I've about had it with suppliers. It took 2 weeks for an order of decora recp's , switches etc to get to my door. This time the excuse was that they shipped it to Sharon VT, about 40 miles north of me.
{i lost it a tad..}
I am in Chester i explained, my company is Chester Electric....so how does something marked 'CHESTER' not get to it???

reply; blahbalhcomputerinventoryfullmoonblahbalh....

My GC is having a hard time with the fact that i cannot get a receptacle in a weeks time...

reply;
blahbalhXfilebossonvactionblahblahcoffeetimeblah

Home Depot (going in sooon)will have all the receptacles & switches anyone would desire...

reply;
%$#@&^%*&@@##

It's a game we are forced to pay. Lost orders, manufacturer goof ups, computer says we got 2000 of em but I didn't see em in the back. I raise h*ll with my supply houses all the time. It's pretty simple to me. You stock it, I buy it, I pay for it on time. You don't stock, I buy some where else, I pay them on time. I have been forced to use two supply houses for the last six months. I had a guy at my favorite supply house who would track down anything from 1000 amp switch gear to a ground clip for a vent fan. He and the owner had some problems (owner was ex father inlaw). Lost that guy and I have had trouble ever since. It has forced me to play the pricing game and buy in bulk. Some times I have more inventory than the supply house.

[This message has been edited by arseegee (edited 05-31-2002).]

I think it's a universal problem.

The supply house I use most is pretty good most of time, and the best priced around here. But sometimes I go in and they're out of stock of some garden-variety item, such as 4mm T&E cable (imagine your place had no stock of 10-2 Romex).

Sometimes it can take two weeks to get something sent up from their main depot in London, about 125 miles away, so I have to resort to visiting B&Q (like Home Depot).

My supplier is great. There are occasional screwups of course but I have been using one main supplier for about seven years now with no regrets. If I need something unusual I will search the web and get as much info as possible before I go to the supply house. I use CLS here in Massachusetts.

Have knowen this problem very well now I use a rough in card to know how many devices I need ahead of time and get my orders in early and if the gc or homeowner wants to change any thing he has to wait.
:wayne

Two weeks ago I ordered a motor. It never showed up but I did get a post card from UPS telling me they had a package for me but didn't have my address. The post card was sent to me at my address through the mail.

I've had the chance to experience another perspective:

I used to own a small country "convenience" store. Starting out, I spent nearly all my savings in stock for the store, trying my best guess of what customers wanted and how many.

First ten customers want something I didn't think of... so I make notes and promise to stock them.

I buy a case (minimum amount) of the items in question.

They never return for those items, in their minds, I don't carry this or that...

Not to mention that I have to sell 80% of a case to break even at a 25% mark-up...

And 25% is horribly priced compared to Wal-mart, etc...

So they sit until I decide to have a clearance sale. Marked at a loss, with an attention grabbing sign, they sell like hotcakes... "I didn't know you carried these!"

So you buy another case, with the 25% markup. "Boy that's just too expensive"

ad infinitum...

It only lasted the longest two and a half years of my life!

There are much better and more fun ways to lose $40K...

As far as my supplier, they'd bend over backwards to keep my happy, all the rest is really beyond their control.

boy, you think that you have problems in the U S of A, our comopany ( me in fact ) ordered some circuit breakers for a 1000A three phase board,
the supplier said; one week
one week comes and goes;
our office calls supplier;
supplier says; be here in about a week, fault with manufacturer.
week comes and goes;
office calls suppliers again,
they say its at another branch in another parrt of the country,
by this time the client is trying to open his production plant, not a happy bunny.!!
after another week we found the parts at another supplier off the shelf and finished the job,
low and behold, three weeks after we finished the job the circuit breakers arrived at our stores!!!
what did the soreman do?? yep you guessed it,
they went back to the suppliers,
as for getting a credit note, that is a different story!!!

have fun out there.

welcome j a harrison.
some of my supliers have told me that the manufacturer's will not stock, or start production until there is a minimum call.
probably why i cannot get a Milbank 2-G or better meter bank for 4-5 weeks.

Virgil;
I understand the supply & demand end of it, as contractors we would not keep slow moving inventory to simply be taxed again & again.
However, the problem is more than this, many suppliers have a poor idea of what they're selling.
Few can be relied on to , for instance, send everything for a 100A service drop, 40'total SEU, 20 cir panel w/main.
They cannot add up all the widgets inbettween here.
Well i for one am not big on monopolies, but the big orange place is comming to the sticks, with thier cast of burnt out, lazy tradesmen who can do this.
(after coffee break, join the seminar..)
So sharpen your pencils my prima-dona supplier friends, cause many local trades are looking forward to rubbin' yer nose in it

Hello J A & welcome!

Two of us Limeys in here now -- They'll all be yelling "The British are coming!" again soon...

Which supplier were you having trouble with? The one I mentioned above is BDC/Bridisco, Norwich branch.

Apart from the problems with some common items being out of stock and a long delay in getting them, another problem is that any items not selling well enough get dropped from the next catalog. (Apparently this is a centralized decision.) They've just dropped 25mm steel conduit, for example, although they still have the boxes and other fittings!

Other than that, the local branch is pretty good to deal with, generally friendly and I never have any problems if I need to return anything.

And to think I thought we were the only ones to have problems with suppliers. For the most part our suppliers, all 6 that we deal our usually pretty good. Except for two of them. Our biggest problem is trying to get the common things like HPS Dusk to Dawn Lights, simple wall boxes, and standard breaker sizes for widely used panels. We can run in and pick a brand new box of the outlawed FPE Stablok breakers still in their original wrapper however. I don't understand how suppliers are planning on staying in business while continuing business like this.

Well I have to say I think I have you all beat. You should all be happy to only wait a few weeks. As some of you know I work in Bosnia and have been here for two years. You should see what I have to go through to get a simple part or job done, All the canadians bring canadian equipment over here and expect us electricians to maintain it. In this country you are lucky to have the power on half the time. That would be why most of our sites are run 24 hors a day on many 500kw generators. I ordered simple duplex receptacles with covers (canadian) 2 -1/2 months ago and I am still waiting mind you I guess alot of it could be transport!!

Greg Smith
Camp Black Bear
Bosnia

Hi Greg,

Wow, aren't we getting people from far-flung places now?!

Do you get stung for much in the way of import duty when bringing fittings into Bosnia?

Paul-- I hope I didn’t misread sparkyga, but it sounds like maybe he is in a North American military construction battalion. No problems with paying too much duty then, but believe me, the shipping costs are not cheap, and any lightning delivery would have to be 'signed off' by a bunch of others, and you better have a very, very good reason to get that. I suspect that a good number in his “team” in the front office spend hours a day reviewing ‘records’ and other pesky but absolutely essential paperwork needed to keep the whole ‘team’ happy, and probably a big, key part of the ‘program’ there.

Hint-- Words like “transport”…“Camp” Black Bear have different meanings depending on who you work for, and how much “free travel” you get.

*Greg--* I am happy to see that you are able to log on and share your work with all of us. It may not seem so at first, but most everyone benefits from and appreciates your electrical work thousands of miles away from most here. Thank you very much Greg. Hang in there. It won't last forever.
--Bjarney, a/k/a scott out west


[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 06-03-2002).]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the reply.
Actually i do work in Bosnia. I have been over hear for two years. Actually I work for two months and get a month off. I usually do not come home though, I tend to travel alot. I am not in the military and work for a canadian civillian company. We have to have either an electrical ticket or power generation ticket ,which is working on generators. It is a world away from home and can be very frustrating at times. I am a fairly new journeyman, 5 years and it is nice to be able to have people to give advice on the other side of the world to help me keep my skills up to par. I still have alot to learn. Here I am not an electrian ful time because my job is supervision of al trades but at night I am the man on the phone 24 hours a days 7 days a week.Bjarney you got it. There is alot of paper pushers but they are all civilians. Although we support the military we are seperate. They just tell us what jobs to do and then it is up to us to do it . Actually I realy like my job here but it is the paper pushers that make it hard. I have been able to see the world ,I get 5 months paid holidays, and all my mnoey goes in the bank!!!


Well I got to go

Greg
Camp Black Bear
Bosnia

Sorry Greg-- You probably would have included a rank if it applied. Not having to salute all the time might save me from pitching a fresh straight-blade screwdriver into someone's jugular.

Sparky don't get too excited about that Home Depot coming to town. Sure they'll have a basic white recptacle, don't they've never heard of light almond. They'll sell you a GFi outlet for $6, but they don't sell a decent bubble cover. Need #1 SER or 0 SEU or how about some #4 triplex, don't go to HD. You say you need a 20 amp Sq. D QOB 3 phase breaker, well Home Depot doesn't sell bolt on breakers, much less anything in 3 phase. The only thing I regularly buy at Home Depot is my 10, 12, and 14 gauge wire, they are 45% cheaper on those sizes than my main supply house. But I do understand your problem that's why I keep open accounts a 3 suppliers so I'm not stuck with one choice.

My old primary supply house was bought by a Dutch company. The new management decided that they didn't want small contractors. Mt pricing on some items was 2x what I could buy it for at a 'big box' store.

The frustrating part about the big boxes is the lack of selection, oh, I forgot the 'industry experts' that I wouldn't let wire a dog house. Also, no matter how much you spend there you pay the same price as someone that shops there once a month. Is this how they thank you for your business?

Yeah, I love the industry experts too. I love it when they come up to me and ask "can I help you find something"? I usually just chuckle. Those guys don't know a three way from a freeway. But I can't complain too much since often I can go in to the big box store, pull my stuff and be back on the road before the guys at supply house get through telling Gomer how to hook up a trailer service.

I have no experience with HD, except that i hear i should park carefully there.
When it comes to suppliers all i wish is for a $$ and avialability, but many times they cannot even accomplish this.
BO's loose biz, and i'll be dipped in S*** before i loose biz to a supplier.
So I, like many of you, will to biz with whoever can dance....

A few years ago at one of the big "everything for the home" type of DIY superstore I overheard some guy giving some very bad electrical advice to a customer, so much so that I felt I had to jump in and put him straight.

I notice that our local B&Q (Home Depot with different fittings and a English accent!) now has a big sign up in the electrical section: "We do not give electrical advice to customers. If in doubt, consult a qualified electrician," or words to that effect.

Probably just as well.