Defender rant

stoutwench · #1 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

I know that West Marine receives a lot of static on sailing forums, but I have always received excellent customer service from WM.....I can not say the same for Defender. This is why they have lost a long time customer:

-I tried to place an online order, but the transaction was not allowed because the "billing address does not match the credit cards billing address".

-I called the customer service dept. and they stated the same thing. I then told them to just cancel the transaction.

-I then reordered via the internet using a different credit card. Several days later I received BOTH shipments. Now they want me to pay for sending back the original order that THEY said was refused and that I told them to cancel. Ain't happening.

So, I have disputed the charge with the CC company and will order from West Marine where I have always received great customer service. Example - WM replaced 4 batteries (non WM) after a charger, that I purchased from WM via the internet, malfuncitoned and fried my batteries. The store manager in Miami (we live in NC) apologized and replaced everything!!!

Defender will never get another order from me.

labatt · #2 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

I've actually started receiving progressively worse service from Defender myself. I've been very suprised as I've always been a long time advocate! Most recently, I called on a Monday to see about a special order. They had to look into it. I called on Wednesday after not hearing back and left a message on voice mail. I still didn't hear back on Friday, so I reached out and talked to someone else. That person was actually annoyed at me for having to "redo everything" and was incredibly rude to me on the phone. I told her to forget about it and ordered the product for a higher price direct from the manufacturer.

Also, they used to ship on the same day the order was received. Now they are shipping the day after. This seems to have started a couple of months ago.

TrueBlue · #3 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

I've had many years of untroubled internet orders from Defender, worth thousands of dollars - with each delivery sent ontime . Also had excellent customer service during the online purchase transactions.

My last order was placed in April, stuff arrived a day early - CC charge entered correctly. I'm sorry to hear about your problems and will take note of it with future orders.

sailhog · #4 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

I just ordered a Bluechart card from Defender and it arrived the next day. The card was also $30 less than what it would have cost had I bought from Garmin.

sailortjk1 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

No beef on my end.
I hate hearing stories like this.
It sucks when you can't get your issues resolved in a civilized manner.

Freesail99 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

I just placed a special order with defender for vivid paint, a certain color ( yellow ) that they didn't carry and I wanted to paint my bottom with. I got great service, better price ( about $40.00 cheaper then any other place I could find on the net ). I have also ordered from them in the past where an item was backordered. Free shipping when the item came in. I like defender. I even prefer there web site over WM.

jorgenl · #7 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

I ordered a Zenstarr USB GPS this week and the same thing happened to me, the web application quoted that my "billing adress was incorrect". I had used the same credit card and same billing adress previously with defender so I called their sales dept and just gave them a new cc number.
Defender seem to have a problem with the web application for payments.

TrueBlue · #8 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

With all the internet scams and fradulent charges lately, tougher credit card security measures have been implimented with most "Secure" online retailers. This may be the reason for the recent trouble, as retailers go through this transition.

On other sites, I have noticed credit card info bouncing back to the start screen, if my delivery address differs for the CC billing address. This is intended for our protection.

Vasco · #9 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. I have nothing but good to say regarding Defender. My last experience with having to get something fast highlights the good service from Defender. I was on my way home when a Balmar regulator went on me. I made it to Daytona Beach and thought no problem I'll get one from WM which has a store there. Imagine my surprise that they did not stock this item that's prominently displayed in their catalogue. OK, order it in I said. No, they don't even stock this item in their warehouse. It has to be a special order frrom Balmar and seeing it was Friday they couldn't even tell me when they could order it!! I called Defender, they had quite a few in stock and shipped it Monday. The price, including next day shipping was the same as WM and I didn't have to pay FL sales tax!!

jackytdunaway · #10 (**permalink**) 06-14-2007

all my experiences with Defender have been great. i can't get the WM website to work with any speed to the point that i will not even try to look up something due to time. I hope that you have let a supervisor at Defender know so they can correct this. As an employee in a service based business i know that we all have bad days and if we do not let those in charge know they cannot correct it. I would ask the same if someone had a bad experience with the company i am at.