear if that makes sense.