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.
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