Subject: Re: Need threaded rod

From: Abrasha <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 02:08:38 -0700

Aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!

There is that name again, ... McMaster-Carr.  I had heard about them as a good place to 
do business with, so I called them for a catalogue.

What is it with these jerks?  After literally several months of calling for the damned 
thing I can't seem to wrestle one away from them.  Are they made of gold?

Every place I have ever called has been more than happy to send me one, and I do 
business with ALL of them, because they all have good deals on something or other at 
different times.

McMaster-Carr has quickly become a place I will NEVER EVER give a penny of business, 
because of the way they treat potential customers.

I hope this note somehow gets to someone over there.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

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From: [email-masked] (Jens)
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 12:41:59 -0700

>because of the way they treat potential customers.

I have phoned them 4 times to get a catalog. Each time they say that
it will be sent. I have now adopted the same attitude as you - I don't
need this hassle and if they are like this 'before' they get my money,
what happens afterwards ?

>I hope this note somehow gets to someone over there.

I doubt it - and even if it did I don't think they would care !!!!

I know that some people are happy about there service so I don't know
what the story is. Maybe they have enough customers and don't really
want more ????

Jens

PS.: I gave them a company name, not just an individuals name.

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From: [email-masked] (CBear81438)
Date: 28 Jul 1996 11:00:15 -0400

Forget   McMaster-Carr   I heard they were hard to get a catalogue from 35
years ago.   

Try MSC  THere catalog is great!  There service is also great.   I ordered
a set of expanding mandrels from them, got it here in 2 days, but UPS
couldn't find me for 3 more, when I got the set, they were made in USA. 
(well, it really was NJ, when your'e from OK, NJ is a foreign
country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Cecil in OK

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From: [email-masked] (Scott Logan)
Date: 27 Jul 1996 16:00:45 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, From Abrasha 
<[email-masked]>, the following was written:
> McMaster-Carr has quickly become a place I will NEVER EVER give a 
> penny of business, because of the way they treat potential customers.

Your loss, we deal with them all the time, and never have any problems. 
In fact, often if we make a mistake in ordering, our own fault, they
will send a call tag, or tell us to keep it, and issue a credit anyway. 

--
  ---------------------------------------------------
  From Scott Logan,
  http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/LoganAct
  Reply to [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (James Kirkpatrick)
Date: 31 Jul 96 08:58:55 MDT

In article <[email-masked]>, PPIERCE <[email-masked]> writes:
|>Richard H. Williams wrote:
|>> 
|>> In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Scott Logan) writes:
|>> >From: [email-masked] (Scott Logan).........
|>
|>....... They say that their catalog is now available on
|>> CD-ROM, maybe this will help the smaller purchasers get access.
|>
|>Does anyone know if MMC has a website?????

MSC (not MMC), from the FAQ:

http://www.industry.net/msc

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From: [email-masked] (Richard H. Williams)
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 17:17:24 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (James Kirkpatrick) writes:
>Subject: Re: Need threaded rod
>From: [email-masked] (James Kirkpatrick)
>Date: 31 Jul 96 08:58:55 MDT

>http://www.industry.net/msc

Again a victim of random snippage:

McMaster-Carr = MMC

http://www.mcmaster.com/

not a whole lot there; certainly no catalog order blanks :]

Rich Williams

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From: Lee Marshall <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 22:40:03 -0700

McMaster-Carr has been the greatest folks to deal with. Everything is in 
stock, etc. I do however understand your frustration in getting a 
catalog. If you have seen their catalog, you might understand why they 
are hesitant to send one out to the maybe occasional buyer. It runs 
almost 3000 pages and weighs 5 pounds! It truely worth the continued 
effort to get on their mailing list. Kinda sounds like a badge of honor, 
huh?

Lee Marshall

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From: [email-masked] (Tim Shoppa)
Date: 28 Jul 1996 07:00:33 GMT

>thing I can't seem to wrestle one away from them.  Are they made of gold?

They may as well be made of gold :-).  They are several thousand
pages thick, you should realize.  Given their size, they might cost anywhere
between $10 and $50 to print and ship.  If you were a business, would
you try to make a profit by sending large volumes of $10 and $50 bills
to random people who call you on the phone?

>business with ALL of them, because they all have good deals on something or other at 

The full McMaster-Carr catalog comes out, I think, no more often than once
a year.  At the places I've worked at (large national labs) that have catalogs,
there are at most one or two catalogs per thousand employees.  The
very most recent catalogs are kept in purchasing and/or stockrooms;
the year-old ones migrate down a level, appearing in offices of key
people; if you're an average person, you might be able to inherit a
catalog which is 4 or 5 years old.  It's not as if the catalogs change
very much from year to year, anyway - the sort of stuff sold by
McMaster-Carr is not high in planned obsolesence!

>because of the way they treat potential customers.

Part of this is the industrial nature of McMaster-Carr.  Their typical
customer is a company with thousands of employees which might
make millions of dollars of orders every year, not a guy
like you or me which dinks around in his garage a couple of nights a
week.  That said, the salespeople at McMaster-Carr have been happy
to give me current prices on part numbers I've found in catalogs nearly a
decade old and they've sold stuff to me which I've purchased on a
credit card and had shipped to my home address.  Still no new catalog,
though!

Tim. ([email-masked])

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From: Scott Logan <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 15:39:43

Lee,

We have dealt with them for years, and have a catalog, this should be directed at Abrasha

 Scott Logan - Logan Actuator Co.
 [email-masked]
 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/hompages/LoganAct

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From: PPIERCE <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 20:58:31 -0700

> http://www.industry.net/msc

Here it is:

McMaster has a page!

http://www.mcmaster.com/

They give an E-Mail address of

Sales @ McMaster.com

On the web page is a list of distributors and their addresses

As a supplier of general hardware and components
to R&D labs, they have no peer.

---

From: PPIERCE <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 14:02:40 -0700

> credit card and had shipped to my home address.  Still no new catalog,

Supplies, tools, etc.

MSC Industrial Supply Co.
Phone: 1-800-645-7270
FAX:   1-800-255-5067

Fantastic Service and Delivery

I ordered on Monday (FAX)
Received (in AZ) on Wednesday!

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From: [email-masked] (Richard H. Williams)
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 15:03:03 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Scott Logan) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (Scott Logan)
>Date: 27 Jul 1996 16:00:45 GMT

>will send a call tag, or tell us to keep it, and issue a credit anyway. 

We do about $20K a year with McMaster-Carr and order almost daily.  MSC has a 
better selection of machine shop and related items.  But nobody comes close to 
Mc Master for general hardware , materials, fittings, mechanical components, 
etc.  We get overight delivery due to our location and have caught them out of 
stock on an item twice in 18 years! We also have trouble getting newer 
catalogs from them.  They are quirky this way, but with a 2952 page catalog 
(#102) they probably want to limit free distribution.  See if you can scrounge 
and old one.  I have ordered from them as an individual; got a quote; sent a 
personal check, no problem.  They say that their catalog is now available on 
CD-ROM, maybe this will help the smaller purchasers get access.

---

From: Steve -O <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 11:32:41 -0400

> I hope this note somehow gets to someone over there.

I've had the same problem with Saturated Steam in miami lakes Fla.

 this seems a good place to make our problems with a supplier known.
hopefuly they will correct their ways...
-- 
  "It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in
favor of vegetanarianism while wolves remain
of a different opinion."
           -William Ralph Inge, D. D. 1860 - 1954