Norfolk Yacht Agency Horning - Norwich

Peter M.

I instructed Chris Cooper the Sales Manager at NYA Horning to find a purchaser for my classic 1950’s Broads cruiser. Given the boat’s provenance, I was anxious that she was sold to someone with a passion for wooden boats and the financial means to fully restore her. Chris, using his many years of experience and numerous contacts, eventually identified such a purchaser. I have nothing but praise for Chris and his staff at Horning. The level of friendly professionalism demonstrated throughout was exceptional.
If you are looking to buy or sell a boat, I would have no hesitation in recommending the team at NYA!
Peter Mountford

Simon P.

0 stars but have to give 1 to start a review.
As a newbie first timer we spent considerable time in deciding on what we thought was the best (budget) boat to buy.
We thought NYA would offer a boat FIT for purpose and presented and PREPARED as well as possible under the banner of "sold as seen". First error...I don't believe any boats are in fact checked over pre brokerage by them. If they've got a Safety Cert that's good enough to punt out a boat to gullible punters like us.
Yes, everyone was nice and friendly etc obviously because a sale is King.
However, since buying a boat, breaking down on her maiden voyage and luckily being helped by a great family on a hire boat who towed us to somewhere to moor the whole experience has been ruined for us.

I don't believe any questions seem to be really asked from the sellers at brokerage and the boats are not suitably inspected pre sale. No sales person actually seems to know answers to "dumb" questions coming from someone who is taking their first steps into enjoying boating. And so far the problems continue. So we've now just abandoned it on the mooring we're paying for.
Very disallusuoned.
Sorry to rant but our experience has been sooo disappointing.
Be very very very careful buying from NYA.
The choice is yours.
Good luck.

Ian B.

This is definitely the place to go for anything boating.they also stock a great range of boats to suit most budgets. Very helpful staff and always willing to help . Lovely mooring available,repairs and servicing. I would highly recommend NYA,don't go anywhere else.

Keith S.

We have bought two boats and the service is excellent and every question answered. Sales went smoothly and after sales service is awesome. I would recommend to anyone to talk to NYA if you are thinking of buying or selling a boat. Thank you to all at NYA especially Chris for answering all our questions. Keith

Angela D.

I have used the expertise of NYA twice.
Once buying from the Brundle office and lately selling from the Horning office.
On these occasions I can highly recommend NYA.
A trust worthy professional service.
They take all the worry out of buying and selling a boat and deal with all the logistics in an efficient manner.
Thank you again to Chris, Jason and Rachel at the Horning office for all your support.

Simon F.

Excellent service throughout, we have both bought and sold two boats through NYA Horning now and know several others who also use them.
They have all without exception been nothing but courteos, friendly and helpful on every single occassion, we will be buying our next boat through them as well when the time arises.

John P.

We are delighted with the support and service we received from NYA Horning during the purchase of our latest boat. Their service has been consistently friendly, professional and efficient. They are a great team.

J W.

Oh dear, this is a long review, but It needs to be written so other people are aware of what can happen...

I bought a boat from NYA Horning for £32,000 in June 2021. Prior to purchase, the surveyor I hired told me that, on the way to the survey, the boat had broken down. I spoke to the Sales Manager at NYA who seemed annoyed that I'd found out about the incident but told me it had all been fixed and so I went ahead and bought the boat.

Soon after purchase, the boat broke down again with the same symptoms. I contacted the Sales Manager at NYA for advice but got no response, so I phoned around and found a Marine Engineer who was able to come out. The engineer fixed the issue (for a price!) and, talking it through with him, it became clear that the problem had not been properly fixed while the boat was with NYA, which meant the engine was bound to fail again soon, which it did. Breaking down on the river isn't fun, so I was upset to realise what had happened.

I again contacted NYA Horning, telling them what had hapened, but their Sales Manager ignored the information I had given and claimed the cause of the issues had occurred after I had purchased the boat. I replied, showing clear evidence that it was the same cause and that it hadn't been fixed properly by NYA, but he totally ignored the information I provided.

With no acceptance of their 'mistake' in bodging the repair, and clearly getting fobbed off, it was obvious any further correspondence was pointless, so I signed off by saying I intended to post an online review so that 'other people would be aware of what can happen and the sort of aftercare they can expect'. In response to this, the Sales Manager sent a series of hostile emails accusing me of being 'offensive', 'spiteful' and 'threatening'.

My advice to anyone thinking of buying a boat from NYA would be to hope that the boat hasn't been patched up just enough to get it out of the Marina, because, if it has, you'll get nothing but misinformation and then be ignored, insulted, and bullied if you attempt to take the matter further. This could just be down to this one Sales Manager, and not representative of NYA generally. I won't be going back to find out!

Of course, it is correct to say that NYA are a Broker, so legally they are quite entitled to offer no help after you've bought a boat. But as the problem happened at their Marina, prior to purchase, and it was either accidentally or deliberately 'bodged' to get the engine running temporarily, leaving the customer to break down, in danger of being stranded on the river... For them to then ignore clear evidence of what had happened, that is unacceptable in my view.

When dealing with a Broker, you need to trust they are decent. Unfortunately, NYA has not lived up to this basic standard in my opinion. When their Sales Manager told me the boat was fixed, I trusted him... that was a mistake. The evasive and then hostile response from him afterwards just adds insult to injury.

I will say the other staff are friendly and helpful. I'll happily give a star for Jason, who is knowledgeable, and just generally a delight to deal with. The Sales Manager however is the worst kind of salesman. I imagine he thinks he can sell snow to Eskimos and can wrap people around his finger, but press him for something real and there's nothing but deflection, bullying, and insults. As a customer, spending what for me is huge sum of money, I've never been treated so badly...

My comments on NYA Reply...
This is representative of what I had to go through.
Straight from their customer service handbook perhaps?...
1/ Ignore the evidence, and (politely of course) deflect blame while giving the customer the finger.
2/ If customer doesn't go away, write misinformation, become hostile, hurl insults and then try to come out smelling of roses by saying they would have helped if only the customer was genuine and hadn't eroded goodwill (by not accepting they were not getting any help).

I didn't even mention writing a review until they'd already refused to help.
Buyer beware...