Wiring problems

[mike60]

I am totally thick when it comes to wiring, I did ask the engineer at Bluewater Horizons to wire my DSC/VHF to my GPS & wire in my NAV6, It never happened.

They had my boat in thier engineering place for a service on the engine & leg, This was last September, As they were doing this work for me I asked if they could sort out my wiring & wire in my VHF to the GPS, 4 months later & after being told on at least 3 occaisions that the boat was nearly finished & would be a couple of days to completion, I went down with a NAV6 & asked if it could be wired in aswell.

Today we are in the sixth month since they took on the work, they called to say its finished (At long last!!!), I got a bit annoyed with the time it was taking & so a week ago I told them that it seemed I had given them too much to handle & not to bother with the navtex, The wiring has been sorted, the engine & leg were sorted, but when I went down today to pick up my bits, I found that the VHF had only been connected to the power supply (I could have done that myself) & it had not been joined in to my GPS as i had asked, & on top of this the connector from the VHF to the GPS is missing, So now I have to contact Navico to get a new one.

It has cost me

[great white]

In case you do not get the type of offer this Club is getting famous for

Ie someone volunteering to sort it for you, for nowt.

 

I had a lead made up by Marine Electronic Services at Poole to connect the two units, Icom VHF and Lowrance combo unit. I think they were just plug in's, 100% sure the icom was.

 

and then some advice from Bob F ref the settings to put into the Plotter to get them to connect/talk to each other.

 

You must have the patience of a saint

Hope its all sorted now, ref engine and leg.

 

Charlie

[gjb]

Give Chris a ring on 07843272145

graham

 

sorry chris is a young man just started on his own knows his stuff good rates

Edited February 3, 2010 by gjb

[mike60]

Thanks, but who`s Chris, Sorry I`m new on here & would feel really cheeky ringing someone I don`t know out of the blue to ask for help.

 

Mike.

[mike60]

In case you do not get the type of offer this Club is getting famous for

Ie someone volunteering to sort it for you, for nowt.

 

I had a lead made up by Marine Electronic Services at Poole to connect the two units, Icom VHF and Lowrance combo unit. I think they were just plug in's, 100% sure the icom was.

 

and then some advice from Bob F ref the settings to put into the Plotter to get them to connect/talk to each other.

 

You must have the patience of a saint

Hope its all sorted now, ref engine and leg.

 

Charlie

You have no idea!! The worst bit was that because I was patient with them, they seemed to take advantage, the boat was sat for days at a time looking like a derelict, with nothing getting done.

Think it was a case of "we`l get this other done, He`s ok he`l wait a bit longer."

The funny thing is that in the six months they have had the boat, the actual logged time in doing the work that was done, comes to less than a week.

Think of all the good fishin` time I have missed since last mid September, all for less than a weeks work.

 

Mike.

[Maverick Martin]

Hi Mike

 

That's P ss poor service for top dollar money

 

I use a young lad called Stuart. He's a fully qualified marine electrician but is based in Poole. Not sure if he will travel over to Weymouth for a small job but might be worth a call tel: 07980844231

 

Martin

[mike60]

Thankyou Martin, I`l give him a ring & see what he says.

 

Mike.

[mike60]

Update ! I got the boat back on the storage yard today, went down to see it & found that my anchor well hatch was missing, & my brand new heavy duty battery which has quite literally had no use atall has been replaced with a scabby old battered thing thats probably nearing the end of its life.

I had to have a go a couple of weeks ago as I found they had taken my stainless steel prop off & replaced that with a chipped aluminium one, When I queried this I was told by the engineer that "I didn`t really need the stainless one, it was meant really for speed boats." I told him that I didn`t give a damn & there is always the chance that I may need to get to & from a mark because of tidal problems etc, but I would really prefer it if the stainless was replaced, I was then told that his apprentice probably put the wrong one on by mistake.

Now this with the battery & hatch lid, Where`s it going to end??

I will be glad when I have it home next week.

I have given a letter of complaint to the owner of Bluewater Horizons today & demanded the return of the missing items.

 

Mike.

[mike02380]

thats awful service, I'd be after some money back too?

[charlieannear]

That's nothing short of theft.

You must have the patience of a Saint.

Immediate return of items and/or a phone call to the local constabulary and/or trading standards.

[oysterboats]

where are these cowboys so everyone else can stay clear of them

[Gazza]

Think i would go with a threat of trading standard/police and solicitor.

 

sounds like there taking the p*ss a bit........

 

Please don't be shy about naming and shaming the company and people involved(fitters etc)

 

Gary

[mike60]

The people involved are Bluewater Horizons Limited, Ferrymans Way, Off Portland Road, Weymouth. The Engineer who when you meet him presents as such a decent & knowledgable bloke, is Tony Mullen. He`s one of those "Yeh! I can do that for you." types, but as evidence has shown "He can`t !, & he`s made a 6 month c%ck up of the whole thing.

I did ask Denise in their chandlery, yesterday if the owner was there, she said he was out, & when I asked for his number she said he doesn`t like to give his number out, his office was upstairs, but if i rang her at the shop she`d put me through to hi secretary. (wierd!)

Anyway, I have, as said, sent him a letter of complaint, & I have told Tony that I want my wires back & my Hatch & Battery, I`l give them a couple of days while the weather isn`t too good, Then I`l go down & check the boat again.

 

Mike.

[charlieannear]

It sounds to me as if they've been using your boat as a source of spare parts to do up another one.

Perhaps have a roam around and see if there's another like yours in the yard.

[pirky]

Mike

.....Sadly these people exist and mostly because of good self respecting and patient souls like yourself......I personally agree with the others who say complain to the owner and negotiate some financial compensation, and if this doesn't work then contact Trading Standards.

 

Did you keep a log or diary of the events ?? I know it probably seemed inappropriate at the time....but would be invaluable now !!! Hindsight a wonderful thing.

 

Good luck .....hope it is all resolved to your advantage

 

Are you going to the monthly gathering/meeting this eve..?? a good way to meet the "lads" and a good intro to the club. Hope to see you there.

 

Dave

[mike60]

I have, this morning sent an email to them to attempt to solicit a reasonable outcome before having to go down a more serious route, as you can see, I think I have been more than reasonable.

 

EMAIL SENT,

 

Tony.

 

As it seems that your staff did not remember which was my battery, the description is as follows,

It is a PLATINUM LEISURE PLUS, long, black with label containing a bright green light type flash, a caravan & motorhome. The battery is brand new & is a 110 amp hour.

I bought two off these as a pair for the boat & would appreciate the return of the one you have.

Would you also please return & put in place the anchor well hatch, & the GPS connection cable from the rear of my VHF.

Could you also please inform me why the job of wiring in my VHF & GPS was not completed as you know we had quite a conversation about NMEA connections at the time I asked you to do the job, & you assured me that you knew how to do it. This was asked for originally with the request for the wiring to be sorted, I took it for granted until the other day that you were as good as your word & that the job would have been completed.

This seems to be part of a string of mistakes since I trusted my boat to Bluewater Horizons, i.e., the wrong prop being put on, the broken inspection hatch (which you replaced.), the missing battery, the missing hatch, The fact that on a number of occasions I asked you to fit the kill switch, now I have been supplied with one to fit myself, the fact that my boat was left standing for long periods looking like a derelict in a terrible state with nothing being done, The small jobs such as the kill switch could have been done at these times.

The fact that your lady said I had asked for the park & launch to be terminated, Which I most certainly did not, (See my previous letter) The fact that as you well know she tried to charge me for items that were quite plainly paid for on a previous bill, & then didn`t have the courtesy to apologise when you proved this to her, & then ( I believe ) She took a hard, unfair stance towards me the following day because of her evident anger about this.

 

All of the above even if you see them as minor things do not look good professionally speaking, i.e. the misplaced parts, If items from customers boats were kept in an area & marked as from that specific boat, then you would not need to shed blame to others saying they mustn`t have known & put the wrong one on, & parts wouldn`t go missing.

If you could possibly see my side of this as a customer who put his trust in that company & had to put up with a combination of the time, jobs not done, broken & missing parts, (please dont bring the letter into this, as I did at that late point say don`t bother with the extras such as the navtex etc.) Problems with paying for things twice & attitude on top of it all, Then you must admit that this does not make for a reasonable customer experience.

I would, under the circumstances be well justified in making a complaint to the trading standards, or seeing our solicitor, but again I have been reasonable and made my complaints to the company to give them the chance to rectify the problems.

I would therefor simply like to see the return of my property, & I will seek someone else to finish the work, If you would have told me originally that you were not sure of how to wire the vhf to the gps, I would have sought someone experienced at that time 4 months ago, which would have saved me the time & problems of doing so now.

I will pop down to the yard on Monday to see if the items have been replaced, & will as already stated remove the boat from Bluewater Horizons property by the end of my newly paid up contract in the next week & half.

..................................................................................................................

 

I Don`t think I have been too forceful or disrespectful in my manner, I always try to be decent & give everyone a fair crack, lets just hope this will get me my parts sorted & I can get on and get the job finished elsewhere with less hassle.

 

Mike.

[mike60]

Sorry! Pirky, Yes! I am coming to the meet tonight with my good lady in tow, (only so she`l buy the drinks. LOL) I am looking forward to it, PBSBAC members seem to be a cracking bunch, it`l be a pleasure putting faces to names.

 

Best wishes.

Mike.

[Jim]

Mike,

 

Tony Mullen

Bluewater Horizons

 

Stored in my memory bank!

I'll NEVER deal with that bloke!

 

Looking on the brighter side. - - - - You could write a 1/2 hour comedy sketch for Television to try and get some money back.

 

Makes me MAD !

 

Jim

[Member Removed]

Hi Mike60,

 

Did you manage to sort out the information on the wiring of your VHF to your GPS and Navtex? If not, let me know what the radio and gps is (make etc) and I will try and help you if I can. I am an electronics engineer by trade and have wired all the kit on my boat. The wiring diagrams can be confusing!

 

All the best

 

Steve

[Paul D]

Mike,

 

Sounds appalling to me. I would not accept the removal of a stainless prop to be replaced by an aluminium one - the price difference is huge, so this is just theft of your property.

Ditto with the battery.

 

It would be akin to taking your car in for a service and having the stereo replaced for some battered old cassette player.

 

It is surely illegal.

 

[Paul D]

Might also help to mention that this thread is now on page 3 if you search for "Bluewater Horizons Poole" in Google .......

 

The wonders of the internet.

 

Ditto here ( Electonics Engineer ) with regard to your GPS to VHF - if you let us know what models they are can probably get the information from their website. Hooking them up is really a fairly straightforward job ( if not confusing as Steve says ).

[Rob]

 

battered old cassette player.

 

Paul - are you saying you had the optional extra of a CD player fitted to your beemer! You are posh, i Knew it!

 

[Leicester Fisheagle]

I used the said company when my boat was kept in Weymouth as it was under warrenty and they were the local Yamaha dealer. I have told Mike what I think of them and would not use them again or recommend them in any way. I understand that one of the partners left a few years ago because in his words" they ripped people off" the person who left now works for themselves and does a lot of mobile work and apparently has a good local reputation on outboards and diesels.

[Maverick Martin]

I have just noticed on the Blue Water Horizons website that they have a branch at Cobbs Quay Poole, me feels best keep away from there also

 

Martin

[mike60]

Update, I spoke to Tony Mullen yesterday & asked what was happening about my battery & hatch, I was told that the battery had been found & it was on charge at that moment, The hatch, I was told, must have blown off when they took the boat the 100yrds from the workshop to the slipway across the road. (This I find unlikely as it was a very tight fit, & managed to stay in place when the boat was trailed from Saltash in Devon, to Portland.) Mr Mullen told me that they would sort it out & asked for the outer & inner measurements of the hatch.

So it seems that they may now replace the hatch.

Even so I have still been treated terribly by that company & am massively out of pocket for the experience, I will never use thier services again.

 

Thank you all for your support in this & for the offers of help I am very humbled by the good will shown from the members of this club.

 

Mike.