Defender sold to powersport accessory company/private equity

[Foredeck Shuffle]

Private equity buyouts and their new accounting based structures have wreaked havoc upon three companies I know of:
Musto, Gill, and Henri Lloyd...

The earlier argument about private equity not causing companies to turn to shit, or only just partly, was clearly cherry picking. They are never better after the acquisition, wait two year for all of the internal cost cutting and offshoring to take effect.

 

[Bump-n-Grind]

I don't know if it's an improvement yet, but I do know that they didn't transfer my shopping cart from the old site to the new one.

The Canadian overlords are starting to exert their influence:

• they're making over the warehouse showroom
• website makeover went live today
• they are discontinuing Defender 1st pricing (all prices will be their lowest!)
• no more spring show/spring discount

3 and 4 bug me the most, it was what separated them from every other marine discounter.
Edit:
also it doesn't look like they transferred any historical ordering information.

bummer about 3, that really paid for itself a few times over

 

[PurpleOnion]

They offer(ed) the benefit of getting me the stuff I broke on Saturday before I went out to break more stuff the following Saturday. Not too many of the smaller marine sites could do that. The addition of free shipping for orders over $99 makes will help as well. That said, I've been distributing my orders to others since the acquisition.
Hearing that they've dispatched the local workers only reinforces the idea of going elsewhere.

 

[Steam Flyer]

They offer(ed) the benefit of getting me the stuff I broke on Saturday before I went out to break more stuff the following Saturday. Not too many of the smaller marine sites could do that. The addition of free shipping for orders over $99 makes will help as well. That said, I've been distributing my orders to others since the acquisition.
Hearing that they've dispatched the local workers only reinforces the idea of going elsewhere.

Yes, zackly... BITD they had a very knowledgable work force, I spoke with a dozen or so over the years and always got the impression they know what they were talking about.

 

[Grande Mastere Dreade]

life goes on... some time ago I started supporting local, Vela Sailing Supply, Rod and his wife are the best...

​

except for epoxy and paint, I'll shop around for that ...

 

[dacapo]

life goes on... some time ago I started supporting local, Vela Sailing Supply, Rod and his wife are the best...

​

except for epoxy and paint, I'll shop around for that ...

Rod is great

 

[Alaris]

Just tried to buy something on their new site. Kept sending me to the electrical category. Anyway, after shipping it was more than just getting it shipped to store at West so that’s what I did.

 

[kent_island_sailor]

I stopped using Defender some years ago when I bought an high-end battery charger from them, which shit itself a few days after it's mfr's warranty expired but well before my credit card's warranty expired. I tried to get them to interest themselves in making good, they said "nah, not our problem." So my credit card company rescinded payment and they started hounding me.

Fuck 'em.

[edit to add] I was a happy Defender customer for years and years before this incident.

Did they usually replace stuff out of warranty?

 

[billsreef]

When I looked at their new page, I blinked and I thought I was looking at West Marine.... a place that you can never find what you are looking for! Time will tell for sure... but the door is back open to new places as they had me for a while~

West is another example of revamping their website to be less functional than before the "upgrade".

The addition of free shipping for orders over $99

No such thing as free shipping. It's just that the shipping has been built into the price of the products. They just hiding how you are paying it.

 

[Sail4beer]

Too bad for Defender. Still, I have no problem going through other retailers to get the stuff I need for my boats. Our local marina’s chandlery gets me what I need from MESCO in a day or two.

 

[Steam Flyer]

Did they usually replace stuff out of warranty?

I gave a lot of details in an SA thread at the time, no need to go back over it here.
Depends on what you mean by "warranty" of course. They ended up not getting paid for it, and possibly it would not have been profitable for them to go to the origin and get it replaced for me. But I did not appreciate being left hanging, nor did I like the idea of going thru the credit card company; but I liked paying full freight (almost a full $BOAT unit) for shit that broke even less.

Ironically, the manufacturer did send me a new unit and then another new one; this was after ~ month of long technical discussions with their engineer(s) in which they claimed I had mis-installed the unit (why did it work perfectly for 61 1/2 days then?) or that it was an inappropriate unit for my boat/usage (see above).

Over the years prior I bought a fair amount of major equipment thru Defender and this was the only time they let me down.

 

[Sail4beer]

…last time as well, I’m sure!

 

[taliessin]

Defender is our local source. Agree new website is lousy. Haven't been inside for awhile, so no comment about stock or staff. They had bins of discounted assorted lines of odd lengths at great prices.
Now looking for other sources.

 

[CruiserJim]

I sold my business in 2008, two years later the buyer was taken over by private equity. Working for PE sucked, both for my clients and my employees. They start with a spreadsheet, put down expected revenue, then start adding up all the debt service, their “consulting fees” paid to themselves, their return on equity, etc. After all of that, whatever’s left was the budget for actually doing the work and servicing clients. Not enough? Too bad, they just drive employees into the ground, make clients wait, deliver poor service and send out the bills. I left not too long afterwards, most of my employees left as well and they lost many clients along the way too. The company continued to wither away for another five years or so, when it was finally sold to a competitor for not much.

 

[bgytr]

Just tried to buy something on their new site. Kept sending me to the electrical category. Anyway, after shipping it was more than just getting it shipped to store at West so that’s what I did.

I wonder if whatever organization bought Defender is tied to West in some way, and this is the continued plan by West to squash competition..
Pretty telling that a product is now cheaper in total cost on West though. I always compared prices when buying stuff and Defender was every time significantly cheaper than West, including shipping. Sad to see this.

My first purchase from Defender was buying some 8 plait line for dock lines. The order was a couple feet short, so I called them and asked if they would refund me for the cost per foot. They actually sent me new line of the correct length at zero cost to me and told me to keep the other line and said sorry for the error, please accept apologies. Very hard to find customer service like that nowadays. Based on that experience and the ease of use of their old website, Defender was always my first look for boat stuff. Very sad to see that go away.

 

[Marcjsmith]

bummed about the defender first program gone missing. I still ended buying paint from them on this last go round earlier this week. As they were cheaper than everyone else, still sticker shock from what it was when I bought it 2 years ago...

It's gotten to the point that I end up shopping with my mouse and google. Hard to be loyal to retailers when they muck things up. the down side is as more people shop via mouse/google the more the retailers have to muck things up. Its a self fulfilling prophecy.

 

[Sail4beer]

I try to use our boatyard ship’s store. They can get anything I need and their price is about the same as Defender and often cheaper than Amazon or other online retailers.

 

[wsconner]

I don't know if it's an improvement yet, but I do know that they didn't transfer my shopping cart from the old site to the new one.

The Canadian overlords are starting to exert their influence:

• they're making over the warehouse showroom
• website makeover went live today
• they are discontinuing Defender 1st pricing (all prices will be their lowest!)
• no more spring show/spring discount

3 and 4 bug me the most, it was what separated them from every other marine discounter.
Edit:
also it doesn't look like they transferred any historical ordering information.

So many features are gone...filtering etc is way too basic. I guess the days of clearance, scratch and dent, reman's etc are thown out with the bath water as well.. progress.. ugh!

 

[jwaldron]

Just a quick exercise in Google-Foo early this afternoon:

• Defender price on Amsteel Blue, 1/4 inch, $1.35 per foot;
• Same product at Dutchware, $0.95 per foot;
• Same product at Seattle Marine and Fishing Supply, $0.92 in blue, $0.88 in silver per foot.

Dutchware
Seattle Marine

Sad to Defender go, but they haven't been that competitive for quite a while for anyone willing to check pricing on Google or other search engine that isn't limited to marine stores for everything.

And the Defender new web site isn't all that impressive. Are Canadian code monkeys a bit behind the state of the art? Or what?

 

[[email protected]]

It depends on the deal. If ownership was swapped and no one cashed out big time, it can work.

If some one cashed out and the buyer now turns to the target and says now pay off the loan we used to buy you, it is problematic. Guess how I know ?