Pat & Patty's Bad Experience with The Offshore Store

Well, look at the number of responses to this thread in one day... assuming there are MANY, MANY more who read and don't respond, this vendor has "bought" himself a great deal of bad will. I don't understand how anyone in the service business can look a customer in the eye, promise a certain level of service, and then NOT follow through. And then to let it go on for months... this is obviously a way of doing business and not an isolated incident.

If I were the owner, I would be mortified. However, lack of respect for the customer starts at the top. A savvy business owner would have called you, apologized, asked how they could make it right, and then done MORE than that to show you they intend to learn from the incident. My guess is you won't see that happen here, Pat... the owner will say, "It's no big deal," and then blame his dwindling business on the economy. Certainly the economy can play a part in good businesses having tough times... but those businesses who promote their service AND follow through are in better shape than most.

This business DESERVES what's going to happen to them.

Respectfully,
Jim B.
 
Pat did you call raymarine to have the unit serviced? I ask because I have learned that a lot of "service centers" are just mail drops for the maker. I sent my unit to raymarine directly and had it back in the boat in two weeks. That way mailed there ,fixed, phone call telling me what was wrong , and mailed back. Once your unit gets to raymarine they give you a tracking number, you have to call, then when you call to see what is wrong with it they connect you to THE GUY THAT IS WORKING ON IT. Not some geek reading a computer screen trying to figure out what the tech wrote. I was very impressed with raymarines costumer service. So go around the off shore store ( who are they any how) and go to the source. I always demand good costumer service and have been know to make one sales lady cry at a k-mart for her being stupid. I also dragged a guy across a counter for being rude in a auto parts store, I miss being young. I hope you get it all worked out.
 
TOM wrote:
I also dragged a guy across a counter for being rude in a auto parts store, I miss being young.
Click to expand...

If we ever go to war I want you on my side! Oh,,,, we are at war, and you ARE on my side. Excellent. If you miss being young how does that make me feel?? The appropriate answer would be; your much older brother.

Happy New Year Bro, and also to all the other bro's and bro-ettes.
 
Read, agreed and heed. No "Offshore Store" for SleepyC. Thanks for the notice Pat. Hope Tom's or others help here will be most helpful.

Sounds not unlike our experience with "Inflatable BoatWorks" over 5 months to get the proper floor for our fake Alaska Series.

Harvey
SleepyC
 
Pat thanks for your account of your dealings with Offshore. While the odds that I would ever use their services are very remote many in your area may be saved from the pain you endured. I'd definately let Raymarine and Lewmar know of your experience's. If I owned either I'd certainly like to know that my distributors were giving such poor service. In my mind anything longer than perhaps two weeks for repair of either item would be unacceptable and say to me that both manufactures cared little about customer service after the sale. While not in the same league as Raymarine I've used Humminbird products for many years and they have the best customer service of anyone I have ever dealt with. I once sent them a depth finder I had that came on a used boat I purchased. The depth finder was at least 5 years old and they sent me a brand new unit within a week of recieving my old inoperable unit with no charge. More recently I broke a mounting bracket for my Humminbird GPS (my fault) one phone call and a new bracket was at my door in three days also no charge. Great customer service that the two afore mentioned companies could learn from.
 
I'll second Warren's suggestion. Only had occasion to deal with them on a couple of things but they were fast and efficient. In one case they determined within 24 hours that the unit was working correctly and pointed me (correctly) to to probable cause, in the other the unit was shipped to Raymarine after a quick determination that they could not sove the problem.

Apart from that, they have some really cool (but $$$$) high end equipment to drool over :xnaughty

Merv
 
Just chiming in with another good report on Rodgers' Marine Electronics in Portland. After a voltage spike which fried my RayMarine unit, I had a sense that the design would probably have a sacrificial component to guard against major damage. They were the only place I talked to that would do a component level diagnosis instead of just shipping the unit back to the factory for a flat rate refurb. Saved a bunch of money!
 
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