[PCW] Fountaine Pajot Cumberland 44 & Cat A rating

[gram rupert]

Michael,
You have my sympathy, and I hope it all works out for you. I also  
hope that I (and others) will manage to steer clear of your cowboy  
broker, whoever he/she may be.
After all thi disappointment and cricitism of F-P, then, would anyone  
care to comment other makers. I have heard of Geminie's capsizing  
fairly, and I read that one of James Wharrams's lost a mast or  
similar. The sea is obviously a harsh place, but is there not be  
someone who takes pride in top-class quality; the Rolls Royce, or  
Porsche, of the sector? Or is there?
gram.

On 6 Jan 2008, at 01:12, Design Assoc. & AquaKlear wrote:

> --- gram rupert <gramario at tin.it> wrote:
>
>> I must confess to having a vested interest in the
>> answers to these
>> questions as I have spent some time considering a
>> F-P (perhaps one
>> step down from the Cumberland). I immediately
>> thought of a trial and
>> a visit to la Rochelle, and in no way would I buy a
>> boat without one.
>>
>> Rupert.
>>
> Rupert,
>        I will answer the questions in the order they
> were asked.
> 1.My contract with the dealer stated they have NO
> RESPONSIBILITY in regards to the quality of the vessel
> and then FP stated that there stateside distributor
> works closely with them. A basic lie by both.
> I am now in process of a law suit with both but who
> knows how long that will take. I have also recently
> found out that the U.S. broker is not well trusted in
> the industry.
> 2. I had seen earlier versions of the vessel that were
> on  the market and they all looked good even though
> they had been in the charter service.
> 3. I never saw the vessel I bought since it came
> direct from the factory and was delivered to me. That
> was the first time I saw what I had purchased and was
> not given any time to have the boat checked out since
> the delivery was made in the caribbean and the broker
> had to return to the states immediately. I got what is
> called the bums rush. The broker did come to see the
> boat when I hauled it out to install some new thru
> hulls for additions to the boat and that is when I
> started to discover many problems. That was within two
> weeks of the delivery and then the problems started.
> 4.I have had the boat surveyed on two different
> occasions and the factory is denying the problems that
> are refered to in the two surveys.
>      It may be difficult for Ian to comprehend my
> problems but they are real and I am living with these
> difficulties and they are costing me greatly so there
> is no way in  the world I could recommend to anyone to
> purchase a FP product. If FP decides to do the correct
> thing and take care of this vessel I might consider
> them as reputable builder but they are showing no
> signs at all to help me nor admit that they have
> produce a poorly built vessel. I think my boat was the
> last one out of the 37 mould and it shows.
>                                         Michael
>> On 5 Jan 2008, at 17:38, ian.fisher at qedas.com wrote:
>>
>>> Gram Rupert,
>>> My major problem has been with F-P and the
>>> quality of the boat and the lack of factory backup
>> to
>>> repair what was supposed to be a new boat. The
>> hull
>>> material is so thin that light comes thru even in
>>> areas that have a material liner on the interior.
>> The
>>> fit and finish is poor and inconsistent. The
>> dealer
>>> has walked away from the boat and assumes no
>>> responsibility at all. F-P even states that they
>> do
>>> not sell boats in the U.S. and that in itself is a
>>> joke. I am working with an attorney but the U.S.
>> court
>>> system is slow and tedious and F-P denies that
>> they do
>>> business in the states so this is becoming a
>>> nightmare.
>>>
>>> Michael,
>>>
>>> A number of things concern me with this ;
>>>
>>> 1) Your contract was with the US dealer I assume
>> and in the UK this
>>> means
>>> this is your recourse in law- so why are you not
>> pursuing the
>>> dealer? If
>>> things are as bad as you say (I am sceptical I
>> must admit) then how
>>> can
>>> the dealer just 'walk away'? FP will quite
>> understandably say they
>>> do not
>>> do sell boats direct in the US if they have a
>> dealer channel
>>> agreement in
>>> place.
>>>
>>> 2) During the buying process did you not look at a
>> demo boat to
>>> gauge the
>>> standard of fit and finish?
>>>
>>> 3) During the handover process did you not have an
>> opportunity to
>>> reject
>>> various parts of the boat prior to acceptance?
>> This is normal practise
>>> and I did this with FP in factory in La Rochelle
>> when I came across
>>> some
>>> minor items that I wanted re-worked. If you do not
>> have the
>>> knowledge to
>>> survey yourself I would have thought it would have
>> been a a good
>>> plan to
>>> either employ a marine surveyor or a friend with
>> suitable
>>> experience in
>>> these matters.
>>>
>>> On one of my 3 visits to the factory during the
>> build (which they were
>>> more than happy to accomodate and in fact the
>> technical director wined
>>> and dined me on every occassion) I came across a
>> US purchaser who was
>>> actually staying in La Rochelle for the build
>> period as he had some
>>> custom work in progress and wanted to keep an eye
>> on this and the
>>> whole
>>> build in general. Very sensible really when you
>> consider the cost of
>>> buying these vessels.
>>>
>>> Finally I would say having seen the production
>> facilities at FP and
>>> seeing the hulls being constructed with modern
>> vacuum resin infusion
>>> techniques I find your alleged hull problems very
>> difficult to
>>> comprehend.
>>>
>>> Ian
>>>
>>> [IMAGE]
>>>
>>> Ian Fisher
>>> Operations Director
>>> Phone:+44(0)1934 836960
>>> Fax:+44(0)1934 643267
>>>
>>> QED Advanced Systems Limited
>>> 18/19 Bridgwater Court, Oldmixon Crescent,
>>> Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, BS24 9AY, UK
>>> www.qedas.com
>>>
>>> QED News - Meeting Monitor (M2) system launch
>>> We are pleased to announce the launch of the QED
>> Meeting Monitor (M2)
>>> system. This is an application that leverages the
>> standard Lotus Notes
>>> Resource Reservation system and enables real-time
>> information for each
>>> meeting room to be displayed on a colour coded LCD
>> display outside
>>> each
>>> room. This provides improved visibility of meeting
>> room availability,
>>> better usage of room resources and allows free
>> rooms to be instantly
>>> utilised for impromptu meetings.
>>>
>>> With a low cost hardware requirement and use of
>> standard network
>>> cabling
>>> this is a simple installation that will quickly
>> pay for itself. For a
>>> brochure click on this link
>> http://www.qedas.com/m2 or give us a
>>> call on
>>> 01934 836960 and ask for Peter Liddle or Ian
>> Fisher.
>>>
>>> Mail Signature by[IMAGE] Contact QED today for
>> more details
>>>
>>>
>>
> **********************************************************************
>>
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>>> Telephone 0044 (0)1934 836960.
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