What has happened to Quadratec?

[mrblaine]

I am OK with that approach. If the cost goes up, notify the customer. I understand cost increases, material and shipping costs, etc. That is good business. BUT don't keep telling me they can't get stock when others can, and wait for me to cancel the order. Then have inventory on hand, at a much higher price. If they would have given me a notice of a price increase, anticipated shipping date, and let me compare to others, I most likely would have kept the order with them. I have had good luck with them in the past, and they were my number one go to for parts. But lately, no so much.

And again, you don't know the intricacies of the order and supply system for a product. I am a dealer for Centric. We have an account, we have access to the online order portal. 80% of the time now when we check stock, they are out of a rotor. We hop online and hunt them down. A large part of the time, we find them on Rock Auto so we order them just so we can keep moving product. They drop ship because that is all Rock Auto does. Guess what address they ship from? That's right, the Centric Warehouse in the City of Industry. I am paying retail plus shipping for some parts that come out of the warehouse where they stock the parts I am a dealer for. That is fully absurd and yet, here we are. So, don't assume you know anything about how stock is distributed. For all you know, Q-tec placed their order later and it is that easy. Or something vastly more complicated.

 

[JMT]

Reality should not ever be taken as political. It is labor, it is shipping costs, and it is much lower productivity from those that are working.

I put up a local ad for someone to do some yardwork. I want a by the hour guy, I put up 25 bucks an hour. I got a response that said gardeners are making 50 bucks an hour right now. Not sure how it is in the rest of the world but someone raking leaves for 50 bucks an hour is fucking stupid.

edit- now I'm being told that if I do find someone for 25 bucks an hour, they won't know how to use a rake. What in the everliving fuck kind of a world are we living in now? I've used a rake before, it isn't really that hard and requires almost no skill.

My twin sons advertised their Two Handy Teens business this summer at $15each/hr. Almost all their neighborhood customers paid them $25 each/hour and they had work all summer. $25 is a good rate.

 

[mrblaine]

My twin sons advertised their Two Handy Teens business this summer at $15each/hr. Almost all their neighborhood customers paid them $25 each/hour and they had work all summer. $25 is a good rate.

I've had my fill of the idiots who want to "bid" the job. They give me a price after I tell them what I want done. Then they haul ass through it as fast as possible and fully miss getting half of it correct. I thought it might be more prudent to toss out an hourly rate, fuck the bidding bullshit and get someone who might work slower but be more attentive. Apparently I am way out of touch with what "licensed" gardeners are supposed to get paid. That and if you need a license to be a gardener, there is something very wrong in this world.

 

[JMT]

I've had my fill of the idiots who want to "bid" the job. They give me a price after I tell them what I want done. Then they haul ass through it as fast as possible and fully miss getting half of it correct. I thought it might be more prudent to toss out an hourly rate, fuck the bidding bullshit and get someone who might work slower but be more attentive. Apparently I am way out of touch with what "licensed" gardeners are supposed to get paid. That and if you need a license to be a gardener, there is something very wrong in this world.

The BS about bidding jobs then racing through and doing a crap job is the reason I told my twins to market themselves hourly. Every customer asked them back job after job. They put furniture together, pulled weeds, stained decks, packed for moving, moved people, mowed yards and several other odd jobs. It was a win for them. They made good impression, name spread, and worked hard. The people moving even gave them stuff. They now have their own lawnmower, weed eater, edger, snowblower, and chain saw. They tuned them all up and sharpened the blades. I think people were just impressed there were two teenagers who wanted to work. Hopefully this is a little light for you in a wacky world Blaine.

 

[mrblaine]

Hopefully this is a little light for you in a wacky world Blaine.

The sentiment is nice.

 

[Zorba]

These two points are primarily why my wife and I no longer go out to eat. Generally, people don't care if they give you good service, because their phones are far more important. I'm going to sound like a curmudgeon, but I miss the days of no smart phones. Yes, there's no doubt they've done some good. However, we're now just starting to experience the implications of the smart phone addiction problem. Hint, it's not making some people smarter!

Oh boy. I could write a 1.5 terabyte diatribe on this subject, but I'll spare everyone the pain (including myself!). I don't see a single damn thing that a smartphone does that can't be done better and/or cheaper by something else - except perhaps show what an idiot the owner is by spending that kind of money on a luxury status symbol with limited usability. More money than brains! The cost to society is enormous - I hope the guy that invented this thing rots in He... Wait! He already is!

*runs away while watching smartphone apologists pile on*

 

[Apparition]

I don't see a single damn thing that a smartphone does that can't be done better and/or cheaper by something else -

Sexting

 

[DuPont]

And again, you don't know the intricacies of the order and supply system for a product. I am a dealer for Centric. We have an account, we have access to the online order portal. 80% of the time now when we check stock, they are out of a rotor. We hop online and hunt them down. A large part of the time, we find them on Rock Auto so we order them just so we can keep moving product. They drop ship because that is all Rock Auto does. Guess what address they ship from? That's right, the Centric Warehouse in the City of Industry. I am paying retail plus shipping for some parts that come out of the warehouse where they stock the parts I am a dealer for. That is fully absurd and yet, here we are. So, don't assume you know anything about how stock is distributed. For all you know, Q-tec placed their order later and it is that easy. Or something vastly more complicated

 

[DuPont]

First I do know the intricacies of the order and supply system having worked for several manufacturing and distribution companies in my 40 year career. We also imported products from overseas. When we had a price increase due to manufacturing, raw materials pricing, or shipping expense we notified our customers. They had the option of continuing to purchase at the higher price or source from somewhere else. We never backordered the product until they cancelled the order then rose the price. Communication with our customers was paramount to our continuing business relationships. Now is Quadratec doing something different? I can say that with the windows it was interesting that they had no stock for several weeks, and in less than a week after I cancelled my order, they had stock at a higher price. Now with the axles they have backordered this item for more than 4 weeks. Up until today, they had a forecasted ship date. I also know that their competition has inventory. Summit has 8 in stock. I cancelled my Quadratec order today and received confirmation within a couple hours. I ordered from Summit and it is shipping today. At $100 more than Quadratec had the item priced. I also checked Extreme Terrain. They have stock at nearly $150 more than Quadratec. Theses are the facts. You can make any determination you want from them. I will anxious to see if they product comes back in stock at a much higher price.

 

[mrblaine]

First I do know the intricacies of the order and supply system having worked for several manufacturing and distribution companies in my 40 year career.

The general intricacies you know do not apply to our world today when every step of the process is affected by Covid restrictions. My comment was not that you don't know the intricacies of the general order and supply system, my comment was that YOU DO NOT KNOW THEM FOR THAT PRODUCT, and you don't. You are making assumptions based on happenstance stock levels and price adjustments, nothing more.

 

[DuPont]

The general intricacies you know do not apply to our world today when every step of the process is affected by Covid restrictions. My comment was not that you don't know the intricacies of the general order and supply system, my comment was that YOU DO NOT KNOW THEM FOR THAT PRODUCT, and you don't. You are making assumptions based on happenstance stock levels and price adjustments, nothing more.

I am simply asking for communication. Allow me to make the decision to buy or not buy. You are correct I couldn't possibly know the process for every single possible product, company, supply chain, etc. But what I do know is customer service....those basic principles do not change with Covid, or other factors that affect business supply chains. Just communicate......and that is not happening.

 

[mrblaine]

Just communicate......and that is not happening.

Why should it? Everyone I talk to in the business is selling everything they can get their hands on.

I went to order some gas tank parts over the weekend only to be met with a notice from the owner in place of a working website.

Sorry folks, I have to shut this down until Monday because no one is responding to my help wanted ad and I can't spend 24 hours a day fulfilling orders.

 

[Apparition]

Why should it? Everyone I talk to in the business is selling everything they can get their hands on.

I went to order some gas tank parts over the weekend only to be met with a notice from the owner in place of a working website.

Sorry folks, I have to shut this down until Monday because no one is responding to my help wanted ad and I can't spend 24 hours a day fulfilling orders.

Maybe this will improve with the "free" money drying up from Uncle Sugar.

 

[DuPont]

Why should it? Everyone I talk to in the business is selling everything they can get their hands on.

I went to order some gas tank parts over the weekend only to be met with a notice from the owner in place of a working website.

Sorry folks, I have to shut this down until Monday because no one is responding to my help wanted ad and I can't spend 24 hours a day fulfilling orders.

Well everyone is selling all then can NOW...and if you are the only game in town, you can pretty much charge what you want, and provide good or bad customer service and it won't matter in the future. Maybe besides being Old I am Old Fashion when it comes to customer service. And I know you know what I am talking about. I have used your company for both the Johnny washers and the nutserts for the skid plate. You order processing was first class. Products were priced very competitively. They shipped quickly. But what really impressed me was your attention to my emails, even on the weekend when I had problems getting the nutsert tool to properly seat. I guess companies like yours spoiled me into thinking every company should behave that way. I may be out of touch with reality LOL....did I mention I was old?

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I gave up on Quadratec years ago, I always considered them way overpriced (like a Uniden PRO-520xl CB radio for $79 everyone else was selling for $39) and they were out of stock too often. Also what little tech they provide in guides is often incorrect. They had a couple speedometer gear tooth counts wrong in charts to be used for selecting new speedometer gears. I sent them several emails over a couple years informing them and they never even bothered to respond. 4-5 years later I noticed they had finally been corrected. Not to mention their sales people are technically incompetent and are only interested in getting the sale since they are commissioned with a sales quota to meet.

 

[Zorba]

A company might get away with piss poor customer service, and jacking people around on price NOW - but when (if) this all settles down, people WILL remember. Exhibit A: "Cheaper Than Dirt".

 

[Apparition]

A company might get away with piss poor customer service, and jacking people around on price NOW - but when (if) this all settles down, people WILL remember. Exhibit A: "Cheaper Than Dirt".

Fuck cheaper than dirt.

 

[Zorba]

Fuck cheaper than dirt.

Exactly my point! And - "they're doing it again" from what I'm reading...

 

[Apparition]

Exactly my point! And - "they're doing it again" from what I'm reading...

Don't let a crisis go to waste. I used to order from them too.

 

[Squatch]

I'm going to sound like a Zorba, but I miss the days of no smart phones.

Fixed it for ya!