Harken/Fosters

[Guest]

Should I send them an invoice?

[Guest]

or maybe a troll from distant past winding you lot up hav'n a laugh

[tuffyluffy 76]

I'll 2nd what everyone else here has had to say, the dudes at Fosters are brilliant to deal with, and my 25 year old collection of 8 large Harken winches are still going strong, well except when I drop a bit overboard when I'm servicing them But even then, getting bits has never been a prob.

 

Me thinks Mr Snivel-turd in post 1 would expect Toyota to replace the engine on a 10 year old Corolla that had never had an oil change once it blew up.

[Grinna 2]

Good Lord, what a welcoming bunch we are!!!

 

Seems like the original poster has had an isolated experience with Fosters. Sounds like most others are pretty satisfied with the service they've had.

 

I've never dealt with Fosters, but with so much positive feedback about them I'll be happy to try them out when the need arises.

[wheels 543]

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. :angel:

Ummm well it depends. I wonder, have you an Aluminium mast by any chance?? What about Aluminium Boats? They seem to do OK. There is ally and there is ally. Certain grades are better for marine environments and certain grades are better than others in specific jobs. And then there is anodising, which negates corrosion. You are quite correct though, Ally and SST are very bad together unless they get protected fron one another and in the instance of the winch, that is regular cleaning and greasing. If that is carried out properly, then the two materials will live with one another for many many years with no problems.

[Bad Kitty 252]

Wolfy you've got a wheels hook line & sinker! Push the drag up to sunset and sink the barb.

[Fogg 427]

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!

 

Yup, it's been done before.

[wheels 543]

AC, I have had in the back of my mind, that i have heard this original post, the same or very similar before. But a long time back. Maybe it's just my somewhat dubious mind, but I am sure there is an echo of this bouncing around inside my head.

[Atom Ant 0]

Starboard

[Guest]

or maybe a troll from distant past winding you lot up hav'n a laugh

 

Gold

 

anyway what happened to the original poster. I havnt seen another comment from him?

[Steve Pope 243]

The troll from the past has a nice sound to it! If he isn't trolling why would he bother coming back to such a friendly welcoming bunch ?

[Guest]

Well what a lovely old nest of vipers I’ve found here!

 

Let me reply to a couple of points.

 

1. I have an I.L.M. an R.Y.A. Yachtmasters Ocean and have around 80,000 ocean miles to my credit as Skipper. I am skipper of 2 vessels other than my own all of which are over 50ft so I know my way round a maintenance schedule. As it happens winch servicing is one of the jobs I enjoy most on a sunny day and all of mine are done twice a year, every spring and pawl. (No pun intended). Servicing a well engineered winch is not a chore it’s a pleasure. What we’re talking about here (for everyone who thinks a bit of grease’ll fix it), is the stainless sleeve that separates the alloy drum from the rollers in the main shaft. This is fixed in place in the factory with lock-tight. You can’t remove it with out it being machined out. If the seal (or separation between them) is complete at the outset, you won’t have a problem. If not, you will get reaction between the two (alloy and stainless) and something’s got to give, there’s nothing you can do about it. In this case the sleeve has been ‘hydrauliced’ out producing high spots point 2 to point 4 of a mm. enough to prevent the drum from running smoothly. – From a sales perspective, there are many ways you can say no to a client so that they feel you are at least supporting them and not shunning them. They will then continue to return as loyal clients. Maybe something like “Mate, I’d love to help you but head office have turned it down because the drum was bought as a part separate from the main winch. You’ll have to sort the repair yourself but next time you need a winch be sure we’ll look after you”. I’d have gone away happy as a clam, particularly because it is kind of what I expected. But that’s not what I got. The drum is now being re-sleeved by Trimac Machining, and I highly recommend them.

 

2. To those that want to bring this down to a personal level (and you’ll notice I didn’t mention a name at Fosters and I did say it’s not the product I have an issue with), let me say this. I have a great relationship with a number of companies out there who have provided me with fantastic service. I’m thinking of Electrics Afloat, E.N.L, G.M.S., Marine tech., Whitings, Orams, Boat Cover Co. to name a few. These guys provide the level of service , professionalism and efficiency that is to be expected in the marine industry today. They (and others) are expensive but give what they promise. There are too many out there (and I’m not talking about Fosters or any of their staff now) that think they are players in the market because they got their trade cert way back when and think they know more than the average muggins boat owner. They set their rate according to that of the top shelf and think that’s fine ‘cause they’re ‘cut from the same cloth’. Well doesn’t cut it these days and it’s time you dragged yourselves kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Every one in business is a sales person whether you think you are or not.

3. Gappy, if I have to pay some-one else to fix your stuff-up, don’t expect me to be running for my cheque book to sort you out.

4. nzrat, funny how obliging you were when you were behind the counter and how vitriolic you are with the anonymity of an internet pseudonym. Of course the bits I brought in were “rooted”. It was during a major refit. The bits I brought in were deck tracks (to replace) and a couple of blocks (for parts), and why would I have brought them in had they not been “rooted”.

5. Tuffyluffy – if “snivel-turd” is the best you can do then it doesn’t say much for the intellect on this supposed “discussion” forum. Maybe you haven’t had a problem getting a bit for your winch. Try 6 months for a drum for a 980-3 and then you get the wrong bit. “Snivel-turd”? “Toyota with no oil”? You sure you’re mentally old enough to be using a computer? If that’s what this forum’s all about then I won’t be wasting anymore of our collective time.

 

 

6. TimW – “alloy has no place in a marine environment”. No it’s not ideal, but go talk to Alloy Yachts, Southern Spars, Harken, B&G, Navtec and a myriad of others who use the material. We can’t all afford carbon.

 

Anyway, suffice to say, Scotty is probably right. Had I waited a day or so I might not have bothered submitting the post. The fact that I’m over it though, doesn’t alter the way I feel about the treatment I received from a supplier with an good reputation.

 

I’ll go clear.

[tuffyluffy 76]

Oh dear, this is going to be entertaining to watch.

 

Beer - check!

Snacks - check!

 

Let the fun begin....

[Guest]

No, I think it's run it's course.

[Fogg 427]

I don't have any personal experience of Fosters although I do know a former member of staff who left because he didn't like the way they operated behind the scenes and treated customers. But I don't know anything more specific than that and it's the only counter to the otherwise overwhelming praise from most of you guys here.

 

Aside from the ins and outs of the OPs technical problem, I do think many of you climbed into him somewhat prematurely. Even the best companies can have the odd customer service nightmare so to claim with such certainty that the OP was an idiot and that Fosters had behaved impeccably was a bit presumptuous, without knowing more context?

 

And despite the speculation, I doubt very much that it was a clever reverse-psychology marketing campaign. It's been done before in big mass markets but I don't recall ever seeing a small NZ company try it. Just not their style.

[wheels 543]

Well Twota, your second post gives a lot more detail and your wording shows you to be more calm and collective than a ranter. If you look at your first post from our point of view of knowing nothing of the situation, it leaves an aweful lot of blanks and just looked like a troll type rant and especially as you know what Kiwis are like, we do tend to try and throw the punches back harder than recieved.

So from your first post, i got the idea that a nearly 10yr old winch drum had cracked and they would not replace it under warranty. I thought that was asking a little much of anyone, so i did not read the rest of your post in the correct light. Going back and re reading your post now, i see more detail in what you were saying. So leaving the customer service issue you have with them aside from this at the moment, lets look at the winch drum issue. So this is a replacement drum it is 2 yrs old, is that correct?? The SST sleeve is inside that new drum ??? Then if that is the case, I would have thought that the supplier shopuld take a look at this and if it is a common problem, then Harken should adress the issue. If it is a once off, then Harken should be looking at replacing it or at least some cost toward it. The SST sleeve if it is locktighted in, should not be able to do that. It should be water tight. The locktight will also work at leeping a boundary between the SST and Ally. So it is surely something not done right in manufacturing.

I don't know this winch, so i can't comment. But I find it hard to believe water could get up in side there to cause such and issue.