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Stillwater Narrowboats

Michelle

By Michelle
in Boat Building & Maintenance

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BargeeSpud Rising Star

BargeeSpud

Posted
Posted

I take it you're trying this number?

 

01283 732888

 

Their Fax number is 01283 732945 just in case there's a mix up between them. Have you tried emailing them with enquiries@stillwaternarrowboats.co.uk ?

 

Hope that's of some use, can't find any news of their demise & Companies House still show them as active.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted (edited)

They are in the process of moving to Market Drayton and BT have c*cked up the change of phone numbers. I hope so anyway as we have a build slot booked with them.

 

So do I - they are nice folk (met them at Crick once) who are proud of what they do and they build nice 'non pretentious' boats.

 

Michelle, if its a small business remember they could be closed for annual holiday, just a thought.

 

I would expect that if that was the case they would leave an answer phone message saying that TBH.

Edited by The Dog House
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Slartibartfast Gongoozler

Slartibartfast

Posted
Posted

Hi,

 

I have tried contacting Stillwater Narrowboats by phone numerous times and nobody ever answers. Does anyone know if they are still going?

 

They built our boat , launched last December following a drawn out 6 month delay, and we've always had problems contacting them . We have a few problems that they have still to sort out, despite their promises they have just haven't delivered an anywhere near adequate after sales service.

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NobbyNomates Gongoozler

NobbyNomates

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have just run a comprehensive credit check for "STILLWATER NARROWBOATS LIMITED" using our companies credit check facility.

 

They have Multiple County court Judgments recorded against them. They also have a credit score of "five" one hundred being the best credit rating.

 

Please be careful if you giving them a deposit. I'm only supplying this information to help my fellow boaters.

 

If its not appropriate to give this sort of information on the open forum, will the forum mods please delete this post.

Edited by NobbyNomates
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ICC Gongoozler

ICC

Posted
Posted

Hi

 

We had a boat built by them,launched 9 months ago, very pleased, nice guys. We too were experiencing problems getting in contact, as we had a few snagging problems to finish off, but gather the move to Market Drayton from Hilton was not without its problems. When I saw Richard a couple of months ago he acknowledged follow up was not a strong point, and knows they have to sort it out!

 

They are a really nice outfit, patience and trust are needed and their over enthusiasm comes to mind at times! Anyway spoke to both Richard and Kevin yesterday (I did say their calls were like those buses you wait ages for). I think they have the BT thing sorted, but did make them aware of the concern that some folk might be feeling.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Ian

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Slartibartfast Gongoozler

Slartibartfast

Posted
Posted

Hi

 

Think we were launched just after you in Dec 2011 - a full six months late. We have some serious snags including a malfunctioning bilge pump and leaky mushrooms which have resulted in some damage to the wallboards. We have always had difficulty contacting them but when we have managed to speak to them they have promised to put the issues right but have not followed through and our patience is now exhausted. We have had the full range of excuses from them including the last one which was "we're moving premises" with yet another promise to get to us in the week following. This they did not do despite our follow up on email, phone and text. Although we love the boat their customer service has proved to be abysmal.

 

Hope this information helps others.

 

Steve on Slartibartfast.

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Lettethenan Gongoozler

Lettethenan

Posted
Posted

Yes Stillwater are still in business, we took delivery of our boat in October 2012 which turned out to be 9 months late!!! Them moving to Market Drayton (01630 695649) definately prolonged our boatbuild. Definately agree with other customers regarding the frustration in them answering phone calls and emails, but, they did always respond eventually!!! . They have phones and emails up anc running now. Agree with Moonbow comments about them being very nice guys but patience and trust are required. I was always confident we would get the boat, but my husband had his doubts at times.

 

We love the boat, but having take it out in the rain we have one or two leaking windows, which we have now reported to them, so will keep the forum updated on after sales progress

 

Hope this is useful for future customers

 

Dumps 'n' Dumples

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alan_fincher Veteran II

alan_fincher

Posted
Posted

:smiley_offtopic:

 

Not wishing to bash the firm involved, but I'm staggered that expensive new boats can get delivered with leaking mushroom vents and/or leaking windows.

 

You might expect a bit of that if buying a 15 or 20 year old boat, but how on earth does it happen on a brand new one ?

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Boat&Bikes Experienced

Boat&Bikes

Posted
Posted

I have just run a comprehensive credit check for "STILLWATER NARROWBOATS LIMITED" using our companies credit check facility.

 

They have Multiple County court Judgments recorded against them. They also have a credit score of "five" one hundred being the best credit rating.

 

Please be careful if you giving them a deposit. I'm only supplying this information to help my fellow boaters.

 

If its not appropriate to give this sort of information on the open forum, will the forum mods please delete this post.

 

 

I have just credit checked them and it gives them 1 out of a possible 100...No axe to grind with them but personally i would not pay them any money up front.

 

Ian.

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TheOldMan Gongoozler

TheOldMan

Posted
Posted

I also have a build slot with Stillwater, Oct 2012. I spoke to Kevin yesterday and ours is the next hull to go into fabrication; so maybe sometime in the next month.

The late start does not surprise me as I never expected them to hit the October deadline; having spoken to other customers and based on a general feel for the industry. My guestimate was 3-6 months late and it looks as though I won't be too far out.

 

They are annoyingly difficult to contact, not helped by the move but they just seem to be lousy at answering the phone or replying to emails. I don't think they have full time secretarial support so I guess that makes it more difficult.

 

I've paid a big wodge of money (as per contract) so was very concerned by the negative financial info' given above; which is why I spoke to Kevin (emailed on Sunday and he called me 1st thing Monday so no delay there). I haven't seen the CCJs but I'm told they are mostly cleared and relate to some failed distributor arrangements earlier in the companies history. These also explain the lousy credit rating; which Kevin readily acknowledges.

 

I've always found Kevin and Richard to be pleasant and helpful and I do believe that they are completely genuine; working hard in difficult times. I've never been completely comfortable about the way boat builders work; you give them a big chunk of money and they go away and do a bit then you give them another big chunk of money etc. If they go broke at any point you stand to loose your last payment and at best are left with a big pile of bits and an incomplete boat.

 

Stillwater are no different to any of the other builders that I spoke to so I paid my money and crossed my fingers. My fingers are still crossed and will remain so until the boat hits the water but at the moment I'm no more or less anxious than I was over a year ago when I signed the contract.

 

Kevin also discussed some of the support issues and it seems to me there's two sides to most of these.

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Hi there :0)

if you need any info on stilwater just ask me. I use to work for them. Cant believe some the post on here, genuine, nice guys? You really dont know them.

 

Given that asking you would probably be something not best done in the public part of the forum you need to be aware that in order to use the private message system you will need to have 5 posts on the forum.

 

Until then nobody will be able to ask you anything.

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Lettethenan Gongoozler

Lettethenan

Posted
Posted

Hi there :0)

if you need any info on stilwater just ask me. I use to work for them. Cant believe some the post on here, genuine, nice guys? You really dont know them.

 

 

Hi,

 

Have never disputed that Kevin and Richard are not nice guys. I was just stating that boat was seriously delayed and we have one or two problems since taking delivery which we are awaiting them sorting out.

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andywatson Rising Star

andywatson

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

I've paid a big wodge of money (as per contract) so was very concerned by the negative financial info' given above; which is why I spoke to Kevin (emailed on Sunday and he called me 1st thing Monday so no delay there). I haven't seen the CCJs but I'm told they are mostly cleared and relate to some failed distributor arrangements earlier in the companies history. These also explain the lousy credit rating; which Kevin readily acknowledges.

 

I've always found Kevin and Richard to be pleasant and helpful and I do believe that they are completely genuine; working hard in difficult times. I've never been completely comfortable about the way boat builders work; you give them a big chunk of money and they go away and do a bit then you give them another big chunk of money etc. If they go broke at any point you stand to loose your last payment and at best are left with a big pile of bits and an incomplete boat.

 

Stillwater are no different to any of the other builders that I spoke to so I paid my money and crossed my fingers. My fingers are still crossed and will remain so until the boat hits the water but at the moment I'm no more or less anxious than I was over a year ago when I signed the contract.

 

 

 

 

Financial risk:

-There is another way to reduce your risk - and worry.

The boatbuilder orders the steel (and any other big ticket items) for shell but the invoice is sent to the customer. The steel etc is then the customers property and paperwork exists to back this up in the case of a business failure.

This way the boatbuilder sees the committment of the customer and does not need to finance the build.

 

Communication:

-Communication with the customer is crucial so unanswered calls or unavailability cause needless stress.

Giving a mobile number and answering any missed calls within a day or so is not unreasonable.

 

 

The comments above are based on the following situation:

The builder of my boat, who works alone fell and broke his hip 3 weeks before completing the shell which put him out of work for 6 months.

This caused an inevitable delay but the boat was paid for up to date and my property leaving the builder only his overheads to cover.

 

Within 24 hours of the accident and an hour of an operation he contacted me from his hospital bed to reassure me that I would get my boat with a contingency plan for another builder to complete the work.

His wife had been trying to contact me while I was driving home from the yard the previous night.

 

Obviously we had a delay but I didn't need to worry about loosing my boat/money and in return I was able assure the builder of my continued business in completion and fit out.

Edited by andywatson
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