POPPING MY BROADS CHERRY - WITH A DISASTEROUS CONCLUSION

[G&A]

David,

I am SO sorry to hear of your disgraceful treatment, horrendous experience, and fully appreciate your rawness. Thank God you are all physically OK, though fears take their own time to heal.

It has to be said, and no doubt I will stir up a hornets nest, but hey ho. We have met many a hirer who sadly report inadequate hand over. I think it is totally disgraceful that you 1 had to ask, and 2 were left feeling, by the sound of things, short changed, in terms of training. At very least, feeling apprehensive breeds fear, tension and then worry. How dare they leave a customer in that situation!

Where is the rally to get whatever company involved to pull their socks up, give their customers what they deserve, or take their shoddy service to somewhere people are not going to be endangered by their neglect!!

AND, following their customers worst nightmare......."what did you hit" beggars belief!! Hells Bells!!

Sadly, it has previously seemed that whenever the subject of shoddy hand over was broached, the poster was berated. One customer left in this predicament is too many. Yes I'm sure there are some who take pride in customer service, but we have experienced tales from many who have experienced inadequate tuition. Are there no regulations?

David I am so sorry you and your family have suffered such an horrendous experience, but I would say one thing-do come back and have another go, use your experience to leave the company you may choose in no doubt that you want quality service, tuition to your satisfaction, and a complete assurance that should you encounter a problem, there is a number where help can be reached 24/7. Put your requirements in writing.

And before anyone jumps on me, no it won't stop idiots, hirers or owners, accidents happen, we all misjudge things now and then, but this is in a class of its own-but sadly not entirely unheard of!

Best wishes to you and your family David

[davidkeir]

Fellow forumites, as i said to moderater during a private message. It would not be fair to mention the culprits untill myself and the other party have resolved our differences.

I will however update all members on my outcome, and if any lessons have been learnt or not.

If however things continue to be strained and unprofessional i think it would only be right to name and shame, i wouldn't want anyone to go through the same experience as me.

I would like to offer my thanks for everyones kind words and advice. and hopefully we can move forward from this and maybe holiday aboard a boat in the future.

But next year i think we may holiday in a far flung land, any body have any suggestions? (not my idea, but sometimes we have to do what the better half orders)

[Antares_9]

But next year i think we may holiday in a far flung land, any body have any suggestions? (not my idea, but sometimes we have to do what the better half orders)

http://www.thenorfolkbroads.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=11871

[diesel falcon]

How about a Gullet cruise around Turkey??

[davidkeir]

I love your ideas folks. but i think the wife might insist on me being castrated if i suggest this to her

maybe if i slip her some secret medication she can be convinced lol

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello David,

You could try the Shannon in Ireland, the Caladonian Canal in Scotland or how about the rivers and canals in France, Germany etc.

[ExUserGone]

Have to admit to hiring from a yard once and having very little clue as to how to helm a boat and far too much knowledge of the 'tutors' sex life and marriage problems as we left, a yard that has had a glowing refference in this very thread but it was 12 years ago and was much smaller then, the guvnor of the boatyard at ludham (womack water one) was great as we asked for some help getting into a mooring as it was between two private boats and he gave us a lesson and explained it so well it actually made sense, no more crashing, he just wanted a look around the boat realy but so helpful.

The whole experience was so horrible we bought a boat a week later and been poor ever since...

[pks1702]

Ireland is worth a visit.

We went a couple of years ago and had a great time.

https://vimeo.com/25316154

[Guest]

What a contrast to our recent experience with Richardson's. There was a big party of us on two boats and the heating went on one of them whilst we were moored at Salhouse in the pouring rain, the guy came out in double quick time and fixed the problem. Half of our party were newbies and can't wait to go back, they went home tightly clutching their new loyalty card!

My favourite non-broads holiday spot is Goa, a great place to go and chill out.

[teadaemon]

Funnily enough, one of the yards in Scotland (not Caley Cruisers, who are excellent!) has a boat sitting on the hard at the moment with a big hole in it and a snapped off rudder...

Is it the one at Laggan?

The damage is a bit more understandable on the Caledonian Canal, as most of it has a solid rock bottom, with sloping sides to the canal sections.

[goodall_m1]

There are certainly more dangers on the Caley Canal, lots of big hard things to hit and some strong winds, particularly out on Loch Ness!

But at least on Loch Ness it is only coming from two directions... South West or North East,

So usually it is on the nose or up your tail!

Surprising amount of waves building up though, when you are that far above sea level!

The easiest things to hit on the Caley are in the locks not on lochs!

And they don't let the hire boats down Neptunes Staircase.

[kadensa]

Funnily enough, one of the yards in Scotland (not Caley Cruisers, who are excellent!) has a boat sitting on the hard at the moment with a big hole in it and a snapped off rudder...

Can't agree with you about Caley Cruisers. I found their boats over-priced and the service OK but nothing special. Not half as good as we have experienced with Richardsons, for example.

[kadensa]

I wasn't comparing them to Richardsons on price, just on service,which ,as I said, was OK, but not outstanding. I can't comment on the other yard as I have no experience with them.

[Hylander]

As we are talking about Caley Cruisers - what did everyone make of the toilets on board. We went about 15 years ago and it was archaic. You had to put the toilet seat down and pump for all your worth for ages. The opening in the loo was so tiny it was about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch across. I will leave it to your imagination as to how difficult it was to flush anything away. Never again.

Lock Ness was like the North Sea on a bad day - terrifying.

[kadensa]

Lock Ness was like the North Sea on a bad day - terrifying.

Tell me about it! On the way back we had real problems trying to turn across the waves to get to the moorings. Everything on the shelves came flying off into the cabin (luckily I managed to catch the malt before it crashed to the floor!)

Can't really remember the loo, to be honest, but what stays in my mind the most is the condensation on the cabin roof which meant waking up to a wet duvet every morning. Having said that, we did have a very enjoyable time, and the moorings at Banavie, Kytra and on Loch Oich have to be some of the loveliest anywhere.