BeneteauOwners.com to close this month

[Phil Herring]

It is with great sadness that we will be closing BeneteauOwners.com later this month.

We have been contacted by attorneys for Groupe Beneteau who have informed us that we are violating their trademark. BeneteauOwners.com has been operating for 20 years with Beneteau's knowledge but no formal agreement. Without that agreement, this can happen.

As a result, here's what's next:

- The forum for Beneteau owners will remain untouched, right where it is.

- At the end of January, the BeneteauOwners.com domain will forward to SailboatOwners.com until June 1. On June 2nd the domain will go offline.

- The photos, specs, downloads, and other resources on our site for Beneteau owners will be absorbed by SailboatOwners.com later this year, as part of a full site overhaul.

- Please note, this does NOT affect any other sites but BeneteauOwners.com

We deeply regret the inconvenience but rest assured that no content will be lost in the consolidation. As always, thanks for your support.

 

[Davidasailor26]

Sorry to hear that Beneteau would think it’s bad to have a place for owners to collaborate and talk about the enjoyment they’re having on their Beneteaus. I understand the lawyers need to protect their trademark but it’s still an unfortunate decision.

Glad that all of the content and chance to talk about our boats will still be here under the SBO site. At the end of the day that’s what really matters. Thanks for preserving it @Phil Herring!

 

[kloudie1]

Maybe if a BeanyToe owner's group got a petition together to ask the law folks to give a solution that benefits owners and the coompany instead of combative tactics??

 

[JBP-PA]

Hmm, I wonder about Jeanneau-owners.com

 

[Hollyberry]

Hmm, I wonder about Jeanneau-owners.com

Yeah... same parent company, I believe..

 

[BigEasy]

Phil,
Thanks for the heads up regarding the closure of Beneteau owners. Perhaps with everything Beneteau now located in France, their legal department is now taking a more stringent stance. Seems that anything that keeps the Beneteau brand in the public domain and a site that is beneficial to Beneteau owners would be of value to the Beneteau organization. In any event, the important thing is that all of the content will be preserved at sail boat owners. Much thanks for all that you do.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Regardless of their lawyer's reasoning, it is truly a stupid move on their part.

Whenever I see questions on boating forums that include "Which boat should I buy?" I always suggest finding out if there is a strong and useful Owners Association. Those are THE places to go for TRUE support for any prospective purchase. Owners Associations are THE place to go to avoid reinventing the wheel when it comes to repairs and improvements for your boat. Almost every individual Catalina model, not only the brand,, has their own Owners Association, plus input from folks here.

Why anyone would think that removing a source of good helpful information about their very own product is a good thing is beyond my ability to understand. In my over two decades of being active on multiple boating forums, I've noticed that finding information about and parts for Beneteau boats appears to be a recurring and difficult problem for their owners and applaud Phil and his crew for keeping up the information. Beneteau should thank them rather than being so threatening.

 

[Slider]

Why not just change the name of our site to B boats? How could the jerks win that case?

 

[dmdiehl64]

There are certainly creative work arounds as Slider suggests but not sure the benefit. This is unfortunate considering Beneteau also took away public access to their comprehensive parts website recently. Good business acumen tells me however that margins aren’t made selling assets (boats, cars, motorcycles), it’s made repairing them. Sounds like a strategic set of moves by Beneteau to improve revenue.

 

[Davidasailor26]

Beneteau also took away public access to their comprehensive parts website recently.

To be fair you can still get access to their parts website. You just need to contact a dealer who will provide login credentials. You search the catalog like before, and any orders get fulfilled by that dealer.

 

[dmdiehl64]

I haven't had any luck with our local dealer. Do you have a good dealer reference?

 

[Stu Jackson]

This is unfortunate considering Beneteau also took away public access to their comprehensive parts website recently. Good business acumen tells me however that margins aren’t made selling assets (boats, cars, motorcycles), it’s made repairing them. Sounds like a strategic set of moves by Beneteau to improve revenue.

Just the opposite.
How can making it harder for their very own customers to get help and parts be good?

 

[Davidasailor26]

I haven't had any luck with our local dealer. Do you have a good dealer reference?

We went through G Winters Sailing Center in New Jersey because that was our original dealer. Not sure if they're the best for people who aren't local. There was a post a little while back about one Michigan based dealer who it seemed like would be willing to help -

Kathy Fulbright
Sail Place Inc.
3003 Lakeshore Dr.
Muskegon, MI 49441
(616) 485-3613
Kathy@SailPlace.com

 

[BigEasy]

I haven't had any luck with our local dealer. Do you have a good dealer reference?

I used Annapolis Yacht Sales (AYS). I have used them in the past and they were very personable and very quick to ship my order. They set up my current account with Beneteau to enable me to access the Beneteau online parts catalog and will handle any future orders for me. AYS is not my local dealer; however, they have a staffed parts department that you can call and speak to someone if necessary.

 

[JRacer]

Sounds to me like they want the ability to use the site name themselves. Otherwise, it seems they would license it to you for "One Dollar and other consideration" to keep the name working for them. Of course, anything they put up will be in French. ;-)

 

[Gerard56]

It is totally stupid. We have in France, not a site but a huge forum for the oceanis and we never had any trouble with them. We have within the forum members a cruse race every year and they support ans sponsor it.
Link to this forum : Forum Oceanis

 

[Serenity on Hudson]

The French!

 

[Gerard56]

???

 

[Bluenose]

What a bunch of twits they are. First they close the factory in one of the biggest markets in the world and now this???
Island Packet, Catalina, and others owners group do not have any issues, nor do many, many others.
Absolutely disgraceful behaviour.
Sounds like a First Amendment challenge to me.......and I am a Canadian!

 

[Bluenose]

Regardless of their lawyer's reasoning, it is truly a stupid move on their part.

Whenever I see questions on boating forums that include "Which boat should I buy?" I always suggest finding out if there is a strong and useful Owners Association. Those are THE places to go for TRUE support for any prospective purchase. Owners Associations are THE place to go to avoid reinventing the wheel when it comes to repairs and improvements for your boat. Almost every individual Catalina model, not only the brand,, has their own Owners Association, plus input from folks here.

Why anyone would think that removing a source of good helpful information about their very own product is a good thing is beyond my ability to understand. In my over two decades of being active on multiple boating forums, I've noticed that finding information about and parts for Beneteau boats appears to be a recurring and difficult problem for their owners and applaud Phil and his crew for keeping up the information. Beneteau should thank them rather than being so threatening.

WELL SAID!