Latest issue with Brittany Ferries

Blackal

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Seems that the ferry to Spain from South Coast has had an issue with the loading ramp for bikes (internal ramp?)- on the hydraulics (reported) and there are no bikes being carried until next Saturday? - the 19th approx??

Believe it is the Cap Finistere Bilbao ferry

If you are booked on it - best do a check soon with BF:nenau
 
It is now back up and running as I'm currently on it!
However they are running 5 hrs behind schedule. But in fairness to them, they sent me an e-mail and text message almost 24hrs in advance. Luckily we don't have to far to travel when we get off the ferry.
 
their fleet is a bit shonky - we were delayed leaving Santander due to a "technical fault" on the Baie de Seine

I hope the new boats coming from China are not based on the BMW model of beta testing in service...
 
We got caught in this on Tuesday morning on our return and ended up riding to Caen for a Wednesday night crossing. I was talking to a regular that had made four crossings this year and he claimed they’d experienced a breakdown on every trip. He was clearly losing faith in BF.
 
Interesting - I tried booking a few hours ago on the web site, and really struggled (gave up in the end, will call them I think). Also saying many of the crossings are full. May not be going afterall. I believe the ferry sailings stop for winter (?) at the end of the month...
 
I would rather ride through france after using them this year.
 
When I arrive for ferries to Morocco and ask what time it’s leaving the guy at the port usually raises his arms and says ‘soon’........think Brit ferries should adopt this time schedule....:D
 
Fun and games this morning - 2020 summer/autumn dates released but their website is as reliable as their boats so lots of reports of frustrated potential customers due to server overload. Like many others, I still persisted as I can't do without my autumn trip. Eventually at 1am I managed to get a booking for late Sept into Oct 2020.
 
They should have ultra-reliable, bang up to date vessels - after all, they are making a fortune!!!! :blast

No - they fucking ain’t, but people continue to gouge every last (ineligible) discount out of them - by passing around the discount codes to (as Wapping would put it - over 600 times) “bikermates”.......

But - everyone loves lumping it into BF. Show some integrity - boycott them........... that’ll show them!!!

Grrrrrrrr!
 
Blackal said:
They should have ultra-reliable, bang up to date vessels - after all, they are making a fortune!!!! :blast

No - they fucking ain’t, but people continue to gouge every last (ineligible) discount out of them - by passing around the discount codes to (as Wapping would put it - over 600 times) “bikermates”.......

But - everyone loves lumping it into BF. Show some integrity - boycott them........... that’ll show them!!!

Grrrrrrrr!
Click to expand...

We didn’t get a discount code this year. Paid full price. The boat was still built like a floating camper van.
 
GAM263 said:
We got caught in this on Tuesday morning on our return and ended up riding to Caen for a Wednesday night crossing. I was talking to a regular that had made four crossings this year and he claimed they’d experienced a breakdown on every trip. He was clearly losing faith in BF.
Click to expand...

We were delayed at both crossings on 8/10 & 15/10

Piss Poor
 
Lack of competition is the real issue. We have very limited choice.

Not going next year but the year after will only go one way and come back via St Malo
 
You can bet your life that if there were fortunes to be made, another existing ferry company would be setting up in competition. Alternatively, if anyone thinks that a profitable service with better boats, cheaper food, better service for bikes, bigger cabins, more crossings, easier booking etc, there's nothing stopping them setting one up. Just like Brittany Ferries, you'll need to borrow a fair bit to buy a boat or two and, while I haven't investigated, I'm guessing they're not cheap. Staff will want paying too.

Using the ferry isn't compulsory and everyone has a choice. Brittany Ferries aren't obliged to offer particular levels of service and a coincidental monopoly of the route isn;t really a monopoly while Spain is still joined to France and there are plenty of other ways of getting to France.

£550 quid for a return trip in June doesn't seem too bad to me. It includes two nights' accommodation, albeit not in the most salubrious of surroundings, and saves either time or a long and tedious motorway journey through France and a few tankfuls of fuel. Admittedly there's less risk of seasickness riding in France.

The website was atrocious on the day the new dates were released and on a Facebook group I look at there were tales of woe and lots of "oh my God, they've sold out all crossing in June already." I tried that evening and the website kept crashing. Tried on Friday during the day and everything was quick and easy, with loads of space left. The total cost for next June is actually less than it was for June 2018.

If there are breakdowns resulting in changed plans, we'll cross the bridge when we come to it.
 
Quinten said:
You can bet your life that if there were fortunes to be made, another existing ferry company would be setting up in competition.
Click to expand...

Agreed in spades. Wasn't it DFDS who used to be in competition with BF from Poole but gave it up because there wasn't enough money to support the service? Condor do advertise a Poole-St Malo service but only via Jersey which takes a lot longer and isn't cheaper. And Condor aren't exactly known for running the most reliable of services due to their cats not running so well in rough weather.
 
If there are breakdowns resulting in changed plans, we'll cross the bridge when we come to it.
Click to expand...

They have built a bridge to Spain?

Your observations are spot on.
 
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