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."
Thursday, October 2, 2008
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.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Why did we create this blog?
This blog has been created by concerned boaters who have witnessed the gradual, steady and consistent decline of Outer Harbour Marina over the course of more than a decade. Anyone who shares the same concerns is welcome to comment.
We want OHM to achieve a level of excellence in maintenance and management that its spectacular location merits but its current and past management seems incapable of delivering. We will attempt to be objective as possible in our comments.
We will not name names only point out management practices and shortcomings. When at all possible we will document with pictures. We all share a love for boating. That's why we are here. We have a very well located marina in a beautiful natural setting which is unfortunately run by an entrenched, hierarchical management team who could care less about anything remotely resembling positive customer service and adequate maintenance.
This blog hopes to point out the obvious flaws and short comings in management who in any other company setting would surely have been "reassigned" to non management and non front line tasks ages ago.
The hope is by pointing out the obvious as opposed to privately grumbling about all of the problems, that management will actually start managing OHM for the benefit of their customers.
We all spend a lot of money on this pastime we love called boating and we deserve to be treated accordingly by anyone working at OHM.
From the filthy bathrooms to the surly and arbitrary treatment we get from senior management at OHM we will expose it all in hope of provoking positive change from a management bureaucracy that has a service ethic which is remarkably similar to the old Soviet politburo.
OHM has deteriorated dramatically in terms of service and maintenance. Enough is enough. The Toronto Port Authority owes us better. Please post your comments or contact us directly at: ohmboaters@gmail.com
We want OHM to achieve a level of excellence in maintenance and management that its spectacular location merits but its current and past management seems incapable of delivering. We will attempt to be objective as possible in our comments.
We will not name names only point out management practices and shortcomings. When at all possible we will document with pictures. We all share a love for boating. That's why we are here. We have a very well located marina in a beautiful natural setting which is unfortunately run by an entrenched, hierarchical management team who could care less about anything remotely resembling positive customer service and adequate maintenance.
This blog hopes to point out the obvious flaws and short comings in management who in any other company setting would surely have been "reassigned" to non management and non front line tasks ages ago.
The hope is by pointing out the obvious as opposed to privately grumbling about all of the problems, that management will actually start managing OHM for the benefit of their customers.
We all spend a lot of money on this pastime we love called boating and we deserve to be treated accordingly by anyone working at OHM.
From the filthy bathrooms to the surly and arbitrary treatment we get from senior management at OHM we will expose it all in hope of provoking positive change from a management bureaucracy that has a service ethic which is remarkably similar to the old Soviet politburo.
OHM has deteriorated dramatically in terms of service and maintenance. Enough is enough. The Toronto Port Authority owes us better. Please post your comments or contact us directly at: ohmboaters@gmail.com
AN OPEN LETTER TO MARINA MANAGEMENT
It is apparent that marina management completely forgotten what it is that keeps the marine industry going. It isn’t the marina management or their competition. It isn’t the suppliers, surveyors, brokers, mechanics, technicians or yard workers who depend on the industry for whatever share of the business that happens to come their way.
It is the boat owners, because without the boat owners there would be no marine industry. There would be no marinas, no yard workers, no labor employed in maintaining, building, upgrading, docking and storing the boats.
Ultimately, the entire recreational boating infrastructure from new boat construction, to marinas, to sail makers, to accessory vendors, to all the miscellaneous labor associated with maintaining and upgrading boats is paid for by a large group of silent individuals.
Outer Harbor Marina management needs to remember it is the vast, silent, group of owners who pay for their salaries. Their money and their desire for recreation on the water: that’s what enables every last person employed at Outer Harbor Marina to be a part of the business of boats.
These owners neither have protection nor representation. But that can change very quickly. In our view is that in all matters relating to the aforementioned issues, the management of Outer Harbor Marina needs to remember who ultimately picks up the tab. Please clean up the marina. Please treat us with the respect we deserve. Please do your job.
The management owes this vast majority of owners, without whom there is no business, to care about us.
It is the boat owners, because without the boat owners there would be no marine industry. There would be no marinas, no yard workers, no labor employed in maintaining, building, upgrading, docking and storing the boats.
Ultimately, the entire recreational boating infrastructure from new boat construction, to marinas, to sail makers, to accessory vendors, to all the miscellaneous labor associated with maintaining and upgrading boats is paid for by a large group of silent individuals.
Outer Harbor Marina management needs to remember it is the vast, silent, group of owners who pay for their salaries. Their money and their desire for recreation on the water: that’s what enables every last person employed at Outer Harbor Marina to be a part of the business of boats.
These owners neither have protection nor representation. But that can change very quickly. In our view is that in all matters relating to the aforementioned issues, the management of Outer Harbor Marina needs to remember who ultimately picks up the tab. Please clean up the marina. Please treat us with the respect we deserve. Please do your job.
The management owes this vast majority of owners, without whom there is no business, to care about us.
Boats, On Blocks, In Parking Areas, All Summer
The boat on the left was parked in the "A" dock parking lot ALL summer.
This was extraordinarily hazardous especially on the weekends when the parking lot was crowded.
It would have been very easy for a car to have brushed up against this boat and knocked it over possibly injuring (or worse) customers in the process.
Fender benders happen all the time in parking lots don't they? Repeated complaints about this hazard to management went unanswered.
Why did management not move this boat? Has management ever left the office over the course of the summer to inspect the grounds? We'd be surprised.
Potholes anyone?.......anyone?
We are talking potholes big enough to damage your suspension and perhaps swallow a Smart Car.
These potholes normally get filled by June or July. This year they simply didn't get filled.
Why can't the OHM management fill them in the spring before the season starts? Don't they have to spend the same amount of money regardless of timing?
How hard is it to pick up the phone to the road repair guys in the springtime?
These potholes normally get filled by June or July. This year they simply didn't get filled.
Why can't the OHM management fill them in the spring before the season starts? Don't they have to spend the same amount of money regardless of timing?
How hard is it to pick up the phone to the road repair guys in the springtime?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)