West Marine warranty scam!

[captain58sailin]

But the time still ticks off on the extended warranty, so if you buy a 4 year extended warranty and the manufacturer has a 2 year warranty, you only get 2 years of extened coverage for the price of a 4 year policy. They are a rip, and I refuse to pay the extra.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

This is what I was thinking, too. I have never heard of ANY extended warranty, on ANY product, that didn't work this way. You are always covered by the manufacturer's warranty until after it expires, and only then does the extended warranty kick in.

Really? The extended warranties I've seen usually also include an in-store exchange privilege at any time during the warranty, vs having to mail it off to the manufacturer.

If anyone hasn't noticed, the general economy is still tepid, and retail is especially hurting. Margins have been hammered down pretty much everywhere, and it's fairly easy to understand that stores have had to trim hard to keep afloat. One definitely has to read and understand the fine print before paying extra for extended warranty. I generally don't buy'em, because they are mainly a cash-grab. Besides if you can't fix something, you don't really own it.

It's amusing to see how brick and mortar chandleries, trying to maintain the margins that most retailers took for granted several years ago, are now seen as rip-off artists because they won't match the prices of an online discounter.

Here in Canada, WM prices aren't out of line with most other boat supply stores, but that's because Canadians are already used to paying slightly higher retail prices, because of separate Canadian distribution. Also, my local WM seems to employ friendly, helpful cruisers, including one from our club.

[Coops]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I think Australian Fair Trading legislation forces all retailers to take back defective goods.


Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012


Refunds for goods - NSW Fair Trading

The statement that retailers have to take defective goods back may be correct, but they do not have to automatically replace/refund and instead can send it away to the manufacturer.

The policies at WW's are sent down from head office by people who never meet any customers and treat their staff with contempt and a poor attitude.

People also think that jumping up and down and getting aggressive will get results. I can tell you that if you go in there abusing the staff, who do not make the policy, any inclination to help you will disappear and you will get the policy quoted to you. Go in there with a friendly disposition and the staff member may know of things that he/she can do to help. They are not going to help somebody acting like an idiot, just the same as you wouldn't.

Coops.

[bobofthenorth]

All of this dumbing down of the retail chain just feeds online sales. I have a couple of excellent local chandlers that I willingly pay the extra margin to because I value having them present. There's three West Marine stores within an hour drive of our dock but I don't count any one of them as better than a last resort. I'd rather wait for a UPS truck than deal with them, given the choice. But that's just a reflection of the broad retail landscape. Home Despot is great if you can walk in, find your item, pay for it at a self serve checkout and get out the door without having to interact with any of the minimum wage lamebrain staff. I have a VERY short list of retails in general that I will go to - my preference is to plan far enough ahead to order online. Its not even so much price as avoiding the idiocy that comes out of the mouths of most partsdroids nowdays.

[Coops]

All the major boating stores in Aus employ folks at the minimum wage basically. You have to pass a boating knowledge exam, written, to work for WW's, so they want people with knowledge and experience but are not prepared to pay for it.

Bias marine tend to employ juniors with just one senior manager, I went in there a few weeks ago and there were two young girls and a lady serving. They knew there products but not too much about boating, and BCF is owned by Supercheap auto's so say no more.

I know the mark-ups too and some are outlandish to say the least, but stuff like electronics there is not much profit in them because the market is so competitive.

Coops.

[gonesail]

the thing i like about west marine is if you don't like it or want it you can bring it back for a refund .. no questions asked and no shipping charges. but if you know exactly what you want the internet is the way to go .. unless of course it is a yanmar part

[Gemini Dreams]

West Marine always gets hammered on the forums because people think they are your personal warehouse for boating items. They are a retail business. Every time Hellmart lowers the industry standard for retail businesses all others will eventually follow.

You would not believe the amount of seasonal returns taken back every year on the 60 day no questions asked policy. An example would be...

The when a lady loaded up the family and drove to the beach with too much stuff in her car to carry what they wanted to use. She went to WM purchased a cooler, bucket, toilet seat for the bucket and some other items on a Friday afternoon. Sunday afternoon she returned all the items including the toilet seat.

Or every time there is a Hurricane forecast within 150 miles people raid the store for dock lines, anchors, lights, and all the associated stuff. When the hurricane track changes for the better most of it gets returned. Then WM has to deal with overstocks at the local level because the product was replaced. If returned $1500 worth of hurricane supplies because the storm missed you, you should never expect anything "above and beyond".


Raymarine refuses to warrant "water intrusion" into their tiller pilots! The extended warranty will cover this. Make sure you understand the details and the 400 and 750 dollar marks.

If you buy $1500 of items in cash and return it you will get a check mailed to you. That is posted on the counter! They are not a bank! Just because you can't pay the rent now and it is due tomorrow and your wife sent you to get the money back, tough! Even when she comes down to bitch at the staff it will not get you your cash. It will only make it embarrassing when you show up in the future.

Sure you can use Defender but if you are in FL how much will you loose returning that anchor and chain you ordered for the hurricane? If it made it there in time.

And... do you really expect some poor girl that is paid $8.50 at the front counter to politely take your crap when you didn't read the information given to you? Or the fact that a manufacturer must handle his own warranty? Why should WM pay the cost of you mailing the item to the manufacturer? etc etc

Wes

[Salty Skipper]

WEST MARINE....Gee...I'm hardly surprised! The replacement binoculars I bought from West for my Nikon Nippon Kogaku 7x50 Feather Weight Binos were made in China.... ARUBA 7X50, $160 bucks. After purchase and looking through them I was very disappointed. A while later I dropped them a distance of 7 inches....one of the out objective lens body completely snapped off. complete JUNK! I replaced this junk with an ebay purchase of vintage NIKON binos!

[Coops]

A lot of the stuff that is sold is crap, from wherever it come from. I used to tell folks not to buy certain items because of that(out of earshot of the management of course) saying they are rubbish, But, the problem there sometimes comes from the customer. I cannot tell you how many time people have come in and said "what's the cheapest........ I can buy? If you only stocked high end stuff you would go broke. The price is what motivates a majority of boat owners, not the quality.

It's chicken and egg stuff really, what drives the market? Cheap goods on offer, or cheap goods demanded?

Coops.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Coops

It's chicken and egg stuff really, what drives the market? Cheap goods on offer, or cheap goods demanded?

One of the top advertising guys in Canada has a radio show called Under the Influence. In last week's show, he discusses how much the consumer focuses on price over everything else... the answer is A LOT. In the marketing world, the first advertiser to use "9's" eg $4.99 instead of $5 is regarded as a marketing God.

Hence the race to the bottom when it comes to selling most goods.

It sometimes works the other way. The Second Cup coffee chain (similar to Starbucks) multiplied their sales when they increased their coffee price, which made their product "premium" therefore more desirable. Go figure...

[smj]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

But the time still ticks off on the extended warranty, so if you buy a 4 year extended warranty and the manufacturer has a 2 year warranty, you only get 2 years of extened coverage for the price of a 4 year policy. They are a rip, and I refuse to pay the extra.

This is incorrect. The extended warranty is on top of the standard manufactureres warranty. If you buy a 2 year extended warrant and the manufacturer has a one year warranty your warranty is a total of three years. There is a 5 year limit, so if the manufacturers warranty is for 3 years there's no use in buying anything over a 2'year extended. You can buy a one or two year extended warranty and can also purchase another one or two years at a latter date.

[Miniyot]

Originally Posted by smj

This is incorrect. The extended warranty is on top of the standard manufactureres warranty. If you buy a 2 year extended warrant and the manufacturer has a one year warranty your warranty is a total of three years. There is a 5 year limit, so if the manufacturers warranty is for 3 years there's no use in buying anything over a 2'year extended. You can buy a one or two year extended warranty and can also purchase another one or two years at a latter date.

Not necessarily true...look at your fine print.

It depends on who the warranty is coming from. Some go into effect the day you buy it...

The places that will sell you an extended warranty the day before your factory warranty expires actually charge a higher price. Some places won't even sell it to you unless you buy it at the same time you buy the item!

[smj]

Originally Posted by Miniyot

Not necessarily true...look at your fine print.

It depends on who the warranty is coming from. Some go into effect the day you buy it...

The places that will sell you an extended warranty the day before your factory warranty expires actually charge a higher price. Some places won't even sell it to you unless you buy it at the same time you buy the item!

I thought we were discussing the West Marine extended warranty. If that's the case it is true, their extended warranty comes into play after the manufacturers warranty has run out.

[svseachange]

WM service has taken a slide. We bought a so-called submersible Standard Horizon RAM external handset for our GX2150 in September. After finding it stopped working in rain or rough conditions we tried to take it back to WM in December. They told us to contact Standard Horizon. I always thought that is why we paid such inflated prices. For the service and convenience from a national chain. Not so keen to shop there anymore. Time to go online and let WM go the way of Sears.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

[smj]

Originally Posted by shanedennis

WM service has taken a slide. We bought a so-called submersible Standard Horizon RAM external handset for our GX2150 in September. After finding it stopped working in rain or rough conditions we tried to take it back to WM in December. They told us to contact Standard Horizon. I always thought that is why we paid such inflated prices. For the service and convenience from a national chain. Not so keen to shop there anymore. Time to go online and let WM go the way of Sears.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk

I absolutely agree with you, West Marine is a lot stricter with their warranty policy. I think the reason is people were taking advantage of it. Things as ridiculous as purchasing a dinghy, then returning it 4 months later after season had ended. It's a shame that the honest people are taking a hit for this.
As a side note, West Marine is putting much more stress on online sales now rather than sales at their stores.