Is Lewmar totally incompetent? A horror story

[wgoodbye]

For any of you considering purchasing any Lewmar winches, I have to share a story with you.

I purchased a Lewmar Electric 48 from one of my favorite resellers (I won't mention their name because this screw up wasn't their fault) back in December of last year. They didn't have in stock so they ordered it from Lewmar. When I received the winch in January of this year, it looked like it had been run over by a truck (thanks UPS). The packaging had been sent originally from Lewmar to my reseller, and they reshipped to me in the same packaging. I was totally shocked that the carton was not anywhere near strong enough and there were only a few pieces of brown paper for packing material. The motor had some scratches on it, the box was badly torn and half retaped (by UPS?). The winch and motor probably weighed about 50lbs. and looked like they had probably falled through the side of the box. The shipment had insurance but UPS denied the claim because they said the packaging was "insufficient for the size and weight of the contents". So the winch was sent back to Lewmar by UPS. Lewmar received the winch but "misplaced it" somewhere at their repair facility. After several months they found it and were willing to repair it at no cost but low and behold they didn't have the parts in stock to repair it. A couple of days ago I see a notice from UPS that I have a package coming from Lewmar. I was pretty excited thinking I'm finally getting the winch back. I open the box (which was quite light) and inside I find the repair parts - but no winch. So back on the phone with the reseller who tells me its mind numbing how screwed up Lewmar is on making this right.

So 1) be very careful if you order anything from Lewmar that might be "drop" shipped (pun intended) because apparently they don't know how to package their own products properly and the shipper will deny the claim on any insurance on the shipment if its damaged and 2) Don't send anything back to Lewmar for repairs, unless you got about 6 months to wait to get it back. It actually might be longer than 6 months because I still don't have a winch.

Lewmar, if you are listening....pull your head out....

[Orion Jim]

What is a "reseller" as opposed to a retailer? I've bought new Lewmar winches from a retailer. Had there been any issues I would just hand it back to my retailer and it would be their problem to resolve. If they didn't satisfy me promptly I'd dispute the charge to my credit card and purchase a replacement elsewhere.

[wgoodbye]

Reseller/retailer, similar terms. I've worked with this company for a couple of years and they have done a tremendous job helping me with engineering and procurement of new Selden mast/Schaefer gamma boom/rigging for a new 50' sailboat build so there is a relationship there.

I feel bad about making them eat it as its clearly a problem with Lewmar not wanting to take responsibility for causing the problem in the first place. Lewmar clearly does not have their act together regarding customer service. In my conversation today with the reseller I told him he needs to talk to Lewmar and tell them to ship me a new winch and stop all this non-sense or I'm unlikely to ever buy another Lewmar product again and let everyone know about my experience.