Many thanks to one of our readers for the comment on the type of fuel that OHM now sells.
Apparently, late this summer OHM switched to selling an Ethanol fuel blend. There have been reports on web of numerous engine and gas tank problems experienced by boaters using the Ethanol blended gasoline. As far as we know OHM is the only marina in the area selling the Ethanol blend, however that may change in the future as it may be some sort of mandated switch. We will keep our readers apprised
Here are a couple of links and we will let our readers come to their own conclusions:
http://news.carjunky.com/alternative_fuel_vehicles/boat-engines-ethanol-cde100268.shtml
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080816/ESN02/808160316/-1/ESN
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Fuel Prices
How bout those fuel prices?
On average we calculate that OHM charged $0.35 per liter more than the regular road side pump price all summer. At one point this summer the difference was even higher. An absolutely astounding example of: 1. a crude attempt at price gouging and 2. poor management.
Competitors around the lake typically mark their gas up by approximately $0.20 per liter over road prices and more importantly adjust their prices with the regular pump price fluctuations. OHM likely cannot adjust their prices with pump price fluctuations because they sell so little gas that they are stuck with aging inventory and have no downward pricing flexibility. If they buy high, they are stuck with it, so they'll continue to stick it to us. If they buy low, they'll stick it to us anyway. Heads OHM management attempts to gouge us, tails OHM management attempts to gouge us.
What's entirely lost on the OHM management is competitors close by sell gas for far less than they do and we simply buy all of our fuel elsewhere. OHM management's fuel pricing policies, like much of their other management policies and procedures, are amateurish and laughable when compared to professionally and competently operated marinas.
One question for OHM management: Why would you consistently price your gas above your competitors prices at other marinas on the lake?
Any boater who is travelling in either direction, East, West, or South, will simply buy the bulk of their fuel at the competitors.
Speaking with the students who man the gas dock, they've indicated that gas sales have slowed to a trickle over the past few years as OHM has consistently priced much higher than other marinas in the vicinity. Would it not make more sense to price the gas in line with competitors or, here is an idea: BELOW competitors, and thereby sell more volume with less profit per liter but flowing more segmented profits to the marina? More gas turn over would also give OHM pricing flexibility during the inevitable swings in gas prices over the summer.
These are simple business concepts that are universally accepted in the business of retailing fuel in a competitive landscape. They should be implicit to anyone having the most rudimentary of business education or experience.
Lower gas prices than competitors would attract boaters from nearby marinas, who would buy gas, ice, and additional services, if they offered them. These boaters who come for the lower priced gas could potentially be impressed with OHM and move their boats to the marina, filling up the numerous empty slips creating more profits enabling OHM to provide better service.
Better pricing than the competition enabling more throughput, causing more profits, enabling a higher degree of customer service and satisfaction. What a concept. Too bad its not likely to ever become a reality under current OHM management.
On average we calculate that OHM charged $0.35 per liter more than the regular road side pump price all summer. At one point this summer the difference was even higher. An absolutely astounding example of: 1. a crude attempt at price gouging and 2. poor management.
Competitors around the lake typically mark their gas up by approximately $0.20 per liter over road prices and more importantly adjust their prices with the regular pump price fluctuations. OHM likely cannot adjust their prices with pump price fluctuations because they sell so little gas that they are stuck with aging inventory and have no downward pricing flexibility. If they buy high, they are stuck with it, so they'll continue to stick it to us. If they buy low, they'll stick it to us anyway. Heads OHM management attempts to gouge us, tails OHM management attempts to gouge us.
What's entirely lost on the OHM management is competitors close by sell gas for far less than they do and we simply buy all of our fuel elsewhere. OHM management's fuel pricing policies, like much of their other management policies and procedures, are amateurish and laughable when compared to professionally and competently operated marinas.
One question for OHM management: Why would you consistently price your gas above your competitors prices at other marinas on the lake?
Any boater who is travelling in either direction, East, West, or South, will simply buy the bulk of their fuel at the competitors.
Speaking with the students who man the gas dock, they've indicated that gas sales have slowed to a trickle over the past few years as OHM has consistently priced much higher than other marinas in the vicinity. Would it not make more sense to price the gas in line with competitors or, here is an idea: BELOW competitors, and thereby sell more volume with less profit per liter but flowing more segmented profits to the marina? More gas turn over would also give OHM pricing flexibility during the inevitable swings in gas prices over the summer.
These are simple business concepts that are universally accepted in the business of retailing fuel in a competitive landscape. They should be implicit to anyone having the most rudimentary of business education or experience.
Lower gas prices than competitors would attract boaters from nearby marinas, who would buy gas, ice, and additional services, if they offered them. These boaters who come for the lower priced gas could potentially be impressed with OHM and move their boats to the marina, filling up the numerous empty slips creating more profits enabling OHM to provide better service.
Better pricing than the competition enabling more throughput, causing more profits, enabling a higher degree of customer service and satisfaction. What a concept. Too bad its not likely to ever become a reality under current OHM management.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Punitive and Arbitrary Billing after Oct. 31.
This post stems from several complaints this blog has received regarding seasonal boaters receiving punitive and arbitrary bills after Oct. 31 or before May 1.
The bottom line is that if you do not store your boat at OHM for the winter you must have it removed from the marina by no later than Oct 31. lest you receive a bill in the mail for the daily transient rate for your slip for the number of days you stay in your slip after Oct. 31. This can add up to big bucks for the uninformed.
A large number of boaters do not haul out at OHM because of various concerns ranging from: staff attitude and handling of their boats, to raccoons, to theft/lack of security, to just plain old preference for another winter storage location.
The complaints we heard stemmed from bills sent out after the Oct.31 in seasons past. Some boaters who did winter their boats at OHM moved their boats within a few days. For their transgression against the marina they received daily bills at transient rates for the few days "extra" they docked at OHM after Oct 31. The bills came several weeks after the fact, without notification to the customer nor consent of the customer and amounted in some instances to several hundred dollars of entirely punitive fees to those boaters.
Logic would dictate that there would be some leeway and flex on BOTH ends of what is a seasonal endeavour. However, if management insisted on charging for those days then:
1. The boaters should have been notified by phone or email that the marina intended on sending them invoices. A grace period should have been granted AND/OR
2. The rates should have been prorated to reflect the average daily rate for a seasonal boater, not the daily transient rates.
The aforementioned 2 points amount to "customer service 101" management/customer compromises.
To add insult to injury, when these boaters protested they were simply informed that they had to pay the transient bills or not be able renew their slip rentals for the following year.
Furthermore, management has taken a hard and fast approach to anyone wishing to dock ahead of their arbitrary May 1 start date insisting any seasonal boater who does not winter their boat at OHM must pay the daily transient rate in advance of May 1. Again, customer service logic, good business practice, just plain common sense would dictate some leeway "at no charge" or if management absolutely insists, prorating the daily charges to the seasonal rate.
The taste boaters are left with is, unless you winter your boat at OHM then management is going to put you in the penalty box.
We disagree wholeheartedly with this entirely insulting and arbitrary approach and any one who has had the remotest of involvement with customer service related business would indeed echo the sentiment.
The bottom line is that if you do not store your boat at OHM for the winter you must have it removed from the marina by no later than Oct 31. lest you receive a bill in the mail for the daily transient rate for your slip for the number of days you stay in your slip after Oct. 31. This can add up to big bucks for the uninformed.
A large number of boaters do not haul out at OHM because of various concerns ranging from: staff attitude and handling of their boats, to raccoons, to theft/lack of security, to just plain old preference for another winter storage location.
The complaints we heard stemmed from bills sent out after the Oct.31 in seasons past. Some boaters who did winter their boats at OHM moved their boats within a few days. For their transgression against the marina they received daily bills at transient rates for the few days "extra" they docked at OHM after Oct 31. The bills came several weeks after the fact, without notification to the customer nor consent of the customer and amounted in some instances to several hundred dollars of entirely punitive fees to those boaters.
Logic would dictate that there would be some leeway and flex on BOTH ends of what is a seasonal endeavour. However, if management insisted on charging for those days then:
1. The boaters should have been notified by phone or email that the marina intended on sending them invoices. A grace period should have been granted AND/OR
2. The rates should have been prorated to reflect the average daily rate for a seasonal boater, not the daily transient rates.
The aforementioned 2 points amount to "customer service 101" management/customer compromises.
To add insult to injury, when these boaters protested they were simply informed that they had to pay the transient bills or not be able renew their slip rentals for the following year.
Furthermore, management has taken a hard and fast approach to anyone wishing to dock ahead of their arbitrary May 1 start date insisting any seasonal boater who does not winter their boat at OHM must pay the daily transient rate in advance of May 1. Again, customer service logic, good business practice, just plain common sense would dictate some leeway "at no charge" or if management absolutely insists, prorating the daily charges to the seasonal rate.
The taste boaters are left with is, unless you winter your boat at OHM then management is going to put you in the penalty box.
We disagree wholeheartedly with this entirely insulting and arbitrary approach and any one who has had the remotest of involvement with customer service related business would indeed echo the sentiment.
Garbage Floating Everywhere All Summer
One substantive problem at OHM is the amount of refuse floating in and around the docks.
The picture above is a familiar sight to OHM boaters.
Most marinas have staffers collect and skim the garbage so it does not collect in various slips. The two fundamental reasons for this are:
1. A clean looking and clean smelling marina.
2. Reduction of waterborne hazards for boaters. Garbage fouls and damages props and it can get sucked up into fresh water intakes potentially causing expensive engine and system failures.
The garbage is simply allowed to float around at OHM stateless and homeless. The carcasses of dead fish are allowed to "naturally" decompose and all of the refuse makes it way around the slips of OHM paying boaters impromptu visits. One notices its arrival usually with its less than fragrant scent. OHM management needs to find the flotsam and jetsam a home. Management needs to welcome the floating biology experiments with open arms and a large dumpster.
Over the years we've seen everything from construction cones to coolers floating by our docks. Not once have we seen a staffer picking up this refuse from the water.
Every wonder what that smell is? Try looking beside your boat for the piles of floating plastic, seaweed and dead fish. We think that OHM management must just hope that the garbage will float away. Where it ultimately ends up collecting of course, is on the far shore across from the docks where it "decorates" the landscape. By the end of the summer as the water level drops, the shoreline starts to resemble a garbage dump.
Garbage fouling your props? Plastic refuse clogging your fresh water engine or air conditioning intakes. Twenty pound carp decomposing just feet upwind of you and your guests? That couldn't possibly be something OHM management is supposed to deal with as a normal function of marina management could it?
Hmmm...We wonder what would happen to the manger of the office building you work at or the hotel you last stayed in if he or she simply hoped the gum wrappers, general waste and room service trays accumulating in the hallways and corridors of those buildings would simply "float away"...hmmmm
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Blog Reader Response
The following is a recent response from one of our readers. We couldn't have said it better ourselves:
"This forum has been born out of the frustration of hundreds of OHM boat slip renters who have experienced the exceptionally poor customer service provided by the OHM on site management.
For over 10 years even with a change in managers this staff is confrontational, disrespectful and rude to virtually every boat owner that has a question or a need for support. Draconian methods of administration enforcement such as access cards being blocked and ridiculous methods of slip registration terms are the tools that this management utilizes to alienate their client base.
Everyone who has a year or more experience with the OHM management has a “you will not believe this” story about being abused by the OHM on site management and you could fill the Rogers Centre with people who have a profound dislike for the services provided.
How does this poor service persist?? It is very simple , the Port Authority the governing body for the OHM have little to no “position awareness” of the poor service and don’t understand the value of the OHM asset as a marina destination and money generator. Add to this a union environment where yard staff cannot be terminated for poor service and or theft and you have the primordial soup for profound poor service.
What should be done??
First the Board of the Port Authority needs to receive hundreds of formal complaints about the current OHM management, so let’s all deliver a united voice!
Second, the management needs to be replaced with new management from the private sector with deep and successful experience in marina management.
The OHM represents a million dollar location with wonderful docks and a unique environment nestled within the Leslie Street Spit. Sadly this treasure is managed by perhaps Canada’s worst customer service on site marine management. Without the union job security blanket these people enjoy, they would not last a week in the private sector service industry."
"This forum has been born out of the frustration of hundreds of OHM boat slip renters who have experienced the exceptionally poor customer service provided by the OHM on site management.
For over 10 years even with a change in managers this staff is confrontational, disrespectful and rude to virtually every boat owner that has a question or a need for support. Draconian methods of administration enforcement such as access cards being blocked and ridiculous methods of slip registration terms are the tools that this management utilizes to alienate their client base.
Everyone who has a year or more experience with the OHM management has a “you will not believe this” story about being abused by the OHM on site management and you could fill the Rogers Centre with people who have a profound dislike for the services provided.
How does this poor service persist?? It is very simple , the Port Authority the governing body for the OHM have little to no “position awareness” of the poor service and don’t understand the value of the OHM asset as a marina destination and money generator. Add to this a union environment where yard staff cannot be terminated for poor service and or theft and you have the primordial soup for profound poor service.
What should be done??
First the Board of the Port Authority needs to receive hundreds of formal complaints about the current OHM management, so let’s all deliver a united voice!
Second, the management needs to be replaced with new management from the private sector with deep and successful experience in marina management.
The OHM represents a million dollar location with wonderful docks and a unique environment nestled within the Leslie Street Spit. Sadly this treasure is managed by perhaps Canada’s worst customer service on site marine management. Without the union job security blanket these people enjoy, they would not last a week in the private sector service industry."
Haul Out and Launch Scheduling
Take a number.
The haul out and launch scheduling is quite frankly the most disorganized and customer unfriendly event of both the start and the end of every season. It automatically begins and ends the season by leaving a foul taste in OHM boater's mouths.
Boaters can't launch on their timetable as in every other privately run marina, they must haul out and launch on OHM staff schedule. This policy is as odds with every customer. This is a service business. Give us a break OHM.
Want to launch your boat early and get a jump on the season? Sorry we can't do that. Take a number. If you have not booked months and months in advance you are going to have to wait.
Every other privately run marina on the planet hires extra staff to handle the extra work at launch and haul out time. One boater informed us that he called OHM to schedule an early haul out (he was going out of country) but was not on the list. When he asked if he could pay an extra charge to have staff work over time to pull his boat, this was the response:
"We've had union grievances about some workers getting overtime so you will have to wait in line". Of course he will, he'll just drop everything in his life and work around OHM's schedule. No Problem.
So basically, you can interpret OHM's response as, some OHM workers are willing to work over time to accommodate customer service requests but the union is dictating that every customer get treated with equal contempt. Only at OHM.
What is OHM's throughput (boats lifted and blocked, fall, or lifted and launched, spring)? We estimate is no more than 8 to 15 per day, tops. Other marinas we checked with, hire extra staff and their throughput is double, triple or quadruple that. What does it translate to? Of course, the higher the throughput, the better able the marina is to work around the customer's schedules, not the other way around. What a concept.
When we as boaters enevitably share these stories with other boaters at other marinas the reaction is priceless. Nobody can believe that in this day and age that a service business can actually get away with sticking it to their customer base as only OHM management knows how to do.
The haul out and launch scheduling is quite frankly the most disorganized and customer unfriendly event of both the start and the end of every season. It automatically begins and ends the season by leaving a foul taste in OHM boater's mouths.
Boaters can't launch on their timetable as in every other privately run marina, they must haul out and launch on OHM staff schedule. This policy is as odds with every customer. This is a service business. Give us a break OHM.
Want to launch your boat early and get a jump on the season? Sorry we can't do that. Take a number. If you have not booked months and months in advance you are going to have to wait.
Every other privately run marina on the planet hires extra staff to handle the extra work at launch and haul out time. One boater informed us that he called OHM to schedule an early haul out (he was going out of country) but was not on the list. When he asked if he could pay an extra charge to have staff work over time to pull his boat, this was the response:
"We've had union grievances about some workers getting overtime so you will have to wait in line". Of course he will, he'll just drop everything in his life and work around OHM's schedule. No Problem.
So basically, you can interpret OHM's response as, some OHM workers are willing to work over time to accommodate customer service requests but the union is dictating that every customer get treated with equal contempt. Only at OHM.
What is OHM's throughput (boats lifted and blocked, fall, or lifted and launched, spring)? We estimate is no more than 8 to 15 per day, tops. Other marinas we checked with, hire extra staff and their throughput is double, triple or quadruple that. What does it translate to? Of course, the higher the throughput, the better able the marina is to work around the customer's schedules, not the other way around. What a concept.
When we as boaters enevitably share these stories with other boaters at other marinas the reaction is priceless. Nobody can believe that in this day and age that a service business can actually get away with sticking it to their customer base as only OHM management knows how to do.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Blog Topic Suggestions
Please submit your suggestions for Blog topics to: ohmboaters@gmail.com
Or post your suggestions in the comment box by clicking comments at the bottom of any post.
Also pass the blog along to you fellow boaters. The more of us that participate the better our chances of positive change at OHM.
Or post your suggestions in the comment box by clicking comments at the bottom of any post.
Also pass the blog along to you fellow boaters. The more of us that participate the better our chances of positive change at OHM.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)