West Marine

I don’t know who they remodeled this store for years ago but it is definitely NOT for boaters.
Many boat owners have trucks and trailers — They have taken a previous functional parking lot
with the flexibility to allow both trucks towing trailers and anything else and transformed it to
a small maze for prius owners and soccer moms. Large barriers and fake trees now
prevent any real boating customers from utilizing the store but when going inside one soon
realizes if you need any real boating parts you likely will not find it here anyway.
But if you need an overpriced shirt/​shorts or shoes drive your prius or mini van down
and enjoy! Thankfully there is a real boating store only a few blocks away that will assist
the real boater.

Hubby’s favorite go to spot for boating supplies and accessories. They also sell fishing supplies, apparel and beautiful colorful Kayaks! They are having a Super sale on March 17 – 20. Complimentary drinks and snacks for customers! The store looks awesome now ! This place has the best CS ever super helpful and friendly. Highly recommended! The manager here is super nice!

The most despicable customer service I have ever experienced. They have NO desire to help long-​standing customers. Rude, disrespectful and have a serious attitude problem. Take your business somewhere else.

** Original review, update below **
If you have too much money, this is a good place to fix that. On the one hand, they have the various bits and pieces you need if you’re maintaining a boat, though more and more is «in the warehouse, we can get it for you in a couple of days». Stuff is easy to find, and if not, someone will help you, provided they happen to know what it is you’re looking for. If you do have questions, best to find one of the older staff. They have a great selection of rope, paint, and electrical and plumbing parts.
On the other hand, their prices are outrageous compared to the online places. Seriously — 30% differences sometimes. They used to price match to online prices, but now only do that for other local retail stores. They’re also starting to look like a clothing store, with shirts and shoes pushing out the parts. More like a Target or REI than a chandlery.
** Update **
They’ve remodeled, and now it’s not similar to REI — it is REI, with a small marine store in the back (no disrespect to REI — great place). If you’re looking for blankets and shoes, this is the spot, with a wide selection of good quality (if overpriced) attire and sunglasses. My closet’s full, so I went to the far back corner looking for a roll of very common wire. None there, but they could order it. Most of the big rolls were empty, and the small rolls were being cannibalized for by-​the-​foot sale. Ditto for the hardware — they could order it. Might as well go on Amazon, it’ll cost far less and get to you quicker.

Anything you need for the water, they have it. Selection, price and service. This is my one stop shop for summer. Highly Recommended !!

This place is a joke, watch what they charge you, as I was charged twice for the same items I bought. I took in bank statements showing the charges and the answer was my bank took it, even thou I went with a letter with contact info from my bank. Then they wanted copies of my bank statement and I said no, would you give out yours? I didn’t think so. So I guess my money is floating in outer space, it was a total waste of time and they could care less. Three of my brothers run boats out of san Diego along with myself. The binghams have been running boats out of San Diego since the sixties and we will no longer patronize west marine we work to hard for our money ! So watch your dough when you walk in the door. Mb

Friendly staff and a well organized store that is clean. Giving 4 stores due to their woefully underrepresented fresh water fishing bait section. For the size of the store you could definitely stock salmon eggs and live bait…

This location is larger than the one on sports arena and seems to have more of a selection. Private parking lot not as sketchy. Cashier was nice and helpful

My wife and I spent an hour at West Marine today preparing for a trip to the Virgin Islands. Megan helped us find everything we need and her customer support was outstanding. We will be going back to purchase a few more items.

West Marine is a big box store and for a big box store they are pretty good. I am surprised about some of the bad reviews. I am a regular customer, sometimes there two times a day so I feel like I am a pretty good judge of this business as opposed to some guy who drove from El Cajon and was upset because they didn’t have something that he figured they should have (and then also went on and on about the traffic problems)
There are some really good people working at this store. The cashiers are always super friendly. The rigging people In the back are great. The people at the special order desk are really good also. It is almost never hard to find someone to help that’s what you want.
I think that Unilocalers who give a bad review based on one experience are wrong. Everyone has a bad day sometimes. Stores run out of product sometimes. A rating on a business like this should be based on a few shopping experiences.

Customer service leaves much to be desired.
I went in to West Marine to buy a $ 1500 side scan sonar Simrad unit and transducer. Before I made the purchase I simply had one question… Do outboards interfere with the side scan sonar? I was told by a customer service rep that the only service rep who would know the answer was already busy helping another customer. No problem, I’ll wait for him to be done so he can answer my question. 15 minutes later he was finally finished with his previous customer and it was my turn to be helped. When I approached him he told me that it was his lunch break and that this other guy could help me. Ok, still no problem as long as the other guy could help me. So, I proceeded to ask my question to this other guy who was extremely less knowledgeable and couldn’t answer my question. He told me that I would need to wait for the knowledgeable guy to get done with his lunch before I could be helped. Now I’m starting to get a little irritated. Long story short, I ended up waiting well over an hour for my one simple question to get answered. I ended up buying the unit but from now on I will be ordering all my marine supplies from Wholesale Marine online. Way better customer service and cheaper prices. Save your time and shop somewhere else.

Horrible customer service. Horrible store policy. Rude and unaccommodating store manager. Crazy prices. This company is the poster child for why monopolization laws should be stronger.

This place for being a large store does not have the variety of hardware that you would think it should have. Everything is very expensive here. I saw a small carabiner for 20 bucks outrageous! They have a lot of different sections but not much variety in each section. This place is just about a monopoly and it is sad. I can’t count the times I have been in there and they don’t have what I need. Paying full retail sucks too. Now I buy most of my stuff online sad but true because I would rather take my business locally.

I would like to share my horrible experience at this location store # 1 733. I came in to this store on June 17, 2013 with my magma grill propane regulator. I was having problems with the regulator because it was not shutting off And leaking gas. I approached Milo one of the store manager’s regarding this problem and Milo said «no problem I can swap it out for u» and went and grab another regulator for me and told me he just needed the packaging. I gave him the packaging and proceeded to look around the store. I couldn’t find the anchor I was looking for so I decided to leave as I walked out the store milo stated that I needed to come back so that they could check my west advantage membership. So he asked the cashier to help me she was able to pull up my membership which I have 2 different accounts but was unable to process it. She called for a manager whose name was Mark. Mark proceeded to look for the grill I purchased in march 2011 and couldn’t find it because west marine records only go back one year. He then told me that he could not help me because i dont have a receipt and that I should call the plus plan. I responded when I purchase the plus plan with my grill I was told that all I needed was my phone number if I had problems. He said you can use our phone to call as he proceeded to help another customer because apparently my time is not important as the next customer. I responded that I did not want to talk to a machine and that he should call.
Mark said «oh you don’t have time to call but you want me to call «
I said «yeah «
So as mark called plus plan they told him I was on a replacement plan and that I needed to bring in the entire grill and give them the I’d number 715 889. At this point mark said «can u please explain this to the customer and handed the phone to me. They gave me an I’d number and I asked marked «is there anything else he needed to process the return» he said nope just come back with the grill.
So I left the store to go get the grill. When I left I got a voice mail accusing me of stealing the regulator which I did not steal. (I still have the voice mail) I called back and told them I was coming with my entire grill like what I told mark.
When I came back with my grill Milo asked if I wanted to purchase another plus plan for my grill I said no too much trouble he started to be sarcastic and said «oh it’s too much trouble for you, I guess it’s easier than cleaning it. «
Marked proceeded to call the plus plan and did not allow me to leave even though I was parked in the fire lane with my boat outside. He could not properly give them the 6 digit number 715 889 so he called for help and a 3^rd manager came. She did not have a name tag on but she did have dred locks. She than proceeded to talk to plus plan and had an argument with them all while I was waiting and I asked did they need anything else from me they said no but I have to wait. I told them I was in a hurry the girl with the dreadlocks responded «you could take the regulator and go but not the new grill».
So now milo is on the phone with plus plan and now about 30 mins goes by and 3 managers are taking turns making me feel guilty about using my plus plan. Milo finally is able to close the till and let me leave with my grill. They didn’t need anything from me they just wanted to waste my time and make me watch them do there job and criticize me for using my plus plan.
This entire experience was very unprofessional. I can’t believe that it takes three managers to figure out how to use a plus plan. Not only that but the customer service was horrible they made me feel like I was a thief and that my time did not matter as they helped other customers and ignored me.
Management I strongly urge that you drug test Mark, Milo and the manager with Dredlocks and no name tag because I strongly believe that drugs were involved and getting high at work is a very serious matter. I will continue to send this email until I have heard from management. I love west marine and would like to continue to come to west marine and be treated like a customer not a thief just because I used the plus plan.

These people are completely incompetent.
If you are buying an outboard get it from Dinghy Dr. Buying an outboard from West Marine means you have to go to DD anyway to get it prepped. Skip a step, got straight to DD and get an outboard that’s hundreds of dollars cheaper and get 500 times better customer service.
The salesman at WM tried to sell me a floor model outboard that didn’t even have all the parts in it and it took him super long to do it bc he couldn’t find a pen — couldn’t find the paperwork — and basically couldn’t get his head out of his own ass. Avoid this place like the plague.

The only reason to shop here is because these guys have a near monopoly on boating products and accessories. Ever since they took over BOAT US several years ago the prices have gone up, and the service has gone down. I try to avoid this place as much as possible, but since there are only a few other marine chandlerys in town that’s kind of hard.
The store’s management definitely doesn’t care about the customer. They do not even offer a web site to rate the customer experience on their receipts. Why should they. They have a near monopoly. I wish the Justice Department would investigate that.
Today I went into their flagship store and overpaid for marine toilet paper, which I can’t find anywhere else. Another example of rediculus prices. As I was walking around, I noticed they were selling a netting system to install on a dock box lid. There is probably all of $ 5.00 of cost in that item, including the shipping from China, and they had it priced at $ 41.00. Absolutely Amazing!
To the people who rave about the excellent service they receive when they pay $ 25,000 for a dinghy, I can only say that I hope you receive that kind of service if you paid that much for a dinghy. Most people don’t pay that much for their boats! Most people don’t pay that much for a new car either!
The checkout service also leaves a lot to be desired. 10 people in line to check out, 10 employees in the store, and only 2 cashiers. When the phone rings, who answers it? One of the cashiers.

We bought a new GPSr unit here.
We started out at the store on Rosecrans St. & Kurtz St., but they didn’t have what we were looking for, but the manager was VERY helpful, and told us that the store on Rosecrans St. & Dickens St. did carry the unit we wanted.
The guy we spoke with at the second store was tremendously knowledgeable about all the different units, and there was ZERO pressure to buy anything (even though we were looking to spend less than some of the higher end units).
Both stores were neat, clean, and had an interesting assortment of nautical … «stuff»…home décor to boat accessories to fishing equipment… all here.
They even offered free coffee at the Dickens St. location (and pizza at the Kurtz St. location)!
Nice place to even just wander around in.

Very expensive, nut they are big and carry a lot of goods to choose from. You can find most everything they sell online cheaper.
I like to go there and find new stuff that I can put in good use.

All I wanted was a dual-​battery isolator, and they wouldn’t give it to me, just an isolator…
This place was better when it was BOAT-​US (yes, it’s a cheesy acronym, or was anyway). At least they had dual-​battery isolators. Nothing irks me more than driving all the way into the voracious maw of the wretched hive of scum and villainy known as Sports Arena only to come up empty-​handed. Yes, as Geoff Reed once said, Rosecrans St. is always the worst street in any city, without exception, and it’s true in San Diego as L.A., etc. But that’s where the city crams all sorts of useful if unsavory businesses, like metal platers, full-​nude strip clubs, giant gulag-​like post offices, marine hardware stores, porno shops, and whathaveyou. So you know what you want when you go there, and damn it sucks to battle that unlovable pornindustrial zone and get zip for your efforts.
Anyway, they didn’t have a simple dual-​battery isolator, which anyone with a boat or heavy-​duty vehicle knows is mandatory for making sure you don’t kill both your batteries when miles out to sea, or in deep El Cajon, or whatever. So I had to punish them by buying one at half price off ebay, which is what I do to all businesses that let me down like that. Word to the wise, stock the essentials! Duh.