Boaters Satisfaction Survey - Results

[Alan de Enfield]

I have not seen this posted previously.

 

 

Latest survey of boat owners’ views

The survey, carried out in March and April this year, was sent to a third of CRT’s boat licence holders and received 1,163 responses. The headline results show a decline in boaters’ satisfaction:

	(%) 2019	(%) 2018
Boaters satisfied with their experience of cruising the waterways	61	70
Would recommend the waterways to other boaters	58	76
Overall upkeep rated as OK to excellent	69	74
Feel they know the Trust very well or a fair amount	59	53
Trust the charity to look after the waterways	56	62
Feel favourable to the Trust	47	54

 

[matty40s]

Somethings not quite right, however, more people knowing the Trust can only be a good thing.

?

[Athy]

So, at a guesstimate, about a 10% increase in boaters' grumpiness during the last year. I hope that next year's sample will be cheerier - boating should be about enjoying the canals!

[MtB]

 

Why are they asking just boaters I wonder, instead of asking dog walkers, fishermen, joggers, cyclists and Well-B too?

 

Or maybe they do...

[Sea Dog]

12 minutes ago, Athy said:

So, at a guesstimate, about a 10% increase in boaters' grumpiness during the last year. I hope that next year's sample will be cheerier - boating should be about enjoying the canals!

I wonder whether there's some correlation with the 5% licence fee increase (oops, I meant lower early payment discount)?

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I wonder whether there's some correlation with the 5% licence fee increase (oops, I meant lower early payment discount)?

 

The bit about that discount that makes me grumpy beyond all reason is how they call it "prompt payment discount".

 

It isn't a discount for prompt payment, it is a discount for paying in advance. i.e. paying up before the money actually falls due. If you simply pay up promptly, you don't get the discount. Grump grump...

[Alan de Enfield]

9 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I wonder whether there's some correlation with the 5% licence fee increase (oops, I meant lower early payment discount)?

Jon Horsfall, Head of Customer Service Support, said: “We are disappointed in the drop in boater satisfaction. We recognise the past year has been one of change for our customers, including changes to the prompt payment discount and increased licence fees for boat owners with wider boats. We also acknowledge the impact of last year’s drought and the effects of unpredictable infrastructure failures on customers throughout the year. I thank everyone who has taken part in the survey and would like to give all our boating customers the assurance that boating and navigation is at the very heart of everything we do.”

[Tony Brooks]

6 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Jon Horsfall, Head of Customer Service Support, said: “We are disappointed in the drop in boater satisfaction. We recognise the past year has been one of change for our customers, including changes to the prompt payment discount and increased licence fees for boat owners with wider boats. We also acknowledge the impact of last year’s drought and the effects of unpredictable infrastructure failures on customers throughout the year. I thank everyone who has taken part in the survey and would like to give all our boating customers the assurance that boating and navigation is at the very heart of everything we do.”

He should have added: but despite this fall in direct paying customer satisfaction we have no intention of altering our achievement bonuses for our managers or reducing their salaries.

[MtB]

11 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

"I thank everyone who has taken part in the survey and would like to give all our boating customers the assurance that boating and navigation is at the very heart of everything we do.”

 

One of the biggest reasons for any dissatisfaction I feel with CRT is this type of lying to us.

 

If only they would just be honest with us and say they are giving top priority to ramping up non-boater visitor numbers in order to maximise the chance of keeping gov't funding, I would be fine with that but they don't.

 

They stick to punting out this line when everything they do indicates keeping the navigation running freely is far from top priority. Particularly from what I hear about the Rochdale, HNC and the northern canals.

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Mike the Boilerman
Formatting

[oarfish]

The state of the north west canals was partially the reason we moved cruising location to around Nottingham, legit CC in the region was getting difficult. I'm assuming the winter trick around Notts is to get accidentally stuck on the Beeston canal while the Trent is in a bad mood. 

Edited July 20, 2019 by oarfish

[Neil2]

3 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

One of the biggest reasons for any dissatisfaction I feel with CRT is this type of lying to us.

 

If only they would just be honest with us and say they are giving top priority to ramping up non-boater visitor numbers in order to maximise the chance of keeping gov't funding, I would be fine with that but they don't.

 

They stick to punting out this line when everything they do indicates keeping the navigation running freely is far from top priority. Particularly from what I hear about the Rochdale, HNC and the northern canals.

 

 

 

Yes, for the time being we have forsaken the Northern part of the network as the risk of a serious delay is too great.  Ok I suppose if you are CC-ing, but trying to keep to any sort of schedule in the North is becoming impossible.  

 

We met a couple on the bottom lock of the Cheshire locks recently.  As many will know only one of the twin locks is in operation and even then one of the paddles is out of action and has been for some time.  This couple said after their last transit of the locks they wrote to CRT with a list of all the faults and repairs needed.  The reply came back that everything was within "acceptable limits" ie nothing was going to be repaired until it led to a stoppage. 

[oarfish]

If you want to actually move while CCing to places with public transport it was a pain too, we were basically stuck on the bridgewater at one point

[Chewbacka]

3 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

One of the biggest reasons for any dissatisfaction I feel with CRT is this type of lying to us.

 

If only they would just be honest with us and say they are giving top priority to ramping up non-boater visitor numbers in order to maximise the chance of keeping gov't funding, I would be fine with that but they don't.

 

They stick to punting out this line when everything they do indicates keeping the navigation running freely is far from top priority. Particularly from what I hear about the Rochdale, HNC and the northern canals.

 

 

 

But all organisations now believe if they say something strongly and repeatedly it will be believed, such as -

1. We are totally against anti Semitic behaviour and are taking strong measures to deal with it

2. I don’t have a racist bone in my body

3. Boating is at the heart of what we do

4. Brexit means Brexit.

 

any more examples???

 

[matty40s]

33 minutes ago, Chewbacka said:

But all organisations now believe if they say something strongly and repeatedly it will be believed, such as -

1. We are totally against anti Semitic behaviour and are taking strong measures to deal with it

2. I don’t have a racist bone in my body

3. Boating is at the heart of what we do

4. Brexit means Brexit.

 

any more examples???

 

You turn if you want to, this (Iron) Lady is not for turning....

[NigelMoore]

7 hours ago, matty40s said:

Somethings not quite right, however, more people knowing the Trust can only be a good thing.

?

Obviously not a good thing for the survey; it suggests that the more people know about CaRT the less happy about them they are.

[roland elsdon]

7 hours ago, oarfish said:

The state of the north west canals was partially the reason we moved cruising location to around Nottingham, legit CC in the region was getting difficult. I'm assuming the winter trick around Notts is to get accidentally stuck on the Beeston canal while the Trent is in a bad mood. 

Only if you want to get robbed