Have found Westmarine reliable - but try Boatersworld.com as well; equally reliable & often cheaper.
With the $ exchange rate as it is, you can pay VAT & import duty (often not charged anyway on small parcels) and still save significantly.
Try Steveston Marine in British Columbia, Canada.
<<www.stevestonmarine.com>>
They are often cheaper than West Marine & very helpful.
Exchange rate is currently about 2.3 Cdn Dollars to the GB Pound.
I don't know if they ship to Europe but it couldn't hurt to ask!
Sam Salter
C&C 26 Skye II
Ghost Lake Alberta.
I work in Commercial Foreign Exchange and a number of people have used my services when importing boats from overseas.
As a brief outline, my company, SGM-FX, are able to offer an advantage to dealing with high street banks in two key ways. First, we can offer a better rate of exchange - this is principally achieved by us working with smaller profit margins. Second, we provide a proactive service which is designed to help the client take advantage of positive movements in the exchange rate and reduce the risk of negative fluctuations. We offer guaranteed security of funds for peace of mind when moving large sums of money overseas. SGM-FX have a number of other client driven services such as using a 'forward contract' to secure an exchange rate for up to twelve months in advance and working 'market orders.'
SGM-FX works without commission or handling fees. Clients do not lodge funds up front with us and if we are unable to save them money they are under no obligation to use us.
For more information please call me, Steffan Jones on 0207 778 0123 or email steffanj@sgm-fx.com
Blatant advert, & not really related to westmarine purchases?
but I'd certainly recommend them. HIFX offer a similar service, though send contract notes as.xls files which is a pain if you don't have a reader for them. Have used both & sgm seemed less rigid .
My apologies. I did not know you weren't supposed to post promote your own company, although thinking about it that certainly would make sense.
The reason I joined the forum was quite simply a client told me she had heard about my company on the message board and suggested I have a look. Obviously I got a little bit carried away!
The best way to approach this, is to give helpful advice when someone asks a relevant question (in a non biased sort of way), with a small contact detail in your tagline. Then not advertising blatantly, but giving solid commercial advice in a friendly helpful way. Works for a lot of contributors here.
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Hi, I have just used Westmarine, my autopilot arrived mon, postage was £28, and my local customs( in Jersey) took another £14, but i still saved over £100!!!
On Weds 3 March, I ordered a replacement Lifesling bag from West Marine in California. It arrived this morning (Mon 8 March).
On Mon 1 March, I ordered a car CD-player from a UK company about 50 miles away from me. It was despatched on 2 March by Securicor. I'm still waiting for it.
Why is it that UK firms and couriers find it so difficult to get to grips with the fairly simple concepts of customer service?
In response to my origonal question, I ordered some Lewmar clutches from Westmarine, and they arrived within a week - excellent service - Westmarine have a web based tracking system and once it was shipped I could track the parcel almost hour by hour on the Fed-Ex web site. Can you imagine asking the royal mail where a parcel is? ... "buggered if we know guv" has been a response i've had from them in the past!
English compainies have got a LOT to learn about customer service.