Pirates Cave Chandlery Reviews 

589
TrustScore 3.5 out of 5

3.7

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Rated 2 out of 5 stars

The delivery of the tin of varnish I bought from Pirates Cave Chandlery was very poor. I got the product 5 days after. However, the service was good, Jessica managed to get the product delivered t... See more

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Ordered a automatic life jacket on a Friday but understand it wasn't getting dispatched till the Monday then it took 5 days to arrive, which was to late as we were away on holiday on the Friday mornin... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I don't give 5 star reviews lightly... in fact I'm a moany hard to please sod who values customer service greatly. I do however give a rather rare 5 stars to these guys because from start to finish t... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I have just recently taken up kayaking at the tender age of 68. Knowing little about the subject I looked online to find out where I could purchase a personal floatation device and found this excellen... See more

Company details

  1. Sailing Store

Information provided by various external sources

Established in 1991, Pirates Cave Chandlery has grown to become one of the largest, well-known and well-stocked Chandlers in the South East of England. Our main shop is based in Rochester, Kent and we're ideally located near the River Medway and River Thames with Chatham Marina, Gillingham Marina and Hoo Marina just a few minutes away. With two floors and over 3,000 square feet of floor space, we stock a wide variety of chandlery products to cater for our customers, whether they be dinghy sailors, yachtsmen, motor boaters, or canoeists, we've got it covered, and all at highly competitive prices. What's more - we're open 7 days a week. Our website has become our 'second shop' and we thrive on being able to serve many more customers, with our chandlery products, wider afield. We even have a dedicated centralised stock warehouse to cater for our online sales. Our Staff (or Crew as we like to call ourselves!) are highly experienced, some having served our customers for over 14 years. We enjoy finding solutions and providing advice to our customers - it's something we pride ourselves on. We have a large supplier base, which enables us to stock and source all the items you would expect to find, whether it be from the smallest individual bolt (in Stainless A4 no less!) to clothing, lifejackets, paint, cookers, rope, dinghies and so much more. Of course, it would be impossible to stock every item for every boat - such as that diaphragm you require for your 10 year old bilge pump - but we will do our utmost to source it and get it for you, and fast. That's why we have thousands of loyal customers - customers who we are always so pleased to see and serve.


Contact info

3.7

Average

TrustScore 3.5 out of 5

589 reviews

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No recent history of asking for reviews

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Replied to 40% of negative reviews

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3.7

All reviews

(589)

15 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Be aware

on there website it says if ordered before 1pm then delivered next day, I ordered late on Thursday (expecting item to be delivered Saturday) and didn't receive it till Monday which meant a few people who had offered to help couldn't managed because of work. I phoned the company to say I would like my postage returned but was told that they would have to pay extra for it to be delivered on Saturday so no way they would give me anything. So be aware that if it is later than Thursday 1pm use someone else.

May 8, 2025
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Warning pirates cave chandlers

Phoned up tp order a raymarine transducer on website says £229, phoned to order suddenly £266. Buyer's
Beware

May 6, 2025
Unprompted review
Pirates Cave Chandlery logo

Reply from Pirates Cave Chandlery

Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We’re very sorry for the confusion and frustration caused during your recent experience.

The Raymarine HV-100 Transducer you saw listed at £229 has recently been discontinued by the manufacturer and replaced with the newer Raymarine HV-100+, which is priced at £269. When you called to place the order, we were no longer able to supply the older model. Unfortunately, our website had not yet been updated to reflect this change, and we completely understand how this may have been frustrating.

We are actively working on updating our listings to ensure all product information and pricing is accurate. We truly apologise for any inconvenience this has caused, and we hope we have the opportunity to serve you in the future to rectify our mistake.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant customer service

I bought some deck shoes from Pirates Cave but they mixed up 2 orders and I recieved the wrong shoes.
I called them about the issue and within half an hour I recieved an email with a return label and in less than 24 hours I received the correct shoes from them.
Unbeatable customer service.

September 25, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Lowrence hook 2 Fishfinder

Saw they had what I was looking for. First time buying from this company, will definitely get more things from pirates Cave. Communication has been brilliant and quick delivery. Thanks again 5 stars definitely

September 17, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Click and collect

Purchased some fenders to collect in-store. I phoned up and they checked the stock for me, I paid over the phone then collected a few hours later.

July 8, 2024
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Made an order 2 weeks ago and nothing

Made an order 2 weeks ago, had emails to say order successful and another to say payment complete, haven’t heard anything since about delivery or being dispatched and have emailed and tried to call with no answer to either.

June 25, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Customer care does not exist

Not great - they will accept your order online for items they do not stock and you pay in full, then you wait weeks and weeks without receipt of the item you ordered. They never return calls despite numerous promises when I called them and they never answer any e mails. Finally I have received my refund but it has taken a month.

June 13, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great customer service, expedient shipping

Fantastic customer service and great people to work with. They gave me time and attention while being rather busy providing excellent service to other customers as well. My parcel arrived within 24 hours of them shipping between UK to USA. Unbelievable. Highly recommend!

June 5, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Please reply to my three emails about only half my order being delivered on 8th May

Pirates Cave Chandlery please reply to my three emails about only half my order being delivered on 8th May after my order place on 22nd April. After almost a month I still do not have all the items I paid for.

Order ref: ORD58094

My experience of Pirates Cave Chandlery so far…

I placed an order for four lifejacket maintenance items on 22nd April.

A (partially) delivery, 16 days later, was made on 8th May.

The courier did not ring the bell (both my wife and I were in), left the delivery bag on my doorstep and recorded it was signed for by a name I do not recognise. When I picked-up the delivery bag I noticed there was a hole in it so, being worried about the damage, I took a photo of it before I opened it. On opening it I found only 2 of the 4 items present.

I immediately emailed Pirates Cave Chandlery to state only a partial delivery had been made along with photographs of the hole in the delivery bag and the items delivered.

I have since sent two further emails chasing for an update on 14th May and 16th May and still heard absolutely nothing.

Pirates Cave Chandlery, please contact me to confirm how you will complete your contractual obligations as per our order agreement.

Regards,
Matt

May 8, 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Efficient

Easy to use, well stocked online store with great back up support. Delivery was fast and efficient. Very impressed.

September 12, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Hugh delivery costs not refunded

I ordered a pair of deck shoes as a present. Unfortunately they were too small in the recipients usual size so I returned them for a refund plus placing a replacement order. I was very disappointed that not only did I have to pay postage to return them but also the original high delivery fee (of £5.95) was not refunded. I contacted the company and was informed this was the policy. I’ve therefore lost nearly £10 just because the shoes didn’t fit. I had even already placed a replacement order (and paid postage again) which I wouldn’t have done if I’d known about this. Perhaps don’t sell products online that need to be tried on if this is your policy.

September 8, 2023
Unprompted review
Pirates Cave Chandlery logo

Reply from Pirates Cave Chandlery

Thank you for your review. We unfortunately do not have the capacity, or economies of scale, to include those charges for free. If of course we made a mistake, then we would incur those costs and put anything right, but in the instance a pair of shoes does not fit, regrettably, we cannot absorb the costs to have them returned and incur the costs of shipping out another pair. There are very few online companies that do this.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellant service

Excellant service, items arrived on time , were well packaged, delivery instructions were followed to the letter. very pleased

July 3, 2023
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant customer service

Friendly and helpful service, plenty of stock that’s well organised and easy to locate, at very good prices. Very happy with my experience, will 100% be back in future.

July 25, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant staff and service

Ordered a life jacket over the phone, the staff were very helpful and the delivery arrived within the promised delivery window.

I would definitely recommend Pirates Cave and will be using them again in the future.

July 26, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Poor communication that improved

Ordered an item with a promise of next day delivery as before 1. Made the order at 12:57.

No email/text within 24 hours so contacted and told it would be going out later that day and would likely be with me the next day. Gave them the benefit of the doubt given how close to 1 it was.

Next day no contact so phoned and given a tracking number over the phone. Checked item and not due to be delivered until day 3 as sent via Royal Mail 48 hour tariff.

There are some brilliant online businesses who do get the item to you the next day even if you have ordered late at night. This is not one of them. If like me you need in a hurry then be wary about trusting them to fulfill their sales pitch.

Even cancellation is difficult as they want you to send back item when it arrives rather than taking the mature step of recalling it themselves.

Update and upgrading from 1 because they did everything possible to sort the late arrival issue and it transpired that it was due to the carrier negligence rather than the company. The customer service was excellent once the issue had been raised,

July 21, 2023
Unprompted review
Pirates Cave Chandlery logo

Reply from Pirates Cave Chandlery

Thank you for your feedback, although we don't believe this is an accurate reflection of the situation.

You placed your order on Wednesday, and the item was shipped on Thursday, using Royal Mail 24 Hour Tracked Service (not 48 hour as you suggest in your review). Today is Friday, and your order is due for delivery - it is currently 1.30pm, so there is still time for you to receive your item today, as communicated with you on your phone call.

We are unsure why you wouldn't have received the automated emails to confirm your order, and when it was dispatched, which also contained the tracking number. Please do check your spam folder.

Unfortunately, Royal Mail will not allow us to recall an item, and as writing this, it has been a little over 48 hours since your placed your order.

Once you receive your item, which should be today, (as per the 24 hour service we used), we are happy to organise a collection at our cost.

We sincerely apologise for not dispatching the order same-day, and for that we will investigate why our dispatch team didn't do so.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Poor Service

22nd June 2023 - Placed order for deck shoes and received an email advising "working hard to complete your order and get this shipped out to you". No further communication. On 7th July I decided to check my account with Pirates Cave and found a note against order "HELD - Customer to Contact". As I had heard nothing from Pirates Cave I phoned them - "out of stock" was the reply. So cancelled order and ordered identical item form Marine Super Store - FedEx advised arriving 10th July - that's real service with the added bonus of being £4 cheaper!

July 7, 2023
Unprompted review
Pirates Cave Chandlery logo

Reply from Pirates Cave Chandlery

We hold our hands up, and apologise for this. These matters have been addressed internally. We believe it's right to admit when we've not performed as we should have, and in this case we didn't. We have amended our delivery timeframes and ensured that only shoes that we have physically in-store are allowing you to purchase, to avoid any future issues such as this with other customers. Thank you for your feedback and we apologise again.

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