Monstrously awful customer service. Run run run away from this toxic corporation. In December of 2015 I toured the factory with Pete [redacted]. Oh, the promises he made me! "We don't have a minimum order; only a $500 set up charge for each run." "We value small companies." "We cater to both big and small." All of that proved to be a tremendous lie.
In February, I paid them $6,100 to create a die. I was already reticent; their staff insists on you generating documents that they recreate and send back to you to approve, they aren't technically literate and they don't process credit cards. A massive factory that only takes paper checks! But, I wanted to work with a company in my home state and so I began the process with them...
...and each step was bungled. I couldn't tell if they were simply stupid or they were distracted by bigger, shinier things.
The tool they created? They implied they cut it in their shop. Turns out, they make their dies overseas and mark up the price 200%. So, they're making a profit off you before you've extruded any material.
I ignored that. I'm a start-up company and I needed to focus on launching a new product. So, I bit my tongue. But, after bungling the first attempt at making the tool I was three months behind schedule. They didn't care. They made the tool at their undisclosed vendor's pace. I kept my focus on what mattered; when they ran the tool I needed an immediate short-run of material (around 200 feet) to make our first demo units and fulfill customer orders of our product.
I'd mentioned this short run the first day I met Pete [redacted]. He emailed me about it in February. We'd discussed it on the phone. So, what happened when they tested my die? I wish I could say they called me on the phone, asked me to come up to watch the test and verify how much material I needed for this test run. Unfortunately, none of that happened.
Instead, I called repeatedly throughout the week but no one would confirm when my die was to be run. I explained to each person the events above and their answer was "We don't know anything about that." The week my tool was to be tested, Pete [redacted] decided to go on vacation. He has every right to go on vacation, but if he should have explained my needs to another staff member, put me on the phone with that person and made sure the transition was going to be smooth. None of that happened. Only silence...
...and then a week later I got a call; "Your die was run! We'll send you the report soon!" More days pass. I get an email "Test material and ISIR report is in the mail." I replied "May I have the ISIR as a PDF?" and the response was odd, as if someone had no clue how to create a PDF.
When I received the physical ISIR (it was only a photocopy; that's tougher to create than taking a picture with one's phone and converting it to a PDF) it came with 12 inches of test material. Not 50 or 100 or 200 feet. Just 12 inches.
And what was already a strained relationship with a team of incompetent employees quickly devolved into a near catastrophic situation.
I asked if they could run my die immediately and give me the test material I needed. They said that 1: I'd have to pay a die set up charge, even though the error had been theirs and 2: It would be a minimum of 8 weeks until they could run my die.
WOW. This was adding 2 full months to already being behind schedule by 3 months. They clearly had no concept of deadlines or the realities of running a small business. More importantly, they didn't care. I begged. I pleaded. I explained that my start-up had a monthly burn-rate and if we couldn't debut our product on time we might go bankrupt. They didn't care.
So, after attempting every polite, kind, gentle solution and failing I had no choice but to involve my attorneys. And this is when their story changed; "This is your fault for not filing a Purchase Order. If you'd done that, we'd have run the material." Here's the problem with this revisionist approach to the issue:
1: Pete [redacted], the company's senior sales rep, never explained that I needed a PO.
2: Pete [redacted] acknowledged on multiple occasions that I had already requested this short run. So, if #1 was true, why didn't he tell me?
3: During the week my tool was being run I spoke with several employees, all of whom could have said "Well, just fill out a PO and I'll get that to the right person." That never happened.
4: And Pete [redacted] confirmed in email #2. But he can't provide an email or recall a phone call in which he mentioned anything other than "Yes, we'll do that."
So, as the employees tried to CYA because upper management is supposedly both aloof and tyranical (Pete's words, not mine. Pete described the owner as [redacted].) I asked to speak to "upper management." They refused. So, I dug. I contacted the company's rather aloof third-generation owner, AJ [redacted]. This dilettante talked about how he stepped down from daily activities because he was focused on "pursuing new opportunities for Gordon Aluminum." New opportunities? HOW ABOUT THE NEW OPPORTUNITY I REPRESENT AS A NEW CUSTOMER? I've already shelled out $6,100 without blinking. Our internal estimates is that we'll order about 160,000 feet of extrusions next year. How thick does one need to be to say to a new customer "I'm pursuing new opportunities."
I was then sent to his president...who then sent me to a mid-level manager with an unusual title...and I insisted on speaking with the president.
The conversation I had with this toxic employee is the kind you have with a bad McDonald's manager. He didn't want to own any mistakes. Every sentence dripped with pride and condescension. He even said "We as a company stand behind our promise of excellent customer service, but we have to prioritize that customer service to clients of a certain size."
Translation: "We only treat big accounts with respect. Everyone else can stuff it."
When I pointed out the hypocrisy and short-sightedness in this business practice, he grew angrier and angrier. He demonstrated what Pete [redacted] and Andy [redacted] had said in weeks and months past; he didn't like to be questioned, he expected people to obey him and his thin guise of politeness would melt away if he was pushed. He was the boss...he didn't like to be pushed.
But, I don't care about politics or broken egos. I have a company to run that will go bankrupt if I don't get what I need. And, what I was asking for was fair. So, I pushed.
So, their president agreed to run the tool. And he fired me as a customer.
On the day we came to pick up our material their employees were politely helping us load the extrusions into our truck. Halfway through, an angry, [redacted] manager emerged from the bowels of the factory and called over the staff members. Then, he left. One of the guys came back and said "I don't know who you pissed off, but we've never been told to not help a customer load their stuff into a truck. Sorry, we aren't allowed to help you." Now, keep in mind we'd paid full price for the extrusion. No favors were granted; they'd screwed up and we were paying full price including the die set up charge. They'd made close to $8,200 from us. But, they weren't going to help us load.
This included the 600 pound die. One of the staff snuck out with a forklift and said "There's no way you can load this on your own. I'm not supposed to be here, but I can't leave you guys on your own to load this." And, so against company orders, he helped us load the 600 pound die.
Only, management had left a final surprise; they'd left the die filled with material. So, now we have to pay our new extruder a servicing charge. Gordon Aluminum is a family owned business. It appears that family is rotten, spoiled, selfish, aloof and vengeful. AJ, you're grandfather would be ashamed of you. You're just a 1%er who has no idea what it is to build something with your own hands. You managed to grasp failure from the clutches of victory. I went from being a fan to frustrated to angry to desperate to an enemy...all because you run a toxic company with toxic managers. And that's on you and your president.
Your employees are scared of you. Your (new) customers hate you. Congratulations! You prove why over 90% of third generation businesses eventually go bankrupt.
Run from this company. Run away.
Monstrously awful customer service. Run run run away from this toxic corporation. In December of 2015 I toured the factory with Pete [redacted]. Oh, the promises he made me! "We don't have a minimum order; only a $500 set up charge for each run." "We value small companies." "We cater to both big and small." All of that proved to be a tremendous lie.
In February, I paid them $6,100 to create a die. I was already reticent; their staff insists on you generating documents that they recreate and send back to you to approve, they aren't technically literate and they don't process credit cards. A massive factory that only takes paper checks! But, I wanted to work with a company in my home state and so I began the process with them...
...and each step was bungled. I couldn't tell if they were simply stupid or they were distracted by bigger, shinier things.
The tool they created? They implied they cut it in their shop. Turns out, they make their dies overseas and mark up the price 200%. So, they're making a profit off you before you've extruded any material.
I ignored that. I'm a start-up company and I needed to focus on launching a new product. So, I bit my tongue. But, after bungling the first attempt at making the tool I was three months behind schedule. They didn't care. They made the tool at their undisclosed vendor's pace. I kept my focus on what mattered; when they ran the tool I needed an immediate short-run of material (around 200 feet) to make our first demo units and fulfill customer orders of our product.
I'd mentioned this short run the first day I met Pete [redacted]. He emailed me about it in February. We'd discussed it on the phone. So, what happened when they tested my die? I wish I could say they called me on the phone, asked me to come up to watch the test and verify how much material I needed for this test run. Unfortunately, none of that happened.
Instead, I called repeatedly throughout the week but no one would confirm when my die was to be run. I explained to each person the events above and their answer was "We don't know anything about that." The week my tool was to be tested, Pete [redacted] decided to go on vacation. He has every right to go on vacation, but if he should have explained my needs to another staff member, put me on the phone with that person and made sure the transition was going to be smooth. None of that happened. Only silence...
...and then a week later I got a call; "Your die was run! We'll send you the report soon!" More days pass. I get an email "Test material and ISIR report is in the mail." I replied "May I have the ISIR as a PDF?" and the response was odd, as if someone had no clue how to create a PDF.
When I received the physical ISIR (it was only a photocopy; that's tougher to create than taking a picture with one's phone and converting it to a PDF) it came with 12 inches of test material. Not 50 or 100 or 200 feet. Just 12 inches.
And what was already a strained relationship with a team of incompetent employees quickly devolved into a near catastrophic situation.
I asked if they could run my die immediately and give me the test material I needed. They said that 1: I'd have to pay a die set up charge, even though the error had been theirs and 2: It would be a minimum of 8 weeks until they could run my die.
WOW. This was adding 2 full months to already being behind schedule by 3 months. They clearly had no concept of deadlines or the realities of running a small business. More importantly, they didn't care. I begged. I pleaded. I explained that my start-up had a monthly burn-rate and if we couldn't debut our product on time we might go bankrupt. They didn't care.
So, after attempting every polite, kind, gentle solution and failing I had no choice but to involve my attorneys. And this is when their story changed; "This is your fault for not filing a Purchase Order. If you'd done that, we'd have run the material." Here's the problem with this revisionist approach to the issue:
1: Pete [redacted], the company's senior sales rep, never explained that I needed a PO.
2: Pete [redacted] acknowledged on multiple occasions that I had already requested this short run. So, if #1 was true, why didn't he tell me?
3: During the week my tool was being run I spoke with several employees, all of whom could have said "Well, just fill out a PO and I'll get that to the right person." That never happened.
4: And Pete [redacted] confirmed in email #2. But he can't provide an email or recall a phone call in which he mentioned anything other than "Yes, we'll do that."
So, as the employees tried to CYA because upper management is supposedly both aloof and tyranical (Pete's words, not mine. Pete described the owner as [redacted].) I asked to speak to "upper management." They refused. So, I dug. I contacted the company's rather aloof third-generation owner, AJ [redacted]. This dilettante talked about how he stepped down from daily activities because he was focused on "pursuing new opportunities for Gordon Aluminum." New opportunities? HOW ABOUT THE NEW OPPORTUNITY I REPRESENT AS A NEW CUSTOMER? I've already shelled out $6,100 without blinking. Our internal estimates is that we'll order about 160,000 feet of extrusions next year. How thick does one need to be to say to a new customer "I'm pursuing new opportunities."
I was then sent to his president...who then sent me to a mid-level manager with an unusual title...and I insisted on speaking with the president.
The conversation I had with this toxic employee is the kind you have with a bad McDonald's manager. He didn't want to own any mistakes. Every sentence dripped with pride and condescension. He even said "We as a company stand behind our promise of excellent customer service, but we have to prioritize that customer service to clients of a certain size."
Translation: "We only treat big accounts with respect. Everyone else can stuff it."
When I pointed out the hypocrisy and short-sightedness in this business practice, he grew angrier and angrier. He demonstrated what Pete [redacted] and Andy [redacted] had said in weeks and months past; he didn't like to be questioned, he expected people to obey him and his thin guise of politeness would melt away if he was pushed. He was the boss...he didn't like to be pushed.
But, I don't care about politics or broken egos. I have a company to run that will go bankrupt if I don't get what I need. And, what I was asking for was fair. So, I pushed.
So, their president agreed to run the tool. And he fired me as a customer.
On the day we came to pick up our material their employees were politely helping us load the extrusions into our truck. Halfway through, an angry, [redacted] manager emerged from the bowels of the factory and called over the staff members. Then, he left. One of the guys came back and said "I don't know who you pissed off, but we've never been told to not help a customer load their stuff into a truck. Sorry, we aren't allowed to help you." Now, keep in mind we'd paid full price for the extrusion. No favors were granted; they'd screwed up and we were paying full price including the die set up charge. They'd made close to $8,200 from us. But, they weren't going to help us load.
This included the 600 pound die. One of the staff snuck out with a forklift and said "There's no way you can load this on your own. I'm not supposed to be here, but I can't leave you guys on your own to load this." And, so against company orders, he helped us load the 600 pound die.
Only, management had left a final surprise; they'd left the die filled with material. So, now we have to pay our new extruder a servicing charge. Gordon Aluminum is a family owned business. It appears that family is rotten, spoiled, selfish, aloof and vengeful. AJ, you're grandfather would be ashamed of you. You're just a 1%er who has no idea what it is to build something with your own hands. You managed to grasp failure from the clutches of victory. I went from being a fan to frustrated to angry to desperate to an enemy...all because you run a toxic company with toxic managers. And that's on you and your president.
Your employees are scared of you. Your (new) customers hate you. Congratulations! You prove why over 90% of third generation businesses eventually go bankrupt.
Run from this company. Run away.