My Defender update

[brettportzer]

I was critical of Defender when they changed their website and bumped up the prices and everything suddenly a couple of years ago.

However, even the the site is different and harder to navigate, it works well enough and is still better than many.

The prices thing got back to normal, and they are still pretty much my go to vendor for general stuff because they are close by and I receive things fairly quickly.

Unlike some of you, I live in a boating desert, so mostly mail order...

Anyway, two things I wanted to note for people if they didn't know:

The first is that they are still able to get a lot of things, and have good customer service communication like they used to, and if something doesn't show on the site, or if it shows out of stock, they can sometimes do the order over the phone and get it in for you.

I need 2" and 2-1/4" Trident 202v and only a few main sizes show on the website as in stock, but ordering over the phone I can still get it.

The other thing is, they told me that they stock by demand, so, if you are looking at something that shows out of stock, hit the "notify me by email" button and put in your email, because this lets the AI know to order some... LOL

All in all, things seem to have turned out OK where Defender is concerned, at least for me.

 

[Pascal]

The old site was easier to use but you can’t beat defender prices and customer service

Their search engines doesn’t always work, sometimes I just google adding site:defender.com

 

[UNIQUE_NAME]

i sent them an email when they first rolled out the new site.
asked them if anyone had actually tried to use it before they published it.

hasnt really gotten any better but as you point out prices are prices and they are responsive on the phone so i still use them.
but a hammer and a chisel would be easier to use.

 

[Boatsb]

They are an outlet of a Canadian motorcycle parts company. Over the years they lost many lines for violations of pricing and tech support.


They are.drop shipping from suppliers when possible to keep cost down and offer little hands on knowledge.

As a dealer and distributor of many of the electronics and electrical parts they sell I beat their price on 90% of what they sell and I install most of these items daily so I can support them.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I never use them. I always find better pricing and support from other sites. I just ordered paint/varnish supplies from Jamestown.

 

[cww]

Their new website is f&#$ing awful but they have so much stuff I still end up using them (begrudgingly) anyway.

 

[JD5652]

I used to live and boat local to their facility.

Before the acquisition, they were my singular place I bought EVERYTHING. Easily tens of thousands of dollars over the years.

It was SO NICE to be able to just go there and get basically anything I needed. At the time, GREAT... THE BEST... customer service around.

Since I moved to FLA in 2022, haven't used them even once.

 

[sgharford]

Anyone know if they still doing that Amazon Prime like thing with Annual Membership dues to place an order under $100?

 

[Pascal]

Anyone know if they still doing that Amazon Prime like thing with Annual Membership dues to place an order under $100?

No that went away a couple of years ago

 

[brettportzer]

They said they replaced that with free shipping over $100.

I have to do a lot of shopping around it seems, for sensible prices on things?

For instance:

3 ft of Trident 202v 2" hose at Defender is $68.39 right now.

at Fisheries, for instance, it is $130.08.

Same with the clamps, $8.75 at Defender, $15.36 at Fisheries.

But, sometimes it goes the other way.

Also, Defender has the 2-1/4" hose available and Fisheries only has like 2, 2-1/2", 3", 4", etc...

But I do definitely shop at different places, I think it is MOSTLY availability first, and then pricing second, although occasionally there are weird price differences like this.

And yea, the site is awful!!