Defender's indifference to Canadians

Maine Sail · Jun 27, 2013

DinoKanuck said:
This morning I got a call from Stephen Lance who owns Defender.com. Seem TSBB2 was right and the guy is serious about the company's reputation.

There was an apology as their call centre software does not provide their staff the same level of prompting for Canadian orders as it does for US orders. This resulted in my order getting parked when I should have been given the option of having the in-stock items immediately.

Also website functions are limited for Canadians but again this is due to limitations in the software itself which they are trying to work around.

On the question of why my order was cancelled... on the audio review by the ref (they do record those calls)... the ruling is that my answer to the question "Do you want your order cancelled?" with a reply of "No, but I do want to cancel this call" wrongly resulted in the order being cancelled. Yes, yes,,,Phil, ME Sail,Old Skool.. my manners could have been better. Will be next time.

Of course I felt very good about getting called because every person wants to me listened to and every customer wants to feel valued.

It was also nice to get the call because up to the day that order was cancelled all the Defender.com experiences were very good.

Bottom line....
I will deal with Defender.com again but will drive to my Personal Mail Box in the USA for future orders

I will provide a list of all suggested URLs
http://www.marineoutfitters.ca/index.cfm?page=home
http://www.thechandleryonline.com
http://www.riggingshoppe.com/index.htm
http://www.boaterbits.ca/
West Marine
Binnacle
http://www.foghmarine.com
Pride Marine - boating electronics accessories supplies hardware sailboat power - Ontario Canada
Stright-MacKay Marine Equipment
http://www.marineengine.com/

I will use Cdn on-line supplier when prices match up.

I will watch my phone manners

Thanks to all for the suggestions and conversation

Dino K

As was mentioned Stephen Lance runs a tight ship and takes customer service very, very seriously. I like the fact that calls are recorded and can be replayed. This means they are serious about getting things right.

ifmdalvey · Jun 27, 2013

How about trying www.hamiltonmarine.com. They are multiple stores in Maine, good prices and good people to deal with. Do not have any clue if they ship across the border but would be worth asking them.

PKFK · Jun 27, 2013

I will add my experiences - the SBO store is extremely helpful, and are willing to ship to Canada. The rub is that this shipping is expensive - not SBO's fault - just annoying. They will ship USPS instead of UPS (total ripoff on brokerage fees - never agree to UPS for shipping to Canada ).

For "local" online or in store (Ontario) shopping, I also can vouch for The Chandlrey in Ottawa, and Pride Marine (marine outfitters.ca) in Kingston.

And yes - overall selection and pricing sucks in Canada. But the 2 mentioned above are pretty competitive.

FWIW - I try to go local when it makes sense, but also try to support SBO as well - since they are providing the forums. For those of us in Ottawa (close to the border) it is easier to shop SBO and take a quick drive to Ogdensburg NY for pick up - and avoid the extortion from the likes of UPS.

Paul

Douglast · Jun 27, 2013

the store on this site is awesome...!!!!...and as well I did place one order with downwind marine with good success...

Chris Patterson · Jun 28, 2013

I used to live in Canada, and I seemed to notice that the prices were higher there. Anybody else notice this?
Yes it is. Why? Because it's CANADA. Another country. I know that there is an imaginary line where you think it's all one and the same, but alas, they are indeed a different country. Hell of course things were higher. For a dozen or more reasons. I'm absolutely satisfied that the prices and taxes etc. on many things are cheaper in the swamps of South Carolina. Why would this be. Supply and demand? Less duty taxes? Would it be any cheaper to mail it to Antarctica?
It was more expensive to get ANYTHING from the states forty years ago, why would that be different now...

Defender's indifference to Canadians

Maine Sail

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ifmdalvey

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PKFK

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Douglast

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DinoKanuck

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Chris Patterson

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DinoKanuck

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