East Coast chandleries rant.

[Koeketiene]

Two-fold rant:

1. Ordered several items from Marinestore last night (Sunday). Free shipping for orders over £50. Great.
Today (Monday) I received a confirmation e-mail and my order will be shipped NEXT week. So, this means my order will arrive around 10-12 days after I've placed it.
If I want it sooner, I have to pay extra (a small fortune) for their overnight service.

So, they have it in stock, but they are still going to sit on it (juggling their testicles) for another week.
Hey, shipping was free - so I guess I can not complain.

Has the money already been taken from my card? Of course it has.

2. Apropos of nothing:
Needed a cradle for our new liferaft.
Two local chandleries have it in stock.

Fox's: Unbeatable range at great value prices

http://www.foxsonline.com/cgi-bin/s...al-Liferaft-Cradle.html#aOSRAF0750#aOSRAF0750

Seamark-Nunn: East Anglia's favourite

http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog/stainless-steel-universal-liferaft-cradle-4204.html#.UzCtW4U_hvk

Just saying.



PS: Guess who will be getting more of my custom?

 

[Poecheng]

I sent an order Sunday and this morning (Monday) got three emails from Marinestore
10:11hrs: got order and processing it
10:57hrs: "We are pleased to inform that your order has been sent by Parcelforce and your tracking
number is PB TPxxxxxxxx. This will not be trackable until the order has been picked up tonight"
10:57hrs: Sent the invoice

then at 16:30hrs an email from Parcelforce: "You have a shipment being sent from MALDON CHANDLERY that is due to be despatched on 24/03/2014 using our Express 24 service. The tracking reference number is TPxxxxx and it comprises of 1 item.

The address that the item is going to be delivered to is:xxxxxxxxxx"

Pretty good really as it was the free-over-£50 delivery service: two tins of antifoul.

Cheers

A

 

[LittleSister]

I suspect that what you've ordered is not in stock. If so naughty of them to have docked your card at this point.

I placed an order (various engine consumables) with A.S.A.P. Supplies about 11.45 last Wednesday morning, and paid extra for next day delivery as I wanted the stuff before the weekend. Got an immediate confirmation email from them.

At 14.50 they emailed saying it had all been despatched, and giving me a tracking number for the parcel. When I checked this I found the parcel had arrived at the Norwich depot (I live near Norwich) at about 16.30, which is pretty amazing (I think ASAP are in Beccles or thereabouts).

Had to nip to the doctors at 8.30 Thursday morning and got back at 9ish to find I'd missed the delivery! Easily arranged re-delivery for Friday morning with the couriers (DHL) by phone, and was given a half-hour slot for delivery. It arrived at the beginning of the promised half-hour.

Curiously, when I later checked the tracking, having found its way to Norwich so promptly after despatch, the parcel then mysteriously went to Birmingham (sent by mistake?), arriving in the middle of the night, but was back in Norwich again by the early hours of the morning, and had been on the van on its way to me by 8.30! Its mysterious 320 mile detour via Brum had resulted in no delay at all.

 

[Koeketiene]

I suspect that what you've ordered is not in stock. If so naughty of them to have docked your card at this point.

If that was the case, how come I can have it tomorrow if I pay extra for overnight delivery?
Because if it was a non-stock item what would be the point of having me pay extra for overnight delivery?
And it is that what pisses me off.

See also an earlier chandlery rant of mine on SB: how come hardly any on-line chandlery is able to list on their site whether an item is in stock or not?

 

[ianc1200]

People say on SB how good Force 4 is, but they gave me the run around a few weeks ago regarding an item which was expected the next day (I was asked to order & pay at that point) but I decided to phone and order the following day, only to find their supplier didn't have it and were not confident about getting it in for the end of the following week.

Just how hard would it be to state whether they have the item in stock on the net adverts as Amazon does?

Marinestore were the store I would go to first until what's happened at Titchmarsh - great staff in the store but until they closed less and less in there week by week.

 

[philiphurst]

I had a very similar experience with Marinestore last year. Free delivery offered, order and money taken and then 10 days to deliver the goods because a couple of items were not in stock.

On opening one of the tins of paint I found it had a thick crust on the surface. I know the delivery took a while but I managed to see the funny side of the very old tin of paint. In fairness to Marinestore, they saw the funny side too. They also paid my petrol costs in having to drive to their store to swap the tin for a fresh one.

Sadly, it seems to be becoming the norm for merchants to accept an order and subsequently tell the customer that an item is not in stock. I wish they all would adopt the Amazon standard.

For balance; I've used Marinestore for many years and my only negative experience occurred with my first and last online purchase.

 

[DanTribe]

That's disappointing. I've only ever had very good service from Marinestore in the past.

 

[philiphurst]

Indeed, it is. I still use Marinestore - the Maldon shop in particular - I just don't bother with their online option.

 

[Poignard]

I've had an order accepted by an on-line chandler for an item listed on their website which they didn't have and which was no longer manufactured.

Now I tend to use my local chandlery more. His prices are a bit higher but I get a club discount that usually compensates for that. If he doesn't have what I want, he soon gets it for me

 

[MikeBz]

I've had the same issue with Marinestore and have told them they really need to show stock status on the website. I now 'phone them to check they've got stock before I order, which rather defeats the point of online ordering.

 

[wingdiver]

2. Apropos of nothing:
Needed a cradle for our new liferaft.
Two local chandleries have it in stock.

Fox's: Unbeatable range at great value prices

http://www.foxsonline.com/cgi-bin/s...al-Liferaft-Cradle.html#aOSRAF0750#aOSRAF0750

Seamark-Nunn: East Anglia's favourite

http://www.seamarknunn.com/acatalog/stainless-steel-universal-liferaft-cradle-4204.html#.UzCtW4U_hvk

Just saying.



PS: Guess who will be getting more of my custom?

Hi
I believe I saw a sign in Fox's saying they will price match nowadays.
D

 

[Koeketiene]

Hi
I believe I saw a sign in Fox's saying they will price match nowadays.
D

I'm sure they do, but I don't really approve of this price matching nonsense.
If you have done some research and can show them it's cheaper elsewhere they will match the price; if you haven't you are fair game and you can be ripped off...
Might be good business practice but also ethically questionable.

 

[tugger]

I'm sure they do, but I don't really approve of this price matching nonsense.
If you have done some research and can show them it's cheaper elsewhere they will match the price; if you haven't you are fair game and you can be ripped off...
Might be good business practice but also ethically questionable.

It all depends on whether they're actively or reactively price matching, if it's the former I can't see what you problem is as they'll already have matched the best price being offered. If it's the latter, I agree you need to look around but then caveat emptor.


I see nothing to complain about, you're the shopper, you make the decision. I hardly see how you'll be ripped off from what will invariably be, for most products, a publicised RRP.

 

[pvb]

Seamark Nunn are usually keenly priced. But Fox's have a huge range of stuff, so you're more likely to find what you need on the shelf. On Sunday, whilst cleaning my boat in readiness for a potential buyer's visit on Monday, I managed to break the Jabsco toilet pump. Went to Woolverstone chandlery - no chance. Went to Fox's - they had no fewer than 8 of the replacement pumps on the shelf.

 

[nortonmotors]

I needed a new Simrad tiller pilot; a quick search online produced four possible suppliers.
The best price was Mailspeed, but they couldn't tell me when they would have stock.
Next I spoke to Seamark Nunn; they had one in stock and would post that day. It arrived less than 24 hours later.
Fox's didn't make the shortlist and, quite frankly, 'price matching' holds no attraction.

 

[Colvic Watson]

Charging before dispatch and charging when not even in stock is shoddy. On the Orwell we have to be the best served for chandleries anywhere in the country - Foxs and Seamark Nunn are fantastic and within 5 to 10 minutes drive of any of the marinas, both are usually cheapest on an internet search and have huge ranges of gear. The price matching is nice, they can't possibly check every single one of their 1000's of prices against every single supplier in the country, if we can, we get it cheaper.

 

[Poecheng]

I sent an order Sunday and this morning (Monday) got three emails from Marinestore
10:11hrs: got order and processing it
10:57hrs: "We are pleased to inform that your order has been sent by Parcelforce and your tracking
number is PB TPxxxxxxxx. This will not be trackable until the order has been picked up tonight"
10:57hrs: Sent the invoice

then at 16:30hrs an email from Parcelforce: "You have a shipment being sent from MALDON CHANDLERY that is due to be despatched on 24/03/2014 using our Express 24 service. The tracking reference number is TPxxxxx and it comprises of 1 item.

The address that the item is going to be delivered to is:xxxxxxxxxx"

Pretty good really as it was the free-over-£50 delivery service: two tins of antifoul.

Cheers

A

Just an update: Delivered today to SWMBO's work premises as arranged. Not bad at all. Actually it could not seriously have been done quicker.

 

[ianc1200]

Bit of thread drift, but does anybody know who "Marine & Outdoor Chandlery" are, taking over the chandlery at Titchmarsh? Thought the name was very similar to the Fox's outfit (was hoping etc), but they are called "Marine and Country Store".

 

[sailorman]

Bit of thread drift, but does anybody know who "Marine & Outdoor Chandlery" are, taking over the chandlery at Titchmarsh? Thought the name was very similar to the Fox's outfit (was hoping etc), but they are called "Marine and Country Store".

Same shop name as @ Fox`s so i claim a pint

well almost the same

 

[Stork_III]

Same shop name as @ Fox`s so i claim a pint

Fox's is called Marine & Country Store, on the building it says Chandlery & Outdoor. Not the same?