Crowley Marine

skennelly

Anyone purchase from these guys?

Bought setting on the 8th.  Their order status tool says it's still processing for 4 days now.  They don't answer their phone.  I thought they were reputable.

aero3113

I think a lot of companies are having delivery delays. I ordered a Ring camera, status was ready for pick up for 4 days. I called Ring and there was a message stating shipping delays and email support only.

Liberty44140

I’ve been having all sorts of boat parts issues. Filters shipped from a supplier a week late, no communication. West marine stores are fine but their website is trash. No more ship to store and they won’t answer phones nor will they call you back or return emails. I’m done with west marines site. Honestly I think that between the supply chain disruptions and boating getting hotter and hotter these guys are just buried....

skennelly

I get it, but to not provide a way for me to contact you and get a real update is shotty.  I love the email us form that goes into no man's land.

Also take the "most items ship same day" banner off your site if it's not true.

Willhound

Not defending them, but to provide some perspective, I work in a business that also has an online order component. Since Covid, and with people reluctant to shop in person, or in some businesses, just not able to, our online orders have expanded five fold. The issues with this are that the infrastructure from manufacturing capacity, shipping, warehousing, and order handling were never designed with such a sudden huge growth in mind. Then take into account that just like everyone else sitting at home or working at home, or if at work, being required to work while following all the distancing and hygiene guidelines is a huge task. In our business our central warehouse that is experiencing a five fold increase is trying to handle that with half the workforce because under the guidelines it's impossible to have all the staff jammed together.
We've also had the same issues with website's not being updated since most businesses contract this work out, and with so many businesses trying to move to a larger online presence to make up for lack of walk in business it's just impossible for the website designers to keep up.
So, this isn't just an issue with marine suppliers, it's right across the board.

And the future is going to be different too. On the consumer side our analysts are telling us to expect that since people have started doing more on-line and less in store, they will continue that trend after Covid. And on the business side, some businesses are realizing that they can get by with less staff in the retail setting and just refer everyone to the website...so guess what? Less staff in store to help and less human contact to address issues. In future there won't even be a phone number to call, it'll be all online.

Cableguy Greg

I have ordered from them pre-Covid and never had an issue with them. Not sure what is going on with them now. 

skennelly

@Willhound - I too work in a retail business...single store family owned and if something was in stock and took more than a day to ship it would be considered a problem...even during the pandemic.
I should add we do roughly 1200 orders per day 85% or so products are in stock and ship same day before 3pm.

Our processes are pretty streamlined so I guess that's the difference.

Anyways I'm not trying to sound like a jerk...just wish communication was better...even if they say it won't ship for a month.  At least I could decide to keep it or cancel it.

YYZRC

It’s been such a mixed bag. I’ve had stuff come quickly and other stuff has never arrived. I ordered a bike rack and it sat at the mail depot for 2 full weeks. 

Totally agree that if a business can’t figure out how to efficiently transact primarily online they’re dead. 

skuter99

I have been waiting for a mag350 idler puller for over a month now to ship to my dealer in Ontario from Mercury in USA.

Willhound

I agree with you @skennelly , you don't sound like a jerk. It's maddening when you order something you need and it takes forever. I ordered something on EBay 6 weeks ago and although the retailer shows it shipped same day, FedEx can't explain where it is. Distribution and delivery is a big choke point right now too. Proper inventory counts are also a must for showing in stock but the weakest point in that link is the 17 year old minimum wage kid that doesn't care if it's exact or not. A lot easier in a smaller family owned business. 
The other issue I think is that although a lot of online retailers show "In stock", what that really means is that the distributor or wholesaler shows it in stock, it's not actually on a shelf in a retailer location. You buy from them but in reality they just shove the order up the line for fulfilment. There are all kinds of opportunities for orders to get scrambled or delayed.
One final hopeful point is an example of a fairly reputable Canadian online marine supplier I deal with where an order will show "In process" for days, but in reality it's already on the way. Hopefully this is what's happening in your instance and it'll show up soon.

LaRea

I just ordered some RTA cabinets from a company that has a totally modern online process.  Emails at every step:  receipt, confirmation, warehouse, fulfillment, shipping and delivery.  

When email #2 showed up, the cabinets were already sitting in my garage. 

I didn't say the process was working ... only that it's modern! 

Aqua_Aura

The other big issue that has arisen with shipping is that now the airlines have cut way back and they would carry a large portion of freight that is now being shoved over to cargo operators so now they have a much bigger burden all of a sudden. The private company I fly for is now expanding because they have to ship their own freight since the airlines can't handle it anymore. Air freight pricing was thru the roof on pricing as well but is somewhat coming down. 

skennelly

6 days now...no response to any of my emails or FB messages.  Order continues to be "processing" on their website order status checker.  Oh and my cc was charged immediately..that's a nice touch.

Willhound

Hmmm . Yeah, that's just bad, Covid or no Covid.

skennelly

Managed to talk to a human being today from Crawley after 7 days.  He claimed their site says 1 to 2 week delay on orders.  I checked and could not find any such wording.

Anyways they claimed to have converted my order to express shipping and refunded my shipping charges and it might ship this week.  Really want it by Friday but doubt that will happen.

It's a good price so I'll ride it out and see what happens.