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Done with grimco

Signed Out

New Member
Little venting...

So I've said this before but this time it's for good. I'm done with Grimco. Too many times I order supplies, receive half the order within a couple days, then wait and wait and wait for the rest only to find it's backordered from china and they have no real idea when it will be in. Thanks. I ordered 4 sign brackets last week on Mon. Got 3 of them in this monday in 2 boxes, I assumed it was all 4 and put them to the side (guess I shoulda checked) So my customer thinks he's picking his sign up tomorrow, I opened the boxes to make sure the brackets are a good fit and...wtf 3 brackets? I call in and they tell me the 4th is backordered coming from overseas, that it should arive next monday or tuesday in Missouri and that it will be a 3 day ship from there.
Any chance you can overnight it to me from Missouri?

Haha no we can't do that.

Well don't you think you should have mentioned that my $2 bracket was going to take 3 weeks to get to me?

I'm sure they told you it was backordered when you called the order in. (rudely)

No, when I tried to call the order in I was told I need to order more than $100 to place an order.

(when I ordered) Oh, I thought it was $100 min. for free shipping. I don't mind paying the shipping.

No you need to order at least $100, is there anything else you need?

I don't understand, if I'm paying the shipping why is there a minimum?

Becasue it costs us money to process your order, you can place it online though.

(So I placed it online)

Well if you placed it online then you should have recieved an email notificaiton that it was backordered. (which I did and it said backordered from Conneticut but with no time frame, so I guess some blame is on me... although it says from conn, not overseas and I never have this type of problem when ordering from fellers or anyone else)

I went on to explain that this or similar situations have happened several times in the past and is the reason I barely do any business with grimco anymore, that 95% of my business goes to fellers. That I only order stuff from them if fellers doesn't carry it.

bla bla bla

Fed up I told her to just send me a return shipping label and to give me a refund.

Ok but there is a restocking fee.

Are you serious? Whatever get me that bracket asap please, goodbye.


After typing this all out it seems rather petty, but it really irrates the crap outta me to work, work, work non stop and then have to deal with an incompetent supplier. As corny as frank is, fellers is legit. I wonder if anyone else has similar expierences with grimco. We used to use them quite a bit a couple years ago. Seemed to me that when they were buying out that other company (proveer?) there customer service went out the window.

The big problem I had with grimco initially that got me to switch to fellers: Got a bad or old roll of 3m black 7125 from them a little over a year ago. The vinyl was sorta stiff, almost felt flakey, cut and weeded like crap. I called to return it and have a new one sent out. Got the new roll in and sent the bad roll back, new roll was fine. About a month later they notify me that their lab tests showed no defects in the roll and that they would send it back to me. I fought and fought with them because the roll was definetly defective, but I lost and ended up eating that roll. Since then I've only ordered small things like brackets and such that fellers doesn't carry. Not anymore.
 

Mosh

New Member
Here is some advise, and not just when ordering from Grimco...ASK IF IT IS IN STOCK, and at what location it is coming from. Keep in mind most of the phone people are min wagers looking at a computer screen all day. I never order ANYTHING from ANY supplier without knowing what warehouse in their system it is coming from.

I get a truck delivery from Grimco every Friday, had 1-2 problems in 5 years that they have been delivering to me.
 

SignLady81

New Member
My experience with them has always been great. Occasionally something I need is out of stock, but I always get an email telling me so. When that happens, I'll call and ask how long until it's in stock, so if the time frame doesn't work with my scheudal, I can start to look elsewhere.
 

ova

New Member
Every order you receive should come with a packing slip.
Make it a habit to check what you ordered with what's on the packing slip.
Not slamming how you run your business, but we always do this and file the paper work.
For every item that comes into your business from a delivery service, you should have a paper trail of some kind to refer back to if there is ever a question.



Dave
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
Not to play devils advocate or anything, but judging by what you've told us, it sounds like you are more a fault than Grimco, always always always check packages when they come in to make sure everything is there and it's what you ordered, that's about as basic as it gets.

as for the minimum order, It makes sense to me, they have to pay the person who took the order, the person who picked the order, the person who packaged it and shipped it, pay for the rent in the warehouse.....

if they sold you a $10 order, even if you pay for the shipping they are still loosing money.
 

HulkSmash

New Member
Order from grimco Daily, twice, no issues at all. And if there is, they more the remedy it.
Great bunch of guys here in Denver.
 

Flame

New Member
I'll be the first person to say I agree with you. $100 minimum? No thanks. What if I wanted just a 50yd roll of 651? You won't sell it to me? It's not a custom produced order, it's taking a product off the shelf, and shipping. As far as their screwups, It all depends on what warehouse you are dealing with imo. Personally...I no longer use Grimco for anything because of my own issues. But I can sympathize with you for the most part. As a note though, when someone says "backordered" I've learned that translated...that means you should never expect that product in the same month or two. lol
 

Jackpine

New Member
It's got to be your Grimco location. I have never had a problem with my orders shipped or delivered. If ordered on phone they check availability as I order. If shipped from other location they tell me as does Fellers. Mine come out of their Chicago location.
 

JERHEMI

New Member
It's got to be your Grimco location. I have never had a problem with my orders shipped or delivered. If ordered on phone they check availability as I order. If shipped from other location they tell me as does Fellers. Mine come out of their Chicago location.

Same here! Chicago Branch is awesome! Fellers is great too, but they don't have Courier delivery service like Grimco does.
 

ironchef

New Member
I always ask the availability on the stuff i want to order, and time frame for arrival. Thats one reason i dont order online unless its stuff im not in a rush for or specials from the daily emails that go out. I do believe they are really big now, and that might contribute to mishaps that might happen, i think they should increase there par-levels and keep more product in stock.
 

Marie

New Member
Mobile branch is always very helpful. It really helps to develop a relationship with the sales staff at your local branch, instead of calling the 800 number and getting someone different every time. I hope things work out OK!!
 

HulkSmash

New Member
100$ Min pretty standard. They typically pay a courier to deliver. If you want to order a 5 yard roll of vinyl have the ship it in...
 

petesign

New Member
Birmingham, AL. branch is great. I don't deal with anyone but them. If i get rolled over, I will ask for someone at my branch or call back. Period.
 

Sam I Am

New Member
I concur with Petesign about Birmingham's branch. Doesn't hurt I've known some of the Grimco folk through other Birmingham sign supply places ( & Grimco ) better than 30 yrs. Birmingham's Amy, Jake, Meredith & Matthew along with Lamar, Carol & Clay in Mobile, have always been great. A good rapport is always great, communication is even better, coming & going. If there's ever a question of stock or if I need 4 and they have 5, I'll always ask to "lay their hands on it" and call me back after you do. 15 minutes saves an issue from time to time. Luckily being they're within 15 minutes I can go if I need to, or wait on their courier. When I have had any issue, it was quickly corrected....and some of those issues were "operator error" on my part.
 

visual800

Active Member
Birmingham, AL. branch is great. I don't deal with anyone but them. If i get rolled over, I will ask for someone at my branch or call back. Period.


Bham branch does rock! Never had issue if something wont come on the next truck they inform
 
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