Hodges Marine

Dear Hodges Marine,
I am sorry to report I have had an extremely d...issatisfying experience with your company. Apparently UPS gets to decide if I need to be home or not to receive a package, can leave notices on doors that are not used and cost me $50 by virtue of your reduced refund when they opt to return a package rather than leaving it at my residence as they have done dozens of time in the past. Nowhere on the receipt I received from purchasing a $300+ item, nor any correspondence I have received, does it indicate that I need to be home for this product to be delivered. Refusing to acknowledge this atrocious failure in the system, charging me $50 for that failure, and costing me very valuable time in restoring the hot water on my boat, has obviously prompted me to take my future business elsewhere and encourage others to do the same. Should you choose to rectify the below person's failure to be customer service oriented, I will be more than happy to acknowledge and be grateful. But otherwise, consider me a former customer. Wade Durant

So you're expecting a package by a certain date, it doesn't seem to arrive on or around that date, you apparently don't check the tracking number to see where the package is, you apparently don't check with the company you purchased the product from to see where it is, so it's everybodies fault but yours?

FWIW, I've always had good service and great prices from Hodge's.

Capt.Bill11 said:

So you're expecting a package by a certain date, it doesn't seem to arrive on or around that date, you apparently don't check the tracking number to see where the package is, you apparently don't check with the company you purchased the product from to see where it is, so it's everybodies fault but yours?

FWIW, I've always had good service and great prices from Hodge's.

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Good for you Cpt Bill,,,I have to in the past. I hope if UPS messes up your next order you have better luck than me....I doubt it though. You will absorb the cost.........just letting you know and thanks for your concern!

wonderfulwade said:

Good for you Cpt Bill,,,I have to in the past. I hope if UPS messes up your next order you have better luck than me....I doubt it though. You will absorb the cost.........just letting you know and thanks for your concern!

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And just what are you claiming Hodge's did wrong? They shipped a package to you. You made no arrangements to receive it. In today's world, tracking is very easy. You didn't choose to make any effort. You had no agreement with UPS to leave without signature. This surely went on for several days as they don't return it based on one failed attempt.

Fedex and UPS don't approach the service they once had but that's not the shipper's fault. Still, in this case, sounds like UPS did do just fine. On the other hand the information available on shipping is tremendous. Had you chosen to look online you would have seen delivery attempts were made. If a package you're expecting doesn't show up it seems like you'd check the door, then see the notices.

Now, I don't know what it was delivered and if it was a special order or not so can't judge them charging you a fee. However, I think your attack on Hodges is totally inappropriate and I have never dealt with them so I'm an impartial bystander. You start your post with "I have had an extremely d...issatisfying experience with your company." Yet, they did nothing wrong. UPS did nothing wrong. You did. Was UPS supposed to just leave the package and allow it to be stolen?

And I sure hope Hodge's doesn't respond to your public blackmail by forum post. If this was so important to you, did you speak to the owner or President of the company about it, prior to this post? If I was them, I'd send you your $50 and consider you a former customer.

In your sarcastic response to Bill you talk about next time UPS messes his order up. Well, they did not mess yours up.

And one final question for you. If UPS leaves a $300+ item without a signature and you claim you didn't get it, then who should be responsible?

I've had great experience with Hodges both on purchases and returns. UPS and FexEd are frequently a problem and need to be monitored carefully. Sounds like that was where all the problem was here.

I've also used hodges with success. Sounds like you need to click ok the little tracking number they send you.

well a $50 restock fee is not going to break the bank....and I do have a unofficial deal with UPS to drop packages on my back porch as between work and the resto at the boat yard I am never here..........Just got real bad service from the returns department at Hodges, and it pisses me off, especially all I have purchased with them in the past,,,probably shouldn't of posted it here, but to late now. One thing I've noticed over the years is customer service/appreciation has sure headed south! On a positive note: The removal of the teak decks on "Lazy Libra" was hard work but turned out sweet and cured %99.9 of the rain water leaks. Next task is window removal/replacement.......epoxy resin is my friend

Don't worry Wade... We don't hate you.

Be careful about being upset about "unofficial deals" with the UPS people. As you have found out, sometimes it needs to be official. I do wonder if it was a different UPS guy on your route that doesn't know, doesn't trust, or doesn't want to get in trouble for leaving a package at a door he is unfamiliar with? Maybe he was training a new hire. Maybe Hodges required a live signature. There is also an option where they will leave a door hanger you can sign and they will bring it back the next day. I don't know if any of these were options, but It's a shame it went all the way back to the store. It does, however, sound like things went wrong at several points along the way. Hodges has a good reputation, but that doesn't guarantee 100% success. Gieco boasts 99% customer satisfaction, however, that still leaves many, many thousands (tens of thousands?) of people that are UNsatisfied. So take that for what you will.

I wouldn't be too hard on Hodges. Margins on online marine products are pretty slim (except at Worst Marine). They can't afford to have to re-ship something very often.

There's always Defender

Or Hopkins Carter.....

wonderfulwade said:

well a $50 restock fee is not going to break the bank....and I do have a unofficial deal with UPS to drop packages on my back porch as between work and the resto at the boat yard I am never here..........Just got real bad service from the returns department at Hodges, and it pisses me off, especially all I have purchased with them in the past,,,probably shouldn't of posted it here, but to late now. One thing I've noticed over the years is customer service/appreciation has sure headed south! On a positive note: The removal of the teak decks on "Lazy Libra" was hard work but turned out sweet and cured %99.9 of the rain water leaks. Next task is window removal/replacement.......epoxy resin is my friend

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So now it's that UPS failed to live up to their "unofficial deal?" And what did the returns department do? Charged you for restocking? So it is all about the $50? You still take no personal responsibility for what happened. Not your fault you didn't check the door. Not your fault you didn't check online. Not your fault you didn't call until later. So, you come on a forum to blast Hodges. Did you talk to the owner or President or anyone in a position of authority regarding your displeasure or was posting here easier?

I think both sides of the customer and business relationship have deteriorated. I am part of both sides of the equation. In this case, as either the customer or the business I hope I would have handled the situation differently.

I must say this to the OP- man up and take responsibility.

You place 1 order from Hodge's and assume that it will be delivered based on an unofficial "backdoor" deal with UPS. It it not delivered as assumed, so the blame game begins.

My experience with Hodge's- multiple orders, including a single order for $13k for an entire electronics suite- zero problems, and excellent customer service.

Get on the phone, and chat with Hodge's vice lay blame at their feet.

Wade has already said he regrets the post, lets not be too harsh on him.

dhays said:

Wade has already said he regrets the post, lets not be too harsh on him.

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Actually, he hasn't. He's said he probably shouldn't have posted it here. Hasn't said he regretted posting it or that he has any culpability. Subtle difference.

I'll leave it to what others have said as to the situation and original post. That said, I will highly recommend signing up for a free UPS (and FedEx) account for tracking packages. We live in a condo in the city with no doorman, so sometimes run into issue when a signature is required. With an account, we get an email every time a package is shipped to us, and also get emails if they have any problems with delivery attempts. FedEx even leaves us a message on the answering machine a day in advance of the delivery. If we have something enroute and cannot be there to sign, I can have it rerouted to a nearby UPS/FedEx store where we can pick it up at our leisure, for no additional fee. Both services have codes to get into our building and while our regular UPS driver will leave packages outside our door on the top floor, an "unwritten" agreement, other drivers just leave things in the lobby. In other words, we cannot rely on the driver to always know what we want.

As for Hodges, we have ordered from them a few times and have never encountered any issues.

All I'm really saying is I'm working my ass on my boat. and as a consumer when something like this comes up, a small business as Hodges Marine ought to step up and make it right. Especially with a history of multiple dollar s spent in past dealings with zero conflicts. As a public forum such as this.......................... it's a good venue for such powers that be to see how I feel!...................don't hold it against me at Boca Cheeca cocktail hour next year when we arw winter neighbors!

How can Hodges "make it right"? Send you free product? Refund the restock few? Both?

Hodges sent the product. Hodges cannot know all the nuances of your delivery situation. They did as requested.

In any case, I'll bet that a quick call to them may have avoided this CF.

Seems to me that the company sending the "merchandise" should notify the person who places the order that they have invoked the "signature necessary" clause. We get a lot delivered by UPS and it is always a surprise when a company does this. Wine shopped from CA is no surprise but it is otherwise so infrequent an occurrence that a signature is required that it sometimes ends up being a nuisance...
We happen to have a great UPS man so we are always given ample notice to find a way to be here but sometimes he is on vacation and then...
I've personally been at home waiting for a package all day only to learn that it was returned due to "nobody at home", the delivery person never even came by!

I'm not sure what happened in this case but reactions seem harsh to me. Plenty of people complain about service (or lack of) on forums... I'm not sure why this is so different.

I'm not sure why a good company who wants repeat business would invoke a $50 fee for what appears to be a miscommunication (notice I did not place blame on either party?) either.

Had the person ordering ever done business with the company before? Same shipping with similar dollar amounts? Was this a change in policy? Was it in fact communicated, by email or on the companies website? All of this might be interesting to know.

As to venting about a company, I personally like to know who has dificulty out there. Life is too short to deal with more headaches and I'm capable of reading between the lines...

Before posting this, I decided to visit the Hodges website to see what was there on this subject. They do say that orders are returnable for 30 days, customer pays shipping. Nowhere does it mention that shipping will require a signature for delivery...
One other thing, their customer ratings are 4 out of 5 stars... Does this indicate room for improvement?
Bruce

So, I can relate to this having just ordered a Rigid flood/spot light bar from them and "expecting" it promptly. They are bad about not notifying you the items are not in stock, and that you will have to wait until they are back in stock before they will be shipped out. IF I had ordered them priority UPS I would have been pissed to have waited for two or three weeks for the item to come back into stock and then to have paid for rapid delivery from that point.

I sent an inquiry, they explained it was not in stock, now I know better than to pay for fast shipping unless it's in stock.

I still like Hodges though