Great Customer Service - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

dsafety · 06-18-2010, 07:45 PM

It is easy to become discouraged when senior executives who make multi-million dollar salaries claim to have been "out of the loop" during the worst environmental disaster in recorded history. It is insulting when these same people refer to the many thousands of folks whose lives have been turned upside down as "the small people".

To counter this negative karma, I give you a story about excellent customer service from one of the companies that many of us regularly patronize.

I have been working on a new type of transducer mount for kayaks. This procedure involves strapping the transducer to the hull surrounded by some grease. This is not my idea. The folks at Humminbird sent me one of their kayak transducer kits to test. I will talk about this in detail in another post so stay tuned.

While trying to set up the test, my H-bird fish finder broke. Initially it would not power up. Eventually I got it to work but when I tested the unit in my pool, it told me the water was 35 feet deep. Rather than continuing to fight this device, I decided that it was time replace it.

I purchased this unit from West Marine in Oceanside. I was advised to buy the 2-year extended warranty and did so. When the thing crapped out, I called the store and was informed that my model had been discontinued. I could send it back to H-Bird or exercise the extended warranty and get credit which could be applied to another unit. Unfortunately, all the fish finders they had in stock were really expensive and I did not want to spend the money to upgrade now. Enter a guy named J.C.

J.C. is the assistant manager of the Oceanside store. He is always extremely helpful when I visit. When I told him that I did not want to spend a bunch of money now and hoped to go fishing this weekend, he said that he would try to figure out a solution that would get my FF replaced in time. He called some of his other stores, found a unit just like mine somewhere in Orange County and arranged to have it transferred to the O'Side store.

This afternoon I dropped by to make the exchange. To my great surprise, I was told that West Marine would be doing a warranty exchange for me that did not involve my extended warranty. There was no charge and the extended warranty I purchased last December was transferred to the replacement unit.

J.C. did not have to do this for me. He was very busy and I am sure that this whole transaction was a pain in the butt. No problem, he said. The best thing is that I am certain that I did not receive special treatment. This is just the way J.C. does things.

West Marine is a classy company and J.C. is an exemplary employee. Companies like BP could use a few guys like J.C.

Bob

dorado50 · 06-18-2010, 08:32 PM

Way to go Bob...

Its common practice for WM (as well as other retail stores) to transfer products between stores. A few phones calls is all it takes. Great story ....

Nic D · 06-18-2010, 08:40 PM

JC has helped me too, cool cat for sure.

nice story Bob, thanks for sharing.

lterrero · 06-18-2010, 11:23 PM

That's life, a media card it cost pennies to make, and they sell for $80.00 & if you return it because you got the wrong one, you'll have to pay re-stocking fee.

WahooUSMA · 06-19-2010, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsafety

He called some of his other stores, found a unit just like mine somewhere in Orange County and arranged to have it transferred to the O'Side store.

J.C. did not have to do this for me. He was very busy and I am sure that this whole transaction was a pain in the butt. No problem, he said. The best thing is that I am certain that I did not receive special treatment. This is just the way J.C. does things.

West Marine is a classy company and J.C. is an exemplary employee. Companies like BP could use a few guys like J.C.Bob

It's not only the way J.C does things, but the overall Customer Service standard established by West Marine and their expectations of all their employee's. The OC store(s) you are referring to I frequent regularly and have never been disappointed with their customer service. When one store is out of an item, without solicitation they will immediately contact their respective sister store down the street. If you can't find an item in the store, a sales person will 'always' take the time to help you locate it....regardless of the dollar or cent amount.

Can't say enough good things about West Marine. Great staff!

desert_s10 · 06-19-2010, 03:54 PM

West Marine is by far my #1 when it comes to marine electronics because of their warranty.....I live in North county and had NO idea there was one in Oceanside.... I am going to have to check this out. I would always drive down to point loma.

06-18-2010, 08:32 PM	#2
dorado50 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: La Jolla Shores Posts: 1,626	Way to go Bob...Its common practice for WM (as well as other retail stores) to transfer products between stores. A few phones calls is all it takes. Great story ....

06-18-2010, 07:45 PM	#1
dsafety Olivenhain Bob Join Date: May 2008 Location: Olivenhain, CA Posts: 1,121	Great Customer Service It is easy to become discouraged when senior executives who make multi-million dollar salaries claim to have been "out of the loop" during the worst environmental disaster in recorded history. It is insulting when these same people refer to the many thousands of folks whose lives have been turned upside down as "the small people". To counter this negative karma, I give you a story about excellent customer service from one of the companies that many of us regularly patronize. I have been working on a new type of transducer mount for kayaks. This procedure involves strapping the transducer to the hull surrounded by some grease. This is not my idea. The folks at Humminbird sent me one of their kayak transducer kits to test. I will talk about this in detail in another post so stay tuned. While trying to set up the test, my H-bird fish finder broke. Initially it would not power up. Eventually I got it to work but when I tested the unit in my pool, it told me the water was 35 feet deep. Rather than continuing to fight this device, I decided that it was time replace it. I purchased this unit from West Marine in Oceanside. I was advised to buy the 2-year extended warranty and did so. When the thing crapped out, I called the store and was informed that my model had been discontinued. I could send it back to H-Bird or exercise the extended warranty and get credit which could be applied to another unit. Unfortunately, all the fish finders they had in stock were really expensive and I did not want to spend the money to upgrade now. Enter a guy named J.C. J.C. is the assistant manager of the Oceanside store. He is always extremely helpful when I visit. When I told him that I did not want to spend a bunch of money now and hoped to go fishing this weekend, he said that he would try to figure out a solution that would get my FF replaced in time. He called some of his other stores, found a unit just like mine somewhere in Orange County and arranged to have it transferred to the O'Side store. This afternoon I dropped by to make the exchange. To my great surprise, I was told that West Marine would be doing a warranty exchange for me that did not involve my extended warranty. There was no charge and the extended warranty I purchased last December was transferred to the replacement unit. J.C. did not have to do this for me. He was very busy and I am sure that this whole transaction was a pain in the butt. No problem, he said. The best thing is that I am certain that I did not receive special treatment. This is just the way J.C. does things. West Marine is a classy company and J.C. is an exemplary employee. Companies like BP could use a few guys like J.C. Bob

06-18-2010, 08:40 PM	#3
Nic D Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Clairemont Posts: 813	JC has helped me too, cool cat for sure. nice story Bob, thanks for sharing.

06-18-2010, 11:23 PM	#4
lterrero Leo Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: La Jolla, CA Posts: 482	That's life, a media card it cost pennies to make, and they sell for $80.00 & if you return it because you got the wrong one, you'll have to pay re-stocking fee.

06-19-2010, 03:54 PM	#6
desert_s10 Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 36	West Marine is by far my #1 when it comes to marine electronics because of their warranty.....I live in North county and had NO idea there was one in Oceanside.... I am going to have to check this out. I would always drive down to point loma.