Next message: Ed Kelly: "lv-ab: Save your life with an illegal radio"
Hi all,
Has anyone else on the list had a difficult time dealing with the customer
service folks at Simpson Lawrence? We have had a hell of a time so far.
Our 12 volt V-3000 electric windlass failed after not too many cycles. It
turned out that the armature has an electric brake that relaeases when power
is applied. I guess this is to keep things from turning when you don't want
them to. Unfortunately the brake that was originally supplied with the
windlass was a 24 volt brake. Thus the brake never released because the unit
itself is a 12 volt unit. When the brake finally fried it siezed up the
armature.
It took me a full week of phone calls to finally reach a live person. I
think he must have picked up the phone line by accident because they
routinely transfer you to voice mail and then don't bother to return calls.
After a bit if haggling I got them to send a 12 volt brake and and some
brushes. Initially they wanted me to pay for the brake but I refused since
it should never have been sold with the wrong brake in the first place. The
brushes I paid for since I wanted some spares. When the package arrived it
was instantly obvious that everything was for a smaller windlass. I guess
even when you give them a model and serial number they don't know what fits
what.
Since I discovered the error it was back to the phone for more customer
service roulette. Naturally they are ignoring my voice mail as they did
before.
On Monday I am going to try a new tack. I think I'll try and reach the sales
manager and see if he has any clout. I'm thinking that if I make it clear
that I will make his job more difficult with a letter writing campaign to
various publications warning consumers about Simpson Lawrence that perhaps I
will be the proverbial "squeaky wheel that gets the grease."
If anyone else has had similar problems with Simpson Lawrence feel free to
drop me an email.
Windlass-less in San Francisco Bay,
Kathy and Dave Benjamin
Aboard S/V Entropy
A Freedom 39 catrigged ketch
Grand Marina, Alameda, CA
http://www.optimalsolutions.com/sailinks.html
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