While I can understand a company requiring a new “client” to
purchase catalogues, I don’t understand Stuller’s new policy of
charging all existing clients for the Mountings catalogue. Stuller
should have broken it down by the amount you purchase each year; a
sliding scale, if you will. OR, they could have credited the client’s
account when they have reached a certain purchase point. Stuller
should have developed some pricing format that would have
acknowledged a client’s account activity. I also find it interesting
that they send out the Finished Jewelry book at no charge but single
out the Mounting catalogue (the most critical catalogue) to be the
one catalogue that must be purchased.
All in all, I have to say I am very disappointed in this decision by
Stuller… and not for myself (a low volume Stuller client) but for
others who are not low volume but are self-employed and must watch
every cent.
While I can understand a company requiring a new "client" to
purchase catalogues, I don't understand Stuller's new policy of
charging all existing clients for the Mountings catalogue.
I have not heard of this, I get all catalogues free including
shipping. If you have an account, you can register and use their
online catalogue, which actually can be a real time saver when
ordering as you do not have to wait for a rep to answer. Everything
is
there, same pictures as the catalogue has and it is set up so it is
really easy to use.
I didn’t know that Stuller is now charging for their catalogs. I
recently received the new Mountings book at no charge. One
alternative is to use their online catalog which has the advantage
of giving you prices that are based on the day’s metals markets.
You can access everything online, that way you don’t have to make a
lot of extra room for all those heavy catalogs and the price that you
see on the site is the updated, actual price.
One thing that kinda bothers me about some companies is that they
don’t have any online catalogs so I have no way to access the updated
price…other than to call them.
While I understand running a small Manufacing company I have tried
to put together a catalog several times and the cost in printing and
shipping has just made it impossible and I think the Stuller policy
change is testing the waters to tried and recover so of the printing
cost and if there is not a big out rage about that they will start
charge for all there catalogs especially if they have it available
on the web but they can not expect to sell there products if you can
not see them so really it is a double edge sword. Have you tried
calling an explaining to Stuller the problems it is going to cause
your company with the catalog fees? I know several company that “
charge for there catalog” but when you call and talk to them they
send you one free Well that is my two cents which is not worth two
cents (lol)
Cameron, thanks for the posting and more importantly the suggestions
you posted. We are very sensitive to any and all opportunities to
improve our service to all of our customers.
Please know that we do have in place the guidelines you spoke about
in your posting for sending out our catalogs.
When you find a few minutes please take an opportunity to give me a
call directly so I can explain our current policy, somehow you were
misinformed.
Appreciatively,
Chris Lalanne
Executive Director of Sales Operations
Stuller, Inc.
(800)877-7777, ext. 443
Still costing the time to call! I for one, don’t do business with
Stuller, for this and a couple other reasons. Recently I requested a
catalog from Gesswein on their web site; and they had a charge. I
ignored them and the catalog still came. Their reward will be some
orders in the near future.
Well, I do a lot of business with Stuller. I would imagine about
somewhere around 20K per year. Tools, findings, supplies, etc. The
website is awesome. I like it better than calling. Kind of like that
menu thing I’ve seen in some fastfood drive thru’s. You know what
you’re getting. They are also extremely, etxremely reliable. I don’t
think I’ve heard and excuse from them in the 8 years I’ve been
ordering. I usually add things to my shopping cart daily and check
out once or twice a week to try to save some shipping costs.
Recently though, I’ve been looking around at other suppliers. My
reason is that Stuller is definately known as “not the cheapest guy
in town” and a few bucks here and there might help. More than that
it’s a principle thing. I think… What I would like to see is a
preset discount for high volume users like me (Not the individual
Zales store which gets a huge discount for ordering 1 head. An
OUTRAGE!!) If Stuller would look to see the order volume and base
your discount on that I would probably stop looking around. They
already have multi piece discounts in place, but really who orders 6
heads of the same exact size all at once?
I recently ordered a few items from Conteti.com. They have a nice
fresh looking website. Specials on pliers ($3 roughly) I know
they’re not wonderful, but I couldn’t resist. Here’s the best part–
Instead of that dum-dum, they sent me a pair of tweezers. I like that
and I appreciate it. Stuller should send me a pair of tweezers. Or a
new buffing wheel. Or a small bottle of flux. Or maybe an ad layout.
They have the expertise and man power. I don’t want to sound like I’m
looking for a hand out. The tweezers Contenti sent were cheapies.
I’m just saying I appreciated it and I only spent $60 with them.
Stuller gets way, way more than that from me. And maybe I’m still a
little upset about that whole Zales discount thing. I work there for
10 years. I can honestly say that in that time I had never ordered
anything (even once!) from Stuller, nor did I see any of their
merchandise in the store(s). I would imagine that they use Stuller
for warranty repairs at their home office but that’s about it. The
jewelers who work for them…well that’s a different story and I
understand they pay the same as me.
Still costing the time to call! I for one, don't do business with
Stuller, for this and a couple other reasons.
I’m sorry to be so dense, but I’m not understanding. I go on the
web, open the Stuller site…push a few buttons. There isn’t a need
to really make any calls and it is about as quick as anything I can
think of. What are you saying?
I'm sorry to be so dense, but I'm not understanding. I go on the
web, open the Stuller site...push a few buttons. There isn't a
need to really make any calls and it is about as quick as anything
I can think of. What are you saying?
Perhaps the writer is referring to time spent on the phone? To many,
time wasted is money wasted.
There are times when one is kept on hold (I have not experienced
that), or is asked for which is not at hand, so it takes
time to fax it in. The fax does cost a few cents.
It’s sometimes very frustrating to NEW Customers or (even returning
customers who haven’t ordered in over 6 months) - especially if they
expect instant approval.
With Stuller, one should order something every few months to keep an
active account. I love Stuller. Fast, reliable service!
If a catalogue is too expensive to print in hoping for a few sales.
How about putting a few dollars ‘hidden’ on a cost of some of the
items being sold. Its like a “hidden catalogue fee”. Book is still
charged…but hidden! My ‘setting books’ do cost me a fair buck, but
if I was to charge for everything, I’d still be looking for one sale.
Change printers, or change the printing format. I can’t expect the
moon, but I’m giving away so much lately, I hope for a bigger and
refreshing newer market when MY NEWER CD comes on line end of this
year…:>) details to follow.
Moral of this posting is “try and satisfy some of the people, but
try not expect to satisfy them all…at once”. Web-catalogue is not
really a great idea, we need to see this book without running to the
PC during our work day. The cost of web-pages can be VERY expensive
too, I know! In other words, print the darn book…
Since we are speaking about Stuller let me say that after having
just spent two weeks there for GIA Diamond Grading and Gem
Identification extension labs that the folks at Stuller are some of
the best, most hospitable group of folks I have met in a very long
time. The facility is not only IMMENSE, it is spotless! And every
employee I encountered was friendly, cheerful and willing to answer a
question at any time.
Those of us in the Diamond Grading Lab had the pleasure of being
feted by Dr. Chuck Lein and his wonderful staff of executives one
evening and every lab has the opportunity to go on a tour of the
facility, which is astounding to say the least.
It was a fabulous experience and if I could part with Tampa I’d be
trying to get a job there. Stuller is exactly the kind of operation
for which I have a lot of respect. And my apologies for calling you
Al, Andy. Oops, my bad! When I saw you I was so ferklempt, like
seeing a rock star!!
As to the catalogs, I do recall Rio charging for my catalogs about 6
years ago but never since. As to Stuller, perhaps a coupon in the
book like Rio used to do with a credit on one’s next purchase for the
amount of the catalog. Yes, I understand the cost of printing, which
they might do there, but dunno. And with the volume of business they
do, all those hardcopy catalogs sent out gratis has got to be a huge
expense. Personally, I’m more inclined to use the computer anyway and
it doesn’t cost as much to them, maybe that will mean less overhead I
the jeweler need to pay in costs when purchasing from Stuller and it
saves a tree.
Hey, I was so blown away by the place, the people and how they all
work. It was amazing! And so clean, everywhere!!! Kudos Stuller!
Since we are speaking about Stuller let me say that after having
just spent two weeks there for GIA Diamond Grading and Gem
Identification extension labs that the folks at Stuller are some
of the best, most hospitable group of folks I have met in a very
long time. The facility is not only IMMENSE, it is spotless! And
every employee I encountered was friendly, cheerful and willing to
answer a question at any time.
I agree, It is amazing like a city onto itself. Working for
G.CREATIONS, I was very lucky to have been able to get a tour and the
v.i.p. treatment when the co. I worked for got them to do our
casting.