West Marine "Ship to Store" - AVOID!

[jordanbigel]

So, 10 days ago I ordered an 8D GEL battery from WestMarine and requested Ship to Store. There is a WM 1/2mile from the marina where I currently reside, so super convenient to pick it up there, and no shipping costs, seemed like a good deal.

I don't even know why I am writing this post, I guess just to vent my anger and try to stop people from using WM Ship to Store to avoid the hassle I experienced.

Here's what happened: 5 days ago I tried to find out the status of this order. When you order Ship to Store on the web site, they don't give you an ETA. I poked around and found a suggestion to ask on the WM Facebook page. Okay, so I asked, and they said it would be here on the 4th (which was 2 days ago). Okay, cool.

The 4th comes and goes, and no battery - okay, not a huge deal, so this morning I phone West Marine and talk to a guy who the battery has not shipped yet from North Carolina, and, that they are running 2-3 weeks behind on orders. I'm surprised by this news and tell him about the West Marine Facebook page and he says don't listen to what people say on social media. <facepalm> So, I tell him since its going to take another week or two, cancel the order. He says you can't cancel a Ship to Store order (its not paid for) it will get to the store eventually, he says and they will sell it to someone else, someday.

So, not happy (I need this battery) I hang up and call around and find one "locally" - a 90minute round trip drive to get it will be required - and he wants me to pay in advance cause he has to get it transferred from another store due to it being such a big, fat, expensive battery. Okay, great. He says I can come pick it up in a couple of hours.

Thirty minutes later the phone rings and it's my local WM store guy telling me the battery has arrived. Thirty minutes after I bought and paid for the same battery which I now have to drive 45 minutes each way to go get.

Because some idiot at WM told me the battery had not even shipped yet.

Okay, I feel better now. Maybe you are wishing you had not bothered to read this. Sorry.

And yes, I'm sure there are ten ways you can look at this and conclude I am the idiot and it's my own fault, and you are probably right. Granted.

[Shrew]

I hate to say this, and I mean no disrespect, but most of this was a result of your choice.

Large corporations don't track their inventory distribution to the stores quit so closely. They don't really care. They pay as little in shipping as they can, which might mean longer wait times and longer routes.

Had you bought and had it shipped to you (or a marina) you would have much more insight into the tracking. But shipping to the store saved you the freight.

You could have waited for the WM battery.

There is an older saying "Fast, Cheap, or Good, you can pick any two".

[clamshack]

Do not use West Marine Ship to store. I have had nothing but problems with it. With that being said if you want to get big items shipped cheaply. They’ll eventually arrive. Just know that your order will go into a black hole. Then one day show up at the store.

I feel bad for the employees that have to deal with this.

[wholybee]

I believe ship to store means that it is added to the normal inventory order. Shipped slow truck freight, no tracking, and mixed in with the normal inventory shipment.

Its easy to understand why it isn't as reliable and fast as Fed-ex direct to you.

[Knotical]

I had a similar issue 2 years ago while buying a starting battery - ordered online, free ship to store, was told it will take a few weeks to arrive so I went there after 2 months or so and I was told they see my order but “nothing is shipped yet”, funny thing was, they had the same battery in the store which he just gave it to me without any added cost.

I only use WM if I need something in an emergency, their prices are almost double than a chandlery (30 mins away) which I use more.

[Tom_F]

Sorry you have to do with this. Unfortunately a lot of large retailers are like this. I’ve had very similar experiences with Home Depot, to the point where aI was told in a phone call that a ship-to-home order would ship in 10 days and then it arrived that afternoon. I’m convinced it’s one of the reasons Amazon has become so dominant. Love it or hate it, you have to a acknowledge its logistics and tracking are excellent.

With WM I always call the local store first. Their inventory system is not always accurate and the store often has something the website says is out of stock or does not have something the website says is in stock. I think a lot of us tend to avoid using the phone these days (I know I do) and rely on online information but a quick phone call can really help.

[jordanbigel]

Originally Posted by Tom_F

Sorry you have to do with this. Unfortunately a lot of large retailers are like this. I’ve had very similar experiences with Home Depot, to the point where aI was told in a phone call that a ship-to-home order would ship in 10 days and then it arrived that afternoon. I’m convinced it’s one of the reasons Amazon has become so dominant. Love it or hate it, you have to a acknowledge its logistics and tracking are excellent.

With WM I always call the local store first. Their inventory system is not always accurate and the store often has something the website says is out of stock or does not have something the website says is in stock. I think a lot of us tend to avoid using the phone these days (I know I do) and rely on online information but a quick phone call can really help.

Yes definitely - often the web site will say they have 2 in stock and I get there and they have none, so I learned that lesson some time ago, always call first to check is my new SOP.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by jordanbigel

Yes definitely - often the web site will say they have 2 in stock and I get there and they have none, so I learned that lesson some time ago, always call first to check is my new SOP.

you definitely can’t trust the website with West Marine. I had the same kind of problem when I had to buy the MFD.

The website showed one in stock. And none within hours of driving.

I called to make sure they would put it aside for me. Since it was two hours of driving to get it.

The woman was kind of surprised I was asking she said she had a whole stack of them.

when I got there, there were about a dozen of them.

then once I bought the thing, it wasn’t put on my west advantage account. I have been struggling for weeks to get it put on there. They actually lost my 30 odd year old west advantage account. It’s just gone. And it was active as of about a year ago.

They didn’t hesitate to sell me a new gold membership. But they didn’t credit any of my purchases onto it. So it’s a waste of money.

what I learned from talking to them? A lot of people have bought and sold this company. The employees are very frustrated. They are not working with proper computer systems whatsoever anymore. Everything is messed up. They are really working without the proper tools at that store.

[Jammer]

I don't know what the situation is with West Marine in particular, but almost all lead-acid batteries are delivered to stores by the local battery distributor and don't go through the same logistics channel as other retail goods.


As a result, it is possible that ordering a battery is a completely different experience than ordering anything else.

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by wholybee

I believe ship to store means that it is added to the normal inventory order. Shipped slow truck freight, no tracking, and mixed in with the normal inventory shipment.

Its easy to understand why it isn't as reliable and fast as Fed-ex direct to you.

Correct. I worked there years ago and that's the way it was then. If you made the order in time for that week's truck pick and it was in the warehouse, it would arrive on the next truck. There was a problem if the item is not in WM's warehouse, it would have to ship from the maker to the warehouse to be put on the truck. That can take a while. Processing the order in the store we would know that and advise to have it shipped to home. One time we were trying to order a dinghy for a customer, it was not in the warehouse and they were not scheduled to receive any more from the factory for three months. Funny part was the factory was 5 miles from the store but they wouldn't let us just go get one.

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by Jammer

I don't know what the situation is with West Marine in particular, but almost all lead-acid batteries are delivered to stores by the local battery distributor and don't go through the same logistics channel as other retail goods.


As a result, it is possible that ordering a battery is a completely different experience than ordering anything else.

That was true in my WM store. Battery guy came in once a month to replenish and exchanged any that were getting old. And took back the trade-ins. I don't remember doing any special orders for batteries so don't know how that worked.

[S/V Illusion]

The other learning experience here is don’t buy batteries from WM. It’s always faster and cheaper to eliminate the middle man and buy from a battery supply distributor who will invariably have ‘fresher’ and a wider choice.

[Allied39]

I think the fault lies wholly with you, but only in that you expected to deal with something other than idiots.

Things have changed in the the last couple of years. A multitude of possibilities and theories exist as to what has happened and why, but it is normal for this to happen in any interaction these days.

I have spoken to many folks who have had experiences like this and thrown out my observation that more people are needed to do less now. I have not talked with a single person who has disagreed. LOL, will on this forum though...but that holds no weight.

It's a rare occurrence to find folks who can do their job now.

I think you will be disappointed less if you lower your expectations and accept the new "normal".

[IRENE]

Originally Posted by clamshack

Do not use West Marine Ship to store. I have had nothing but problems with it. With that being said if you want to get big items shipped cheaply. They’ll eventually arrive. Just know that your order will go into a black hole. Then one day show up at the store.

I feel bad for the employees that have to deal with this.

This was exactly our experience in Washington. Unfortunately, we were gone when the items emerged from the black hole. WM had great difficulty canceling the order…everyone helpful but it took numerous calls over weeks to get it cleared up.

There are 2 WM stores within an hour of us. Interestingly they are completely different experiences - one is a miserable mess and the other is pleasant and useful.

[Jeff on Aurora]

I worked as an assistant manager at a busy West Marine store in FL for 6 years. IMO, the root cause of your frustrations (and those of many, many fellow sailors) are WM's outdated Information Technology systems. Unfortunately, WM tries to save money by building their own in-house computer systems and spends as little money as possible to maintain them, let alone update them for the 21st century.


Take pity on the poor folks who are working there at WM. They are in many cases fellow sailors who are working there for minimum wage just to get the employee discount so they can work on their own boats. They want to help you, but they're left in the dark by lack of information from outdated computer systems.


Fair winds and friendly harbors,
Jeff


s/v Aurora, Key West