Sailboatstuff.com and ABI

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha All,
Strictly facts. I ordered an ABI #191444 Forestay Quick Release Lever through Sailboatstuff.com on February 8th 2006 and on each monthly anniversary asked about the order. After six months and found what I needed in two locations and finally cancelled the order. While apologetic, sailboatstuff.com did not come through. They blamed the slow response from ABI on off-shore manufacturing. I don't really know what's going on but ABI used to have some good quality gear with responsive customer service.
Regards,
JohnL

[Charlie]

Hey Skipper is that forestay release for your cutter or inner forestay? I have something on mine that tightens the forestay but not a quick release. what did you use?

Aside from apologizing, did they offer any alternative solutions? Are there any other sources for the specific part you were trying to purchase?

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Kai,
Each time I called Dave at Sailboatstuff.com he told me that it was on its way to him and will be there (here at my address in Hawaii) in two weeks. I counted on it being here and finally just found one for less than half price on eBay. There are other sources for the product but I didn't call.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

It sounds like the vendor was willing to give the bare minimum of customer service, but not willing to go above and beyond for you. Does that sound like a fair assessment?

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Charlie,
The quick release lever is a lever that will give you about 4 inches of play in your inner forestay/baby stay so that you can pull a pin and remove the stay to get it out of the way if you are going to be frequently tacking a big genny in light winds. It saves time over loosening via a turnbuckle to remove the stay. If you do a web search for ABI Quick Release Lever it'll show you a good picture.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Kai,
That sounds about right. I had more than one conversation with the vendor and he did not outright deride ABI but was saying how long it took them to make up the lever with the company now being off shore. I would think that if you advertised an item for sale that you would have one in stock. Obviously not the case in this situation.
Regards,
JohnL

[slowshoes]

I realize this is a real old thread, but I was just wondering if anyone has used sailboatstuff.com recently? If so, did things go well? They have a port I'm looking for that I can't find anywhere else, but I don't want a bunch of headaches if their not reliable.

Thanks for any info.