I purchased a snubber from Best Marine Imports in the summer of 2005 for our 5/16” chain rode for our new Outbound 46. The “claw” however, would fall off of the chain in light wind or changing conditions. This past fall I noted that Best Marine had a “new claw” with a pin that would remedy my problem so I contact them with the intention of returning my unit and having the new claw spliced on instead. When I sent my unit in, they contacted me to advise that the claw I had was too large so that had been my problem all along and that: “we would take care of it”. (Great customer service; right?) That was at the beginning of December.
I ordered another shorter snubber at the time as well. Several emails and false starts later, they finally sent the snubber(s). When they arrived (March) I was dismayed to find the new snubbers with a claw that was LARGER than the previous and with two different size lines attached! When contacted, I was told that this was the smallest they made! My last one was smaller and if you look at their website…. Then to add a further insult, my credit card was charged twice; once for the correct amount of $272.56 for the second snubber but then again a few days later on February 25 for $1,408.10! When queried as to the “other charge” I was advised that it was their mistake, they had mistakenly charged someone else’s order (a storm jib) to my credit card and that the charge would be reversed immediately. It was not.
In fact, here it is April 10 and the funds have still not been returned. I have spoken to them and emailed on numerous occasions and have been told everything from; “it was refunded this morning” to “I have some money that was supposed to come in from Saudi Arabia but it didn’t arrive”, to “the guy I sold the jib to took off,” to “I will call you right back”.
As it stands now, Best Marine has both of my snubbers that I had to return (again) plus $1408.10 of money stolen from my credit card. The funny thing is; when you speak with “Robert” he sounds really nice. I guess that is how con artists sound. My recommendation to all is to stay clear of Best Marine Imports as well as the company that processes his Visa: “Sea & Air Shops”.
BTW...this has all been documented.
Bob M
Outbound 46 "Hedonism"