"You know the story about the NY couple coming to a small town and buying the quaint little EXTREMELY successful small business and putting it out of business in 6 months? Here we go. These people destroyed Steve Lance’s amazing business, they are just plain awful. Employees bash the new place, mass exodus coming"

"Great selection and products unless something goes wrong. Then you are out of luck. Now asked to return a reverse cycle AC unit, that has never worked at my expense. Bought it while being a defender first customer. Unlikely going to sign up for this again since they do not stand behind their products. Have done tens of thousands of purchases with them, including another purchase delivered yesterday, and now will consider shopping somewhere they stand behind the products. They should have sent me a new unit and delt with the company who made the unit since they have more power than I do."

"I bought 300 feet of 1/2" line that I expected to come on a spool so that I could redo some of the running rigging on my boat. Surprise surprise, it shows up as a jumbled mess inside a cardboard box. Not properly wound on a spool like many other companies provide. When I contacted their customer service, I was told they'd "waive the restocking fee" and I could send it back at my expense and then buy 600ft of line, which would come on a spool... I have no use for 600ft of line, and the thought of paying $50 in return shipping, plus another $400+ for extra line I don't need, just for it to come like it should have, and like plenty of other sites sell and ship... Nah, I'm just going to order stuff from a different site, and make sure I use my damn credit card instead of my debit card next time."

"Wanted to purchase motor for boat and never heard a word for week. Then they went up on price while it was in cart."

"After reading some of these reviews I was a little skeptical about ordering a Lowrance HDS 12 Live. They were a a little cheaper than anyone else so I pulled the trigger and ordered. I was expecting to get a call, as other reviewers have stated, wanting more money or something. I did get a call the very next morning just to confirm my shipping address. The one that called was very friendly. After I confirmed my shipping address he stated he just wanted to make sure everything was correct before shipping. Right after that I got a shipping confirmation and 4 days later my package arrived. Once I found out that this is a brick and mortar type of store I was not too worried about my order. It is the online only retailers you really need to worry about.

I am very pleased with my order and how smoothly the transaction went. I think they now have a new happy customer. I will be back for sure."

"I've been a Defender customer since 1978 when they were in New Rochelle, NY. Over all those years I've been a good customer and had relatively few issues which they've always resolved. Last year I purchased a Zodiac inflatable. After about a year the floor boards started breaking just from stepping on them. I contacted Defender and was told by "Dan" that Zodiac considers the floor boards an accessory. How ridiculous is that? Imagine stepping into your new Chevy and you go through the floor and Chevy says the floor is an accessory! You can't use the boat without the floorboards. Therefore they are not an accessory. No where in their warranty are the floorboards excluded. In spite of Zodiacs ridiculous position, in my opinion, Defender should have taken care of me. For $75 they've lost a life long customer. How foolish is that?"

"WARNING: Great, “too good to be” prices, right? Several days after you place your order you’ll find out why when they contact you asking for your acknowledgement of exorbitant shipping rates and many additional fees. Great price upfront turns into horrible price on the backend."

"Ordered Monday night, spend over $1100 + $200 for 2nd Day Air shipping. Friday comes around and still haven’t shipped. They are telling me boat department has left for the day and they will get back to me on Monday. Canceled the order on the spot as they ruined my weekend trip. First and last time ordered from this joke company. "

"I bought a Webasto Basics 20 gallon water heater in September of 2018, installed it a few months later. Right away it had a small, pinhole water leak in a weld. The overheat tripped constantly. The upgraded element kit didn’t include the gaskets. Defender was slow to respond, but they did get my missing gaskets for me. When I replaced/upgraded the element, I discovered that my heater was manufactured 5 years before I bought it...YES, 5 years! Then I discovered rust on the original element connections. Defenders response, contact Webasto. Webasto’s response, crickets. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Stay away from Defender and Webasto. Webasto products are junk (I also have a Webasto diesel heater that craps out way more than it should). And Defender appears to get their products from closeout/liquidations, hence why their prices are cheap - but they pass off the products as “new” because, technically a 5 year old product that may not have been used, just sitting around rusting, is “new” to them. "

"I've used Defender for about 10 years. They are always my first stop. The prices are near the lowest online. While you can sometimes find other places which price slightly below them, Defender always has good, complete product descriptions, and fast shipping. Customer service has been great. Over those 10 years, I needed to return two items., One call, and that was it. No issues. Once when a heater was delayed, I called to check status, and they arranged for the Canadian manufacturer to ship an on-hand item directly to me. When I ask, they even gave me credit to the import tax I had to pay.

unless they change, I'll keep shopping there."

"Bought an inflatable boat. Boat arrived but oar locks were missing. Went ahead and put the boat in the water seat broke in half within 2 minuites. Lost control of boat and almost went overboard. Called and emailed Defender several times - no response for five weeks. Now they are denying warrenty claim because they say too much time has passed. "

"Very Poor customer service . Owner Stephen Lance called me to discuss letter below basically admitted to the error but offered nothing . Very frustrating being told one thing only to get to the counter and told something else . In the end Mr Lance told me to go do my shopping at West Marine and hung up on me. Read the letter below. If this is how they handle a %60 error what happened when it's more ???
Dear Mr. Lance
I'm writing today, as a first step, to inform you of an unpleasant occurrence in your store today and to ask for your intervention in this matter. First the facts of what happened.
In the clearance section you had 3 sizes of anchor line. 3/8, 1/2 and 5/8". The only one labeled with a price was the 3/8" line at $109. I brought the 5/8" line to "Skip" to get a price. He informed me that he was just doing the signs and the price for that line was $175. Thinking the small line was 109 and the larger 175 I asked about the 1/2" line, assuming it would be less. He showed me the signed for that one and it was listed at $175. I asked Skip how could this be both lines were at the same price and he told me that's how it was. So I asked a third time to please check the pricing and he did right in front of me on the computer and told me that the 5/8" line was indeed $175. When I said to Skip it only makes sense for me to buy the 5/8" instead of the 1/2" at the same price he agreed and also told me it was a good deal and was cheaper then what employees pay.
I then proceeded to the counter to pay along with some other items. The 5/8" line rang in at $235. I told the nice girl that this came out of clearance and that it was $175. She said ok but she needed the code. The code came back at $235 and she could do nothing. I asked for the manager and was introduced to Ken Morse. We went back to clearance spoke with Skip. He agreed with everything I had said and what he told me however it wasn't until after I left he realized a possible mistake. The sign for 5/8" at $175 was thrown away and only the sign left was for 1/2" at $175 remained. I asked Ken to make good on the 175 but refused admitting the mistake and commenting that I didn't lose anything.
I then asked to speak to a higher manager and he told me he was as high as I could go. I asked for the owner, and without checking, was told you were not available. He did tell me your name and got mine as well.
As I mentioned in the beginning these are facts and I'm sure when you speak with Skip and Ken they will confirm what occurred.
Now for my opinion. I wanted to buy the line at the price quoted for my trip to Maine. Only when getting to the counter was I told that it was the wrong price. A price that was not only in writing but confirmed 3 times before checking out. Could this be considered "bait and switch" I don't know. That's not for me to decide. Was this possible fraud? Again not for me to decided. Could it have been a simple mistake? Again not for me to decide. If this was a simple mistake then Ken should have sold me the 5/8" line at $175 and then make all the changes. Instead he dug in his heels and refused to admit a mistake and just blame the price on the computer.
So now where are we? You have a very unhappy customer that feels he suffered a loss of $60 and quite possible a customer so unhappy he may never return. I like the store and I would hate to not be a customer because of this incident.
What would I do in your position? I would speak with Skip and Ken to confirm the facts. Once confirmed I'm sure you will better understand my frustration. I would then explain that sometimes mistakes happen and that it's also better to have a satisfied customer then a miserable one especially at a cost of $60. I would also offer a $60 gift certificate (unrestricted).I ask for the gift certificate because I had to stop at West Marine to buy an anchor line for my trip to Maine. I'm not asking for a pound of flesh just to be treated as a customer in good standing. Good customer relations goes a long way.
Please confirm that you received this fax and if you could reply to me by Aug. 15th I would greatly appreciate it.
Warmest Regards

Bert Cote"

"I have bought some 200+ items from Defender over the past 4 years. I have never had any problems with them. They ship fast, prices are lowest i have found and the selection is huge. Returns are handled fast as well. It is true that they do not have detailed technical info for all the 10000 products they sell, but they do reply to the emails and find the appropriate person on the manufacturer to contact. "

"BUYER BEWARE! I have bought from Defender before and have been pleased with their product lines and service up until this last purchase. I bought 60 each of dot snap studs, cap and sockets and a hand tool to install snaps. I made side window covers for my boat and installed snaps and studs. I noticed that the snaps seamed to be kind of lightweight but had no choice as rain was forecast that night, I had removed one of the side units for track repair and live 80 miles from my boat. That evening we received rain and wind gusts up to 25 mph. The following morning I returned to see how they held up and to reinstall my windows. To my dismay, the one side was completely off and wrapped around the shore power cord. The rain soaked everything-what a mess. I called customer service and they tried to push me off on the manufacturer, and seemed to not to care. They said they would pass the info on to their purchasing department.I went to a local marina and purchased heavy duty stainless steel snaps and screw studs for $26.00 out the door, a far cry from the $100.00 I spent with Defender. By the way, the snap tool broke as well. It's obvious this company has no intention of standing behind the crap products they sell. Today I purchased over $11,ooo of navigation electronics from their competitors. No more business with these jerks!"

"I do like defender, they have some good prices for inflatable boats accessories. They ship fast too. "