Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

[MarkA]

Loren Beach's reposting of the Sailnet rave for Den Haan customer service inspires me to share great experiences I've had with other companies.

Blue Seas Systems is one such company. When I bought Whisper in 2006, it came with an old automatic charging relay--a Blue Seas CL-Series BatteryLink ACR (7600). The PO didn't mount it; rather, it was just laying on the deck of the engine "room," semi-held in place by the two battery cables connected at either end. The terminals were unprotected. The PO used to throw his wet fenders directly onto this deck, on top of the ACR. Before I had a chance to properly mount it, I noticed that its LED indicators were doing something strange. So, I called Blue Seas Systems to learn more about it. I had no idea when it was purchased or whether it was under warranty. About 30 seconds into the conversation, the customer service rep told me he would overnight a new one via Fed Ex, free of charge. He didn't even want me to ship the old one back to him!

My next contact with Blue Seas was a couple months ago. I am building a new custom AC/DC distribution panel that is similar in some respects to some Blue Seas panels. Blue Seas uses tinned copper bus bars that connect the supply side of their circuit breakers--one bar will service 10 breakers in a clean, elegant solution. Unfortunately, they don't market or sell these as accessories--nor does anyone else on the planet as far as I can tell. But I didn't like the prospect of crimping 50 terminals to both sides of 25 jumper wires, and having the back of my panel look like a rat's nest. So I called customer service and asked whether they would sell these as replacement parts. After identifying the part number of one of their panels that used these bars, the dude grabbed three for me, dropped them in second day UPS, and refused payment! He said he'd write it off as a warranty replacement.

Both experiences shocked me, and I cannot recommend them highly enough!

More on other companies later....

 

[davisr]

blue sea systems

Mark,

I have positive things to say about Blue Sea Systems as well. I have found their technical support team to be incredibly helpful, not only because of their knowledge base, but also because of their serious, yet laid back attitude.

Roscoe
E25, #226

 

[MarkA]

This might surprise you....

Raymarine.

My experience with them has been consistent over the years. Their initial response is always a canned answer you've already read on their website, and a second email is required to tell them to read the f'ing question, which clearly explains why their anticipated canned response cannot solve the problem. Sometimes we actually have to teach them a little about physics or electronics so they understand their product better. But in the end, they come through.

The latest example: I bought an X-5 Smartpilot Tiller GP on eBay for 40 percent of list price, and less than 1/2 Defender's best sale prices. It seemed too good to be true (I saved $1,260.00), and I had some doubts when it arrived. It looked new and pristine, but serial numbers on the Course Computer and Display were different, and also different from the warranty bar codes. Also, the Drive Unit is not marked to differentiate the Grand Prix (for heavier displacement) or the Standard version (the price difference between the drive units alone is $1,100.00). I feared this was re-packaged gray market stuff, and perhaps I received the cheaper drive unit that would be inadequate for my boat. So I emailed Raymarine, and was candid about the eBay purchase--I just wanted to confirm that the goods were as described on the auction so I could demand a return or resort to PayPal's purchase protections. They explained the serial number discrepancies were part of Raymarine's system, assured me that the warranty was good, and gave me the physical dimensions of the GP drive so I could verify I got what I wanted. Whew! (I had always thought Raymarine would not honor warranties on eBay purchases--or even purchases from non-authorized dealers.)

So I installed it. The Fluxgate Compass looked great and installed well, but when I had to remove it for another project a week later, the mounting tabs crumbled. I tried to glue them, but they crumbled more. The plastic seemed defective; although one or two mounting holes may have been drilled at imperfect angles that could have induced stress, that plastic should have been sufficiently resilient and strong to avoid crumbling. I made a flange out of thick nitrile gasket material, reinstalled it, and everything worked fine. But I wanted a new base with intact mounting holes. Raymarine told me to take it to an authorized repair center, or send two thousand miles away. I had already explained that it works fine, I don't want to live without it pending a repair, and that all I need is the tiny plastic base--I can assemble the damned thing myself. I offered to send pics now, and the broken base once they replace it. Instead of replacing the base, they sent me an entirely new fluxgate compass via UPS Second Day. A $275 part instead of a what?--$12 part? Cool! I have a spare.

That's just one example. They always perform, but you need to carefully educate them and also let them know you're persistent enough to ask twice.

 

[mherrcat]

Raymarine repaired my Fluxgate compass at no charge.

I also had a pleasant experience dealing with Oceanair to repair one of my port shades. They sent me two retractor springs at no charge. I repaired the one shade and now have a spare retractor spring.

Raymarine now owns Tacktick (since June 2011.) My Tacktick wind transducer has become stuck and has been superceded by a newer model. But they will exchange my unit for the newer model at a discounted price. (I'm actually hoping when I send the old one in they will send me the new one at no charge! Fingers crossed...)