Sign Warehouse

[surf city]

I had an experience from SW similar to what Snappy had. It was a pita. And I only used the cutter approx 20 times. I haven't and will not buy from SW again and I do let people know that. I'm an american I was raised to always put forth your best effort even if you might be at fault man up and make it right. Yeah not so much anymore and it's sad.

 

[Jim Doggett]

I had an experience from SW similar to what Snappy had. It was a pita. And I only used the cutter approx 20 times. I haven't and will not buy from SW again and I do let people know that. I'm an american I was raised to always put forth your best effort even if you might be at fault man up and make it right. Yeah not so much anymore and it's sad.

Hi Surf City,

Which cutter did you get? If it's giving you trouble I can put our support folks in-touch. I assume it's under warranty, yes?

Thanks, and I'm sorry you're unhappy.

Jim

 

[Jim Doggett]

My only suggestion in dealing with Sign Wharehouse problems, if you want something fixed you have to get the branch manager on the phone.

The salespeople cannot or will not fix problems, customer service is confused at best by the bad info they get from the sales people.

Get the higher ups involved.

Hi Mark,

That's true. And thank you for jumping in.

We have a support staff that are best for resolving issues. And me. So please come down on us if we deserve it. This is a great place to do that. But then contact me. I'll get to the bottom of what's going on and bring the right people to bear on the subject.

Best Regards,

Jim
jim@go2bk.com private email
940.641.6770 mobile phone

 

[B Snyder]

Hi Surf City,

Which cutter did you get? If it's giving you trouble I can put our support folks in-touch. I assume it's under warranty, yes?

Thanks, and I'm sorry you're unhappy.

Jim

I see you're back with SW. Is Yellotools USA defunct?

 

[Jim Doggett]

I see you're back with SW. Is Yellotools USA defunct?

No; Yellotools is still very much in business. I just like SignWarehouse more. We even sell a Yellotools product: SpeedClips ( http://www.signwarehouse.com/forums/showthread.php?11-NEW!-SpeedClip-Media-Roll-Fasteners )

But I'm an equipment guy, mostly, having been for over 15 years. It's a better fit, and truly, SW is a great company, despite problems mentioned here (which I hope to help resolve, given the chance).

We're big, and don't always do things right. Heck; we can even screw up royally. But, honestly, we try real hard, while fulfilling hundreds of orders every day. And we're available to help with issues, 7 days a week.

So I'm proud to be a part of SW.

Best,

Jim

 

[B Snyder]

Cool. Good to know. Yellotools US site isn't working. I'd definitely buy more from YT. SW, not so much.

 

[Jim Doggett]

Cool. Good to know. Yellotools US site isn't working. I'd definitely buy more from YT. SW, not so much.

I think they're revamping it, last I heard. You can email them at info@yellotools.com.

Or maybe give us shot at redeeming ourselves :^) We have SpeedClips, by Yellotools ... and a working Web site (kidding; I'm sure they'll have it up soon.)

All my best,

Jim

 

[777signs]

Last night I was cutting graphics for a racecar, and realized I was short on vinyl. SW site says they are open until 11. I called at 8 and could not get through, several times. I customer came over and we went to look at the car, I called again at 9, and someone answered, got my order in, and it shipped today. No big deal. During all this, I e-mailed my normal sales guy, and asked him to call when he got in. I was on my way out the door for work this morning and he called me. Told him I had it taken care of. I did have a problem with my new Q24 last night, and got on tech support site, and someone answered, but the problem fixed itself, so I did not need them. One thing I like about them, is they always have what I need. I use 2 local places in Houston when I need something in a hurry, but SW has better prices and always has it in stock. Plus, they give me free shipping on most of my orders. I do need to call them about a tech issue on my machine, but I will take care of it once things settle down with work.

 

[Idea Design]

My advice with SW and the horror stories about their sales people is this: find one that you like, get that person's extension, and only deal with them. I've been very satisfied with the dealings I've had with SW. The first sales person I had was named Caron Yarborough. She was the sweetest thing around. I would send her pictures of the jobs I was doing, she would tell me about her life, like we were friends. Never had anything go bad. Then I called to place and order one day and she was just gone. I still don't know what happened to her (Caron if you're reading this, I miss you) but the girl who took over her accounts is fantastic just the same.

I don't know how SW feels about us pimping their people, but I'm sure far better than us slamming their people.

If you need a good salesperson at SW, call Amber Hicks at extension 2076.

The last time I had a tech question about my printer, I got on the live online chat, was informed that that is now a pay-to-play service by the guy on the other end so I decided to try and work it out on my own. He informed my that I could request information my email for free. I figured it couldn't hurt, maybe I'd get an answer, maybe I wouldn't, but it couldn't hurt either way.

I sent an email immediately after ending the chat conference with the guy, and about 4 minutes later, I had a detailed email full of instructions with the answer to my question from THE SAME GUY I was just chatting with. So, not only did he save me some dollars by offering the email ticket advice, he personally answered my email after.

I like SW. I've never had any bad experiences with them. Maybe I should feel lucky, but I really don't think so. They are a decent company, they are just larger than life, and with any big company, mistakes are bound to be made. Percentage of bad to good, tho, I bet they are way ahead with the good.

This just happens to be a place where there's a major concentration of their clientele who, just like the real world, are more likely to spread bad news than good news.

There's been studies on how much faster bad news spreads than good news. I just had a conversation about this the other day.

Don't forget, call Amber.

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

That's one of their problems. They "loose" their salespeople for one reason or another. I've had them try to hide this fact.

If you haven't had trouble, you will. They were my main supplier for nearly 15 years. Only when I spent 30k+ dollars on equipment did I have REAL problems with them. Problems they could have easily resolved, and actually made money off of in the short run. I'd be better off burning my money.

 

[Stealth Ryder]

My advice with SW and the horror stories about their sales people is this: find one that you like, get that person's extension, and only deal with them. I've been very satisfied with the dealings I've had with SW. The first sales person I had was named Caron Yarborough. She was the sweetest thing around. I would send her pictures of the jobs I was doing, she would tell me about her life, like we were friends. Never had anything go bad. Then I called to place and order one day and she was just gone. I still don't know what happened to her (Caron if you're reading this, I miss you) but the girl who took over her accounts is fantastic just the same.

I don't know how SW feels about us pimping their people, but I'm sure far better than us slamming their people.

If you need a good salesperson at SW, call Amber Hicks at extension 2076.

The last time I had a tech question about my printer, I got on the live online chat, was informed that that is now a pay-to-play service by the guy on the other end so I decided to try and work it out on my own. He informed my that I could request information my email for free. I figured it couldn't hurt, maybe I'd get an answer, maybe I wouldn't, but it couldn't hurt either way.

I sent an email immediately after ending the chat conference with the guy, and about 4 minutes later, I had a detailed email full of instructions with the answer to my question from THE SAME GUY I was just chatting with. So, not only did he save me some dollars by offering the email ticket advice, he personally answered my email after.

I like SW. I've never had any bad experiences with them. Maybe I should feel lucky, but I really don't think so. They are a decent company, they are just larger than life, and with any big company, mistakes are bound to be made. Percentage of bad to good, tho, I bet they are way ahead with the good.

This just happens to be a place where there's a major concentration of their clientele who, just like the real world, are more likely to spread bad news than good news.

There's been studies on how much faster bad news spreads than good news. I just had a conversation about this the other day.

Don't forget, call Amber.

I agree, they are always there to help when needed...

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Most here wouldn't buy a 1614 with NO support whatsover! I did. And I bought it from SWH. Never again. But I like my printer, laminator and plotter. There's more support here then they could ever provide.

 

[kstompaint]

after reading this im really thinking of just staying with fellers . i was looking at growing my company and buying some new equipment the quote i had from fellers was 35k the one from SW is only 30k . but with all these horror stories of SW i think i just pay the extra 5k

Fellers will deal with you. They may not match price exactly, but what ever extra you pay will be worth it. Their tech support is absolutely the best in the industry, they talked to me at 10 p.m. on a Saturday because I needed tech help. Our sales rep doesn't come around much but he's there when we need him. We had some problems with our printer. The problems began under warranty and the manufacturer only limped it out of warranty. Fellers stepped up and handled the problem for me, even when they weren't obligated to do so.

It's been about 8 years since I've dealt with SW and there are reasons for that. There was absolutely no personal service. Even the people taking my order or quoting me prices seemed annoyed to be bothered with it. 2 years ago in my equipment search, I called them but I got the same attitude and it reminded me why I quit calling.

 

[Idea Design]

...There's more support here then they could ever provide.

That is something that I will agree with. Referring to my story of the online chat above (where the guy answered my email shortly thereafter), I came on here between the time I sent that mail and received the reply, and my man Stealth Ryder was here to help.

He posted the exact contents of the email I received from SW. I don't know who Stealth Ryder is or where he works, but he's got a fan in me.

All of the Mutoh techs that frequent these boards are of tremendous value. The ones I know of are Stealth Ryder, randya, and Compilla.

Bravo.

 

[Stealth Ryder]

Thanks for the compliment Cody, it is appreciated... Any documentation I send would have been taken from a Service Manual. We are all here to help, we just kinda lurk in the shadows waiting until one of our friends need a helping hand. Thanks again, it is comments like yours who make it all worthwhile...

 

[ProWraps]

sign whorehouse is good for one thing in our book. cheap service, and cheap products.

we grind them so far into the ground i almost feel bad doing it... almost. but we know what we are getting. and we know what we are not.

you buy a printer from fellers, you get a TON of media samples. you get some guy that flys to your shop and sets up the printer (although, we had to tell him how to do it correctly). and you pay a bit more especially since they have a california facility so tax is an issue.

with sign whorehouse, you may get the media samples you were promised. that is after you call and wonder why you never got them. they will be a few tiny rolls of oracal. you wont get anyone to set your printer up. you may be able to log on to their website and see a nifty video. but because either they are hurting so bad, or they just like selling stuff cheap, you can grind their prices so low its fun. and because they are in texas, no sales tax (at least for us in california).

i was able to grind them down to $12,999 TO OUR DOOR for a 1304. thats the printer, take up, ink carts, cross over cable, cleaning carts, and some media samples we never got. oh and they even threw in a liftgate on the free shipping which we didnt use anyways.

we bought one from fellers a few months before. all the same junk, but a TON of media samples (it litteraly was redic how much sh*t they sent us), but we payed several thousand more, and paid sales tax.

an old man told me once when i was very young:
"Chris, different people are good for different things".

sign whorehouse is no different. none of your vendors are. they are all just good for different things.

 

[kstompaint]

ProWraps- What you said all sounds accurate. I'm sure that I could have bought my equipment for a little less from SW, but Fellers did negotiate with me. Our first 1604 had a TON of problems and Mutoh didn't do much but limp the thing through the warranty. After that, it had more (worse) problems. The machine was obviously a lemon. Mutoh's solution was for me to spend $3k to extend the warranty. That would have been acceptable if the damn thing had worked properly for more than 2 months in the original warranty... but it didn't. Eventually, Fellers said they would just send me a new one and fight it out with Mutoh themselves. I got a brand new 1614 WITH a 2 year warranty and a tech to swap them out. This was above and beyond, but you have no idea how much grief that first machine caused us, I think Fellers truely felt bad about it. There were many times that I was calling the techs on their cell phones late at night and on weekends, they were more hospitable in those situations than the SW people were when I was calling for a price on $30k+ worth of equipment. When the printer was down, I uploaded Fellers my files, they printed and sent them over night to me so that I didn't lose jobs.

Bottom line... I'm sure I paid a little more for my stuff from Fellers. I tell my customers all the time "My prices are reasonable. I'm NOT the cheapest guy in town. If you want his number I will give it to you. You'll get what you pay for and then you'll be paying me to remove and replace it next year." The same theory holds true here, in my opinion.

 

[Farmboy]

I don't deal with SW but I do get e-mails from them. In upstate NY I like to deal with N.Glantz, Grant Graphics and Beacon. All have always been good to me.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

Thanks for the compliment Cody, it is appreciated... Any documentation I send would have been taken from a Service Manual. We are all here to help, we just kinda lurk in the shadows waiting until one of our friends need a helping hand. Thanks again, it is comments like yours who make it all worthwhile...

Great attitude and disposition. Thanks for being a part of this forum.

 

[yellousa]

Hi B,
My Name is CeCe, Yellotools USA. Glad to hear you love our products. Please feel free to contact me with anything i can do.