Marinemegastore - BEWARE !

I was given a Mirror for my eldest son and have been renovating it over the winter.  It was old and needed taking back to bare wood, painting and re-rigging.  I would normally use Purple Marine for all my bits but I thought I would google 'International Paints buy online' to see if anyone was significantly cheaper.

Most were in the £19-£20 mark for 750ml of Toplac but one stood out at £17.09 inc VAT.  Clicked on it and ended up at Marinemegastore.com.  The site is nothing fantastic but I noticed that they offer 10% off first orders and free delivery.  I live in the very far north of Scotland and free delivery to here is very rarely offered so I read the small print and they did indeed offer free delivery to anywhere in mainland UK....Yipee I thought.

I ordered 13 things such as primer, filler, undercoat, toplac, thinners, single blocks, double & triple blocks, eyes and springs, fairleads and shroud channel adjusters.....your average boat order.  £130 total saving around 30% on most other sites.....still looking good.  Confirmed the order late on the night of the 13th Feb.

Waited for 3 days, loggin to their website and saw 'your order has been received and is currently being processed', read their small print

'For items ordered after 1pm, MarineMegastore.com will still endeavour to despatch within 24 hours, however may require 1 working day from the day following your order for despatch'

So dropped them a polite email asking for a delivery date....nothing

Gave them a call on the 19th and they said it was just being despatched and would be with me on the 20th......there is no 1 day service up here so thought the 21st would be the day.  By the 22nd I rang again and was told it was out for delivery.  Up to this point I had had an email confirming the order, the money had been taken but I had heard nothing from them unless I rang up.

They did indeed deliver on the 22nd......in part  Paint etc there but block eyes, fairleads and springs missing and the 8 single blocks were 7 of one kind and 1 of another.  There was a little printed slip in the box saying some items to following.

I was raging and sent a quite unpolite email to them asking when I was going to get the rest of my stuff, when I would get the right stuff and why on earth I should shop with them again.  Never heard a thing.

Decided to have it out with them today so rang.  I explained that the customer service had been shocking and he started going on about my order being 'complex' because it had 13 items in it........how do tesco' scope with people who buy 200+ items   I then asked him where the rest of my stuff was and he said that the outstanding stuff was specialist items.....since when has block eyes, springs and 2 plastic fairleads been specialist stuff

The guy kept on about complex orders , remote deliveries etc but just couldn't understand that all I wanted was to be kept informed   I still haven't got a new deliver date.  He agreed to replace the 7 blocks with the ones I wanted but still charged me £2.95 P&P that was instead of £6.95....whoopy do.

Their strap line is "The new way to buy marine products".  Most would think bigger, better, faster but really they mean you order, we take your money never contact you, deliver late and then only in part, lie about how long things take in the post, blame spam for emails not been read, and best of all think that running a business involves no customer service at all.  Its certain new......!!!

I will be spending 30% more from now on going to Purple to get excellent customer service and deliveries on time.

Beware, them cowboys are starting to get in amounst us sailors

I am just so annoyed

The guy didn't give a sh t

Once the fingers got going they just didn't stop.....that was the condensed version don't start me how long a package takes to get from here to the south coast first class........

Originally posted by Barty Most were in the £19-£20 mark for 750ml of Toplac but one stood out at £17.09 inc VAT.

So you saved yourself £2 - £3 for countless grief and hassle...delays to your fit out project, wasted time - it's taken you at least 20 minutes to post that rant on here. does it really look like that was an effective saving???
 
..personally I stick with suppliers that I know deliver - Northampton for example who I've used since pre-internet days...if they end up being £2 more on a item then I don't care as I don't have any shops near me and If I order on a Wednesday  I know I'll get it before the weekend...

Still yer pays yer money and takes your choice...

Originally posted by laser4000 Originally posted by Barty Most were in the £19-£20 mark for 750ml of Toplac but one stood out at £17.09 inc VAT.  So you saved yourself £2 - £3 for countless grief and hassle...delays to your fit out project, wasted time - it's taken you at least 20 minutes to post that rant on here. does it really look like that was an effective saving???

But he didn't know what they would be like before he ordered did he?

Edit - BNS, you beat me to it, grr


Edited by MRJP BUZZ 585

I've had mixed experience getting stuff from Purple recently, although I have to say it is because of the couriers they use (Interlink).  I ordered a new suit of sails.  The mainsail arrived one day late (4 days rather than the 2/3 day service) but the jib, which for some reason was sent separately arrived a week later (10 days after being posted), having done a tour of Britain.  For some reason the courier firm deciced to send it via Inverness...  I had to chase round the couriers myself to track down the package.  The guys at Purple were reasonable helpful, but I still had to make the 15 phone calls to find out what had happened to it myself.

Sailboats.co.uk i.e. Northampton have a far better courier service.  I ordered new trolley wheels at about 2.30pm and they arrived the following afternoon.  Very impressed.