What would you do??? (GrandPAH)

lee_7

ask the supply house what PO number they have for order. You should use one to track orders. If they don't have one, you should not be responsible because they would have no proof that you even ordered and that someone else didn't order.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

This would be funny if it wasn't a problem....

A HX that failed in a York Luxaire unit needed replaced. It was still within the mfgr's warranty period, so we called a supply house that deals the brand. Two options: wait three weeks or give us $300 & we'll get one in four days time.

Meanwhile, a customer would go without heat! So, we said we'll let you know and called another supply house that also deals Luxaire. No problem, we can get you one in a day. Any additional charge? We wondered & asked because the first supply house wanted $300 for faster delivery. Nope, no charge. Ordered, delivered and installed.

End of story? Well, we thought so.

Three weeks later: ring, ring.... Hello. Supply house 1 calls to say the HX we ordered has arrived! What HX we asked? Long story short, they sent us a bill for a $300 restocking charge! They refused to issue us credit for the HX we did not order and insist we give them the $300.

I wrote to their owner weeks ago - no response. Methinks there is something rotten in Denmark. Since they aren't willing to issue the credit for the HX we never ordered, I'm pondering our next move. Any of you ever experience anything like this before?

Larry Weingarten

It's just amazing...

... what a polite letter from your lawyer, on letterhead, to the supply house can accomplish ;~)

Yours, Larry

Jeff Elston

good deal!

If the cost of not having to deal with that guy again is 300.00 take the deal and forget about it. Your better off.

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bob young

movin' on

close that acct. immediately , Dave. and send them a registered letter telling them WHY. they are probably too stupid to figure it out for themselves. sometimes you must close a door. i doubt very much i would pay the bogus charge either.

Brad White

No meeting of the minds, Dave

There was never a point where you both agreed. No meeting of the minds, no contract. You said "we'll let you know", they somehow mis-understood.

Not your responsibility.

As Lee said, 'what P.O. number?'

By insisting on your payment and not issuing credit, closing that account is a decision they made, not you.

Joe@buderus_2

Supply House

Having worked many years in a supply house in the past, this can happen - He said - you said, etc... How about a NICE conversation with the sales rep/manager/owner. The owner might never have seen the letter. Not sticking up for anyone - just seen it happened that the person who ordered the part is covering themselves.

joel_19

surprised??

Grand Pa ,
Surely this is not the first time this has happened to you?? We have had similar problems here with a transfer house that messed up lots of orders this summer. they kept not filling orders, or sending the wrong thing and we had several in warrantee items that we where not credited for. To the tune of something like 12,000$ dollars. Our office staff kept calling trying to resolve the matter and could never get much help. They spent over 30 man ,or in this case woman hours on it. It was difficult to get the same person on the phone more than a couple times and immpossable to get anyone to care.

I finally told them "don't send anymore money" And then amazingly the phone began to ring about a month later.
we kept the account open for emergency purposes but basically buy nothing from them now.

This cost them an account worth over 100,000k$ per year. An account that we had actually been given awards on at dealer meetings, by previous management because of our excellent credit rating. Not only did we pay on time we payed early took the 2% discount for months on end.

Curiously enough this involved a supply house selling a sister brand to Luxair.....

100,000$K +++ dollars a year always paid on time.....Are you listening Mr transfer house guy ?

25 year relationship down the tubes, but I'm not bitter....

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keith_20

i had the same thing happen years back on a new furnace. ended up taking the furnace but stopped buying from the supply house for a few years untill they got a new manager. it seems in todays world most are just concerned about the bottom line , sales-sales then with the contractor.

Dave Yates (PAH)

Reply to all:

Mornin Joel,

Looking back, I can't recall ever being hit with a false restocking charge - ever. We've seen the types of problems you describe - too often. Like you, we shift our business to the suppliers who give us good service and fess up when they screw up - just as we do when we screw up on our end when dealing with our customers. 'Never, ever lie to a customer & always be the first to admit you made a mistake' has always been our policy.

We too once did a large volume with these jokers & like you, we moved our business to others long ago. Seldom do we call them for anything, but Luxaire is one of those supplier-specific products & they carry the line. The fact that they sought a $300 charge to get us a HX within a reasonable time-frame (if four days in cold weather is reasonable) while a second supply house could get one within 24-hours at no charge, raises a whole new level of suspicion regarding their ethics.

Joe@Buderus - We did exactly that & thought the issue was resolved. As you might imagine, the subsequent billing was a surprise.

lee - Our company policy for special orders has remained constant for decades. Onle a few may actually place the order and the supplier must provide a quote with terms. We then inform the customer about any restocking issues and get a firm committment from them prior to placing the order.

Larry - That may well be my next move. However, I may tally up our time spent dealing with this issue and file charges against the supplier to recover our costs. I'd rather they get smart & purge the charge so we can all move on to more productive things. If, on the other hand, our credit is adversely affected, there will be hell to pay & that's when the lawyer gets activated.

Jeff - As they say on TV - No Deal

Bob - We do as little as possible with this particular supply house. Prior to another supplier picking up Luxaire, we had no choice & that led to complacent service on their end. The owner has always struck me as a great guy, but he's not minding the store and has several employees who are less than ethical. My experience with them is not unique according to discussions with a number of other mechanical contractors.

Brad - The acct is not closed from my end and it will be credited the $300. There's a lesson to be learned here about ethical treatment of customers and how that taints a business relationship. On a wider scale, it's also an interesting look at how business is conducted where ordering materials is concerned. Trust is a mighty strong glue that binds us in our day-to-day relationships and hard to restore once broken. At this point, I wouldn't order a bib-screw from them without a faxed quote!

Keith - Those are the same guys who will one day wonder why Lowes and Home Depot put them out of business. I still have a special-order Kohler 3-hole cast iron kit sink I ordered the first month I was on my own in 79. That's what the customer said they wanted "no extra hole to show". Too bad the job got canceled. Too bad for me, that is. Tough lesson learned about special orders. It's way in the back of the warehouse - still collecting dust.