Caiman Agency

Bus Driver · Post by **Bus Driver** » Sun Jan 01, 2006 8:25 pm

Hi Folks, This is niether a rant or a rave but rather a notice to you all. i have ceased trading with Caiman. I still have some stock of paddles and a C1 for details see the for sale forum.
Steve steve.bright62@tiscali.co.uk

eauxvives.org · Post by **eauxvives.org** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 11:13 am

... same situation in France

anthony brown · Post by **anthony brown** » Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:16 pm

same situation in Australia with Caiman products

orange · Post by **orange** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 10:27 am

I ordered 2 wwr and specified the lay up down to each cloth. When the boats arrived they were totaly different from the specification. The hull was carbon kevlar rather than just kevlar. Caiman already had the money. What can you do!

raeofsunshine · Post by **raeofsunshine** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:15 am

Looking at this from a legal point of view and although am not sure how this would apply as its a foreign company. This comes under the Sale of Goods act 1979. The make up of the boat is a fundamental clause in the contract and they are obviously in breach of this contract. You have the right to rescind the contract- ie money back, boat back.

Purple Boy · Post by **Purple Boy** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 10:47 am

I'm a recipient of a Caiman boat built incorrectly to order from Steve Bright's last shipment. It was ordered with a Dark Purple deck but the boat I received had a pale Lilac one. Caiman have flatly refused to replace the boat and, after a lot of hard work from Steve, have not even offered a compromise.
They have shown a complete disregard for their customers (I am not alone in having a problem with recent deliveries) and their agent and at times have been openly hostile, rude and insulting.
Please be warned if you order directly from Caiman, be very, very specific with your requirements and keep your fingers crossed 'cos if it's wrong when you take delivery, in my experience, you're stuck with it!!

Discoloured · Post by **Discoloured** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:12 pm

Disappointment with colours is not just a Caiman problem. I bought a boat from another manufacturer [rather not say who as I was otherwise happy with the boat] and the colour used was far from that specified. I knew that choosing an RAL number and name from a computer screen was always going to be a risk, but the colour difference was so great [in the same league as purple to pale lilac] that I suspect that they just used a different colour for some reason.

Dutch Geezer · Post by **Dutch Geezer** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 7:03 pm

I dont know if I supplied the boat to "discoloured" or not, but I would like to explain about colours and how DD use the RAL chart.

I have tried to match the RAL sample cards to a known colour and its quite difficult as the gradient is qute steep, there are not many steps between light and dark shades of a colour. Add in a computer screen and the problem becomes worse due to colour settings on the computer.

When a customer supplies a RAL number DD consult a chart which gives a breakdown of how much pigment to put into the gelcoat to achieve the relevant colour, I'm afraid its not quite as scientific as going to Focus and getting a tin of paint mixed and yes sometimes the colours are not quite what people are expecting.

The problem is that until the boat is laminated and pulled from the mould, you cant tell how close the colour is to what was ordered, hence the disclaimer, we try to match as close as possible but cant guarantee.

Bus Driver · Post by **Bus Driver** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:36 pm

VivienneM · Post by **VivienneM** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 5:46 pm

Caiman have explained to us that the ' A ' construction now has the last 100 cm of the tail in kevlar / carbon - for strength and flexibilty. We are happy with this as anything to try to prevent broken tails is welcome.

Bus Driver · Post by **Bus Driver** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 9:36 pm