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Not all hire boats look nice....:


Magne R

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Wasn't there a rumour on here, some years ago, that ABC were part of the Tescos Group?

 

Perhaps it was one of their "Everyday Value" boats.

 

 

On a more serious note if I hire a boat I expect it to be immaculately presented as the exterior reflects the level of maintenance of the important bits.

 

If I want to go boating in a scruffy boat I'll take mine.

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It has the look of a boat which hasn't been touched since last season and quite possibly was not scheduled to be hired out yet, but maybe another boat had a major breakdown or they had a sudden rush of bookings so it was pressed into service before it was ready.

No excuse, though.

 

We had a couple come knocking on our door one day last summer, they had hired from one of ABC's various aliases, and rather than being given proper instruction on how to work locks etc told us that they were told to knock on our door and we would show them! I was in the middle of a meal so suggested they make other arrangements.

 

Tim

Time and time again when we've reached the top of Stoke Bruerne we've met one or more ABC boats whose sole instruction on the use of locks has been to tell them to moor up wait there until another boat comes along who can show them what to do.

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Time and time again when we've reached the top of Stoke Bruerne we've met one or more ABC boats whose sole instruction on the use of locks has been to tell them to moor up wait there until another boat comes along who can show them what to do.

Have you never stopped and said ," No idea what to do either.., shall we wait for the next boat....."

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We have hired from Alvechurch several times and from Viking before and after they got swallowed up and never had a boat looking as bad as this one.

However we are close to hilperton at the moment and the hire boats at the main building look in reasonably good nick there are a couple of scruffy ones tucked away in the marina.

 

To me it smacks of a spare boat rushed into service, looks bad for their reputation if not,

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I agree with the OP. If i was hiring i would expect it to be in a better condition than that. Surely it shouldnt cost too much to scrap off the rust and cover with paint. Clean off the algae build up and give it a cheap lick of paint. Living in Dubai, i dobt have the luxury of checking out the boat prior to booking so if i turned up and it looked as bad as that i would be sorely disappointed

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I've just come back today after a week on a hire boat, and if mine looked like that I would not even have taken it out. We had a boat from stone, and we had a brilliant boat inside and out every time we hired one as it's not cheap to hire I would expect more from the company wonder what the customer service is like but please don't let this put u off on hiring one again just don't go back to them

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  • 3 weeks later...

just had a full service from alvechurch at Gayton marina. The best service we have ever had. Excellent value and a full check list given to us of all the things checked/changed. All of their boats we saw out on the cut looked well and everyone we spoke to were enjoying their hols.

 

Just seen posting re lock instructions... we were in gayton office when new hirers were shown how to use the locks using a working model... the also have access to dvd/video pre hire to shown process plus written instructions with diagrams. It is difficult unless they have a lock within walking distance of hire base. The best I've ever see is a Japanese family who had not understood any of the instructions... we found them trying to ram open the gates of a full lock.

Edited by tagulablue
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I see a lot of hire boats in Stoke Bruerne. Top of the list by far is Wyvern Shipping - always look immaculate - we locked down part of the Stoke Bruerne flight in Sculptor with a Wyvern boat this morning - it was an old boat but looked great. By contrast the ABC and 'Canal Boat Hire' boats look as if they could do with some TLC or as my Mum would have said 'need a good wash behind the ears'. We get occasional hire boats from Wigrams Turn and Rose Narrowboats which all look good - it's the ABC and Canal Boat Hire boats which look tired.

 

NB not associated with any hire boat company

Phone messed that up. Anyway, good to know, just booked a Wyvern for a long weekend in September. Last used them in 1999.

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