Monstrously awful customer serviceRun run run away from this toxic corporationIn December of I toured the factory with Pete ***Oh, the promises he made me! "We don't have a minimum order; only a $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 lieIn February, I paid them $6,to create a dieI 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 cardsA 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 bungledI couldn't tell if they were simply stupid or they were distracted by bigger, shinier thingsThe tool they created? They implied they cut it in their shopTurns 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 materialI ignored thatI'm a stacompany and I needed to focus on launching a new productSo, I bit my tongueBut, after bungling the first attempt at making the tool I was three months behind scheduleThey didn't careThey made the tool at their undisclosed vendor's paceI kept my focus on what mattered; when they ran the tool I needed an immediate short-run of material (around feet) to make our first demo units and fulfill customer orders of our productI'd mentioned this short run the first day I met Pete ***He emailed me about it in FebruaryWe'd discussed it on the phoneSo, 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 runUnfortunately, none of that happenedInstead, I called repeatedly throughout the week but no one would confirm when my die was to be runI 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 vacationHe 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 smoothNone of that happenedOnly silence...and then a week later I got a call; "Your die was run! We'll send you the report soon!" More days passI 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 PDFWhen 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 inches of test materialNot or or feetJust inchesAnd what was already a strained relationship with a team of incompetent employees quickly devolved into a near catastrophic situationI asked if they could run my die immediately and give me the test material I neededThey 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 weeks until they could run my dieWOWThis was adding full months to already being behind schedule by monthsThey clearly had no concept of deadlines or the realities of running a small businessMore importantly, they didn't careI beggedI pleadedI explained that my stahad a monthly burn-rate and if we couldn't debut our product on time we might go bankruptThey didn't careSo, after attempting every polite, kind, gentle solution and failing I had no choice but to involve my attorneysAnd this is when their story changed; "This is your fault for not filing a Purchase OrderIf you'd done that, we'd have run the material." Here's the problem with this revisionist approach to the issue: 1: Pete ***, the company's senior sales rep, never explained that I needed a PO2: Pete [redacted] acknowledged on multiple occasions that I had already requested this short runSo, if #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 happened4: And Pete [redacted] confirmed in email #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 minePete described the owner as [redacted] .) I asked to speak to "upper management." They refusedSo, I dugI 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,without blinkingOur internal estimates is that we'll order about 160,feet of extrusions next yearHow 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 presidentThe conversation I had with this toxic employee is the kind you have with a bad McDonald's managerHe didn't want to own any mistakesEvery sentence dripped with pride and condescensionHe 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 respectEveryone else can stuff it." When I pointed out the hypocrisy and short-sightedness in this business practice, he grew angrier and angrierHe 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 pushedHe was the boss...he didn't like to be pushedBut, I don't care about politics or broken egosI have a company to run that will go bankrupt if I don't get what I needAnd, what I was asking for was fairSo, I pushedSo, their president agreed to run the toolAnd he fired me as a customerOn the day we came to pick up our material their employees were politely helping us load the extrusions into our truckHalfway through, an angry, [redacted] manager emerged from the bowels of the factory and called over the staff membersThen, he leftOne 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 truckSorry, we aren't allowed to help you." Now, keep in mind we'd paid full price for the extrusionNo favors were granted; they'd screwed up and we were paying full price including the die set up chargeThey'd made close to $8,from usBut, they weren't going to help us loadThis included the pound dieOne of the staff snuck out with a forklift and said "There's no way you can load this on your ownI'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 pound dieOnly, management had left a final surprise; they'd left the die filled with materialSo, now we have to pay our new extruder a servicing chargeGordon Aluminum is a family owned businessIt appears that family is rotten, spoiled, selfish, aloof and vengefulAJ, you're grandfather would be ashamed of youYou're just a 1%er who has no idea what it is to build something with your own handsYou managed to grasp failure from the clutches of victoryI went from being a fan to frustrated to angry to desperate to an enemy...all because you run a toxic company with toxic managersAnd that's on you and your presidentYour employees are scared of youYour (new) customers hate youCongratulations! You prove why over 90% of third generation businesses eventually go bankruptRun from this companyRun away
Monstrously awful customer serviceRun run run away from this toxic corporationIn December of I toured the factory with Pete ***Oh, the promises he made me! "We don't have a minimum order; only a $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 lieIn February, I paid them $6,to create a dieI 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 cardsA 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 bungledI couldn't tell if they were simply stupid or they were distracted by bigger, shinier thingsThe tool they created? They implied they cut it in their shopTurns 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 materialI ignored thatI'm a stacompany and I needed to focus on launching a new productSo, I bit my tongueBut, after bungling the first attempt at making the tool I was three months behind scheduleThey didn't careThey made the tool at their undisclosed vendor's paceI kept my focus on what mattered; when they ran the tool I needed an immediate short-run of material (around feet) to make our first demo units and fulfill customer orders of our productI'd mentioned this short run the first day I met Pete ***He emailed me about it in FebruaryWe'd discussed it on the phoneSo, 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 runUnfortunately, none of that happenedInstead, I called repeatedly throughout the week but no one would confirm when my die was to be runI 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 vacationHe 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 smoothNone of that happenedOnly silence...and then a week later I got a call; "Your die was run! We'll send you the report soon!" More days passI 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 PDFWhen 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 inches of test materialNot or or feetJust inchesAnd what was already a strained relationship with a team of incompetent employees quickly devolved into a near catastrophic situationI asked if they could run my die immediately and give me the test material I neededThey 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 weeks until they could run my dieWOWThis was adding full months to already being behind schedule by monthsThey clearly had no concept of deadlines or the realities of running a small businessMore importantly, they didn't careI beggedI pleadedI explained that my stahad a monthly burn-rate and if we couldn't debut our product on time we might go bankruptThey didn't careSo, after attempting every polite, kind, gentle solution and failing I had no choice but to involve my attorneysAnd this is when their story changed; "This is your fault for not filing a Purchase OrderIf you'd done that, we'd have run the material." Here's the problem with this revisionist approach to the issue: 1: Pete ***, the company's senior sales rep, never explained that I needed a PO2: Pete [redacted] acknowledged on multiple occasions that I had already requested this short runSo, if #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 happened4: And Pete [redacted] confirmed in email #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 minePete described the owner as [redacted] .) I asked to speak to "upper management." They refusedSo, I dugI 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,without blinkingOur internal estimates is that we'll order about 160,feet of extrusions next yearHow 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 presidentThe conversation I had with this toxic employee is the kind you have with a bad McDonald's managerHe didn't want to own any mistakesEvery sentence dripped with pride and condescensionHe 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 respectEveryone else can stuff it." When I pointed out the hypocrisy and short-sightedness in this business practice, he grew angrier and angrierHe 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 pushedHe was the boss...he didn't like to be pushedBut, I don't care about politics or broken egosI have a company to run that will go bankrupt if I don't get what I needAnd, what I was asking for was fairSo, I pushedSo, their president agreed to run the toolAnd he fired me as a customerOn the day we came to pick up our material their employees were politely helping us load the extrusions into our truckHalfway through, an angry, [redacted] manager emerged from the bowels of the factory and called over the staff membersThen, he leftOne 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 truckSorry, we aren't allowed to help you." Now, keep in mind we'd paid full price for the extrusionNo favors were granted; they'd screwed up and we were paying full price including the die set up chargeThey'd made close to $8,from usBut, they weren't going to help us loadThis included the pound dieOne of the staff snuck out with a forklift and said "There's no way you can load this on your ownI'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 pound dieOnly, management had left a final surprise; they'd left the die filled with materialSo, now we have to pay our new extruder a servicing chargeGordon Aluminum is a family owned businessIt appears that family is rotten, spoiled, selfish, aloof and vengefulAJ, you're grandfather would be ashamed of youYou're just a 1%er who has no idea what it is to build something with your own handsYou managed to grasp failure from the clutches of victoryI went from being a fan to frustrated to angry to desperate to an enemy...all because you run a toxic company with toxic managersAnd that's on you and your presidentYour employees are scared of youYour (new) customers hate youCongratulations! You prove why over 90% of third generation businesses eventually go bankruptRun from this companyRun away