Good West Marine experience.

kloudie1 · Jun 10, 2012

Our West outlets are generally quite good too. I have had many good experiences with 'em.. They get a (maybe deservedly?) bad rap on prices, but they are good to have when the manure is in the air circulator!

BobM · Jun 10, 2012

Despite the rap we are going to miss them when they are gone! It seems that they are the only ones left. The Ace Hardaware near my boat as small boating section, but I would kill to have a West Marine closer to it.

Maine Sail · Jun 10, 2012

I have lots of good experiences with WM. My Port Supply rep, John B. is EXCELLENT.

I installed a new Raymairne e7 plotter about 6 weeks ago on a customers boat. A week into it my customer called to say it was frozen. Sure enough the software and processor were totally locked and no amount of factory reset or Ray tech support fixed it.

I had purchased the WM/Port Supply extended warranty and the customer walked in with it, handed it to them, and they handed him a brand new one on the spot, no questions asked... Turnaround time for a Raymarine warranty repair was approaching FOUR WEEKS..... That's pretty good service when you have a 12 week sailing season and a "warranty repair" chew up 1/3 of it.....

Sure they BONE us on some purchases but they are not all bad.....

woodster · Jun 10, 2012

i buy from west marine at lest once a month...only thing is i always do the price matching thing...i was in one the other day in Anderson SC and the lady there even went to the net and found me a better price on the 6-10 epoxy i was getting...and matched it for me...now even though they are rater high on a lot of items...ya gotta call that customer service at its best.....

regards

woody

dparilla · Jun 10, 2012

Their price matching helps immensely. Plus, when I was having techincal trouble with a GPS unit purchased elsewhere, they had their tech support contact the manufacturer for me. I had the spare part in hand in 48 hours! They recently started accepting my price matches right from my cell phone, and have been a great source of local knowledge.

Witzend · Jun 10, 2012

The WM in North East MD is always willing to work with me on the price. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable. Lets hope they will continue to be.

arknoah · Jun 10, 2012

Berndahle said:
Installed the new Duracell EGC2 6V's yesterday to replace my two 4Ds. Of course this required quite a bit more wiring. I actually had a very pleasant experience at the local West Marine store at Herrington Harbour. The gentleman took at least half an hour to help me pick out everything I needed, and he cut and crimped the cables, something I didn't have the necessary tools for. He did a meticulous job. Fortunately, I diagrammed it correctly and everything works :dance:

The Herrington Harbor store is great, especially now that it has been enlarged. The store I go to in Solomons is good, too, though very few of the employees have much experience with sailboats. Fortunately, the manager is a sailor and is great to work with.

Mark Maulden · Jun 10, 2012

Have to add my .02 worth. They have been great in Anacortes. I have always price matched with major purchases and with websites that nobody has heard of. A yr ago, batt charger terminal post broke upon installation and they took it back even without their extended warranty. I installed a cold machine last week that had no charge. They swapped it out and ordered it Fed Ex'd next day shipping. They have inflatable life vests on sale and I asked for how long. My question was answered with a question: how long would you like it to be on sale? Great Kudos to Phil/Gary in Anacortes WA.... The only thing is after refitting running rigging with NE ropes, I'm not impressed with those...

caguy · Jun 10, 2012

I had a very positive experience today with WM. Timo42 went up the mast a couple of weeks ago to put a Windex on the antenna for me. The following week the radio would not work. I assume it was the antenna since that was the last thing we messed with. I went up this morning thanks to the cranking of my son-in-law. I disconnected the antenna and checked the plug. Everything looked OK. I went to WM which is across the street from mastup and bought a new antenna. I connected it at the base of the mast and still no radio, no even the weather. I checked the connection at the radio and out of frustration gave the radio a whack, and voilà the radio went on for about 3 seconds. I tried is several more times and each time if momentarily blasted out the weather.
I took the WM radio to WM and they are ordering me a replacement. The clerk then told me that the warranty was expired by a few months but not to worry, they will replace the radio for free. He suggested purchasing the extended warranty on the replacement radio. Someone at the counter commented that he replaces his radio every two years just before the warranty expires. I returned the new antenna.
All in all it was a pretty good day, and Timo42 got exonerated.

Tim R. · Jun 11, 2012

I have generally had good experiences with WM in the past but I do notice a lack of qualified personnel in our local store.

Last Saturday I had to wait for at least 10 minutes because the two guys in the store were helping customers. All I needed was a bag for hardware. They had run out and no one restocked them when they opened that morning. Then I waited to checkout at least another 10 minutes while an employee just arriving for work slowly walked past me without even an acknowledgement that I needed assistance.

A Saturday during the busiest time of the season should warrant additional help.