West Marine

[michaelmrc]

you know i just dont know how this company stays in business. i was online today looking around at their site found a portable 30amp 3stage marine battery charger that had decent reviews for cheap. was like $129 USD
called up the local west marine here on vancouver island they tell me yup they gots one but its $219.95 i mean how does that work. obviously they arent using the proper USD-CAD exchange rate. that place just pisses me off.
anyone know of a decent portable battery charger that doesnt come from worst marine. thanks

[Ocean Girl]

I call em the modern day pirates, but they are a great source for parts and info (my west marine folks are very savvy) BTW- They price match, bring in a copy of internet or local quote and they will match it.
Erika

PS I dont work for West Marine

[Badsanta]

They will match prices if you can prove it. Call the 800 # the guy in the next slip just got a new head from them and they met the price of another company.

[michaelmrc]

is there price matching only on regular priced items. so if i find one on sale will they still match it.???
Pirates is right ....

[Charlie]

My favorite charger and a very reasonbaly priced one is the IOTA. Here is a link to the manual on the charger http://www.iotaengineering.com/pplib/dlsmanl.pdf I have two DLS 55 amps with the IQ4 which makes them three stage chargers. You can find them for a pretty good price if you shop on the internet.

[sv_makai]

I find I rarely shop at WM or any other boating stores. I internet shop, manufacture shop to buy major things. The only time I buy stuff from WM is when i am at my boat and i need a nut or bolt. My drive is an hour and half so in that case it is cheaper to buy it than drive home to order it.

I find planning my work and ordering everything ahead of time I have saved huge amounts of money. One of my faorite saving was purchasing solar panels. WM $1,100 for 1 Kyrocea 120. I found the exact panel for 250 new shipped straight from the kyrocea warehouse, bought 4 for less than 1 WM panel. The panels actually came via an alternative energy home site.

Look around, deals or at least better prices can be found. It doesn't always have to be a marine site to get marine rated materials.

Hunt and $$ave.

[SeattleBaba]

Our local West Marine store(s) in Seattle are conveniently located and usually have whatever I am looking for when I want it. Pricing is not bad, but rarely the best (my guess is that is intentional). A couple of years or so ago, I put them on my excrement list because I read that the owner avidly supported the global warming (tax the peasant's energy consumption) cultists.

That being said, I bought a pair of binoculars on sale off their website last spring. A few weeks later they were on sale again (via mailer) for $50 less than I paid. I e-mailed them arguing that their "satisfaction guaranteed" warranty may apply. A day or two later they e-mailed me back that they had credited my debit card the difference plus the sales tax! In my mind that was above & beyond anything that they were obligated to do - after all, we had a "deal."

Jud

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by sv_makai

I find I rarely shop at WM or any other boating stores. I internet shop, manufacture shop to buy major things. The only time I buy stuff from WM is when i am at my boat and i need a nut or bolt. My drive is an hour and half so in that case it is cheaper to buy it than drive home to order it.

I find planning my work and ordering everything ahead of time I have saved huge amounts of money. One of my faorite saving was purchasing solar panels. WM $1,100 for 1 Kyrocea 120. I found the exact panel for 250 new shipped straight from the kyrocea warehouse, bought 4 for less than 1 WM panel. The panels actually came via an alternative energy home site.

Look around, deals or at least better prices can be found. It doesn't always have to be a marine site to get marine rated materials.

Hunt and $$ave.

Haters be damned! I have a Port Supply card so get everything at cost. If that doesn't make everyone hate me at CF I don't know what will.

No but seriously the Port Supply card helps for the small stuff but on the bigger items the savings are negligible. It is still nice to go buy a block there and not get charged $90.

Can you point me to a link for those $250 120watt panels? I checked the Kyocera sight but only got a dealer listing.

[Intentional Drifter]

WM will price match, on any item (sale or not on sale), BUT, you must not only be able to prove it with either a paper ad or web URL, but also the other folks must have the item in stock and able to deliver it, at the quoted price.

On a couple of more expensive items, I've had WM actually call the other retailer to verify, but once done, WM did match it.

ID

[bstreep]

Just carry a Defender catalog with you. They will match it every time.

[Chief Engineer]

Take antifreeze for example.

$3.99 for pink
with Port Supply card?
$3.99

What they do is give you a discount of the MFR suggested retail price of
$4.99

Their pricing is erratic and no help to the professional IMHO

I made arrangements with another supplier. I get 20% off EVERYTHING

Originally Posted by unbusted67

Haters be damned! I have a Port Supply card so get everything at cost. If that doesn't make everyone hate me at CF I don't know what will.

No but seriously the Port Supply card helps for the small stuff but on the bigger items the savings are negligible. It is still nice to go buy a block there and not get charged $90.

Can you point me to a link for those $250 120watt panels? I checked the Kyocera sight but only got a dealer listing.

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by Chief Engineer

I made arrangements with another supplier. I get 20% off EVERYTHING

And what supplier might that be?

[sv_makai]

Yes I am a Hater!!!!!!... I hate to pay extra for items i can get somewhere else for less for the same or better. Its economics. Convenince pricing is one thing and I understand that, but planning and buying all of the parts i need saves the time and money of having to stop and run to get parts.

I had actually bought my panels through partsonsale.com. Part of the price was timing. Kyrocea was just inroducing a new bigger panel. It has been a few years, but it still holds to hunt at the home PV/solar sites. They are the same panels that are offered as "Marine". Just have to shop.

I was at windsun.com and one of the members recently purchased panels at $1.98 /watt for 130 watt panels. So the deals are out there.

[unbusted67]

Indeed I just found a few 180 watt panels for $350 just by doing a google shopping search.

I was just razzing about the haters thing. I would hate WM too if I had to pay full price.

[sv_makai]

I figured. But I am proud to be a hater. The less I spend on one item frees up cash for another. Though I hate to spend money I try to buy the best possible at the best price, not just a make do to save cash. Cheap stuff (low quality) will come back to bite the wallet again and maybe in a big way!

Long live the haters of wasteful spending!!!!!!!