Strange Business Procedure - Is it Just Me?

[Paul C]

An update.

 

Last Wednesday (2nd March) I outlined to the RCR Contracting service that although I had found someone who could "take a look" at the problem next Thursday (10th of March) I was hoping to find someone who could at least start to investigate what the problem is before then as I anticipated a potentially lengthy delay while locating parts once we had identified what we need. I specifically asked them when they anticipated they might be able to get someone to look at it. The reply I received indicated that they would expect to have the problem "sorted" by the end of the week. I left with them my mobile and land line numbers expressing either of those would be more suited to contact than the one on our account as that belongs to my husband and he might be in a meeting if they called.

 

On Friday 4th of March I had heard nothing so I called and was told they had been struggling to find anyone who could do it. They said they still had a few more lines of enquiry to follow up and would call me back in around an hour. That did not happen.

 

I called this morning. I have been told they have drawn a blank and they are unable to find anyone who can come out to look at the problem. I understand they have been trying to get a domestic plumber to look at it and none of them in our area have any experience of macerator loos on a boat (surprise!) Their suggestion is we take it to our nearest boatyard. (easy to say, not so easy to do - wait until April so hubby can take some time of work so we can take the boat out on tidal waters to get to a boat yard!)

 

They tell me they left a voicemail. As I never got one I checked what number they left it on, they say they left it on my husbands number (the one I told them was best not to use) Hubby has since checked his voicemail there is no message there either.

 

The upshot is the entire experience has been very negative. A very misleading description of how they operate was given. a totally impractical expectation of when the job might be completed was set and when they failed to find anyone to do the work they either lied about leaving a message or called a wrong number.

 

We have just wasted 5 days by trying to tap into their database of reliable contractors (when in fact they were simply using Google to locate plumbers in our area) If anyone else does consider using their service then do not believe their suggested timescales as they just make it up as they go along. We will certainly not be relying on their contracting service again

 

Who was it that suggested buying a porta-potti, and was shot down in flames?

 

To be fair, they probably went through their own database first, phoning boat yards and engineers, and getting a lot of responses like "what's made of plastic and goes click?"; rather than give up there they broadened the search to far-away engineers, then to general plumbers.

[haggis]

I thought that RCR only dealt with "enginey" things which might explain why they have no "loo specialists" on their contacts list. When they got the call, the person in the office possibly didn't appreciate that dealing with loo problems would not appeal to most boat engineers and gave a time scale based on their more "normal" questions.

It sounds like it might be time to contact the loo manufacturers if you haven't already done so.

 

Haggis

 

PS I hasten to add that I have no connection with RCR apart from using their services and being satisfied with the result.