I guess it depends how you define 'best'. I've had good service, at reasonable prices, from mailspeed, jimmy green, safety marine and force4 in the uk and others including boatersland and west marine in the states.
Regarding prices it pays to shop around, regarding service who knows, the one thing that I've discovered is that lowest price doesn't mean lowest service.
I've generally had good service and price from Compass as well, although once they cocked up an order 3 times. Each time they admitted their mistake, acted promptly to rectify it, and got it wrong again. Came good in the end though.
Depends what you want to buy... best to shop around the deals & compare each time for bigger items. I generally try to support the local yard when I can, but only major purchases this year (new oilies & Navtex) have been from eBay at huge discount to retail prices.
Same with www.defenderUS.comwww.boatUS.com and boatbandit.com - all cheaper even after tax collected for the items I have ordered. Agree worth checking between each as sometimes they have very good specials, which if it happens to be something you want can make a very good saving over the others.
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I'll second Force4... had good service from them....
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Never had a problem from force 4 per se, but I have never managed a complete ex stock order either. I am still waiting for part two of my last order.
Why they can't link the web site to their data base and allow me to shop elsewhere for the bits... But no, they takes your money and you do not find out until the first package arrives with a part complete invoice attached.
This is the third time now and the last time I am ever going to use them. It is all very well having a big stock catalogue, but holding you to ransom on missing parts is taking the..... I have no idea when they will be in, it has been 10 days now!
But I often send people to you, so do not feel guilty.
In honesty, regarding allgadgets, delivery is pretty much 24 hrs, you order Monday and it arrives Wednesday morning. So break something at the weekend, you know you will have it to take to the boat the next weekend.
Returns at http://www.allgadgets.co.uk/ are fast and without argument. Ok, in an ideal world nothing would need to be returned, but it isn't ideal, what makes the difference is how painful that return process is.
And regarding my force 4 comments above, there is no secret about stock, if it isn't in stock, the allgadgets site tells you so you can wait or look elsewhere. It is not waiting that bothers me, it is not knowing and being charged before I am told.
The personal touch is great too, last Christmas my mum wanted to buy me a bit for the boat, I pointed her to allgadgets and was also able to email John and make sure she had got the right item, as to a landlubber many things do all look the same. Try that with one of the big boys stores!
***ok, that is enough, usual disclaimers apply, no connections, just a happy long standing customer. Having confidence in a company makes a massive difference.***