mail order fittings

[chalky]

I have now wasted 2 weeks waiting for an order from "marinemegastore". Having chased them after 5 days standard delivery expired they have finally come clean and admitted that none of the material ordered is in stock! No progress on the old boat for too long now.
Just reordered from P&B... my mistake in the first place

[Lukepiewalker]

I have heard poor service tales about just about every online shop. I thik it comes down to most of them being shops with internet/mail order rather than dedicated mail order places.

[Antony (Guest)]

ICM, that is interesting as i always assumed that the 'real shop' was more likely to support a decent amount of inventory and so be able to send it from stock rather than getting it from the manufacturer. 
I have to admit that i only use mail order when necessary and only use places where i know somebody in case it goes wrong.  P&B are not perfect but they do at least know what a 12 is and have been pretty good for me over the years even when Tom is not doing it himself.
Antony

[andyp]

I've always has excellent service rom P & B, if it's not in stock at least they phone you that day to advise

[FuzzyDuck]

I don't do mail order unless I have to.
I always use my local chandlers. You get a nice long chat and you always spend more than you intended.
Also I'm like a little boy in a sweet shop. I just like to stand an look at all those lovely fittings.....

[Lukepiewalker]

Indeed, but the thing about 'real shops' is that their internet front ends often don't have stock levels showing and such like thus requiring phone calls and things when you order something that isn't in stock. I don't have a problem with this, as on the flipside you can talk to actual people without having to spend hours scouring the interwebnetandthat for a contact number to sort things out!
The downside of the 'local' chandler is that I have to go about 70 or 80 miles to get to a decent one (about 400 miles for a specialist in my current class)...

[Giles (Guest)]

Agree with the last post. I normally have to use mail order, as the internet mail order suppliers have driven all the local chandlers out of existence.
C'est la vie.

[chalky]

Order arrived from P&B this morning, less than 2 days from placing order. Would buy localy (no postage!) but no one stocks the bits I need near by. Local yard fantastic for traditional materials, paints etc but they can't carry the vast range of "stuff" available mail order.
Too windy today for racing, so I can now glue some more decking onto Bobtail....