Important
News Update 1 June 2016
We moved to Ireland
in 2008 to retire, and effectively ceased to
produce anything, except to special order after
that date.
Since then we have
always provided technical backup on request and
offered a repair service on request.
We intend to still
offer any technical help we can for as long as
possible.
However,
as of now, we will no longer be offering any
repair services at all for UK customers, unless
private arrangements are made for delivery and
collection.
This is not of our
choosing, it is because of the obstructive,
ridiculous and totally ill considered ban,
virtually world wide, on posting batteries and
products containing batteries. The British Royal
Mail in particular are being utterly over zealous
on this matter- despite the fact that we
have been sending batteries by post, worldwide,
for 40 years without problems. The Royal
Mail have also recently increased overseas
packets cost hugely, as well as seemingly
deliberately delaying the same, plus damaging or
losing overseas parcels much more lately!
Customers in Ireland
should still contact us by
email or at events, since we may still be able to
help.
Other EU countries do
not seem to be quite so difficult, but the UK
situation is now quite untenable due to Royal
Mail nastiness, and is trying to push small
traders out of business.
With that attitude
persisting and the fact that we only continued
out of goodwill, we have now decided to
cease UK repairs unless delivered. There is no
point in continuing.
We apologise to our
past customers and thank them for their custom,
the real villain in the piece seems to be the
excessive culture, to the point of absurdity
ofHeath and Safety within the EU and most
particularly within the the UK. The rest of the
world is laughing it's head off at us, and
rubbing it's hands with glee as they pick up
business from the loss of smaller EU traders.
A secondary factor for
our closing is something which has been getting
worse for 15 years, that is the appalling state
of British club rowing. Those smaller British
clubs and their members were our main, and highly
valued, customers.
The Elite groups,
major Universities and public schools chose to
buy overpriced and not always good quality
foreign rowing equipment to use up their
overlarge funding grants, to the detriment of UK
rowing suppliers- indeed British Rowing officials
made it clear, very unofficially of course, that
progress at selection level depended on doing
what they dictated, this including using
their 'preferred' equipment !
BR now is only
interested in itself on power trip, plus
supporting a few elite athletes , whilst
milking the little clubs for no return.
UK Club rowing has
dwindled of late due to many factors, not least
being the imposition, on voluntarily run clubs of
excessive admin and 'Safety' bureaucracy,
combined with needless excessive fees going to BR
which has all then driven people out of the sport.
UK Umpiring now has
become a joke when many Umpires no longer attend
event to ensure fair racing, but simply go to
pick trivial faults with the event and its
competitors and acting as Health and Safety
police, wasting organisers and rowers time.
The average person
sees this votes with their feet away from rowing
and away goes the customer!
One can only BR sees
the light before it is too late for the sport-
already the outside public regard rowing as
elitist again- something we had got away from for
while. Maybe bring back the NARA?
a
Existing
Customers can contact us for
advice via email. DO NOT send repairs.
*
see above note for Ireland
Thank
you for your custom over the years.
Davies
Rowtech /Davies Racing Boats 1985 to 2016
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