Abysmal Experience
Absolutely abysmal communications and service. I mean, the kind of behavior you tattle on, alert your credit card company, and never shop from again. Interestingly today—January 21, 2026—is their final grace period day for accepting holiday returns bought in December or something like that. I have no idea whether this company uses their inability to communicate with customers strategically...ie do they they want items to be un-returnable?...or whether they are thoroughly unprepared to swim with the big (and medium) fish of retail. I don't know the answer to this because I have no brand promise from this company. I don't know them. I had never heard of this company prior to receiving their Fall 2025 catalog in the mail. At first, I thought it was a fake legacy brand, but it turns out it's an authentic legacy brand, established in 1949. I like a good catalog so I took a browse. I found a few unique items that could make for some nice gifts so I ordered them. All of them were marked at full price. At that point it was...kudos to them: they converted me into a customer...a significant measure of success for a marketing campaign—and a mailed paper catalog.
Later in December, I began to see their Facebooks ads everywhere. I'm sure they got a lot of clicks—they use a lot of 60+ models, which I dig, but in my opinion, all of that marketing is where their issues started. They clearly do not have the talent needed to manage their business expansion.
I received my items in a timely fashion. I'm realistic about quality at this price point so while a bit lukewarm, I could like most of the items I purchased, but I did consider returning a sweater I was on the fence about. I also had an accessory I planned on giving as a gift on 12/25. Therefore I decided to wait on any returns with Quaker Marine until I found out if the gift worked out.
The gift turned out to be too small and I promised to exchange it for another size or another item at Quaker Marine. I could not find answers to the questions I had about the products on their site, so on January 11, 2026, I sent a detailed email to support at QuakerMarine dot com, an email address identified on their site. My email was responded to on January 14th. I was apologized to for the delay and asked—and this is priceless—if I still "needed answers to the questions" since it had "been a while" since I wrote them on January 11th. I replied promptly in the affirmative.
Of course this begs another question from me: why go to the trouble of responding to me and not answer my question? Was it "buying for time" on their part? No idea but that was a first for me from any retailer.
They did not answer me promptly (about how "yes, I still need help") so on January 17, I re-replied to their email..a bit more firmly.
On January 20th—at the end of the day—I finally received a reply to my original email / question from January 11th...basically a "no."
Later that day—January 20—I visited their return url and attempted to return the item. It was not accepted for return since it was "marked down." For starters, I purchased it all full price, and for enders, the item is still (as of this writing) full price on their site.
I was cognizant of the impending January 21, 2026 return deadline so I sent another email to the support address explaining my predicament and concern. To help with my paper trail (which I was beginning to accept was going to become crucial) I also sent them a note via their online contact form.
Then on January 21, 2026 when I still had no word from Quaker Marine Supply, I called the bank affiliated with the credit card I used and had them complete a charge back refund for the item and they'll perform their own investigation. I absolve myself of Quaker Marine Supply: they are now my bank's problem, not mine.