smellslike$tome

I really don't know because this is the first time I've had to have a warranty replacement tank from Rheem/Ruud. The guy at Rheem said just what you said "you must provide the tag". The guy at the supply house said they had to have the tank, so we took them the tank.

I deal with different supply houses for different reasons. One is very close to the interstate and has very good customer service when you go in. If you need them to bring you 1 widgit it breaks down a little bit but really, I can understand this. If it's a misdelivery on their part they give me no grief and get it corrected quickly. Another supply house I deal with regularly is slightly harder to get to but not much, is generally reasonably priced within the pack and has excellent customer service. I have on several occasions called these guys up at 4:30 pm and they have been willing to deliver (usually in someone's personal vehicle on their way home) whatever I need. On the down side it is my opinion that they do not keep their warehouse sufficiently stocked because on several occasions they have not had what any supply house should ordinarily have, this is a problem but I still trade with them a good bit because of the other things. In service you often might not know what you need until you are on site looking at it. Driving to the supply house is a pain in the backside and costs me money. This second supply house is very good usually about the "I need it right now" deliveries and so I trade with them often. There are other supply houses I trade with for specific things because that is the only place you can get it (Noritz).

The supply house I dealt with the other day is one that I generally do not require anything from. They carry Kohler and Delta and really are completely geared towards new con anyway. Obviously they carry Rheem but I can get Rheem somewhere else and the Ruud distributer is one block away from the other Rheem distributer. I went to them the other day because they were the only ones in town that had what I needed. Instead of taking the opportunity to possibly begin to change my mind about them with respect to their customer service, they instead just reinforced everything I had come to dislike about them. I live in the service world having come from the new con world. I understand both mindsets but I am firmly entrenched in the service world. I am always striving to find ways to improve my service to my customers and I have come to expect no less from my vendors. All supply houses (locally) do whatever they can to limit your knowledge of their pricing so that it is difficult to price shop them. Ok I understand this because you want the customer to have something invested in doing business with you. If it simply comes down to the customer looking at a list to find who has the lowest number then it becomes virtually impossible to make it because much of the time a person will go with the lowest number if that is the only information he has available to him to make a decision. My point is this, if you are a supply house and you won't provide me with any sort of pricing catalog so that I have to call to price every widgit every time because the price changes all the time, then you better be doing something (customer service) to attract me and hold me. I am no different than a lot of other people in that very often I will do business with someone just because I like the person. Of course the person has to deliver the goods, on time, and as advertised but that really should be the easy part. If I do not like you, I don't care what you are selling or at what price, I'll go elsewhere.

Phat Cat

We always just turn in the sticker on the heater the next time we go in to the supply house.

My pet peeve - seems like all supply houses are stocking less and less. Ridiculous a supply house would run out of 80 gallon water heaters. Seems like Lowes & Home Depot know how to keep water heaters stocked though we don't shop there.

The whole calling everytime you need a price is also a waste of time. Prices fluctuate so often from invoice to invoice. The only thing I know for certain in pricing is water heaters and garbage disposals - everything else fluctuates too much.

If we were charged a $100.00 warranty fee, we would be looking for another supplier. If all the suppliers charged the fee, then we would most definitely pass it along to the customer.

__________________
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. – Edmund Burke

SewerRatz

With AO SMith , Bradford White, and State, they only want the tank if the unit is less than 12 months old other than that its just the tag. When I done Rheem a few times they wanted the tank even if the unit was over 12 months but less than 24 months.

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Ron Hasil Lic #058-160417
A-Archer Sewer & Plumbing specializing in:
Tankless Water Heaters | Drain and Sewer Cleaning
Sump and Ejector Pumps | Backflow RPZ Testing

SewerRatz

When I complained to the manufactures about the supply houses charging us paper work fees, all they say is that they frown on it and there is nothing they can do about it.

There is a plumber out west of me that buys.. no let me rephrase this.. he stocks water heaters from the distributor, and they distributor comes and inventories the stock and gives him a bill and restocks for each one sold. I wish I could get an arrangement like that.

__________________
Ron Hasil Lic #058-160417
A-Archer Sewer & Plumbing specializing in:
Tankless Water Heaters | Drain and Sewer Cleaning
Sump and Ejector Pumps | Backflow RPZ Testing

Redwood

Last one I did (A.O.Smith) the supply house tacked on a $50 paperwork fee... Customer paid over the phone via credit card and I treated the job as customer supplied...

I did not do the original installation...

You did the right thing in dumping on the supply house!
They deserve to know why they will not make it through the tough economic times we are in...

I guarantee you are not the only plumber that feels that way...

One of the golden rules in sales is if a good customer has left you and they were dissatisfied with what you provided, in order to get them back some sucking up is required.

Their salesperson needs to sign up for Sucking Up 101 at the local community college...

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Double-A

Service plumbing is a completely different field than new construction in my opinion. Yes, we use the same tools at times, and yes we do the same work, but our needs are completely different at the supply level.

I can't tell you how miffed I get when I can't get a simple 1/2c x 1/2FIPS drop-eared ell. Or even a 1/2" cxc drop eared ell. The reason? They don't sell enough of them to warrant stocking them.

As for how to deal with these bozos? Don't. Call them and ask for your outside sales rep and talk to him. Let him make your case and explain to you how they are going to earn your business.

I would have popped that off to the dweeb at the counter faster than he could blink. "You want more of my business? Earn it!! I'm not going to come in here and plop down a thousand bucks a year just because you ask me to. I'm gonna come in here and spend a thousand bucks because you treated me as if I were the most important thing you had to do today!"

I don't sell on price and I don't buy on price. If the supply houses don't take of me, I don't trade with them. I would have been on the phone to the Rheem factory rep faster than that kid could say, "Oops".

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Double-A

Don't talk to the manufacturer, talk to the manufacturer's rep company. They are the ones charged with market penetration and sales for your area, and they can direct you to someone that will deal with you fairly. I would also refuse to pay the fee as that was not disclosed to me when I contacted the manufacturer. They are responsible for the supply and distribution chain of their product, not I. Therefore, they can set limits on unfair practices that penalize those that are playing by their rules. I know that you're in the Chicago area, but I don't pay kickbacks for someone doing their job. Sorry.

You most likely can with good credit and enough sales per year. Talk to your supply house outside sales rep about it.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

422 plumber

I don't mind the service charge. The supply houses really don't make much on water heaters. They need to charge that to cover their time for handling the warranty issues. The customer pays it anyway. Every time I get a service fee, they throw in a new warranty on the heater. It's worth it.

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Just a sinner saved by grace

SewerRatz

They only write up the heater with the remainder of the warranty of the original heater. The only time they extend the new heaters warranty to the full six years if the heater is an upgrade( non FVIR heater to a FVIR heater). which the manufacture charges the upgrade fee.

__________________
Ron Hasil Lic #058-160417
A-Archer Sewer & Plumbing specializing in:
Tankless Water Heaters | Drain and Sewer Cleaning
Sump and Ejector Pumps | Backflow RPZ Testing

422 plumber

Maybe that's what I have been paying. I guess the supply houses have been handling it for free. They could still charge a handling fee, and I wouldn't mind, because the customer pays it.

__________________
Just a sinner saved by grace