Ahoy all,
In the defense of IM – they are nice folks, and honest too, and they DO
support the owners groups and owners of older boats. They build one hell of
a boat for the price. They don’t forget about the owners the day after the
boat leaves the factory even though it takes more time and trouble than it’s
worth to them monetarily.
Having said that, I do have some gripes:
I wish they would fix that damned brochure and the specs on their website.
We’ve been telling IM for years that the data is wrong. It’s incredible
that they still disseminate that info. That data comes from the brochures
printed by Joe Edwards, who owned the company from about 1978-1992.
IM builds a good boat and they work hard to keep the cost down and the
quality high, but in my opinion, they’re being too cheap about their
advertising budget when they won’t spend the money to fix obviously
inaccurate data that is so central to the boat – like the boat
specifications! Or the owner’s manual, which is deplorably insufficient.
As for not getting good advice from the person at the factory… some folks
are more knowledgeable than others. I would heartily suggest to them that
IM implement a policy that if the person answering the phone doesn’t know
the answer, they say so and make sure somebody who does know the answer
calls the customer back within a reasonable amount of time. They’re a
relatively small operation – they build other things besides the Potters –
and they have a very small staff. That helps keep the cost of the boats
down, but sometimes that backfires.
I love the boats and think IM does a good job of building them – but an
inadequate job of educating folks on what the boats can do and how to take
care of them. Their promo stuff not only doesn’t work – it reflects badly
on them and actually hurts the reputation of the Potter boats. If it weren
’t for the efforts of the owner’s groups IM wouldn’t be selling twice the
boats today than they were a few years ago.
They need to devote some resources to new brochures, manuals, and
designing new ads.
What is the REAL weight of a stock, empty P19 anyhow???? NOBODY KNOWS, not
me nor Jerry Barrilleax or anybody at IM.
Grumpy because I was up late last night,
Judy B
Commodore, Potter Yachters
1985 WWP-19 #266
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Dimson-Doyle [mailto:addoyle@mediaone.net]
Sent: Saturday, May 13, 2000 8:22 AM
To: potters
Subject: [WWP] truth and integrity
I have just finished perusing my latest issue of SCA. In it there is an ad
from IM which states, "One person can easily rig, launch, and sail away in
less than 10 minutes." At best, this is deceptive.
About two weeks ago I called IM for some help on rigging. Specifically, I
asked about what the block on the end of the boom was for. The gentleman who
answered could only suggest that I contact the DPO. When I said they did
not know either, his response was, "Well we make a lot of different
set-ups...." His not knowing what the block was for was a little
disconcerting, but the real issue was the rather dismissive and unpleasant
way in which he talked.
Lastly, I sent a response to Bruce Park who asked about sail area in which I
gave two websites that lists specs for the Potters. Judy, that endless
fountain of knowledge, responded to my message letting me know that most of
that information is not accurate.
The question that runs through my mind is, how trustworthy are the people
who build the boats we sail on? I know I am going to get a zillion
responses saying they are great, but given what I have observed of IM
recently, it does give me pause and makes me a little nervous. To me the ad
is an outright lie, the phone call shows a lack of knowledgeable staff, and
the spec sheets demonstrate sloppiness and a lack of attention to detail.
My fear is that all this flows over into the building of their boats.
My next step is to send a letter to IM stating all of the above. I guess my
reason for posting it here is to see if others have similar experiences OR
can give me info that will change how I see things AND/OR a need to vent and
think out what I am feelings.
Thanks for listening.
Alan, P-19, "Molly Fay"
New Englander
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