Needed a tap , ordered a spiral tap from Amazon, from Guhring vendor

[Alan H.]

P.S. Nobody has mentioned McMaster-Carr. They have really only one failing in my years of doing business with them on-line. They do not have any way of estimating freight charges upfront when purchasing by phone or on-line. Some folks may gripe about their prices, but often they aren't as far out of line as their reputation, and sometimes their price is quite competitive. The big positive is McMaster STOCKS stuff. They stock a LOT of stuff, process orders quickly, make few mistakes, and fix their mistakes as soon as you tell them. I shop around on stuff I don't need quickly, but if I need it now and the local stores don't have it I often just buy what I need from them.

Their shipping costs are over the top. I enter orders and they'll put it in two boxes when one would have done and yes, I get two freight charges.

I have kinda learned how to avoid that now. I did call them for advice but they very quickly told me they served large companies that didn't worry about freight and their system didn't worry about it because their warehouse was too big. I think they need to take some lessons from Amazon!

Meanwhile, I grit my teeth and still order from them because they have it and it is decent quality. If I enter the order by 3 p.m., I get it the next day via UPS!

 

[woodchucker]

I use Amazon fairly often and I do not expect an on-line etailer to work like a brick and mortar retailer. However Fastenal's refusal to accept cash at their brick and mortar store is class discriminatory. Its not a deal breaker for me, but its one of several reasons they are last on my resource list.

While I have decent credit today there was a time in my life when I had to do business with cash out of my pocket. Had every retailer been like Fastenal I'd never have been able to move beyond that.

I have seen a few retailers prefer credit over cash. One is that it lowers their risk of being robbed. 2 it lowers the risk of an employee helping themselves to money, by not ringing it up and pocketing the cash (bars, and small retailers are highly susceptible to the pilfering).
Many times you read about someone skimming the cash regularly and finally getting caught because the business realized that there was a problem. With credit card, it's much harder to skim.

 

[woodchucker]

So good news!
Guhring has realized their error, and is sending out a replacement today. They are not waiting for the part to return, they see that it's on the way back. They are blaming the lack of an address on a computer glitch between Amazon and Guhring. That part I am doubtful about. A bug ok, a glitch, I'm not ok with. So, if I get this in the next couple of days, all is well, almost, I need to get the project off the mill.

 

[woodchucker]

So not so good news. Guhring never sent the new replacement. Instead they waited until the part came back. (more wasted time). On the 20th I get an email that they received the package back and are sending it back out blue label (2 day) ups. Well it just made it to NJ, but has 2 more stops to make b4 it is even out for delivery. Looks like it will be Tuesday the earliest. They are saying it will be delivered today, but it is shipping to work, and we are closing at 3 normally 5, but there's no way it will be here by 5 even. I am at 2 1/2 weeks .. While Guhring has been ok, they didn't follow through with what they said, and I would now have a hard time using them again. They were almost ok. But almost still has me 2.5 weeks out and by the time Tuesday rolls around it's 3 weeks. Just to remind you.. I paid for the shipping... So it's not like they were doing me a favor.