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Sailnet´s demise, this suggests...

3K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  SailNet Archive 
#1 ·
I picked this up via the SSCA BB today (7-21) from a Google usenet posting. The poster was apparently trying to retrieve some rigging items that were ordered and showed up at the Sailnet facility in SC.

"Over in the binary group alt.binaries.pictures.sports.o­cean I have posted
the pictures of my visit to Sailnet''s main headquarters in N Charleston
TWICE this morning, just to make sure. Their hours were 0830-1700 ET so I
went there at 9AM. While I was in the parking lot, another sailor drove in
and said he couldn''t get them on the local phone, get emails answered or
FAX them, either. He came to see what I saw.


At 9AM, as you can see in the pictures, the building was locked, a sign
said CLOSED stuck to the front door, the building was dark save for one
night light in the lobby, but, curiously, right inside the front door was a
running copy machine, which may also be the FAX machine. Its LCD display
was lit up. There''s still power to the building.


Well, after going nowhere at 9AM, I walked across the parking lot to
Hospice of Charleston in the next building over and talked to the nice
ladies who were watering their sidewalk garden. I asked them if they''d
seen anyone at Sailnet, recently. One lady said she hadn''t seen anyone in
the parking lot for "some time", as she put it. I walked around to the
County Clerk of Court''s office in the back of the building and talked to
the ladies through the prison bars that protect them from angry voters.
They hadn''t really noticed any activity, but weren''t looking much.
Government employees, they run in a vacuum it seems. I wondered as I left
if they would have even notice the building burning they were in.


I went off to shop my local favorite thrift shop (found a brand new
fishtape, first class quality for $5). As it was after 10AM, I wandered
back to Sailnet to see if anyone had shown up. They had! There was a
nice, grey Mercedes C-230 sports car (see photo) parked in the closest slot
to the building, so I got out of my car, again, and went up to peer into
the darkened building. I knocked and knocked on the front door...no
answer. I walked around to the side of the building where their other
business, something called Oroton-something, and found the keyless entry
door also locked and no response to my knocking. I kept an eye on the
front of the building while I sat in the car, but finally gave up as
whoever was inside never appeared at any of the windows I could see. Maybe
he was contemplating Peggie Hall''s latest suggestions while sitting on a
Porta-Pottie in the employee lounge. Maybe he was hiding, afraid I''d punch
out his lights for not delivering my stuff...(c;


Note to Scott - No rigging and no answers to many poundings. Sorry I can''t
get to your rigging. If you need to have it picked up and can get the
building opened, I''d be glad to take it away for you to have it picked up
at my place.


I''m not saying Sailnet is history. Maybe they''re relocating to palacial
new facilities in some posh industrial area, with 4 times the floor space.
But, from what you and I can see today.....it looks like they are DOT
BOMB...


If you''re waiting for delivery on your credit card orders, better call your
card company and warn them. If you look at the Mercedes in the picture,
you''ll see I handily photographed the LICENSE NUMBER, a SC tag that can be
traced to a person. Two places come to mind who might be interested in
your fraud case:


Charleston County Sheriff''s Office - 843-554-4700
North Charleston City Hall/Cops - 843-554-5700


Ask them what they know and let them know you got no response.


If any of you are already members of Sailnet''s webpage forums, you might
want to copy and paste this message and the pictures to their forum pages.
From reading a few of the posts, most people there don''t even know usenet
exists, much less these newsgroups.


--
Larry"
 
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#2 ·
This has been, and may continue to be, a unique and wonderful forum to share information, and debate boat-related issues.
Unfortunately like all commercial enterprises, the Sailnet forum exists at the mercy of the marketplace, and may just suddenly disappear.
If the rumors of Sailnet’s imminent or extant demise are true, we can expect the forum to simply disappear without warning - perhaps at month-end (billing period).

I don’t expect that the CruisersForum will necessarily fill the needs of this membership, nor replace the Sailnet board, but it may provide a meeting place to stay in touch with developments - and to “tag up” with each other. I will endeavour to maintain a clearing-house of information at http://cruisersforu.com
Specifically at the thread: http://cruisersforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2059
Titled: ”SAILNET Message Board”
Under the “Blue Water Cruising” divider, at the heading “Books, References, Links & Website’ Announcements”

Here’s hoping the rumors are false, and the Sailnet Message Boards remain up & active.
If not, check in at the CruisersForum

Best regards,
Gord May
 
#5 ·
Everyone on the sailjazz lists may have received an email today from Cheryl Boyle . . . for those who haven''t, here it is:

In response to the recent flood of emails, I''ve posted a statement to the web site addressing all the issues raised. If you''re interested you can read the statement at http://www.sailjazz.com/statement.php

We now return you to your regular list traffic.....

Fair Winds,

Cheryl Boyle
 
#6 ·
The article stated that no one had been around for a couple of months. The investors
listed did not return calls. The Boyles did
and the money had run out. Also that there
were complaints at the Better Business Bureau
regarding paid for purchases not being received. Also gave a rundown of Sailnet''s
history and how it was started! You can probably read it on line, it was on the front page of the business section.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the valuable information. This leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. I foolishly responded to last month''s 30% off sale, trying to purchase an Adler/Barbour Cold Machine (CU100) that billed out at ~$530 with discount. Received shipment in a timely manner, however they shipped a Waeco CU-84 that retails @ ~$525; more importantly it puts out about 1/3 the BTUs of the Cold Machine. I was able to stop the credit card charge and was planning to return ship the Waeco, requesting signed receipt. But if they are not there, I don''t know if the return shipment will get back to them. Any suggestions?

Will Burton
s/v Far Niente
 
#8 ·
Will, assuming that - at this moment - you have successfully stopped payment from your credit card vendor, then I would present your question to them. Eventually, they will need to resolve your despute re: the charge and so it will be their opinion of your actions taken that will matter to you.

At the least, I would consider sending a registered-return receipt requested letter to Sailnet, explaining your dilemma and asking for directions on the return of their (incorrect) merchandise. Until they respond appropriately, I´d hold onto the merchandise.

IMO they deserve no consideration when shipping the wrong item and then not offering customer service to resolve such errors.

Jack
 
#9 ·
I found Cheryl Boyle´s ´statement´ to be interesting; thanks to TrueBlue for posting the URL. To me, it mixes some truths (it is indeed hard to mix retailing of product with offering objective product content), some self-serving claims of success (when the Boyles actions - such as buying JSI - proved to be failures), and a distressed claim that an anonymous rumor about them was unfair...but was not refuted.

I know others feel differently about this, but to me this statement has the same ring of angst and claimed unfairness that we have heard before, coupled with lots of promises and little assumed acknowledgement of responsibility for how events unfold. Perhaps when I helped run an international business, we just held ourselves to a higher standard but we would have felt shame at such communications.

I wish them well but am left wondering what they´ve learned from their Sailnet venture.

Jack
 
#10 ·
Was glad to hear the Charleston paper responded to this issue. I sent them an email about what was going on a couple weeks ago. Got called back by an reporter who followed up on the lead. He had sent me an email copy of his article but I wasn''t aware that it actually made the front page of the business section.

I''m in the same condition regarding wrong items. I''ve got two incorrect halyards. I guess I''ll keep one (sta set instead of sta set X) which will work OK even though it wasn''t what I ordered.

Will wait to see how my credit card dispute works out. I may end up still having the other halyard which will not fit through my rope clutches. Eventually, will probably post on e-bay to offload it and let someone else benefit by getting a bargain and reimburse me a little for all the hassle.

I''d suggest doing the same with your refrigeration system. But give it a few months to play out before trying to sell.

Weird thing about this is I feel I''m on a ghost ship on these boards. Company''s gone but the boards drift on (at least for a while). Then they''ll blink out and be gone.
 
#11 ·
Well, it was good to see some of this information in print. I''m afraid that I''m really in a jam on this. I ordered new sails for my Luders 33 from Air Force through SailNet. The main came through in June and the genoa was due to ship on July 6th. Guess what? No genoa. Sailnet billed my card on June 30th, the end of the billing period. I''ve since entered a dispute with my credit card company for the non receipt of merchandise and they will not charge interest on this amount. But, it will remain as an unpaid balance until the case is settled. This is really sad since Air Force builds nice sails. More sad is the fact that I have no genoa and now have to hassle about my payment.

Curt Larsen
 
#12 ·
Anybody know what my options are? I got lured by the sale too and purchased a Seaward water heater for a steal of a price....but problem is....I paid with a debit visa card. Purchase was on July 16 and they have not billed my account yet. I don''t know what the exact total is so there''s no way to stop payment. Any ideas very much appreciated.
 
#13 ·
You might want to contact the Seaward customer service department and explain the situation. I ordered a Seaward water heater last March and it arrived OK. I remember, either on the Sailnet web site or in the confirmation of my order that water heaters are shipped directly from the manufacturer, not from Sailnet. However, don''t know why they would "fire sale" them if they don''t stock them in-house.

If you''re in luck, maybe Sailnet has already sent the order and their payment to Seaward. Or maybe Seaward can make some sort of accomodation. As a supplier to Sailnet they must already be aware of the situation although they may be having their own billing problems with them.

http://www.seawardproducts.com/

Good luck,
 
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