Vendor won't sell

[jbderkach]

I wanted to check prices and availability of Rekrete so that I could prepare for a sales pitch to a very large potential customer after I was given a lead by one of their managers. I contacted Rekrete sales via email using the address supplied from one of their many websites. I asked for the name, address or phone number of the closest distributor. After several days of no reply I tried twice more. Finally I get a response asking me to call them. They don't have an 800 number so I responded via email. Annoyed by their poor customer service I asked if it was a clandestine operation. Why not simply give me the contact info. The company president replys that he doesn't want to do business with me. The clandestine remark perturbed him. In a followup he claimed that he was protecting his customer against price shoppers. Has anyone dealt with this outfit? Do they have a variety of pricing depending upon who you deal with and they don't want to expose that tactic? Do you suspect that they were trying to cut out the distributor? I have never been told that a vendor didn't want to sell their product to me. Does this all seem suspicious to you? Am I too sensitive or is this the example of sorry customer service that I think it is? Give me your opinion.

 

[NaClO]

I wanted to check prices and availability of Rekrete so that I could prepare for a sales pitch to a very large potential customer after I was given a lead by one of their managers. I contacted Rekrete sales via email using the address supplied from one of their many websites. I asked for the name, address or phone number of the closest distributor. After several days of no reply I tried twice more. Finally I get a response asking me to call them. They don't have an 800 number so I responded via email. Annoyed by their poor customer service I asked if it was a clandestine operation. Why not simply give me the contact info. The company president replys that he doesn't want to do business with me. The clandestine remark perturbed him. In a followup he claimed that he was protecting his customer against price shoppers. Has anyone dealt with this outfit? Do they have a variety of pricing depending upon who you deal with and they don't want to expose that tactic? Do you suspect that they were trying to cut out the distributor? I have never been told that a vendor didn't want to sell their product to me. Does this all seem suspicious to you? Am I too sensitive or is this the example of sorry customer service that I think it is? Give me your opinion.

Are things really that tight that you can't call a supplier unless they foot the bill? Apparently they aren't that tight for ReKrete, since they don't want your business badly enough to put up with smart mouthed comments!

 

[north coast]

Why not deal with some one else? There are hundredsof these waterless concrete cleaners out there. Just last week I put 5 pallets of Pave Clean in the dumpster. New Pig is also dropping the Pave Clean line in January of 2006 and they are discounting there product and will also be sending it to a landfill if they can not sell it.

 

[PressurePros]

You may not have followed the best route of attack on this one. I think the company was protecting it's interests. I respect companies that want to be sure they are dealing with reputable contracters. Insulting the company's integrity by insinuating they were involved in shady business practice obviously wasn't very productive either. Both sides were at fault to a degree, as they could have written you a more detailed response other than "call me".

 

[jbderkach]

Things are tight but why waste money on long distance calls when you have initiated correspondence via email. The request was simply for contact info of the local distributor. Remember that 3 prior email attempts were made before a response was made. Furthermore when setting up a supplier I need to know that they are capable of continual supply if my customer will be dependent upon the materials, especially if I am in a contractual agreement with the customer. My reputation is exposed. If a company is not forthright in dealing with customers but rather secretive in their dealings then how can I build on that. The company behind the product is equally as important as the product's efficacy.

I too respect suppliers that protect and help their customers, but filtering who can contact their customer is not the domain of the supplier. They should simply have furnished the distributor information. Unless?

You are probably correct in the fact that I chose the wrong method in which to tell the supplier that I wanted to deal with the local distributor. In a sense I too was protecting the distributor. If the supplier is allowed to head off the big fish then the distributor is left with sardines.

Lastly, the advice to just go with another product is probably what I will do.
I am curious however why the Paveclean was dumped out. It is not the same as Rekrete -- is it?

Thanks for listening and responding.

 

[north coast]

There were to many problems to talk about but the product worked very well at what it was marketed towards. I have not done much research on the product you mentioned but I am sure they are the same. We had 5 pallets of the product plus a few more of the spreaders but it was all taking up room in our warehouse that is 5000 sq ft, and we are already filled to the max. If interested contact New Pig because they are going to dump the product one way or another.