Guest Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 What is it with these guys? I have never experienced such lousy customer service from any supplier of service or product in 32 years of yacht ownership as I have had from Harken Fosters! I have two 980 3 speed primaries. Not small winches nor cheap. The drum on one cracked for no apparent reason - they were less than 10 years old. Harken/Fosters said the reason they would have cracked is that they are “very old winches”. I had to buy a new drum. Just over 2 years later the internal S.S sleeve has become distorted due corrosion between it and the alloy drum. Will Harken come to the party with even a portion of the cost of machining and re-sleeving? Not on your nelly! Not even the least bit sympathetic. I will go out of my way to avoid buying Harken, Spinlock or any other product that Fosters sells, not because of the product, but because of local attitude. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Sounds like the attitude is not Fosters. Have you never heard of servicing the Winch? If you had, then you would not have had the corrosion issue. If you have not serviced them, then I would imagine that the reason the drum cracked was due to neglegence as well. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 What is the life expectancy of a winch these days? Once upon a time(Wilkies)they would outlast both me and the boat. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Saturday Night Special Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Your name is not Piers is it because if it it is everything you brought in for me to access when i worked there as The Gram prix tech was rooted off you swan yacht and suffered from lack of preventative maintenence Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Internationally I've never heard of Harken doing anything but standing right behind their product, 100%. In my experience Fosters do exactly the same, strange your experience was so different. Link to post Share on other sites
Marshy 30 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 What is it with these guys? I have never experienced such lousy customer service from any supplier of service or product in 32 years of yacht ownership as I have had from Harken Fosters! I have two 980 3 speed primaries. Not small winches nor cheap. The drum on one cracked for no apparent reason - they were less than 10 years old. Harken/Fosters said the reason they would have cracked is that they are “very old winches”. I had to buy a new drum. Just over 2 years later the internal S.S sleeve has become distorted due corrosion between it and the alloy drum. Will Harken come to the party with even a portion of the cost of machining and re-sleeving? Not on your nelly! Not even the least bit sympathetic. I will go out of my way to avoid buying Harken, Spinlock or any other product that Fosters sells, not because of the product, but because of local attitude. Pretty sure he cant be talking about the same Fosters/Harken i have dealt with in over 6 years of rigging. They are a great bunch of guys and sounds like this guys is having a whinge! Harken NZ support kiwi sailing, and do great deals and look after all boat owners. I have never had a bad dealing with them yet! I have Harken winches on my SR26 and have found some grease between the Alloy Drum and S/S sleeve stops the corrosion issue, So to does regularly washing them out with fresh water and maintaining them. - I.e. servicing them once or twice in 10 years... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Sounds like the attitude is not Fosters. Have you never heard of servicing the Winch? If you had, then you would not have had the corrosion issue. If you have not serviced them, then I would imagine that the reason the drum cracked was due to neglegence as well. Same thought sprung to my mind also... Which reminds me.......I'm overdue to give some loving to the winch's on Smokey Joe. I can only say good things about the Fosters team as a general rule. Your post might carry a bit more clout if you'd been active for more than the one post also... Bad mouthing anyone (particularly a generally well reputed company) on your first post isn't going to carry much weight.... Link to post Share on other sites
rigger 47 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Have never had any problems with them - they have always been fantastic to deal with and nearly always had the odd bits I needed for the old boat. Link to post Share on other sites
Scotty3934 5 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 There are companies out there (not just in the sailing world) that actually deserve to be b******d about however Harken/Fosters is not one. I have always had great service from the guys in Auck since I was a youngster. I know there are prob a fair few people that use this site that have had a bad experience somewhere but they hold there tongue as 9 times outa 10 they are still hot under the collar and don't want to look back on it a few days latter and find they made a c**t of them selves. Remember its bloody easy to type something in the heat of the moment... Link to post Share on other sites
Atom Ant 0 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 And in the heat of the moment, Fosters have always been excellent to deal with. They spent ages once looking for a small brass pawl for a bloody old winch that had probably been designed a few days after the ark grounded. But an old fella there was sure they still had one and after an hour he found it. The computer on the other hand insisted that they didn't have it - so he gave it to me! Probably was only worth a fiver - but THAT is service! Link to post Share on other sites
Kiteroa 8 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Yip, as above. I deal with Grant, Garry and the Harken/Fosters guys regularly both on a personal and professional level and they are always excellent. They are straight shooters. I would expect to get 10 yrs out of some winches if they were regularly serviced. But if they were too small for the boat and had a rough life then you couldn't expect too much more than 5 years I've recently bought new winches from Harken and have no negative feedback on any aspect of their service or product what so ever. Link to post Share on other sites
Gappy 9 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 maybe his name should be twat not twota if Rat is right I know this guy well also and maintenance is not something he knows anything about and I thought I we were the worst company he had dealt with ha good to see hes moaning about someone else wants everything fixed for nothing and its never his problem but a little grease here and there would wonders. Link to post Share on other sites
wheels 543 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 It's people like him that should never be allowed boats like that and they are the ones that give sailors a bad name. They expect moon beams for nothing and are usually the worst payers. Link to post Share on other sites
TimW 1 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Just over 2 years later the internal S.S sleeve has become distorted due corrosion between it and the alloy drum. . Sorry ! You saw corrosion between Stainless and what other material ! Alloy ! Aluminium ? Don't you know that Aluminium has no place whatsoever in the marine environment ! The stuff is just junk, it corrodes if you don't look after it. Link to post Share on other sites
rigger 47 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Aluminium ? Don't you know that Aluminium has no place whatsoever in the marine environment ! The stuff is just junk, it corrodes if you don't look after it. You should try putting some mercuric chloride on a piece of aluminium - gets very hot Link to post Share on other sites
Clive 13 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Pretty sure he cant be talking about the same Fosters/Harken i have dealt with in over 6 years of rigging. They are a great bunch of guys and sounds like this guys is having a whinge! Yep totally agree! Which reminds me I need to pop in and see them for a few bits and pieces... Link to post Share on other sites
markm 30 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Don't you know that Aluminium has no place whatsoever in the marine environment ! I don't know Tim, have always found it better than carbon for beer cans. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 What a great ad this has been for Harken/Fosters. Link to post Share on other sites
TimW 1 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Don't you know that Aluminium has no place whatsoever in the marine environment ! I don't know Tim, have always found it better than carbon for beer cans. Beer tastes truckloads better out of bottles Link to post Share on other sites
Clive 13 Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 What a great ad this has been for Harken/Fosters. Yea I was thinking the same... maybe they started the thread as reverse psychology to drum up some more business! Link to post Share on other sites
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