I needed to replace my anchor, so I called the Clearwater West Marine. They had the anchor in stock that I was looking for, which was a Lewmar DTX 14lbs Stainless Steel. The West Marine in St Petersburg did not have it. I decided to call the Tampa store on Cypress. I spoke to one of the salespeople there and gave him the information of the anchor above. He left to check and came back and said, yes, we have it in stock. I was driving from the Tierra Verde area, so I wanted to make sure they had it.
I then gave the salesperson all the information of the anchor again, as well as advising him the DTX anchor was the stainless steel one. I asked him if he was sure they had this anchor, He again stated yes, we have it no problem. I then drove over 45 minutes to the store, proceeded to the anchor area, to only see Galvanized anchors and no Lewmar DTX. The only Lewmar anchors were the Delta model galvanized.
I went and spoke to one of the salespersons and advised him I had just called and gave him the same information, regarding the anchor I came to pick up. He said they didn't have any stainless-steel anchors in stock, and maybe I had called the wrong store. I then took my phone out and asked him what his telephone number was, which was the same one I showed him on my phone. He said sorry, as he started speaking to someone else.
I advised him, that I now had to drive from his store to the West Marine in Clearwater, then drive from there back to Tierra Verde area, doing a complete large circle and spending 45 minutes to get to his store, then another 30-35 minutes to get to the Clearwater store and then another 45 minutes to get home.
All of this could have been avoided, since I had spoken to salesperson there at length and asked him several times, as I gave him the information on anchor and asked him again if they had it for sure. He reassured me they had that specific anchor, stainless steel.
With Just a little attention to any of the information given via the phone before coming up, would have saved a lot of driving. I could have just gone to the Clearwater store, which I did to purchase the anchor. Not very professional or know what they are doing. read more