Defender Industries - Order Struggles

[AnchorJockey]

Now twice in 3 months I have experienced issues ordering from Defender Industries.  In March, an order of in-stock items that was supposed to ship within 2 days took a week to leave their warehouse.  It just happened again to me, another week long wait for in-stock items to ship.  When I called looking for the order on Monday, I was on hold for 15 minutes, got hung up on by them, then another call and another 15 minute hold, and finally they said they would get the order out that day, which they did, after burning up a half hour plus of my time.  Then, when my order arrived today, I found that whomever picked the order, forgot to put one of my items in the box!  Another call to them tomorrow?

Pre-Covid, Defender always had good prices, were reliable and they would ship the same day if the order was placed by 3PM.  Now in my recent experience, they are struggling.  Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Bob

[crazycarl]

Not with Defender, but a lot places.  Not to get political, but when the government is paying you almost what you're making to stay home, who's going to work?  Almost every business here has help wanted ads in the paper and/or window.  I've been waiting two weeks for a riding mower to be delivered because Lowes doesn't have enough drivers to keep up with deliveries.  I was at West Marine yesterday and the employee had to drive 2 hours from another store to open this one. The bike shop had to reduce its employees last year, and now they refuse to come back for the above reason.

[MacGyver]

Not to get political at all but second Carl here. We have gas stations out of gas due to drivers not able to be found. I know 3 people sitting on the dole currently because they dont have to do a thing to earn it.

My girlfriend was marked non-essential from her job early on..... couldnt find another at the time, and finally received unemployment..... She made more than I did a month and I worked everyday.

Crazy times now, seems to be never ending. I cant get engine parts, nor can I get some other things due to not enough help or manufacturing issues on top of it all due to manpower.

Mac

[Bob23]

When the helmsman doesn't have a clue, the ship wanders aimlessly. Defender has always been the most efficient place to deal with. Hopefully someone will take over the helm soon!

[Roland of Macatawa]

I've had a similar recent experience with etrailer.
Their automated order status updater gave the sequence away:
Only 8 minutes to confirm the parts were in stock.
Then a full week to gather and package the parts.
Then an additional 5 days to deliver the package to the local USPS.
But then only 3 days for the USPS to deliver the package to me.
Altogether, 12 days of etrailer's internal 'processing' of in-stock parts, but only 3 more days for the USPS to deliver.

I suspect many retailers are having staffing problems (while our government pays people to not work).

[brackish]

Same thing here.  Every place has help wanted signs out.  Article in our paper this morning that the state auditor has uncovered 118 million dollars in unemployment fraud, and he expects much more, that was for a fairly short period of time.  Prisoners and dead people among others who shouldn't have qualified were getting unemployment. 

While I have not used Defender recently I have had fairly good luck with some suppliers online.  When the local Fastenal, my normal source for stainless steel hardware, literally shut down from lack of staffing, I ordered from Marine Bolt Supply.  Screwed up the order and left a couple of items off, left a phone message asking if I could add to and not pay an additional shipping.  One of their guys called me from is car on the way home and said yes, email the items he would add them and ship it all the next day.  They will be my new go to supplier.

[Renae]

While I don't want to accumulate an un-storable amount of junk, I've taken to thinking about which parts I'm most likely to need on short notice and simply having them on hand (example--I just took delivery on a back-up prop for my electric outboard). 

Of course I can't predict everything, but not being able to get next day shipping on a niche item isn't something I'm ready to gripe about.  Nor will I lose any sleep about a "worker shortage".  Those who can't find workers are generally those who are still offering starvation wages.  They know what they need to do.

[AnchorJockey]

So here is the rest of my Defender story.

When I called to inquire about my missing pad eye, they told me they would get a replacement out to me right away.  Then came an email about an hour later, stating ?Unfortunately, the item pulled for your order was the last one in stock.?  Translation - it went into another order and shipped to someone who did not order it, or, their inventory said they had one but actually did not.  Either way, poor performance, Covid or no Covid.  Still waiting on the the refund to my card.

Fortunately, there are 2 locally owned boat supply stores in Annapolis only a short drive from my boat.  Both had the pad eye in stock.

That made me realize, maybe I should be sourcing my parts and supplies locally first, then go to the internet when I have to.  Price differences between the internet and local stores are sometimes negligible and when you figure you now pay sales tax on internet purchases and shipping costs have gone up, the advantages with online shopping are not the same anymore.

[Bilgemaster]

It's disheartening to hear that Defender and etrailers.com are on the ropes service-wise. Both were firmly in my "good books" from my favorable pre-Covid dealings with them, and I have unreservedly recommended them to others in the past.

I fear it's gonna be some time before things settle back to normal, and that a lot of good and well-run businesses are gonna take it in the neck from no fault of their own.

[Sealeggs]

I was reading older posts and came across this one and felt like I needed to share.  It looks like Defender Industries has worked out the kinks.  I purchased a lot of items over the past few months and their service has been great. Not only did I receive the items ordered every time, but many times the items arrived at my door within 2 days of placing the order - a couple times they arrived the very next day.  All with standard shipping.

Their prices are good, and service has been excellent.