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 1 out of 5 stars

Items sold but not in stock and fictitious delivery dates

I purchased an anchor via the web site promising delivery in 3-5 days. A week later I enquired and was told that it would be sent directly from the actual supplier and should arrive the following week. Now it is two weeks on and still no delivery. There was no indication on the web site that the anchor was not in stock and could not be sent. Pirate's Cave engages in misleading business practices: they will happily sell things that they do not have with fictitious delivery dates. Avoid this vendor.

June 18, 2023
Pirates Cave Chandlery logo

Reply from Pirates Cave Chandlery

Good afternoon William,

We are truly sorry for the delay with your order. We hold stock of these anchors at our suppliers, and usually, our customers receive them within the delivery window, so we sincerely apologise for the delay in this instance. We do try hard to ensure delivery timeframes are accurate and will be updating this particular product to ensure customer expectations are set better. We do appreciate your feedback.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Outboard deal

They sent me an email with a good offer on an outboard and I bought it. Delivery was a few days later. Very happy.

May 2, 2023
Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Long delivery date

I was disappointed with the length of time it took for my purchase to be delivered. I ordered a lifejacket which took three weeks to arrive. The company did reply to my emails and explained that there were supply issues but it would have been helpful if I'd been told at the time of ordering.

May 15, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I have nothing but praise

I have nothing but praise. I ordered a macerator on the phone with a deadline which was accepted but was tight. Later they contacted me to offer a different one which with a more reliable delivery. Nearer the time I decided to go for that and they arranged the swap at no extra cost to me, in fact they subsidised the shipping cost, which was above and beyond!

August 31, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Superb service 👍🏻

Superb service . First time I have used Pirates Cave and I am really impressed. The LV arrived really quickly and was put to good use straight away. Good quality and good fit and will be used continually for the next year.
My colleague has also just purchased one on my recommendation. No hesitation in using Pirates Cave again. 👍🏻👍🏻

June 19, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Bargain!!

Super sale price on a Henry Lloyd Ladies Jacket & fast delivery. So much so I went to buy another one but sold out!

May 30, 2022
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Hi all I must admit I really only tend…

Hi all I must admit I really only tend to leave a review when I am hacked off, this time it's Pirates Cave and Seago. I did some research as I wanted lightweight inflatable dinghy, I found the Seago Lite 2.5m and read that the boat itself nothing else weighed in at 13.7KG as was quoted on Seago and Pirates Cave and any other site I could find. So I ordered it from Pirates Cave and they were excellent in getting it to me quickly, the next day, so great. On delivery I noticed the box felt heavy and that puzzled me, so I opened it and weighed just the dinghy, it was over 17KG nearer 18KG. When I informed Pirates Cave they did seem to grasp the importance of the stated weight (reason for purchase) whilst they agreed to do something and not quickly. I had to wait until they had spoke with Seago. Seago agreed with me about the weight, but instead of contacting me or offering to make it right, they both got straight on with changing their websites! I had to chase Pirates Cave again to arrange a collection, despite being told they would call me. Then the chap made it clear to me, that he was doing me a favour taking the item back! Now call me sensitive but I got a bit upset, they only cared about covering their as*es changing websites pages to match the real weight, despite the fact it is in the PBO review of light weight tenders. Instead of offering to make it right or focusing on customer service, I was asked if the dinghy was in resaleable condition? I was and am not impressed with Pirates Cave and their lack of any customer service. So yes whilst everything is good they fine to deal with, but when things are not right do not expect anything from them, just some bum covering, they will do nothing to put things right unless you chase them and remember they will be doing you a favour when they act! Crap customer service! If I can I plan to leave Seago a bad review as well, I hope Seago are busy writing to all registered owners of the Seago Lite and asking are they happy with the weight of their light weight dinghy! I know they are not going to do that! My reply to Pirtaes Cave Reply Response - I was not rude and no apology was made by your staff that is not true. I asked for manager, I was told he would call when available, 7 days and still no call from a manager and as yet still no refund. I have initiated each call with you nothing from you at all and certainly no apology. A decent company would say look let us get another dinghy out to you, don't worry we will collect and sort this and manager should have made it a priority to resolve, but no your website update is more important.

May 18, 2022
Unprompted review
Pirates Cave Chandlery logo

Reply from Pirates Cave Chandlery

Hi Jason,

We’re sorry to hear that you feel this way regarding your experience with us. We did everything we could to ensure your order was dispatched out on the same day, two hours after the stated cut off time on our website and just minutes before our courier arrived - ensuring the dinghy was with you before the weekend.

We accept that the weight was incorrect, but this was not known too us until mentioned by yourself as our supplier had also the wrong information as well.

Upon finding out this information, we immediately spoke to our supplier, Seago, and fixed the error on our website – offering our profound apologies to you and providing you with the option to have the dinghy collected from your address at no cost to yourself.

Throughout this transaction, you spoke to our team in a derogatory manner, especially when we were just trying to help you and solve the issue in a swift and professional manner.

We hold our customer service in high regard and do everything we can to ensure our customers receive the best experience, advice and accurate information when shopping with us.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Problems and results eventually

Order received in 48hrs, only it was damaged.
Went through there return procedure they had it back in 2 days 8 days ago and I've still not received my refund and some idiot on the phone today told me I need to wait another 5-7 days for refund and then a further 7 days for postage return costs.....
Only one bloke sounded genuine (Ian)
Put a negative review in and I've got my money back ..... Amazingly.
Thank you Nathan

May 5, 2022
Unprompted review

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