Marinemegastore.com Worries.

SovereignDiver

SovereignDiver

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Westham Nr Pevensey
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OK does any one know anything about this company? Placed an order express next day delivery on 7th May. They cashed payment 8th May, still nothing received 11th so chased up customer services. The only number you can get through on is sales and they cannot transfer to order tracking. Eventually got through to customer switchboard at about 5.45 this evening to be told the switchboard do not have any numbers for any of the staff or managers but "will pass on a message"?
I wouldn't normally be concerned but I appear to be speaking to "receivers" rather than an ongoing business. They are offering good discounts so may be cash collecting.
Any information gratefully received as it may all be innocent with a company expanding too quickly and not having the infrastructure to support its cutomer services division, or one that has over operated and is going belly up! Any information gratefully received as this is about the worst experience I have ever had. I only wanted to know when they were going to deliver! Shame. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
hmmmm! marinemegastore have been around some time and I've bought from them on several occasions. Somehow I don't think their problems are due to their business in rapid expansion.
Fear the worst me thinks and for the rest of us, stear clear.
Thanks for the warning!
 
I bought a tv aerial from them last year.

They took an absolute age to deliver - weeks and weeks. I wouldn't have minded but it was the usual sh!te service scenario - no one returned my calls, each time I got to speak to someone (when I called) they kept telling me it was about to be despatched (which of course it wasn't), payment taken straight away, etc..

Learned my lesson - never again will they have any of my hard-earned. Good luck to you.
 
Hopefully you paid with a credit card - Visa?

Cancel your order with the sales people on the phone as they haven't fulfilled it (next day et al) and contact your credit card company to get them to recall payment.

If more people did this it would force traders like this to sharpen up to stay in business.
 
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OK does any one know anything about this company? Placed an order express next day delivery on 7th May. They cashed payment 8th May, still nothing received 11th so chased up customer services. The only number you can get through on is sales and they cannot transfer to order tracking. Eventually got through to customer switchboard at about 5.45 this evening to be told the switchboard do not have any numbers for any of the staff or managers but "will pass on a message"?

[/ QUOTE ] Not been reading what has been posted on these forums about them then?

We've read all before. Several times!

I'm sure there are many thousands of satisfied customers but when it goes wrong it goes wrong with few signs of any effective customer services to sort it out.
 
Google it - you'll find plenty of horror stories including mine. They are a disaster to deal with and I will never even think about buying from them again.

The only number I could find for them was, as you say, a switchboard who always just say "Theres no one available, i'll leave a message and get them to call you back" - so basicly this call centre just emails them

A total joke of a company, BEWARE
 
Haqd very good dealings with them once, had two other dealings which were a disaster, same scenario as the rest.
 
A quick Google search turns up the following links which all refer to Marine Megastore:

http://www.kimhollamby.com/blog/2009/04/16/marine-customer-service-heroes-and-zeroes

Zeroes = * Marine Megastore - two orders placed, they declined to supply half of the first one (I presume because they got the price wrong), supplied one out of two items on the balance and still have another outstanding. On the second order (placed last July before I realised how bad they were) nothing turned up. I got a refund today on some of it but will not order again.

FISHING FORUM
http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1300460

RIB FORUM
http://www.ribworld.com/forum/showthread.php?s=34984dc4759ade517f971bbb28f868a4&t=24149

RIB FORUM
http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?s=34984dc4759ade517f971bbb28f868a4&t=23164

And many, many from YBW forums! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Just to add my experiences after a number of orders. They never deliver quickly. I used to order on a Monday as they gave an extra 10% off (not any more though) and stuff sometimes arrived on the Friday. Some items never turned up but were always refunded after a week or four. I ordered a cockpit table last year - wrong one turned up. After two weeks. Taken my business elsewhere since. I have a suspicion, and it is only a suspicion, that they hold very few lines in stock relative to what they list and back-to-back their orders with the wholesalers/importers.
 
I cancelled my one order with them after waiting two weeks but then again I used them on the recommendation of two other people that had bought from them a few times with no problem.

I suspect that, like many web retailers, they often don't have stock and simply place orders with their suppliers when they receive yours. The web site (again like others) doesn't always show this however. I always buy with a credit card on the web.

Edit: just noticed AdeOlly's reply above mine and I agree totally.
 
Not sure about megastore - i ended up going to pick up some equipment from them - they operate from 1 small room with not a lot of stock - 1 fairly disinterested young lad who was the only one there - i would recon they cross order hence the delays - would i use them again - NO
 
Hi dnickj
Websites can be so deceiving, coupled with an automated selective telephone answering system offering to connect to a plethora of departments, what an interesting illusion it generated!
It must be hard to control this global operation from the one room, where do they all sit? Switchboard, sales, accounts etc., there should be at least 5 or 6 of them crammed into the room you found.
The intriguing part for me was opting to speak to switchboard, it doesn't matter who I asked for, staff or manager, they haven't got the numbers for anyone and cannot transfer you!
That said, I did speak to a most reasonable chap yesterday by selecting the accounts option, (James in accounts) at least he had the idea of customer service and did not hesitate to refund my money.
Still none the wiser about what happend to my order, but got me £200 back and shoppping elsewhere.
Make up your own mind but my view is hold a course well clear of this shambles. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Only dealt with these guys once and would not do again due to delay in item arriving.

Back to back ordering is a sensible way for a webstore to operate, why run the risk of obselete stock, aged stock, needing provision under a sensible accounting policy, premises and security costs etc. Keep overheads low, headcount minimal etc. The key obviously is to have a supplier base who are set up to hold stock, ship direct to your end user and plain label equipment and even produce packing notes etc in your businesses livery. Slick logstics and decent return rights, available credit and terms which enable them to be cash positive, profitable hopefully and offer competitive pricing i.e. using a trade only Distributor.

Making assumptions it seems these guys have either cut the overheads so low they are unable to operate efficiently or have a poor and unreliable supplier base. You'd be surprised how many of the BIG name web shops and companies are actually back to back ordering on a next day delivery basis through distribution.

And yes I am involved in distribution, thankfully not marine :-)
 
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You'd be surprised how many of the BIG name web shops and companies are actually back to back ordering on a next day delivery basis through distribution.


[/ QUOTE ]
Clearly Amazon operate this way for a lot of stuff but as you say they have organised the infrastructure to make it practically invisible to the customer. They also provide the source supplier name which I have had to contact when I screwed up an order and it all worked fine.
 
My impression from having visited them a couple of times is that they keep very little stock (a few radios, etc) with most of the shelf space being taken up by containers ("orders") that are filled as/when they manage to collect the relevant bits from their suppliers.

I had my fair share of issues e.g. it took months to get a refund for a radio that was received DOA and returned to them. Also, was told to collect some urgent things directly from their suppliers.

Still, their prices are sometimes much lower than elsewhere so I still buy from them at times - obviously not if time is of the essence.
 
As I live in the area, I went to their premises in Hamble sometime at the back end of the summer last year. Had no dealings with them previously, and thought with a name like "MarineMegaStore", it would be a place worth visiting. I even imagined it might be bigger than the Marine Superstore in Port Solent.

er ... no - it happened to be on the 1st floor of a small little industrial unit (and by that, I mean SMALL!), with next to bugger all in it.

Trundled off to Port Solent, wondering how the last 30 mins had been a disasterous waste of time!

MarineMEGAstore my ar$e!!!!
 
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MarineMEGAstore my ar$e!!!!


[/ QUOTE ]
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Ah, the power of the internet /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I ordered items at the end of May and still havent recieved them, i rang 4 times and fell i've been fobed off each time, i asked for a refund of my money and they said they have found the bits i ordered in a box and i will recieve them today (28/05/09) but im not holding my breath, in my opinion there not a good company to deal with, if i recieve the bits today i'll post it on this site tomorrow, watch this space
 
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