West Marine — Local services in Key West

Sunday, May 26th I gave a call to the store inquiring about a boat and the ordering process. The associate was very informative, looked up the boat and informed me it would take a week to get in and would arrive the following Friday.

Being Sunday I was unable to get to the store in time that evening to order so the following morning, Monday the 27th I arrived to place the order. At this time I was told that the boat was going to take a bit longer to arrive than usual.but should arrive either Friday or Monday at the latest.

Skip to Saturday the 4th. I call the store around 2 pm to inquire if the shipment has arrived and I can pick it up or if I should expect it Monday and I am served by a rude associate who claims "there are only two of us on the floor" I ask if it's something I can look up online and am told no.... I am baffled that I had to ask "well how should I go about finding this information". Reluctantly I convinced this associate to give me a call back with the info when he had a moment. I never received a call back until Monday.

Monday June 6th my call is returned by the manager George. George apologizes for the delay in the boat and explains that it will arrive Tuesday the 11th and he will call when it arrives. I let him know that is a problem and that I just need it for the weekend as I'm leaving on a trip and require it. George offers a refund if necessary.

At this point my trust in this outfits ability to deliver is deminishing. I setup a backup plan. I source another dinghy from Miami and prepare to pay the additional $1000 that it will cost for the other boat and the freight.

Tuesday I received a call from George stating that the boat would definitely be arriving in the next few days. "today or tomorrow" we're the words used. I decide to forgo my plan b and wait for the boat to arrive.

Wednesday comes and I am told that the boat is on a truck and will not arrive until Tuesday the 11th. This date is well after the date I required delivery by and we both know it. I am busy and upset. Not being one to be confrontational over the phone I reply "that's a problem, I don't have time for this and I will call you back".

Now my guest is flying in to town and we will be without a working dinghy due to not my lack of planning but my over trust of the largest marine retailer.

It is now Tuesday the 11th. Today is the 5th promised delivery date that I have waited for. I have just checked the tracking for the freight company I was provided by the online customer service. No surprise the dinghy is still in Miami. I'm willing to wager that it will not be arriving today either.

Let me be very clear. I am not leaving a one star review based on West Marine taking two or three weeks to deliver a dinghy to Key West. That is understandable. This review is one star due to being dragged along with failed promise times based on speculation or outright lies. Had I been told on day one or even on the first promised delivery date that this endeavor would take this long I would have moved to my plan B and purchased this elsewhere. Instead the delivery date has been missed multiple times and each time I am given another empty promise. I have lost all faith in the word of this outfit.

Edit: 6/11/19 I call the store for an updated pickup time and to speak to George again. He informs me that today is still the arrival day and he will call me as soon as it arrives. It never arrived or I still have not received a phone call...

I had a very good experience today. I went to buy a new auto inflate life jacket, a rearming kit for my current life jacket, and a new rain jacket. I didn't find the rain jacket I wanted but I had great service while I tried on jacket after jacket. When they didn't have the one I wanted they looked up the closest store that had it in stock. In their defense, it's been cold and pouring rain recently AND there was a huge fishing tournament that they said wiped out a lot of their stock. My timing wasn't great.

I had never rearmed a life jacket but they did it for me in the store and did a great job showing me how all the components worked. HUGE thanks for that!

I bought another brand new inflatable jacket. However, when I got back to the boat I realized that there was no C02 cartridge or owner's manual. While that's a huge bummer, I REALLY wasn't looking forward to getting the shuttle back down there from Stock Island (I don't have a car here). Thankfully, they are sending a new jacket to the West Marine here on Stock Island so that it's a short walk. While I was disappointed that the C02 cartridge was missing I really appreciate their efforts to make it right. So, if you're buying a new life jacket, be sure to check that all the components are there before you leave the store. It's sad that people...

I came in recently to buy sunglasses that I looked up online. It said they were available that day for pickup and yes the location was correctly set to the Key West location and not Stock island. I went into the store to find nothing and the older female cashier was no help. She asked for the model number in which I replied my phone was out of data so I couldn't pull it up. I was on wifi when I looked it up. Anyway she offered absolutely no other assistance. Then just the other day I looked online and figured a new shipment came in as numerous models were listed as in stock and available for pick up. I will include a photo of one of the many items listed as available. Anyway I went into the store again to find nothing. I really don't appreciate wasting my time when I do all the research needed to make sure my trip isn't a waste of time. Please have your webpage looked at and...