Steveston Marine Customer Service

[Brent Swain]

Steveston Marine's warrantee doesn't work. When I bought a GPS that didn't work properly and took it back a week later one of the owners said "We Can't afford to warrantee what we sell."
Brent

[GordMay]

Brent:
A few additional details could transform your irate complaint (rant) into a legitimate service review.
Given your location, I might suppose that you’re referring to Steveston Marine & Hardware (Vancouver, BC) < http://www.stevestonmarine.com/ >
May I also suppose that the owner directed you to the Manufacturer, for warranty relief?

[hellosailor]

I guess when Steveston's site says "Satisfaction Guaranteed" there's a reason why they don't say *whose* satisfaction is guaranteed.

Caution flag, there's no warranty or returns information listed on their web site that I could find. When Defender was in NY only, there was a perenial argument because they supposedly weren't "authorized" on everything they sold, so warranty claims on DOAs had to go back to the factory and could not be exchanged. That didn't stop a lot of happy customers though, IIRC they were up front about it.

[Niorn]

Hi,
I would like to respond as an employee of Steveston Marine and as one who as a "frontline" employee handles problems that customers come in with. No one in our company would ever say "We cannot afford to warrantee what we sell". Any customer who brought in a electronic device that after one week failed to work would be given a new one. We would not consider it a warranty issue or refuse the item. This would extend not to just one week but extends longer than that. If the customer asked for a full refund then that could be a different situation. We have had items that have been FedExed to customers overnight for items that have failed to work while on vacation. We have also given out loaner units to customers with warranty isssues that need to be returned to the supplier. On another note the issue of us not backing up our product it false. If an item has to be sent back for warranty we send it back for them. In some cases that product has no local warranty center and must be sent back to the US. Steveston Marine has in those cases paid for shipping and all clearing issues for that product. That item would cost us anywhere from $50.00 to $100.00 per item.
I am proud to be an employee of Steveston Marine and our customer service record. We may make mistakes but we try to satisfy every single customer. Some items returned though have nothing to do with warranties or product failure. Some are because improper installation, some because the item was used and no longer needed and some just because the customer after using the product does not like it. In those cases the product is sent back to the manufacturer for credit or repair. If the product is credited then so is the customer. If the product is repaired then the product is given back to the customer. We do our best and I would like to have the customer come to the Steveston Vancouver location and explain his problem to us and we will take care of it for him.
I hope I have explained everything to your members satisfaction. If not please ask me to clarify any item you feel uncomfortable with or do not fully understand.

Thank You

Originally Posted by Louis Riel

Steveston Marine's warrantee doesn't work. When I bought a GPS that didn't work properly and took it back a week later one of the owners said "We Can't afford to warrantee what we sell."
Brent

[GordMay]

Niorn (Steveston Marine employee):
Thank you for your prompt, courteous, and thorough response.
Gord May

[alanperry]

KN and Gord, Good change to the contact rule. But look at the Stevetson Marine posts and I think "Opinion" does it justice on both sides. No one could tell from those posts who is "fair" or "accurate". Let people write freely and let the readers and other posts help sort out the so called "facts" and make up their own minds.

[Brent Swain]

Bull. Iqbal ,one of the owners definitly told me "We can't afford to warantee what we sell."period. I asked for another ,a week after I bought it and was flatly refused, despite there being many more on their shelves . Their attitude was So it doesn't work right , Tough s***.
Brent

[Niorn]

Brent,

We could post replies back and forth with your perception of what occured and what Iqbal's perception is and nothing would change. You would still have a Gps that does not, in your opinion, work and I would still say that our policy is different. In that regard, as I stated in my last post, please bring the item back to the Vancouver location and if the product is defective I will gladly replace it. If you do not want to travel to this location than give me a call, my name is Robin, and I can arrange for another unit to be picked up at the location of your choice.
I would like to say though that Steveston Marine has been in business since 1941 and owned by the current management since 1984. With the boating community being so close knit we would no longer be in business if we did not look after our customers.
I hope we can resolve this issue in a manner that satisfies you and leaves you with a working product.
Thank You,
Robin

Originally Posted by Louis Riel

Bull. Iqbal ,one of the owners definitly told me "We can't afford to warantee what we sell."period. I asked for another ,a week after I bought it and was flatly refused, despite there being many more on their shelves . Their attitude was So it doesn't work right , Tough s***.
Brent

[GordMay]

Two facts (not opinions) are clear:
Complaint lodged
1. Brent’s basic complaint was that , Steveston “... flatly refused (a warranty replacement), despite there being many more on their shelves ...”
Problem solved
2. Robin, on behalf of Steveston, has twice offered to replace the defective GPS.

Could we ask for better results from our Forum (or the respondent/defendant, in this case)?
I think not.

[exranger]

This exchange over the GPS is exactly how I hoped this forum would work. An issue is brought out about a product, the company does respond and offers to make it right.

Thanks to the site admins and helpers, you are the reason this is going this way. You took the time to craft the forum well, and are moderating it, all at your own time expense.

From me, THANK YOU!

Mike

[hellosailor]

Well, Gord, we've heard "his side" and "her side" now if we only knew what really happened. Cue up the tapes on that, would you?<G>

[Niorn]

I believe this is a good example of how someones perception of something can be right in their mind but totally wrong in reality. You say that you have heard from "his side"(meaning Brent) and "her side" meaning Robin. Well the last time I looked(which was this morning) I was still a guy.

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Well, Gord, we've heard "his side" and "her side" now if we only knew what really happened. Cue up the tapes on that, would you?<G>

[hellosailor]

Niorn-
Not a misperception at all but a cultural gap. If you will note I said "his/her side" using quotes. This is a literal quote and an allusion to a very well known comment about subjective truths in the US. Referring to arguements about divorces, we say "There's his side, and her side, and then there's the truth."

Perhaps that is unfair, but then again, there are five genders and we also only sanction marriage between two of them.<G>

[rsn48]

There was one employee at Steveston who doesn't work there any more who didn't have "people skills." He managed to infuriate me so at one point I was going to take my business elsewhere. After I calmed down I realized I wasn't going to blame a company for one person's blunder. When others at the store found out what happened they were most generous and offered a discount on a future purchase I made to make up for the ill feelings.

About a month or two latter, I passed a woman who was furious saying she would never again shop at Steveston, again the same employee involved; she left the store without talking to anyone. I almost said something to the manager about this gentleman employee but decided to stay out of the heat. The reason I wanted to say something to the manager is that other's won't know how this employee affected customers unless they heard about it.

I don't know if this employee was fired or quit, but I haven't seen him back at the store for the past six months or more; he did work in the electronics section. If it was this gentleman you encountered (and I have no way of knowing), nothing would surprise me.

Steveston is my favourite haunt to this day. I would say the best advise and suggestions have come from Steveston employees. I shop at West Marine, Martin Marine and Popeyes, but about 70 percent of my shopping is carried out at Steveston's.

I would not hesitate to say that Steveston is the best Chandlery in the lower mainland (greater Vancouver).

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Niorn

... Well the last time I looked(which was this morning) I was still a guy.

Robin: Do you mean to say that you actually have to look?

Originally Posted by hellosailor

... there are five genders ...<G>

hellosailor: Gender describes the state of being (1) male, (2) female, or (3) neither.