this one

E-SPEC is a re-saler that has orginised a catalog to supply stuff to people in the PW biz.
I am well aware of that

In some cases the person you give the order to, knows nothing more then the description given on there computer screen.
You dont call NORTHERN TOOL and ask them how to use a hammer, you just order one.
That is not the claim of E-spec. You need to read his catalog, that he has the best trained people in the business
When i call e-spec they tell me what part i just gave them the # on, the price,if its on sale,if its in stock, and when they are going to ship[24 hrs from the time the order is givin, and who the shipper is.
Yes they do that with me as well, but you need to remember that a lot of people are not as experienced, and don't have the knowledge to know what part they are ordering. I am not necessarily including anyone in this statement, it is just a statement of fact
As I stated before I dont order anything that will make or brake a wash day for me. I order extras[and i test them].
Why should anyone have to test new parts, before installation. If I wanted to spend the time to test parts I would buy used and rebuilt parts. I buy new for reliability
Jon "yes people order things, keep them as spares and when it gets cold return them."
I think that this is patently and unquestionably dishonest
People do this with CHEMS also. All the time.
They think they are going to get deck work and order 20 lbs of [whatever] never use it and return it in the fall.
That may happen, but I personally take my lumps. I realize that a company, any company needs to make money for the hassle factor of being in business
This happens with unloaders,flo-jets,exstension wands,ect...
Same as above. If you want to see my pile of parts that were ordered and not used I will show you. It used to be added to more often, but it is slowly starting to stay the same size as I get more experience in the field.
No one wants unhappy customers, even E-SPEC.
That may be true, but if I have a problem, I work to make the customer happy, instead of expecting them to get themselves happy.
The internet rep. less then 10% of the people in the PW biz, then less then 1% post.
This is info past to me from a respectable chem MFG.
I think that estimate is way high. I would guess that it is possible for the 10%, but I think that less than .1% post.
E-SPEC has 80% INTERNET BUYERS so im told.
Put the pressure on! Pressure works.
It is not my job to put the pressure on them to perform. If they don't perform I will buy from someone else. There are a lot of other places that I can get parts from that are priced on the same type of scale, but give better service. I have about 5 people that I buy from, and ALL of their prices are comparable to E-spec, and some are even better
You dont think that the BIG REDUCTION IN AD SPACE IN THE SPECBLASTER MAGIZINE was a accident, do you????? Come on SCOTT you write for them, you know the deal. Maybe now delco will support blastmaster? E-spec WILL NEVER POST WHILE THERE $$$$ NUMBERS ARE UP.
I may write for them, but I have no idea how Blastmaster is run. They e-mail me and request an article on a subject and I write it. When I heard that E-spec was going to be a major advertiser, I was truly disappointed and there are a few people that can verify that I was not happy about it. The one thing that I like about Blastmaster is that they do allow an advertiser to post their prices on a part or chemical. I think that is the right direction. BTW, Delco does advertise in Blastmaster, but I am sure that they are more concerned with going after other avenues of getting customers. HEck Delco even has their 800 number in the Phoenix Phone book, so that tells me that they are working on expanding their market in other ways
Can anyone prove that they sale re mfg pumps or that they dont use OEM parts in there rebuild kits
[they make up there own kits from diffrent suppliers]
That is not something that I ever stated. Some may feel that way because of the pricing structure that e-spec uses, but I never stated that.
SCOTT what was your $45 part? Did you put it on a credit card? did you stop payment?
The $45 part was an example. I have had numerous parts, such as Unladers and pressure switches that have failed in less than a week that I had to replace. When I buy parts I buy them $2000 at a time. Then I have a nice backstock so that I don't have to pay the local distributos price. It is just more economical for me that way. If the part does fail, I do not challenge the credit card payment, I don't stop payment. I eat it and go on. My time is too valuable to worry about that type of problem. IF I keep having the same problem, then I stop using the supplier. It is as simple as that.
Did you do the most crappy thing " buy the same part from someone else and send the broken one back to the co. where you got the good one"
No, I don't do that either.
yes, people do this stuff.
Not this people. Those type of peopel seldom last long in this type of business or any other type of business.
JON its a LOT easyer to put out lots of little fires then ONE HUGE FORREST FIRE. He's not a stupid man and im sure he has people that tell him not to post.
The problem is that this did start as one little fire that he refused to put out. What happens when a little fire gets out of hand? It grows into a huge forest fire that is uncontrollable. I don't think that Jon ever said he was stupid. I do think that Jon does not like his business practices though. Jon can correct that if I am wrong.
One day ill get a bad part and i will have to suffer too, but then i will look back and see that there prices have saved/made me $100's and will still order from them.
That is your choice. I prefer a dependable supplier that does not mind a little extra service, whether it be allowing an overnight shipment, which they have refused to do for me. A little warranty service, or not tacking on large amounts for shipping to pad their bottom line to get the money on the backside.
If you buy and sell 100 pumps you may get 1 or 2 that has problems. If your buying and selling 2000 pumps then maybe your going to get 20.
It is not a matter of how many parts that go bad. It is a matter of what you do with the 1% of the customers that have had a problem. Envirospec has failed on that, as evidenced by the people that have contributed to this thread. BTW, if you will notice There are only two people that have posted here that have not had a problem with E-specs service.
"feeling lucky,punk?"COLOR=crimson]I amn well aware of that.[/COLOR]
 
Hey Jon,
I think the "Feel Lucky, Punk?" expression came from a scene with Clint Eastwood, I think in Dirty Harry, where after firing his gun several times, he put's it up to some punks' face, and poses that question. Meaning it's like Russian Roulette....maybe there is a shell left, and maybe there's not, let's pull the trigger and find out.

And besides....you don't qualify as a punk. A punk is usually someone young, and often lacking good sense and judgement.

You have nothing to worry about there, I think your business knowledge and judgement is usually right on the mark.

I hope that came out right.... :)
 
OK, if you know what your paying for and you get it at a lower price then you should be satisfied. customer service cost money.

I'm sure in any industry you could find prices ranging 30% or better depending on where you buy.

I really have not heard any accuse any one of robing them. it seems that everyone kind of knew they where trying to get the best price and then had a problem and couldn’t get it resolved.

I will give you and example: I use a printer,,,, wont mention his name. no one can beat this guys prices, I use him on stuff I keep running over and over again. Sometimes he even messes that up. However I have decided that the additional trouble is worth the savings. That’s my choice.



To everyone: problem happens in anyone’s business, things may happen to some and nothing will happen to others.

I suspect that evirospec will post here because they realize that they may have a problem and want to address these issues and show everyone what kind of a company they are. if they don’t then maybe these problem are true and will continue to happen.


I think this defending and badgering is not good. i believe the only person left to speak is evirospec. Let’s see what happens?

If they responded no personal attacks will be tolerated. This man or women runs a business like you and i. if they care about the reputation they will respond.

Excuses about BBS not being professional are things of the past.
 
RON P

JON in no way was i trying to offend you. Thank you APLUS.
Scott i ment 10% of the 10% in posting.
I would either need 2 spares of everything or test what ive paid for. A dist. has no way of knowing about MFG. problems. Any dist. that is.
E-spec tells you that they will help give you a educated guess, if they guess wrong you pay. Thats the rules.
To me e-spec is like buying from a supplier that sells parts to, say a pepboys. They have the stuff and sell it to pepboys at a lower price then you or i can buy it. Then pepboys takes the customer BS and the supplier exspects pepboys to eat some of the screw ups, so pepboys adds this cost into the selling price. Known as a middleman.
When i buy from e-spec, I know what im ordering and dont need help, i just want the best price on what i want. E-SPEC fits the bill.
If i need help i would talk to someone like MARK and he would get the sale of anything he helped me with. Whoever i buy my unit from gets the repete sale of parts for that unit. On extras from the pressure lines on. I shop, because i have too.
I wish more dist were like WWW.MARGIN-DISTRIBUTING.COM he sent me 5 gal of his chem to try FREE[paid the shipping]
Scott "if i keep having the same problem, i stop useing that supplier" You blame a supplier for the MFG.?
 
There is no end to this disagreement, the bottom line seems to be that some of us are willing to take that chance for the benefit of a lower price, anyway I only buy things that more than likely you would not have a problem with. I'll sum it up this way, I can order the same hose from e-spec that I get at my local distributor, for about half the price, although it is possible it is not likely that the hose is defective. I would not dream of buying a big-ticket item like this.
 
Okay, let me explain this in a different way. I understand the E-spec business idea. It is to sell deeply discounted pressure washer supplies to contractors. they do not appear to target other types of end users. I even understand that you might be expected to have an understanding of your equipment. That makes sense to me, and I do not understand how someone can be in this business, and expect the distributor to reapir everything.
I also understand that a mfg. problem is not the fault of the distributor. I don't know where you got that idea, but obviously it was bad communication on my part. There are some things that I expect when I buy something from someone.
If I bought a TV from Walmart, and it went on the fritz, I would expect Walmart to stand behind it and go after the manufacturer to make it good, especially if it never worked properly, or went bad within a week or two after I stared using it.
If I bought a Pickup from a Chevy dealer I would expect tehm to warranty the truck. It is their responsibility to go after the manufacturer for any warranty claims.
If I buy a new alternator for a truck and it does not work as it is supposed to, I take it back to the Napa that I buy my car parts from to get it warrantied.
By the same token, If I buy a bad part from my local distributor, I expect them to handle the warranty claim.
So that means that if I expect that kind of service from all of these other people, And I would expect that you would to Ron, I would expect E-Spec to offer the same kind of service.
A return Authorization does me no good, when I have no pull with the manufacturer.
I blame the supplier for return policies, and never said anything about it being their fault for faulty equipment. You need to read what I say more carefully.

Scott
 
Wow, I can't believe I just spent that time reading all of this......

Its simple. You get what you pay for.

If you want low prices, lower your expectations.
 
Tony thanks for setting me straight.

Ron P. I could not think of any reason you would have meant it as a bad thing so thanks for the kind words.

As for Envirospecs', I have stated that I have bought from them in the past, and out of the orders I have places one item was not as it should be, I do believe it was the order taker who did not understand what I was asking and just said yes it does that, I also had no problem returning it other then the restock fee for an item that did not do as it should.

I have no problem with how John Allison runs his business, I do want to know if there is ever a time I wish to place an order it would be accepted.

As for adding to the cost of shipping I feel that is wrong, 100% wrong yet they do it, I call my local UPS and ask how much the cost is to ship the same weight back to them and the cost is way lower so I know how much extra was tacked on, oh well best way to prevent that is get the weight then double check it, now that by itself is tacky so what do you do?

Mike Hughes, you said you get what you pay for, not always true, I get great parts at a great price locally on the items I buy from my local supplier. I don't buy chemicals from them but that is probably because they don't stock any to my knowledge.

Enough about Envirspecs', let's hear it from Mr. Allison personally to quench all these little fires so we can move on.

Jon

PS: And to think this fire was started by a Fireman none the less:)
 
Mike Hughes said:
Wow, I can't believe I just spent that time reading all of this......

Its simple. You get what you pay for.

If you want low prices, lower your expectations.
Click to expand...

No offense intended bud, but it's not that simple Mike. We order from 42 different suppliers for everything from chemicals and tools to supplies. By getting better at what his company does and treating their customers like professionals, John could probably get eight to ten grand worth of business from my company, but instead he gets less than a grand. I just don't want the headaches and will pay more with other suppliers to not have those headaches. Fact is, Enviro used to be our 2nd or 3rd choice, now they are dead last. If we can't find it anywhere else, we'll go to Enviro for it.

I don't fault EnviroSpec for the actual faulty products, but they could make it right by simply helping more with the returns and better customer service. Mike's point was that if you don't want to pay for customer service you shouldn't complain when you don't get it. The problem I have with this point is EnviroSpec advertises that they are the world's largest pressure washer supply company. So shouldn't they be setting the standard for businesses in their industry? When's the last time you walked into a Wal-Mart or Home Depot and got really bad service? They are the lowest price suppliers and the largest in their field so they should be setting a good example. Enviro would get a lot more business if they did a better job at making their customers happy.

Just my .02 cents.
 
Ok....

I see some good points being made here. I'll throw mine in the ring too.

First, any company that sells a product or offers a service should make excellence in customer service a goal. Customer service can make you, or break you.

Customer service can be anything from how you answer the phone and handle a call to place an order or request an estimate, to taking an order, to following up with people and returning calls. It is about not sticking your foot in your mouth and guessing or lying, but getting the answer and calling back with it when you say you will.

If you carry a product for someone, it makes sense to be certain about the manufacturers warranty. The customer should be able to come to you with a return within the return period and you in turn should be supported by the manufacturer.

With regards to getting what you pay for, well, I'll say this....
There are some instances where that is true. On the other hand, there are products that manufacturers make available through a very large distribution channel and they are the same product. In that instance, due to the distribution channel, the pricing is often very compeditive. Take Sony products for example. Many people like the product, and will tell you they like the sound quality of the radio they have. You can go to WalMart, Best Buy, Circuit City, and on and on and you will find the Sony product line on all the shelves. In this instance, it is about the reputation of the manufacturer, and how they treat the distributors that helps the distributors to sell. There are also big ticket items that make spending money worth it. For example, there is a world of difference between buying a new truck and a used one, or a new home and one 40 years old in an impoverished neighborhood. you get what you pay for would apply there. In that instance you are looking atthe purchase as more of an investment. Now I will also say that the service you would come to expect when making that type of purchase should still be there, bottom line.

Well, I'm on the soapbox again. Time to jump off. Gotta scoot.

Just my .02... :)
Beth
 
for the record!!!

There are a couple of points that I would like to make. I have reread some of the posts, and it appears that some people have been making it appear that I am saying things that I have not said.
1. I have only had a couple of problems with E-spec that werenot resolved to my satisfaction. The most recent is that they called my office and asked my wife if they could change the hose color from Grey to Black. She said that would be okey, which it was. Instead of changing just the color they changed the type of hose to their serpentine hose. I had used it previously as a test and found it did not last under my uses. That is why I had not ordered anymore for the year or so previous. I called E-spec to complain and they said they upgraded the hose for me for the inconvenience. I explained to them that I had used the serpentine hose in the past and it would not last a month. ( it didn't, It lasted about two weeks, and that was all four hundred feet of hose) They said they would talk with John and get back with me. A couple of days later the UPS guy was at my door looking for a lost package, I did not call them, E-spec did. I still do not why they did that, unless it was to hassle me.

2. I am with Jon that their freight rates are unusually high. I do not appreciate that kind of subterfuge to increase their revenues. I agree to pay shipping and not Shipping and handling. Unfortunately it appears that the handling is a large part of their profits. It costs me more to have four hundred feet of hose and another box of miscellaneous parts sent to me than it costs me to have a pallet of soap (about 800 lbs.) sent from Fort Worth. Something is wrong. They also drop ship a lot of things, and I am pretty sure that the Master distributor pays the freight on that and Envirospec charges me for it. I don't agree with it, your feelings may be different.

3. I did have some defective parts to return to them, and they did give me an authorization number to return the parts within 24 hours of my call. I decided it was not worth the hassle for me to return the parts. That was my choice, and I am well aware of that choice.

I just wanted to make it clear what my feelings on the subject are, There have been some misinterpretations of what I said.

Scott
 
envirospect

I have been a customer of espec. for a couple of years. hose,tips some chem. etc. I wanted a new hot water squirt gun but not at 8K last years price in their catalog. Their Nov. sale flyer listed their hydro cannon 3000psi 8gpm hot water machine for 4995.00. So i bought one. Price was good till end of year. 800lbs to ship to wa 780.00. My machine was delivered damaged, freight co. dropped it. after much correspondence with espect and freight co. new machine arrived. I have 13 hrs on it and the unloader quit,burner quit. Took it to former landa service guy,needed new unloader, flow switch and 12 volt tranformer. I called espect had to buy new parts return faulty parts to manuf. Got new parts installed them turned on burner for hot water to finish washing house i started 3 weeks ago had hot water for 2 minutes , no more hot. I received their 02 catalog and the price for the same machine is now 4795.00 Im calling them in the morning I'm not a happy camper. :(
 
That is exactly why I buy my powerwashers locally. They are the number one piece of equipment that I use and also the most expensive. I like to know that my local dealer is there for me whenever I need them (Which is hardly ever because I have top quality PW's).

As for odds and ends such as quick couplers, hoses etc. I have no problem with Envirospec. There has to be some reason why they are as big as they are. Kind of like Home Depot where you can buy decent stuff at a great price but as for high end things such as top quality stains, Equipment,etc. I will buy somewhere else.
 
Why not start a poll vote for your best supplier? I would like to see what this community thinks of these guys. ,, this e-spec thing certainly is not good for them but has me wondering how bad can they really be. maybe i will order something just to see?
 
wow>>>>>

It took me about a 1/2 hour to read all this .
I have been very busy so far this spring and havent posted in awhile

And I would just like to add this >>

It matters who you talk to @ e-spec
if ya call and just get an operator most of the time they have no clue on what a p/wer even looks like . Let alone try and help ya out .

I call and ask for Pete and ask him what is what and who is the best person to talk to today .. ( now i guess if everybody did this then he wont take all the calls )
I know you shouldnt have to do this to order but I have never had any problems with 'em.
every order I had was right .
I did get some folks that didnt know any thing and I requested that they transfer my call to someone that did ..

I also got alot of calls back ... and i also waited for a week for a call >>>

it really matters who you talk to ..

It's a shame that when you get as big as e-spec you gotta hire some guys/gals that dont know nothing .
and all it does is give them a bad name ....

The only solution to this is hire experinece people not some dude off the street and paying them 4. bucks an hour ..

If I was them I would rather have 1000 happy folks then 1500 unhappy ones then grow from there ....

I bought a machine from largo about a year ago >>>>>>> and I never had any problems with it to date .
And they had a better price then e-spec .

so yes price matters and so does the service >>> AND YES YOU CAN HAVE BOTH ....

IT DOES MATTER WHO YOU DEAL WITH !!!

Okay enough see ya maybe nextweek
gots lots of work waiting fer me >>>>
hey maybe I 'll e-spec and see if they have any thing on sale while I'm traveling to my next job >>>>

Ron P yes I have tried there chems
yes they work well ..
I just didnt like the idea of mixxing it ..
 
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