Yes, I think marine.com is having problems

[JVallely]

They charge your credit card, 'auto-update' your account page with vague, ambiguous information and ignore your phone calls and emails when nothing ever shows up. I'd call that a problem.
I don't care how cheap they are, or how pleasant they've been on those rare instances when somebody's actually heard from them. They're not getting any more of my business.
John Vallely

[doubleeboy]

Odd, when I have asked questions, Rob himself has always answered within a business day, sometimes minutes later. They provide this board for us, so I try to support them when their prices are competitive. My big complaint is their search function both for the board and the store, I think it really hurts their sales at the store when they frustrate purchasers.

michael

[smackdaddy]

I agree with ddb. I've spoken to Rob and/or Karen a couple of times now on orders. No, they're not a huge company with a call center in Bangladesh - but they took good care of me. I'll keep buying from them.

[JohnRPollard]

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

I agree with ddb. I've spoken to Rob and/or Karen a couple of times now on orders. No, they're not a huge company with a call center in Bangladesh - but they took good care of me. I'll keep buying from them.

That's right. It's a fairly small group, and let's face it times are tough for pretty much all marine-related businesses. I doubt there's a single marine retailer that hasn't faced significant staff reductions over the past 12-18 months.

And yet, they still foot the bill for this valuable resource we call Sailnet. I give them my appreciation for that. West Marine certainly doesn't host a Forum where irritated customers can post complaints against them.

All the same, sorry to hear about the difficulties with your order and I recognize that it can be frustrating.

[smackdaddy]

The only thing I don't understand is the need for 2 online stores under the same company - especially if shorthandedness is an issue. Most of the complaints I've seen in the past have been centered on the SN store, not Marine.com.

It seems that it would be a good idea to consolidate the stores into marine.com. Then when we see an ad for an item we like here on SN, or click on "Store" it takes us to marine.com to purchase.

I know it's never that simple (and I don't understand their business), but it sure seems like a good option that would address a lot of issues.

[sailingdog]

My understanding is that Sailnet and Marine.com are legally separate entities, even if they are run by the same people.

[smackdaddy]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

My understanding is that Sailnet and Marine.com are legally separate entities, even if they are run by the same people.

That shouldn't be an issue. It would be easy enough to tag an incoming session from SN as a SN purchase and invoice accordingly. But then they'd only have to maintain a single store and customer service infrastructure.