boats were capable of surviving a complete swamping, (even my first sailing dinghy had buoyancy bags etc). Some motorboats and all the old sailing boats were self-righting in the event of a knock down or capsize. I am not so sure that this is now the case. Boat A clearly failed on several counts.
The owner was not at all happy, unsurprisingly, with his recent expensive purchase of a brand new boat that was out on one of its first trips, so he contacted the Agent (Importer) and received this reply:
“I write in response to your letter of --- ------- in which you purport to reject the above vessel and claim a refund for the full purchase price pursuant to the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
“This Company" does not accept your claim to reject the boat. No refunds of any kind will be made to you and we will not be collecting the vessel as you demand.
Claims by you that the vessel was mis-sold and not fit for purpose are categorically denied.
As a direct consequence of flooding, damage has occurred which is not a new boat warranty issue, or the responsibility of “This Company”-.
I strongly urge you to make a claim against your own boat insurance. Failure to do so in a reasonable and timely manner could prejudice your position in getting repairs done.
I must leave you in no doubt as to the position of “This Company” and I can confidently say that “The Manufacturer” agrees with us whole heartedly.
Another problem which has come across my desk involves Boat B, which had an inherent steering design issue. This appears to have been realised by the first owner, who as a consequence, and after very little use, sold the boat through the agent/dealer. As a lightly used example of its type, the boat sold quickly. During the pre-purchase process whilst on sea trials, the
steering problem soon came to light. The problem was brought to the attention of the distributor (now the importer) who declared that it was a minor issue and that having checked the system and replenished the oil, it was now safe to use.
Unfortunately, having taken ownership of the vessel this was found not to be the case, as the problem persisted. The boat will not track in a straight line and requires constant adjustments to the helm position. The problem appears to be a design fault due to a hydraulic helm system of one manufacturer being coupled to an on-engine driven hydraulic steering system of another manufacturer, as a consequence, we are told by the investigating engineers, the boat will require a whole new steering system to be installed.
In both the above scenarios the dealers, or importers, or agents (depending on your take of the rules) have denied responsibility and, so far, the manufacturers have not accepted any liability either.
The Boat B owner with the steering issue received this response:
“We have discussed this within ----- --- and all things considered we do not feel that we are in the wrong. We have followed the standard brokerage protocol throughout, as for any other second hand boat.”
So, there are two very unhappy boat owners, one of whom had been through a similar situation before with his last boat. His boat had been factory fitted with the wrong propellers, which had only been discovered during pre-purchase sea trials, but the defect was denied by the agent/broker, of course.
It seems the customer is not always right. What ever happened to good old fashioned customer service? As the surveyor involved with both these vessels, I am very disappointed with the standards of customer service and care demonstrated by those involved.
Another case brought to my attention recently involved the proud owner of a 20 metre sailing yacht who was tempted by the promise of a set of sails which would provide “increased performance, sexy glittery looks, and the promise of increased longevity”. The distributor (importer) stated that they would “never wear out!!” (A bold statement if ever there was one).
Needless to say, the sails did wear out, but more importantly, they wore out after what would be considered very little use. Rather than replacing the sails the response from the dealer was to offer the owner a discount on another set of sails, a slightly better response than the previous two, but once again falling short of what could be considered as good customer service.
I must now refer you back to the Rules and Regulations at the opening of this article.
Before placing a vessel on the market a Manufacturer must:
- Design and manufacture it in accordance with the essential requirements.
- Draw up a declaration of conformity and ensure that the conformity assessment marking is followed by the identification number of the approved body. Manufacturers must take action where they have reason to believe that any product is not in conformity with the Regulations (either to bring the product into conformity, withdraw it or recall it); where there is a risk to consumers they must inform the relevant MSA. In GB this is local trading standards authorities. Manufacturers must take appropriate corrective action and co-operate with the enforcement authority.
An Importer is a person or business based in the UK who places products on the GB market from a country outside the UK. This means that a UK business which acted as a ‘distributor’ before 1 January 2021
70 | ISSUE 115 | MAR 2026 | THE REPORT
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156
