I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any reason to think that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company that it has been for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from them.

I hope that anyone else who has found this to be the case in your dealings, will contact McMaster-Carr via their website: http://www.mcmaster.com/ Contact. Be sure to ask that your comments be forwarded to someone in upper management and to a VP of Sales. Be sure to express your thoughts in a polite, business-like manner.

This is a sad comment that am making -- their company has been a pleasure to buy from for the past 10+ years. But now their operation seems to have been turned over to the IT dept and/or bean counters. The sales desk/phone people are as helpful and efficient as always, but unfortunately, their "customer service" philosophy is limited to taking orders. Evidently they have no influence on how the rest of the company is run.

1. As you probably already know, McMaster-Carr has purged many of its customers' accounts in good standing, and is now requiring long-term customers to purchase by credit card only. This is true whether ordering online or by phone.

2. This is fine for small dollar or infrequent orders, but not acceptable for routine purchases.

3. Our experience is that cards are kept with a fairly low limit ($1-$5) because that it takes only one well-meaning but out-of-control employee to sink a project by excessive use of his card.

4. However, if your employees have a reasonable limit ($2-$10K), then the company must now monitor the balance weekly and make mid-month payments just to keep the balance under the card limit and keep on good standing with the card issuer.

5. When you are in a major project, you have to spend to much time keeping track of your credit card balance when you should be spending time on keeping the project under control.

6. I have talked to various McM-Carr people and have gotten nowhere. Our account is over 10 years old and, like all our supplier accounts, is always current.

7. On a different issue.... we have places 4 orders in the past 2 weeks -- all by credit card (as required). Two of these orders were shipped to addresses in other states that we never heard of.

I hope that they will get enough feedback from their customers to pull the plug on the impersonal bean-counter attitudes and return some reasonable customer-oriented management to the company.

Thank you for reading.

Boycott McMaster-Carr

Subject

McM-C has been a total PITA around here for at least the last 10
years.

The only time we place an order with them is when they are the only
game in town.



--
Hodco Systems
Box 2302
Whittier, CA, 90610-2302
(V) 562-944-4432
E-Mail:

Lew Hodgett, PE

On May 30, 7:16�pm, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
Subject

McM-C has been a total PITA around here for at least the last 10
years.

The only time we place an order with them is when they are the only
game in town.

--
Hodco Systems
Box 2302
Whittier, CA, 90610-2302
(V) 562-944-4432
E-Mail:

Lew Hodgett, PE

ww grainger is no better, were a small business that bought a lot of a
few select items, if you dont buy 6 or 10K a year theres never a
quantity discount.

so they didnt want our business, we buy elsewhere........

now some tiny start up may be discouraged by such idiot policies, and
be the next microsoft.

grainger by bean counting will discourage small customers who one day
may be large customers, but never spend a dime at grainger........

On May 30, 7:29 pm, " wrote:
On May 30, 7:16�pm, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:



Subject

McM-C has been a total PITA around here for at least the last 10
years.

The only time we place an order with them is when they are the only
game in town.

--
Hodco Systems
Box 2302
Whittier, CA, 90610-2302
(V) 562-944-4432
E-Mail:

Lew Hodgett, PE

ww grainger is no better, were a small business that bought a lot of a
few select items, if you dont buy 6 or 10K a year theres never a
quantity discount.

so they didnt want our business, we buy elsewhere........

now some tiny start up may be discouraged by such idiot policies, and
be the next microsoft.

grainger by bean counting will discourage small customers who one day
may be large customers, but never spend a dime at grainger........

Grainger isn't interested in non-corporate customers, either. Makes
you feel guilty buying anything from them for personal use due to the
attitude. I've had nothing but good experiences with McM-C and I hope
that that does not change. I especially like the quick shipping,
faster than any other company I've ever done business with. I do wish
they'd post brand names on their web site though.

nate

On 5/30/2008 6:00 PM N8N spake thus:

On May 30, 7:29 pm, " wrote:

ww grainger is no better, were a small business that bought a lot of a
few select items, if you dont buy 6 or 10K a year theres never a
quantity discount.

so they didnt want our business, we buy elsewhere........

now some tiny start up may be discouraged by such idiot policies, and
be the next microsoft.

grainger by bean counting will discourage small customers who one day
may be large customers, but never spend a dime at grainger........

Grainger isn't interested in non-corporate customers, either. Makes
you feel guilty buying anything from them for personal use due to the
attitude. I've had nothing but good experiences with McM-C and I hope
that that does not change. I especially like the quick shipping,
faster than any other company I've ever done business with. I do wish
they'd post brand names on their web site though.

Hmmm, now I have to say that that doesn't jibe at all with my
experience. I have a tiny, tiny account with Grainger, and I've had
nothing but good experiences dealing with them. They're always helpful
and don't seem to mind at all that they're not getting rich off of me.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

On May 31, 12:08 am, David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 5/30/2008 6:00 PM N8N spake thus:





On May 30, 7:29 pm, " wrote:

ww grainger is no better, were a small business that bought a lot of a
few select items, if you dont buy 6 or 10K a year theres never a
quantity discount.

so they didnt want our business, we buy elsewhere........

now some tiny start up may be discouraged by such idiot policies, and
be the next microsoft.

grainger by bean counting will discourage small customers who one day
may be large customers, but never spend a dime at grainger........

Grainger isn't interested in non-corporate customers, either. Makes
you feel guilty buying anything from them for personal use due to the
attitude. I've had nothing but good experiences with McM-C and I hope
that that does not change. I especially like the quick shipping,
faster than any other company I've ever done business with. I do wish
they'd post brand names on their web site though.

Hmmm, now I have to say that that doesn't jibe at all with my
experience. I have a tiny, tiny account with Grainger, and I've had
nothing but good experiences dealing with them. They're always helpful
and don't seem to mind at all that they're not getting rich off of me.

That's just it, you have an account with them. If you're just walking
in off the street they simply won't sell to you, unless you know the
name of a purchasing guy at a company that has an account with them.
Fortunately I *do* work for a company that has an account, but since
ordering from McMaster-Carr online is actually *faster* than going to
a brick and mortar Grainger store, unless Grainger has the part in
stock, McM-C gets most of my business.

nate

David Nebenzahl wrote:

Hmmm, now I have to say that that doesn't jibe at all with my
experience. I have a tiny, tiny account with Grainger, and I've had
nothing but good experiences dealing with them. They're always helpful
and don't seem to mind at all that they're not getting rich off of me.


I only do a few $K a year with Grainger, but have no complaints. I have
found a good attitude will go a looooong way. More flies with honey,
right? I'll also pay a little more to keep from having to waste my time
driving all over town. I've never dealt with McMaster.

--
John L. Weatherly

please remove XXXs to reply via email

Never had a single problem with them. Always get what I ordered, next
day, and billed exactly once.

i

Keywords:
In article , Ignoramus23731 wrote:
Never had a single problem with them. Always get what I ordered, next
day, and billed exactly once.

I've generally had good luck with tehm both at work and at home.
However, they aren't perfect. The latest screwup was that they left a
drill bit out of an order. We complained, and they shipped _5_
replacements (I think it was item 5 on the invoice).

They once billed me for a few bucks more than the invoice, and they
straightened that out quickly as well. I've also been less than happy
with the way they've packed some things.

All in all, I will keep doing business with them, but cautiously. They
have good stock, a lot of slightly oddball stuff, and they are frequently
willing to sell in smaller quantities than other places.

If somebody comes up with a name & an emial address to, I'd be perfectly
happy to add my concerns to their in box. The latest screw ups
with the drill bits cost them some money. If they keep that up, they
won't be in business forever.

Doug White

"Guv Bob" wrote in message
news:yx%%j.96$yg6.73@trnddc01...
I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has changed for
the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any reason to think that it
will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company that it has been for the
prior 10+ years that we have been buying from them.
snip

Hmmm, we've had the opposite experience. Friendly, knowledgeable and we get
same-day delivery if we order by noon. We do about $1k/mo.

Tom Gardner wrote:
"Guv Bob" wrote in message
news:yx%%j.96$yg6.73@trnddc01...
I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has
changed for the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any
reason to think that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run
company that it has been for the prior 10+ years that we have been
buying from them. snip

Hmmm, we've had the opposite experience. Friendly, knowledgeable and
we get same-day delivery if we order by noon. We do about $1k/mo.

I'll second that.
I get my stuff so quick it's scary - usually the same day.

--

John R. Carroll
www.machiningsolution.com

On Fri, 30 May 2008 17:59:42 -0700, "John R. Carroll"
wrote:

Tom Gardner wrote:

Hmmm, we've had the opposite experience. Friendly, knowledgeable and
we get same-day delivery if we order by noon. We do about $1k/mo.

I'll second that.
I get my stuff so quick it's scary - usually the same day.


John R. Carroll
www.machiningsolution.com


Same here, order before noon and get it by end of same day, shipping
cost same as regular UPS.

They are not the cheapest unit cost but going to McMaster Carr for a
100 items or 15 different sources with lower unit costs for the same
items, it is often less expensive in the long run to go with McMaster
Carr.

I have never had a problem with McMaster Carr.

Tom

Hmmm, we've had the opposite experience. Friendly, knowledgeable and we
get
same-day delivery if we order by noon. We do about $1k/mo.

Ditto here, I only buy elsewhere on the very rare occasion that they don't
have it. its easier than going to the hardware store.

But, I've learned in my business that you can't make everybody happy. Guess
the same is true of McMaster

Karl

On Fri, 30 May 2008 22:51:10 +0000, Guv Bob wrote:

I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has
changed for the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any reason
to think that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company
that it has been for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from
them.

{snip}
1. As you probably already know, McMaster-Carr has purged many of its
customers' accounts in good standing, and is now requiring long-term
customers to purchase by credit card only.
{snip}

This is something you are going to have to learn to live with.

The credit crunch and the Fuel Oil crunch is going to infest all phases
of business life for the next generation. McMaster-Carr will not have
the dollar resource to make 45 day loans or even 30 day loans to their
customer's purchases. The money people (those with the Oil profits) will
not extend McM-C the credit.

It will all be credit cards soon. Let the banks and foreign investors
collect the money, I guess.

However, I agree about the problem of employee use of credit cards for
large dollar purchases. See it happen myself. The only way to go is a
long piece of red tape no one will follow until someone is fired for not
following the red tape procedure on credit card purchases. Small
companies just may go broke because of out of control credit card use by
employees.

Don't blame McMaster's for the credit crunch. Don't matter how long you
have been a customer with them or MSC, or Grainger (sp?) Purchase Order
number, or Blanket Order number buying is going to something like a V-8
engines in family cars soon.

If you think you have problems now, just wait until you find out about
the future of the procedures your accounting dept will impose on your
credit card purchases for projects in the future. Plan working about 3
to 4 hours unpaid overtime each week to process the new paper work.

(Aside: the paperwork will be needed by the Auditors of the Accounting
Dept, it's not the Acct. Dept's fault. The Auditors won't give your
company a green light without some new procedures in place.)

Phil

P.S. I will now get down off my little soap box. It needs to be recycled.

If I get this right, you had problem(s), and now think that no one should
buy from them regardless of their own personal experience. Am I right?

Steve

"Guv Bob" wrote in message
news:yx%%j.96$yg6.73@trnddc01...
I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has changed
for the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any reason to think
that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company that it has
been for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from them.


1. As you probably already know, McMaster-Carr has purged many of its
customers' accounts in good standing, and is now requiring long-term
customers to purchase by credit card only. This is true whether ordering
online or by phone.

************************************************** ************************************

Not true in my case. I've been buying on open acdount for 20 years.
Placed orderws this week, no problem. Delivery is always next day.


Sorry, but I won't be joining your boycott. They are a reliable and valued
supplier.

I have had no problems with McMaster. So many companies withhold
payments for goods and services for up to 90 days that McMaster and
others are fed up with being a bank. Your company may have fallen
into this practice and had your account flagged for poor payment
history. The results being that they want payment with the order.

I order on open account and pay well within 30 days. No problems.

Your organization may have been the source of your credit problems.

Bob

I'd say you are barking up the wrong tree.
I am not sure who you are and probably would give them the benefit of the
doubt over you coming here and bad mouthing them.
I would advise you to focus you complaint towards them as that will do more
good than complaining here.

In article yx%%j.96$yg6.73@trnddc01,
"Guv Bob" wrote:

I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has changed
for the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any reason to think
that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company that it has been
for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from them.

snip

I'll join some others in saying that I've never had a problem with them.
We've been buying from them for at least 20 years. They've never screwed
up an order, or an invoice. They aren't the cheapest guys around, but
for volume we go elsewhere. Need a screw? A piece of aluminum? Anything
under the sun? They've got it. In stock. It's a rare day when UPS
doesn't bring another "present" for someone, and it's a very small
company.

Fast, convenient, no minimum order. And, they have *the best* website,
period. Effortless to use, no eye candy, just pure simple brilliant
construction. I tell my other suppliers: You want to improve your
website, model it after McMaster's.

Oh yeah, 2% 10 discount always available, and zero hassle returns. I
sure hope Bob's experience is the exception, and not becoming the rule,
because I'd hate to lose these guys.

On May 30, 6:51*pm, "Guv Bob" wrote:
I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. *And I don't see any reason to think that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company that it has been for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from them.



It must be your attitude that gives the people you talk to a bad
attitude. I have been getting items
from McM shipped to Canada for 20 years now. No company can match the
service they give. If I
place an order today it arrives by Purolator courier tomorrow at
noon. The local companies take a
week to get me a price on the item and then say it will take 2 weeks
to get it because it has to be
shipped from the US. That excuse is getting pretty old by now!

I have to echo so many on this one, I have always had good service, a
little pricey at times, but always in stock.
20+ yrs and no problems, even had an order that I placed online and
saw my screwup, called them right away, and the order had already been
put into the system, young lady changed the order, (fixed my screw-up)
and correct order showed up the next day.

Something to note: I have always gotten name brand products from them,
order a tap handle, and you get a starret, order a carbide 5 flute
endmill you get Niagra or Garr or Robb-Jack, power hack saw blade for
my 1940's era Racine, you got it, Starret.

There may be a deeper reason for the it / bean counters coming down on
a company or individual.
My $.02

"D"

On Fri, 30 May 2008 19:13:43 -0700 (PDT), sparky
wrote:

On May 30, 6:51*pm, "Guv Bob" wrote:
I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. *And I don't see any reason to think that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company that it has been for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from them.



It must be your attitude that gives the people you talk to a bad
attitude. I have been getting items
from McM shipped to Canada for 20 years now. No company can match the
service they give. If I
place an order today it arrives by Purolator courier tomorrow at
noon. The local companies take a
week to get me a price on the item and then say it will take 2 weeks
to get it because it has to be
shipped from the US. That excuse is getting pretty old by now!

There was a post a few months ago that stated McM would no longer ship
to Canada. I take it this was not true?


Thank You,
Randy

Remove 333 from email address to reply.

"Guv Bob" the crossposting moron, wrote in
message news:yx%%j.96$yg6.73@trnddc01...

Blah blah mcmaster carr blah mcmaster.

Blah blah mcmaster sad

Go away you ****ing idiot.

--

"over a barrel" wrote in message
news:3cKdnYMJVuoTTd3VnZ2dnUVZ_hjinZ2d@scnresearch. com...

"Guv Bob" the crossposting moron, wrote
in
message news:yx%%j.96$yg6.73@trnddc01...

Blah blah mcmaster carr blah mcmaster.

Blah blah mcmaster sad

Go away you ****ing idiot.

Why do that when it's just as easy to plonk you?

Guv Bob writes:

I am sad to say ...

Your cowardly, anonymous posting of potentially libelous statements is what
is saddest. Be a man and identify yourself if you're going to slam
somebody. Otherwise your remarks deserve contempt, nothing you say can be
taken seriously. One must question whether any intelligent person would
put effort into your type of post.

Guv Bob wrote:
I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has changed for the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any reason to think that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company that it has been for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from them.

I hope that anyone else who has found this to be the case in your dealings, will contact McMaster-Carr via their website: http://www.mcmaster.com/ Contact. Be sure to ask that your comments be forwarded to someone in upper management and to a VP of Sales. Be sure to express your thoughts in a polite, business-like manner.

This is a sad comment that am making -- their company has been a pleasure to buy from for the past 10+ years. But now their operation seems to have been turned over to the IT dept and/or bean counters. The sales desk/phone people are as helpful and efficient as always, but unfortunately, their "customer service" philosophy is limited to taking orders. Evidently they have no influence on how the rest of the company is run.

1. As you probably already know, McMaster-Carr has purged many of its customers' accounts in good standing, and is now requiring long-term customers to purchase by credit card only. This is true whether ordering online or by phone.

2. This is fine for small dollar or infrequent orders, but not acceptable for routine purchases.

3. Our experience is that cards are kept with a fairly low limit ($1-$5) because that it takes only one well-meaning but out-of-control employee to sink a project by excessive use of his card.

4. However, if your employees have a reasonable limit ($2-$10K), then the company must now monitor the balance weekly and make mid-month payments just to keep the balance under the card limit and keep on good standing with the card issuer.

5. When you are in a major project, you have to spend to much time keeping track of your credit card balance when you should be spending time on keeping the project under control.

6. I have talked to various McM-Carr people and have gotten nowhere. Our account is over 10 years old and, like all our supplier accounts, is always current.

7. On a different issue.... we have places 4 orders in the past 2 weeks -- all by credit card (as required). Two of these orders were shipped to addresses in other states that we never heard of.

I hope that they will get enough feedback from their customers to pull the plug on the impersonal bean-counter attitudes and return some reasonable customer-oriented management to the company.

Thank you for reading.

Boycott McMaster-Carr










Hmm...that sucks,I just ordered from them for the first time this week.
Paid by CC,so far everything seems dandy..As long as my package arrives
in one piece,I'll be happy.

"PhattyMo" wrote in message
...
Guv Bob wrote:
I am sad to say that our experience has been that McMaster-Carr has
changed for the worse in the last few weeks. And I don't see any reason
to think that it will return to the friendly, efficiently-run company
that it has been for the prior 10+ years that we have been buying from
them.

I hope that anyone else who has found this to be the case in your
dealings, will contact McMaster-Carr via their website:
http://www.mcmaster.com/ Contact. Be sure to ask that your comments be
forwarded to someone in upper management and to a VP of Sales. Be sure
to express your thoughts in a polite, business-like manner.

This is a sad comment that am making -- their company has been a pleasure
to buy from for the past 10+ years. But now their operation seems to
have been turned over to the IT dept and/or bean counters. The sales
desk/phone people are as helpful and efficient as always, but
unfortunately, their "customer service" philosophy is limited to taking
orders. Evidently they have no influence on how the rest of the company
is run.

1. As you probably already know, McMaster-Carr has purged many of its
customers' accounts in good standing, and is now requiring long-term
customers to purchase by credit card only. This is true whether ordering
online or by phone.

2. This is fine for small dollar or infrequent orders, but not
acceptable for routine purchases. 3. Our experience is that cards are
kept with a fairly low limit ($1-$5) because that it takes only one
well-meaning but out-of-control employee to sink a project by excessive
use of his card.

4. However, if your employees have a reasonable limit ($2-$10K), then
the company must now monitor the balance weekly and make mid-month
payments just to keep the balance under the card limit and keep on good
standing with the card issuer.

5. When you are in a major project, you have to spend to much time
keeping track of your credit card balance when you should be spending
time on keeping the project under control.

6. I have talked to various McM-Carr people and have gotten nowhere.
Our account is over 10 years old and, like all our supplier accounts, is
always current.

7. On a different issue.... we have places 4 orders in the past 2
weeks -- all by credit card (as required). Two of these orders were
shipped to addresses in other states that we never heard of.

I hope that they will get enough feedback from their customers to pull
the plug on the impersonal bean-counter attitudes and return some
reasonable customer-oriented management to the company.

Thank you for reading.

Boycott McMaster-Carr










Hmm...that sucks,I just ordered from them for the first time this week.
Paid by CC,so far everything seems dandy..As long as my package arrives in
one piece,I'll be happy.

I'm sorry, but it will be impossible for you to be happy according to Guv
Bob. And even if you think you're happy, and have your goods, and have them
at a good price, you must commiserate with Gov Bob for his experience. Or
be neurotic in case MMC ever has a problem with your order.

Or, at least, that's what Gov Bob sez.

Steve

SteveB wrote:

I'm sorry, but it will be impossible for you to be happy according to Guv
Bob. And even if you think you're happy, and have your goods, and have them
at a good price, you must commiserate with Gov Bob for his experience. Or
be neurotic in case MMC ever has a problem with your order.

Or, at least, that's what Gov Bob sez.


I wouldn't worry. His handlers should have him safely back in his
straight jacket, and in the padded cell by now.


--
http://improve-usenet.org/index.html

If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in
your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm

Sporadic E is the Earth's aluminum foil beanie for the 'global warming'
sheep.

Guv Bob wrote:
I am sad

Apparently sorry would have been a better description.
You are.

--

John R. Carroll
www.machiningsolution.com

John R. Carroll wrote:

Guv Bob wrote:
I am sad

Apparently sorry would have been a better description.
You are.


Well, I think the OP's title was at least truthful -- It was a sad
comment. [sorry would work too]


--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough

Guv Bob wrote:

[much snippage]
Boycott McMaster-Carr

Boycott? On your demand? I don't think so. I certainly hope you sent
your comments directly to them, and waited for a reply, before going to
the newsgroups with them.

Perhaps your local branch is having personnel problems but I've bought
from McM-C for over 30 years and have always found them to be friendly,
efficient and prompt. They're not a bargain house but their prices are
fair, I receive my order next day and if they don't have it, well, good
luck finding it anywhere.

--
Ron Hock
HOCK TOOLS www.hocktools.com

On Jun 5, 12:52*pm, Ron Hock wrote:
Guv Bob wrote:

[much snippage]

Boycott McMaster-Carr

Boycott? On your demand? I don't think so. I certainly hope you sent
your comments directly to them, and waited for a reply, before going to
the newsgroups with them.

Perhaps your local branch is having personnel problems but I've bought
from McM-C for over 30 years and have always found them to be friendly,
efficient and prompt. They're not a bargain house but their prices are
fair, I receive my order next day and if they don't have it, well, good
luck finding it anywhere.

--
Ron Hock
HOCK TOOLS *www.hocktools.com

Just received 2 tubes of DOW RTV-732, 2nd business day after I ordered
it online from McM-C at 9:00PM. Shipped in the morning and arrived the
next day.

Typical pattern for me - small orders, no hassle, prompt delivery.