Discuss the wholesale blanks industry: Factory direct, custom labels. You can also use this forum to locate a wide variety of wholesale products including t-shirts, hoodies, mousepads, coffee mugs and other imprintable products.
I placed an order with S&S -- my first order with them. I ordered one of each T-shirt, and one of each available hoodie to get some hands-on with them. The order was placed on Sunday afternoon (they're closed weekends) via web.
Today (Monday,) I noticed that they offer free shipping with orders above $150, and I figured I'd 'fill in the blanks' [pun intended] until I hit ~$200 to take advantage of the offer.
I called in, and got Tracey.
"Hello Tracey I'd like to add to my order." "You can't."
".... <long silence> ..I can't? That's it?" "You can't make changes to orders after they're placed."
At this point, she hadn't even asked who I was -- maybe I wanted to add thirty-thousand dollars worth of **** to my order. Doesn't matter. Can't.
In utter disbelief, I laughed at her, wrote it off as a representative having a bad day, and said "Okay -- thanks "
I pondered this for a few minutes, and decided that yes - this is silly, and I'm not out of my mind for expecting a different level of service.
I called back, and got another person named Tracey - she was much friendlier, and certainly not the same Tracey as before. She wasn't particularly articulate, but did explain that no changes can be made, because my order's probably already on one of the dozens of trucks out there, or maybe has already left the building.
While that doesn't sound particularly realistic to me, I guess it /could/ be true. I've never seen a place have a constant stream of UPS trucks filling up and leaving all day. It was 10:30am when I called in.
"This is my first order with you guys, it just seems a little odd. Can I cancel it?"
"No, you can't. Sorry for the inconvenience, have a nice day!" >click<
So, .. I dunno. Am I expecting too much?? Seriously?
__________________ "I am keeping my small press for pressing the dollar bills that I will make from my large press!" -Lou
Last edited by cybe; October 29th, 2007 at 04:17 PM.
No it's not crap service. They fill thousands of orders a day, they have set some restrictions or people would be changing orders all of the time. Can you imagine the backlog? All that will do is screw up everybody else's orders.
Yeah, slap it in another box so you can get free shipping and have it cost them extra money now for both orders on shipping. That's genius. Instead of losing $5 per order on shipping, let me lose $10, just to make this guy happy.
yeah i think your expecting too much. its not like it was 10min later, it was a day later. even if it was the weekend, i'm pretty sure its not some small warehouse.
Being a new customer, I think they should have helped you out. Then at this point set you straight on the ground rules. The weekend had nothing to do with it. If you were to call and place an order on Tuesday 10:00AM, hang up the phone and then call back in two minutes, they would tell you "no add ons". I deal with several distributors similar to S&S, none will add on. At best you do a bit of crying and they will cancel your order, then you place a new order with the add ons. These aren't Mom and Pop places, we're just a number.
I use S&S all the time. Very simple ordering online, great pricing, easy pay structure. There are simple rules and they do ship a ton of stuff. They will run specials all the time. I missed free shipping on my last order but am glad its back for a bit.
In my mind, service is service, and should be "good" regardless of industry.
I've worked sales for a distributor before - plenty of orders adding up in the tens of thousands of dollars daily, but if there was an issue, we'd at least try to take care of it.
I do not and did not want to cancel the order, I just wanted to add some things and make it a better value for me. Seemed logical at the time. (Still does.)
__________________ "I am keeping my small press for pressing the dollar bills that I will make from my large press!" -Lou
Last edited by cybe; October 29th, 2007 at 01:54 PM.
I can just see a thousand boxed and ship labeled internet orders ready for UPS pickup and 500 customers calling in to open those pickups and add a couple items. I just dont think its realistic and probably why its not allowed period. If they do it for you they do it for everyone and the price gos up and the service slows down.
I think the problem with adding shirts to your order is that their online ordering system and warehouse picking/pulling system is pretty automated. Most large warehouse places are.
So as soon as you place your order, it has already generated a ticket and people working round the clock in the warehouse have already started picking and pulling the order and getting it ready for packaging.
Even though they don't ship on the weekends, I would venture to guess that the warehouse employees are still packing and pulling orders to keep up with the volume of orders their receive.
I guess I underestimated the need for rigidity in the process at scale. Next time, I'll hold my order until I'm 100% ready.
I will use them again, but with a better understanding of what's going on over there.
Quote:
Being a new customer, I think they should have helped you out. Then at this point set you straight on the ground rules.
Even though they can't change the order, if they'd have explained why, I'd have been fine with it. I had to post here to find out what the deal was.
I'm much more surprised than anything else. They didn't even ask who I was. What did irk me was the attitude of the service reps -- the picking/pulling/packing/shipping department being in a routine doesn't mean the sales-reps need to be that way.
If she'd have said "Unfortunately - due to the size of the operation and the processes involved - it's just not practical to make changes to the orders, because they've been picked, packed, labeled, and piled up in the trucks. Would you like to place an additional order? I can meet you halfway on the shipping, since it's your first time with us."
Thanks for the info
__________________ "I am keeping my small press for pressing the dollar bills that I will make from my large press!" -Lou
If she'd have said "Unfortunately - due to the size of the operation and the processes involved - it's just not practical to make changes to the orders, because they've been picked, packed, labeled, and piled up in the trucks. Would you like to place an additional order? I can meet you halfway on the shipping, since it's your first time with us."
Yes, that would have been a much better response, customer service wise
Maybe you could call them back and ask to speak to the customer service manager to let them know about where they could improve.
our cut-off time is 10am EST Canada/USA the following day.
So if any changes do not make the cut-off time its too late.
but yeah, it's sort of hard to understand the first time you hear it. I remember years ago having the same thing happen with Stahls and felt the same way as you.
Since then, what I've learned and constantly tell people is to read the terms and conditions of sale...usually posted on company websites. This way it sort of explains it better and no need to call and talk to a person that may be having a bad day etc... but on a good day it is worth a call anyway. I mean, real people still push the buttons. Don't they?
Unfortunately I think it's becoming increasingly normal for customers to have unreasonable demands on what constitutes minimum acceptable service. They're already fulfilling a sample order for you that amounts to a retail sale, at wholesale prices (as well they should, but doesn't that earn them some credit?). And then you're getting angry because they won't cut you a deal on shipping because of your own mistake? I think that's really rough.
I think the thing that bothered me the most about S&S in what you're saying, is everyone being named Tracey. It might be a coincidence, but it also looks like they might be running one of those call centres that gives everyone the same name - which makes it pretty much impossible to complain about a specific rep if they are giving you genuinely poor service.
__________________ "Ah, Henny Penny," said Chicken Little, "the sky is falling, and I must go and tell the king."
S&S Activewear - WTF?? 
I'd like to add to my order."
"I am keeping my small press for pressing the dollar bills that I will make from my large press!" -Lou
