Anyone else having problems with Hamilton Marine?

[Polecat]

Order a box of 10 clamps - get 9
Get charged for 1/2" marelon thru hull with hose tail pipe & it's not in the box
Send them an e-mail explaining what happened and letting them know they have a problem
week later get another box from Hamilton
They send me the 10th clamp but charge me for it
They send me a sink drain with strainer marked with the 1/2" thru hulls part number and charge me for it again!
Anyone can have a bad day & make a mistake but looks to me their running at least 3 deep.
jim

[Case]

Complain strenuously but politely to Hamilton Marine. Shut down the erroneous orders with your credit card.

That doesn't sound like them to be honest. I bought lots of stuff from them, no problems at all. But I do have to admit that I haven't used Hamilton Marine for 2 years so maybe things have declined. I buy from Defender most of the times of late.

- Case

[Polecat]

I sent them a fairly strenuous e-mail. Operations manager e-mailed back a bit ago and fixed everything. I normally use Jamestown and Defender but this time Hamilton had a far better price on the thru hulls and seacocks I wanted. I'll try em again in about a year.
jim

[bcooke]

I like Hamilton but they are not really 'on their game' like Jamestown or Defender and the like. They kind of stumble along in a likeable sort of way. I have only had a couple of issues with my orders but they were always ready to correct the problem. On the other hand Jamestown and Defender have always delivered flawlessly.

[LazyGuy]

It is not really fair to compare Hamilton to Defender and Jamestown since Defender and Jamestown are mail order oriented facilities and Hamilton appears to be primarily a bricks and mortar store with a catalog. That is not an excuse for bad business practices but I give Hamilton a little more slack than the other two particularly when since they maintain about 4 stores and keep prices reasonable relative to the strictly mail order houses.

This said, I have never had an issue with Hamilton mail order for the few times I used it. Instead, I usually have a list in my pocket for the stop in the Portland shop after the Maine Boatbuilder's show.