My West Marine Story

[Aimlessness]

I took possession of my first boat late in 2016 never having owned or sailed a boat before the experience was thrilling as was my first visit to West Marine a few days later. Driven by dreams and aspirations of upgrades and improvements I was enthralled by the selection in the store as well as with the helpful, friendly staff who seemed to share my excitement as a new boat owner.



Since that first visit I’ve spent time and money in the West Marine store. I purchased an automatic bilge pump from the store during a sale and triple points weekend which was, at the sale price, competitive with the prices I had found online. (Note: with the recent introduction of price matching I don’t hesitate to buy at West Marine usually having things shipped to the store for pickup. However, now things have gotten even better with free shipping for members.)


I installed the purchased automatic bilge pump on the boat sometime in early spring 2017. The pump failed in November 2017. I took the pump in a plastic grocery bag to the store expecting that I would need to send it to the manufacturer for repair under the 3 year warranty. I spoke to an associate at the register who looked up the purchase on my member account verifying that I had purchased the pump several months previously. Without hesitation I was told to “grab a new one off the shelf”. I was surprised and relieved, took the new pump back to the boat for installation. All was good.


September 2018. The pump fails again. This time I used the “Chat” feature on the West Marine WWW site to determine where to send the pump for warranty service. The representative asked for my member number to look up the purchase then told me to “return the pump to the store for replacement.” I was shocked this was not a West Marine product merely one they stocked, yet when I took the pump to the store again in a grocery bag the associate verified the purchase on my member account and although I was clear that the pump had already been exchanged once she told me to “go grab a new one off the shelf.”


I did not purchase the “Protection Plan” with the original pump. There was no, in my opinion, obligation for West Marine to exchange the pumps, but they did without hassle, without hesitation. This time I did purchase the 2-year protection plan because I felt that West Marine had done enough, that I owed them for their commitment to customer satisfaction.


I took the time to share this experience because I have, too frequently, read online forum postings deriding West Marine for high prices, poor service, etc. In the nearly two years I have been shopping at the local store and online I have only had positive experiences like, I imagine, millions of others who may or may not have chosen to tell their happy West Marine stories.

[Suijin]

Everything is relative. If you’re in a big boating area with independent chandleries you probably have one with better prices, selection, and knowledgeable staff than West Marine.

Certainly the price matching policy makes them more appealing, although that is a bit of a pain to pursue.

I will hit up WM if I can’t be arsed going anywhere else. If you have access to a very active Port Supply account then their prices on some stuff, like rope, are pretty decent.

One of these days I should go in and see if they will match Walmart on Rotella. That would be the big test of their policy lol. It’s about half their sticker price.

[Olly75]

Originally Posted by Suijin

Everything is relative. If you’re in a big boating area with independent chandleries you probably have one with better prices, selection, and knowledgeable staff than West Marine.

Certainly the price matching policy makes them more appealing, although that is a bit of a pain to pursue.

I will hit up WM if I can’t be arsed going anywhere else. If you have access to a very active Port Supply account then their prices on some stuff, like rope, are pretty decent.

One of these days I should go in and see if they will match Walmart on Rotella. That would be the big test of their policy lol. It’s about half their sticker price.

I can say from many experiences, they will match Walmart, or anyother store that deep discounts/has one off special sales. Get a barcode scanner app for your phone and it will find the cheapest price for the product online in about 5 seconds.

[Aimlessness]

That's funny, I buy Rotella at Walmart as well never thinking to get it at West Marine with the price match. I will attest, based on over a dozen purchases, to their matching prices without bickering, hassle, hesitation so long as the price can be verified (I show them the WWW site either on a phone or the printed the WWW page) and is not from an auction site like EBay. Obviously, I am required to spend time finding the best price, but there are worse things in life.


I've got an oil change coming up soon, I'm buying the oil from West Marine at the Walmart price ($12.97) I'll post when I do.

[sailorboy1]

I’ve never had an issue with West Marine and am glad they exist. Doesn’t mean I don’t shop online when it makes sense.

[a64pilot]

Their price matching is interesting, assumption is they aren’t asked all that often by the Lexus driving Rolex crowd.
I hope they survive, cause I would miss them, often times you don’t mind paying more for something if you get it now and not next week.

[S/V Illusion]

I assume the pump was a WM re-branded Rule pump which are far from reliable. While their return policy is laudable, some of their stock isn't.

[gmakhs]

To me it seems.normal for a vendor to replace an item as many times as it breaks during its warranty time.

[john61ct]

Yes, but many vendors create hassles, make you ship it out, say they'll try to repair, end up swapping with "reconditioned" not from new stock, etc

Easy and seamless is the exception.

[fernandosmooth]

I went to West Marine stores in Miami and I had positive experiences too. Although I felt like there would be other location in America to buy boat products. All was simple.

[roberttigar]

I'm really not interested in being West Marines market research consultant. If someone offers a low price they should get the benefit of that effort.