dealers' "blacklist" (+)

[vacendak]

a subject for a separate discussion (complaints ?) board -
DEALERS, THEIR SERVICE QUALITY & ATTITUDE TOWARDS CUSTOMERS
Administrators & Gurus, what do you say ?

[GordMay]

Thanks for the suggestion; but - NOPE -

From our Rules at: http://www.cruisersforum.com/?page=rules

Dealer/Vendor and Customer Disputes:
This forum is not intended to be a mechanism for people to vent frustrations about vendors or sales from private parties. Please settle your differences with the seller, manufacturer and dealer through the long-established legal or arbitration systems or the Better Business Bureau but not through our community.

[vacendak]

any frustrations - just letting fellow boaters know about unreliable sellers / services
I find such posts here from time to time, e.g. this one:

Gori Prop Discussion

was VERY useful - made me check other references about Gori and find out that it's better no to get involved with them

[Bradley]

I have always thought an ebay type rating system for marine suppliers and service people would be great. It is always scary to have boat problems in a new area and have no idea where to go. Particularly, if you are in a foreign country (even worse on a small island) and there is a language barrier, it can be a very difficult situation. They almost have your boat hostage. Or what about a boatyard padding the bill at the last minute, and then refusing to put your boat in the water until you pay.

BTW, Trinidad has a very workable rating system, and that helps account for why it has become such a boating center. Also, there is an expedited arbitration system that all marine providers have to agree to. This allows for a speedy resolution of the type of problems set forth in the first paragraph.

Personally, I want to know who is good and competent and fair. Knowing who to avoid is nice, but I want someone good. So a system should reward good eggs as well as punish bad ones. And that becomes a problem with any system --irate customers will almost always certainly take the time to rate While satisfied consumers won't as a rule.

So the question becomes, "Where is a good site for this type of Angie's List for boaters. A forum such as this is fine at the manufacturer product level. And it seems to be used quite often for that purpose, e.g. What about XYZ chartplotter or what chartplotter do you use and how satisfied are you with it.

It would be unweildly lower down the marine service food chain. Then, it should be at a site that is country specific like ActiveCaptain or CaptainWiki.

[ssullivan]

What a great idea!

I would love to participate in this type of rating site, both on the "consumer" end (I do buy and install a lot of products) and on the "vendor" end.

Originally Posted by Bradley

I have always thought an ebay type rating system for marine suppliers and service people would be great. It is always scary to have boat problems in a new area and have no idea where to go. Particularly, if you are in a foreign country (even worse on a small island) and there is a language barrier, it can be a very difficult situation. They almost have your boat hostage. Or what about a boatyard padding the bill at the last minute, and then refusing to put your boat in the water until you pay.

BTW, Trinidad has a very workable rating system, and that helps account for why it has become such a boating center. Also, there is an expedited arbitration system that all marine providers have to agree to. This allows for a speedy resolution of the type of problems set forth in the first paragraph.

Personally, I want to know who is good and competent and fair. Knowing who to avoid is nice, but I want someone good. So a system should reward good eggs as well as punish bad ones. And that becomes a problem with any system --irate customers will almost always certainly take the time to rate While satisfied consumers won't as a rule.

So the question becomes, "Where is a good site for this type of Angie's List for boaters. A forum such as this is fine at the manufacturer product level. And it seems to be used quite often for that purpose, e.g. What about XYZ chartplotter or what chartplotter do you use and how satisfied are you with it.

It would be unweildly lower down the marine service food chain. Then, it should be at a site that is country specific like ActiveCaptain or CaptainWiki.

[Hud3]

Vacendak,

You will note that Paul posted a similar cautionary note in the very thread that you referenced. The Forum doesn't prohibit discussion of boating related products or services. In fact, there is a subforum specifically for that topic. The point is, to repeat, "the forum is not intended to be a mechanism for people to vent frustrations about vendors or sales from private parties."

There's a fine line between factually discussing the pros and cons of a product or service, and the venting of frustration, or the bashing of a vendor. We will not allow the latter. The idea of a "Black List" is not something that will be considered here.

[vacendak]

an ebay type rating system for marine suppliers and service people would be great

Agree 100%, IMHO better than my idea of blacklisting - includes
also positive experience, becoming rare nowadays

2 Hud: e.g. : when buying ground tackle I had bad experience with
one dealer & very positive with another one
should I inform people about that - so that they keep my experience in mind ? if yes, when what is the right thread for it ?

[GordMay]

When the Forum Team discussed this issue (many moons ago), I was generally in favour of the idea of allowing & encouraging members to present a balanced view of products and services they’ve used. This “balance” would have necessitated the inclusion of responsible negative reviews (which I favoured).

After much consideration & discussion, we concluded that we would be unable to keep such discussions from becoming “he said - she said” disputes, with all the attending liabilities. There were other negative aspects to the idea.

[Hud3]

Vacendak,

I think I answered your question in my post (#6, above). If not, let me know. Before posting your product review, make sure you read the initial post by Kai Nui in that subforum: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ules-5514.html

[GordMay]

I’d forgotten that we created (2006) the Product or Service Reviews & Evaluations Forum under the Engineering & Systems Header, and published it’s rules.
Thanks for reminding us Hud (I feel stupid, again).

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f124/

[vacendak]

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f124/

thanks, Hud3 & GordMay, will check it through

[defjef]

I can see the liability issues with publish complaints which slam some vendor in the marine industry. How do you know if the service complaint is valid? How can you know if the purchaser did something which precipitated the situation? The internet is unreliable, yet it is still used for commerce so this is a real conundrum.

I personally have had only one outrageous experience in 22 years of being a consumer of marine products and services. Not all deals were a breeze. One vendor is definitely on my sh*t list and another one I have sued, won and has been dodging me for 10 yrs. The former seems to do a thriving business but I have heard others complaints so it reinforced my feelings that my case was not unusual.

On the other hand I have had some great experience with some mfgs who replaced broken gear at no cost years on. Cudos to Standard Horizon and Wichard. The other two nasties will go unnamed unless the mods encourage some truth telling.

[vacendak]

defjef,

that's it - IMHO you should let people know about the names in your sh...-list
and I do not think dishonest competitors may use such forum thread to "blackmail" - reliable dealers

[Hud3]

This is not the place for a product or service review. Please see Gord's post, above, which links to the subforum, and my post, above, which links to the special rules for posting such reviews.

BTW, this is one of the rules: "Threads must include an email or other contact info for the vendor, or manufacturer being reviewed so that we may contact that vendor or manufacturer and provide them an opportunity to respond."

We want to be fair here on the Forum.

Note: I have removed defjef's post, since it did not include vendor contact information. If can be reinstated in the correct forum, if that omission is corrected.

[Hud3]

We've decided to close this thread to further posts to avoid confusion. Please visit the Product or Service Reviews & Evaluations subforum http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f124/ if you would like to read or post product or service reviews.