What’s New For 2012 At Bill Higham Marine

By Author: simon
Total Articles: 17
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2011 has been a difficult year, many people leaving boating has taken its toll on new outboard engine sales and even the used outboards market which is always very buoyant has been difficult this season. New ribs for sale are still sat in our warehouse where normally there would be a modest waiting list for next season, its a sign of the times for sure, so what are we doing about it? Well we are in no financial danger so we dont really have to make a change, the business model that we have employed for the past 40 years is as valid today as it was those years ago when my father started the business, that business model “treat every customer as you would have them treat you” has seen bill higham marine glide through two recessions with not a backward glance, this one has been more difficult and we aren’t out of it, but we have sold over 500 outboard engines this year but out of 40 ribs for sale, we have sold only 20 new ribs, and we have sold 200 inflatable boats so things could be worse. We have a large repeat customer base and we get many kind comments every week from gratified customers who are pleased with our service, ...
... inevitably there is the odd one who just will not let you help him but thankfully for us these are in the minority.

This week we have had 2 customers who were very pleased with our service and products, one who bought an outboard engine and the other who found one of our ribs for sale to his liking. The first of which, a customer who we sold a mercury 90hp used outboard engine to some 3 weeks ago, the engine was tested in our test tank for 10 minutes before sending out and also went through the new impeller, and full service regimen that we employ with all used outboards for sale to make sure it is as reliable as is possible. However, this mercury outboard was harboring a latent fault which only showed itself when the engine was run under full load for over 10 minutes. We first of all paid the customer’s local dealer to carry out works on the thermostat etc to try to cure the overheating problem, this was because the customer had just paid them to fit the engine and he wanted the motor working asap. When the local outboard engine mechanic could not fix the fault we paid him to remove the engine and had it shipped back to us, where we repaired the fault the day the engine was dropped and sent it back on its way, then paid the mechanic to re-fit the engine, in all this cost five hundred pounds but we now have a very grateful and happy customer who sent us this email by way of appreciation for our customer service:

The author of this article is closely associated with the organization and is an experienced writer with expertise in writing about Inflatable Boat, Outboards for sale, Ribs for sale and Mariner outboards.