B&G Instrument Package

[Greg Ross]

I decided last month on replacement of the Datamarine instruments on LAYLAH.
Planning to eventually (3-4 years) go cruising and selected the B&G Hydra 3000 package with accessory sensor inputs, sea temp, air temp. and barometric pressure along with the basic inputs of boat speed, sounder and wind machine.
A California company, WMJ Marine
http://www.wmjmarine.com/hy3-sys-1.html
had the best price options going, offering;
B&G Hydra 3000 Cruise Pack, their website listing included the CPU, (GFD) Graphic Display, 2 Analog instruments, fluxgate Compass, (MHU) Mast Head Unit, Depth sensor, speed sensor and associated cables.
Accessorized with the above noted sensors and two additional analog instruments, cables, thruhulls, etc.
Shipping to Canada runs into incidentals such as Brokerage processing fees and taxes for Her majestys' Government.
Once I had the delivery in hand, opened it up and discovered 1/2 the Kit was missing. Communicated via email since WMJ Marine rarely answer phone calls.
The response was an immedialte apology, and a quick check revealed they had immediately modified their web site listing to exclude all of the included items in the Base Cruise Pack but for the CPU and the GFD. The response was that their Listing had been in error. The only qualifier on their web site BTW was the "Prices are subject to change without notice"
The next communication was an offer to provide return shipping info and they would pay the cost of return shipping. No offer to do anything for me on Brokerage fees already parted with. (although the Tax may be refundable)
Corresponded back indicating they should make some effort to provide at cost those missing components that had been listed in error. This is not an inexpensive system by the way so they've booked a reasonable margin on the package as purchased. They were certainly glad to take my money and had, thru pre-purchase correspondence confirmed the content of the "B&G Cruise Pack" as originally listed.
I have only received a reply to the effect that they're moving the business over the Holiday, will evaluate my request and let me know.
I'm posting the experience here to allow me to provide them with the link to this thread such that they're aware I'll be sharing their solution with MY World.
Any opinions on a web business owners' degree of responsibility for the accuracy of their offerings?

 

[WBurgner]

Not a lawyer

If they advertised the full set for a price, and particularly if there was interim correspondence confirming the price and product, their acceptance of your payment should have created a binding contract. Doing anything about it is another matter. If you were in the same community you could use small claims court, I suppose, but any legal proceeding for you to enforce this contract would be cost prohibitive.

B&G is quality gear, but WMJmarine sounds like a fly by night operation. Looks like time to get your best refund and move elsewhere.

A well capitalized and professionally run business should not make that type of error, but in the event that they did they would make good on the offer for those caught up in it as you were and, citing the error, refuse any new orders at that price. Thanks for pointing this out. I am sure others will agree that it is best to avoid this retailer for future purchases unless there is a better outcome to your situation.

 

[Seth]

B&G is good stuff but

Notoriously poor service for individual boat owners-even those with race boats. The focus of B&G is the Mega and Maxi boat market, and while they have some really great products for boats like the E boats and similar, you are going to have a hard time a). finding a service provider to do quality installation and calibration, and b). getting B&G themselves to do much of anything.

This has been my experience on both coasts and in the Great Lakes, but if you do find good service from someone please let us know.

Good sailing!

S

 

[Greg Ross]

B&B Hydra 3000 Cruise Pack/ Package missing Bits

To early to be considered progress but WMJMarine did come back today and request that I provide them with the B&G part numbers of the missing components.
Seths' comments while disconcerting won't specifically deter me from my interest in the B&G Equipment/ line. I lean towards DIY and prefer to be self-sufficient on all of the gear that goes aboard. I would intend to do my own "install" and thru my sons' Mega Yacht connections (He's RYA Offshore) I'll solicit some help learning the calibration process.
B&G/ Navico are promoting their new marketing direction, perhaps service and responsiveness will be part of the new equation.
When I "googled" B&G tonight this thread came up as about the 6th or 7th listed reference.
Maybe we can gain a bit of attention!

 

[Seth]

Go for it

Please do not be deterred-I hope you are succesful and you tell us all about it! It is great equipment for sure.
Happy hunting.
S

 

[Greg Ross]

Found a compromise solution

I should now have the balance of my System components shipping to me next week. Several days of back and forth negotiations last weekend where we settled on the full credit for several returned components (items also included within Kits that will be coming with the rest of the items) and a discount across the board for the entire order.
From some additional Web research I came to the conclusion that in fact WMJMarines' web site did in fact contain listing errors. Other re-sellers listed only the CPU and GFD as included in the "Cruise Pack"
Ultimately WMJMarine have been very reasonable settling up, WMJ by the way are the Web arm of it appears a larger organization, Seawide Marine/ wholesale based in Costa Mesa. Looks like they've been in business for decades.
Form what I'm getting out of the installation portions of the B&G Manual it appears pretty much "plug-n-play". The"fastnet" "Daisy-chain" method of installing all the low voltage displays, etc. gives great flexibility. The terminations at the CPU require stripping back multi-core cables to finish off in what appear to be very high quality connectors.
The B&G analog displays are nominally smaller that the DataMarine units, theoretically they'll just cover the circular cutout from the DM rear case projection. First chance I'll have to trial fit these is a couple of weeks away, travel home for X-Mas Dec. 18th and LAYLAH rests at home in the Yard.
Next year when I get to acquiring the "Pilot" components it looks like integrating those components will be quite straight forward.
If I understand the literature correctly the paddlewheel and depth sounder transducer/ senders are removeable for cleaning with some nature of gate built into the thruhull fitting. These Items will be coming with the last lot of Kit along with the Wind Machine, etc
This is likely to be (better be) the largest single enhancement LAYLAH will see in the refitting process. After several weeks of punishment it appears we've come out of this with pretty good value, relatively.

 

[WBurgner]

Great news

Glad to hear you are getting a positive outcome.

 

[windjunkee]

Not that it helps much, but I installed the B&G H1000 system with wind, depth, knot log and fluxgate compass. I got the basic display and added the analog app. wind and tri-data display. Even though I purchased on-line, my local electronics store has been terrific (Maritime Electronics, Marina del Rey). The only problem I've had, which I can't seem to fix, is that the sea temp reads approximately 100 degrees high. (go figure).
As a lawyer, I can tell you that the company would be responsible for taking the product back if you don't want it now, but I would guess they have a disclaimer of liability for incidental costs. The PR angle would be your best leverage to get them to honor the deal they made, but I don't believe you can force them.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2
Redondo Beach, CA