Looks like launch date has been pushed back to early July 2021! That means we will be heading around the south of France in the peak and very busy summer season and the leisurely cruise eastwards will be much more time bound.
We were chatting to Chris a couple of weeks ago about boat details and enquired about the delivery date from Beneteau, but when he looked on the system he realised the April date had been pushed back to "Week 23". We said that we were not happy with this and we followed it up with an email to Chris, saying we felt the disappointed and let down and also surprised he hadn't known about the date. He then got onto Beneteau (including forwarding our email), but basically they would not be moved, citing their current factory restructuring as the main reason for delays. Chris was happy to refund our deposit if we didn't want to proceed, because the stated reason was not a 'force majeure'. We said we would think about it and Chris said he would see if there was anything Sunbird could do to get us onto the water earlier in Turkey.
After a weekend lapsed we got back in touch. I had done some research and found a broker company in Palma (Mallorca) who had a slot in April and could deliver later that month. I mentioned this to Chris and said he would investigate. We said we would like a good will price reduction from Beneteau/Sunbird, e.g. on the workshop and ladder. He did offer us a week charter in Turkey half price in the Spring, for which we thanked him. We said we'd talk again after Chris had gone back to Beneteau.
Simon Limb - Chris's boss - called us today to confirm that Beneteau would or could not not move. I asked about the 'good will' price reduction, but again Beneteau will do nothing, so Simon basically said he would knock the week's charter offer (c. Euro 1,200) off our contract price.
We said we'd think about it, which we duly did. We called Simon shortly after to say that we have decided to press ahead, and that we accept that a two month delay in the grand scheme of things is not a reason to pull the plug on the project. And breathe...