Frustrated by McMaster-Carr

[Madison]

Has anyone else had enormous difficulties with ordering things from McMaster-Carr and receiving a level of service that even borders on competent?

Since Kickoff, we've had nothing but problems with their service and I'm just enormously frustrated and wanted to vent somewhere.

On the day of Kickoff, we placed an order for several hundred dollars worth of drivetrain parts. When the order hadn't arrived a week later, we called to see what had happened to it, as we though we'd missed a UPS delivery, to find out that McMaster-Carr hadn't ever filled the order. Despite our receipt of a order confirmation via e-mail, the order was nowhere to be found in their system. We placed the order a second time and was told that it would be shipped Next Day Air -- but it was shipped ground, instead. After a third call, they reshipped the order and sent it via overnight.

Yesterday, we placed a second order and specified that it be shipped via Next Day Air. It didn't arrive today, so I again called to find out what the problem was only to be told that some of the products we ordered -- nitrogen filled gas springs --were not able to be shipped via air freight, so the whole order was shipped via ground. I feel like it would be the least common courtesy to call your customer and let them know that the shipping they requested was impossible or to otherwise explain the situation and give them the opportunity to make a decision regarding the shipment.

Again, they re-shipping everything (except the gas springs) via overnight air freight.

We've lost days and days of work time to this stuff and it's enormously frustrating.

Caveat emptor, I guess.

[GMAdan]

Well so far i have been satified with Mc Master. I suppose they have a warehouse close to my school because all the metal we ordered came with in 2 days. It could because we only ordered metal.

[Cory]

Yesterday, we placed a second order and specified that it be shipped via Next Day Air. It didn't arrive today, so I again called to find out what the problem was only to be told that some of the products we ordered -- nitrogen filled gas springs --were not able to be shipped via air freight, so the whole order was shipped via ground. I feel like it would be the least common courtesy to call your customer and let them know that the shipping they requested was impossible or to otherwise explain the situation and give them the opportunity to make a decision regarding the shipment.

Thats weird...usually they send us whatever they have in stock, and leave the rest out and ship it separately (or the same thing, but replace "in stock" with whatever can be sent by the requested shipping method).

We placed an order on I think Monday after kickoff, and we received it 3 days later, which was surprising, considering it was by ground, and came from Norfolk, VA.

[Kims Robot]

I have to agree I think this is odd... We have had them split up our orders before, but their shipping has always been very prompt. We quickly figured out to do the "no signature on delivery" in the comments... but other than that, no problems :-/

[KTorak]

Anything we've ordered from Mc Master Carr has came within 2 days...we have yet to have any issues.

[Rickertsen2]

I have always had great experiences with McMaster. I have never placed an order that has not been in my hands same day (i am located in the same city as their warehouse so i pick up orders in person). I was very surprised one time when i called them with a few questions and they transferred me to someone who actually had a good knowledge of the product. They are almost always in stock of whatever obscure item it is i need and are always willing to send me a bill instead of requiring immediate payment.

They actually have a pretty cool setup. They have a partially automated warehouse with robots that pick many of the items. The boxes are robotically sealed as well. The place is absolutely massive with ceiling fans about 25' in diameter.

[EricRobodox]

Never had an issue, actually, they were awesome to us already. We ordered that day, and picked it up there, it was actually ready the minute we were off the phone. They were also really cool about returning, which is usual. We usually get things next day or two days later. I guess its because its a 2 hour drive from the school to McMaster, thats with LA traffic. :)

Sorry about your loss time, hope your order goes through this time. We had a similar situation with the fuel cell battery thing this year.

[chris31]

I was getting annoyed after my McMaster order hadnt come in a week later. I later found out the school glitched and didnt place the order I requested :( Once it was placed the order was fairly fast.

[Beth Sweet]

Geez that doesn't sound good, sorry you had problems. We placed our order for this year's robot stuff last night, so I'll be sure to watch them closely. Thanks for the warning!

[Guy Davidson]

We've gotten results similar to most people here - we placed the order, got what was available immediatly, and got the rest soon afterwards. I hope it was just a mistake on their behalf, and not something that repeats.

-Guy

[Justin M.]

We've been more than satisfied with McMaster-Carr.

1. They're NJ warehouse is about 45 minutes from my school, which means we usually get ground-shipped orders the next day anyway.

2. They take purchase orders, which is the only way we can pay for things (we'll be getting a team paypal account + debit card next year)

3. They ship to us before recieving payment.

So we just call in the order, get the stuff the next day (I'll call it in at like 11am), then send them our money.

[Andrew Blair]

We've had very good service recently, shipped within one and three days. Unfortunately, we've been having a problem ordering lately, but I believe that's with the school's server, rather than McMaster. Overall, very good.

[ChuckDickerson]

That's a real bummer Madison but we have had no problems at all with McMaster this year or any other for that matter. I have been placing orders with them left and right since kickoff and every one has shown up as scheduled in two days via UPS ground. I have placed at least 10 or 12 orders since kickoff. Our orders all ship from the Atlanta warehouse.

I have often wondered what McMaster thinks of all the extra odd orders this time of year and why they aren't a major sponsor of FIRST in the first place. Do they even know about FIRST and what all these orders are for this time of year?

[Josh Murphy]

We have ordered quite a bit from there pre season and maybe 5 or 6 different orders since kickoff and it all arrives when it is supposed to, we are satisfied with thier service.

[Mr.G]

We have had no issues either.

Sorry about your problems.

[sanddrag]

We usually get stuff in a day or two with no problems. One time however, I ordered keyed shaft at like 6 in the morning, went to pick it up at their warehouse at 12 noon (was supposed to be ready at like 11am) and got "oh, gee, looks like they never pulled the order. It didn't get coded in for will call pickup. I'll put it in again. Come back in an hour and a half" Like I just sit around all day with nothing to do (yeah right). All it was, was like one piece of keyshaft. I almost wanted to say "it's just one thing, can I go back there and get it myself?" Anyway, that was kind of irritating. Also, sometimes they'll ship orders in like 3 parts, which can be kind of confusing, but they all have always arrived in a timely manner. One time I called asking about some wheels, and right away got connected to an engineer guy who seemed like he really knew his stuff, so that was good.

[Jay H 237]

I was getting annoyed after my McMaster order hadnt come in a week later. I later found out the school glitched and didnt place the order I requested :( Once it was placed the order was fairly fast.
That problem was with the school, not McMaster. ;)


Madison, did you deal with the same person with every order? It seems like someone there isn't paying attention to how you want your orders shipped. They *should* also be aware of restricted or special shipping with certain items and be able to tell you that.

We use MSC mostly but have ordered from McMaster at times. I don't recall any problems. Hopefully this was just an isolated problem for you. If this keeps up try ordering from a different warehouse.

[MrForbes]

Our first McMaster box came on the brown truck last night, no problems. Maybe Madison's robot design uses really wierd parts? :)

[Lil' Lavery]

We faxed in our order on Friday, it arrived on Monday. So fast that we actually couldn't send in another item we wanted to add to the order :rolleyes:
I don't think 116 has had many problems with McMaster (certainly less than with several other companies, including one, which will remain nameless, that sent our order to Japan).
The biggest problem I have personally had was that their website is sometimes hard to find items, but then again, that's also why I have their catalog.

[Not2B]

Bummer...

We have a saying on our team, that if you order something from McMaster now, you'll have it in about 5 minutes...

Always been fast for us... hope they still are...

[Gabe]

Never had a problem with McMaster, as they ave always delivered exactly by their schedules and on time. Other companies have been behind (cough*gearstock*cough), but McMaster-Carr has been great.

[Peter Matteson]

I have to agree with pretty much everyone else here. I've placed 3 orders with them so far and all have arrived next day if I order by 3pm, granted their NJ wharehouse to CT is a short hop but we never have to ask for overnight to get stuff next day.

[Richard Wallace]

I have also placed three recent McMaster-Carr orders (via their website), each of which has been delivered the next day. I am usually careful to avoid ordering things unless the site reports that they can ship that day from my local warehouse. Because of this I have come to think of McMaster as my materials storeroom -- just click what I want and it's on my desk tomorrow.

Of course, McMaster does not carry everything and some of their stuff can be had cheaper from other sources. But I haven't found a better source for getting stuff quick.

[Paul Copioli]

If you aren't already; you should be placing the orders via the website. We always get our stuff 1 or 2 days later even when we have it shipped ground delivery. The website is definitely the best way to place orders with McMaster-Carr.

We have been extremely satisfied with their service to date.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Maddie,
We order from McMaster at work all the time and it constantly amazes me that I can place an order before 2PM and it arrives the next day.

[petek]

Sorry to hear that you had such problems with McMaster, Maddie. I order from them constantly at work and rarely have any problems with delivery, though (like everyone else) they do drop the ball once in a great while. Probably helps that I work 5 minutes from their Dayton, NJ warehouse - we usually get same-day delivery via UPS ground!

[BrianBSL]

We placed an order on I think Monday after kickoff, and we received it 3 days later, which was surprising, considering it was by ground, and came from Norfolk, VA.
This is because, similar to Dell and Amazon, McMaster does enough volume that it is cheaper for them to do the long haul shipping with a real freight carrier, and the let UPS handle the final delivery. So, McMaster ships it via freight carrier to UPS's regional hub, and then UPS delivers it to you in 1 day. If you check the UPS tracking on your McMaster packages, they will often show pickup 1 day prior to delivery at your regional hub (Chelmsford, MA for most of New England). Its quite a neat system, and lets them lower their shipping costs, especially on some of the oversized pieces of material they ship.

This is the same reason that "2nd Day" packages from Dell and Amazon often come via UPS Ground, as UPS ground is guaranteed delivery time, so they send it via their own carrier to the UPS regional hub, which is guaranteed 1-day to you. This is also how McMaster is able to do same day delivery via UPS to some locations - as they don't use traditional UPS services.

We've never really had a problem with them, placing the order via the web. Its 1-day from NJ, and they warn you when its coming from Chicago so it will be 2 days.

[Fred Sayre]

Thanks for the comments everyone. It seems that for some reason maybe we got the bad luck of two random mistakes on the part of McMaster-Carr.

Our feelings about them mirrored this whole thread before this build season, and is why we were so willing to trust them for speedy delivery this year.

We might use them again this season, but if Madison has any say we might be looking into alternatives :)

[ajlapp]

i'll echo all the other comments heard here so far.......

we've never had one issue with a mcmaster order, ever. the parts arrive in one day by ground without exception and they're rarely out of stock.

we buy exclusively form them unless we can buy the item locally at a similar cost.

[dlavery]

My experiences with McMaster have, in general, been less than satisfactory. There is an interesting prior discussion of this topic in this thread (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40543). At that time, my comments were:
I guess that my experience with McMaster has been exactly the opposite from Joe's. I have never had a good experience with them, and absolutely refuse to do business with them either personally or professionally. It should not matter if I am just representing myself as an occasional customer using personal finances, or representing a $16.5 billion organization. If they want my business, then they should act accordingly. If they don't, I am quite happy to take my business (and that of my $16.5 billion organization) elsewhere.

The way that I see it, if I have to repeatedly request a copy of their catalog and they still never get around to actually sending one, then that is highly indicative of their overall attitude toward their customers. The last time I requested one of their catalogs I received a form letter in response that stated that my organization (NASA) did not conduct enough business to justify having them send me one of their expensive catalogs. In response, I sent them back a very nice letter noting that if they did not feel my organization needed one of their catalogs to enable us to order from them, then we would not bother them any further.

I wrote the letter on the back of a page from the MSC catalog.

-dave
My experiences have not substantially changed since then. The only significant update is that I finally do have a catalog. I got it by having a friend, who was able to get two, give me one of his copies. I still can't get one from McMaster. Given the choice between ordering from them and ordering from just about anyone else, I go with the "anyone else" option.

-dave

[Mike Starke]

My experiences with McMaster-Carr have been good! For example, or team ordered some plastic either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, and it came today. Rees and I opened the package and were pleasantly supprised by the contents. We were like "didn't we order this yesterday, or the day before?" It actually came before other things we ordered did. So we have had good experiences, and they always seem to be prompt and on time.

[EOC]

All of our orders with McMaster-Carr have been shipped promptly and correctly. I hope their service to your team improves.

[dmellich]

Never had a problem.

[Gdeaver]

2 things with McMaster. Most of their business is open account. Credit card orders can be problematic. If it doesn't show can be shipped today, you may
want to e-mail and confirm availability and a ship date. If you do about more than a 1000$ with them per year, you will always get the latest catalog. If I order by 7 PM, it's at my door around 10:30 next morning. Impressive. Wish my other vendors were as dependable

[Hieb]

I'll have to chime in as well--hopefully this an experience at 1 distribution center and can be corrected quickly. Personally I've had nothing but good experiences. In fact, while I've come to expect prompt delivery they surprised me today. My school release funds to me yesterday morning, I placed my order around noon, and based on past experiences expected it to arrive tomorrow. Instead, it was sitting on the delivery dock this afternoon in time for us to start working with our new parts.

[inmate0013]

we get things the same day if we order them in the morning because we are like twenty minutes away from them!!:D

[Guy Davidson]

As an ammendum to my earler post, we really can't complain. We ordedred some stuff we need soon at around 4pm pacific. When we came to email them again at about 5pm (to change to overnight shipping) they said it was already shipped, and we can expect tomorrow. That's quality service.

[Gabe]

we get things the same day if we order them in the morning because we are like twenty minutes away from them!!:D

You are soooo lucky!!!

[Tom Bottiglieri]

You know what frustrates me? McMaster only stocks 14.5 degree PA gears. Where's the lovin' for our little fisher price motor!?

Beside that, I've been nothing but happy with our results from McMaster.

[Cory]

I'm not sure what McMaster has against Dave, because we had 3 catalogs in our lab until we did some housecleaning this summer.

We placed an order yesterday afternoon, and 90% of it showed up this morning. Ground shipping. We did a lot of overnight shipping last year, and not once this year, but we're getting our stuff nearly as quickly, while saving a ton of money.

[Jack Jones]

I love McMaster-Carr! Two thunbs up for UPS as well!

McMaster-Carr Supply Company is a major supplier to industrial and commercial facilities worldwide, specializing in convenient delivery of Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) materials and supplies. The company is based in Elmhurst, Illinois, and has distribution branches in or near New Jersey, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Cleveland.

McMaster grew to be a supplier to thousands of businesses by always placing the customer's needs first. Other than the 435,000 products in stock, standard next day delivery, McMaster will take return of any product, regardless of condition, date of sale, receipt, or elsewise.

[billbo911]

In the past I've had decent service from McMaster-Carr, but this time... well, let's say, what you see ISN'T what you get!!!!:mad:

I ordered two drive sprockets to augment the KOP drive sprockets. The description matched exactly what is needed. Specs were identical including the keyway. What I received HAS NO KEYWAY! Yes, this is not an problem we can't overcome, it just isn't what we ordered!

Thanks for nothing McMaster-Carr

[Richard Wallace]

In the past I've had decent service from McMaster-Carr, but this time... well, let's say, what you see ISN'T what you get!!!!:mad:

I ordered two drive sprockets to augment the KOP drive sprockets. The description matched exactly what is needed. Specs were identical including the keyway. What I received HAS NO KEYWAY! Yes, this is not an problem we can't overcome, it just isn't what we ordered!

Thanks for nothing McMaster-CarrDid you order 6280K371 (same as 6280K117) ? Those finished bore sprockets are available with 1/2" bores, but the description clearly indicates the 1/2" bore variety do not have keyways: "Bores are finished so these sprockets are ready to mount to a shaft. They have standard ANSI keyways located on the centerline of a tooth, except 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" bore sizes, which do not have keyways. All are made of steel and include two set screws. Use sprockets with ANSI single-strand chain."

Because finished bore sprockets are hardened and therefore difficult to machine, we have usually purchased plain bore (e.g., 6793K123) or flat (e.g., 2299K304) sprockets which are not hardened -- then we drill and/or machine them to suit our mounting requirements.

If you found a McMaster-Carr sprocket with a finished 1/2" bore and a keyway, and McMaster shipped you the wrong part, please post the correct part number. Probably there are other teams that would like to order the same thing you were looking for.

[Gdeaver]

We ordered those sprockets and knew there was no keyway. We broached them to night. If a team doesn't Have a broach set, They'll have to either buy one or seek help from a machine shop or mechanical contractor.

[billbo911]

Did you order 6280K371 (same as 6280K117) ? Those finished bore sprockets are available with 1/2" bores, but the description clearly indicates the 1/2" bore variety do not have keyways: "Bores are finished so these sprockets are ready to mount to a shaft. They have standard ANSI keyways located on the centerline of a tooth, except 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" bore sizes, which do not have keyways.

I went back to the McMaster-Carr site to verify. As much as I hate to admit it, I was wrong. Exactly as you said, it IS there in black and white. I missed it. "except 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" bore sizes, which do not have keyways. "

I stand corrected.
Now, any ideas where, in the Sacramento area, I might be able to get these broached????

[mathking]

We had the same issue with the sprockets (though we did see it before we ordered and determined that our application could be done by pinning and then welding the sprocket).

As for McMaster's service, we have placed 11 orders for $1477 and everything has been next day except for one item the web site let us know was not in stock. We did set up an open PO with them at the start of the season so all of the placing of orders is a call and a fax and its done. Our treasurer at school wishes all vendors were as easy for her to deal with.

[Cory]

I went back to the McMaster-Carr site to verify. As much as I hate to admit it, I was wrong. Exactly as you said, it IS there in black and white. I missed it. "except 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" bore sizes, which do not have keyways. "

I stand corrected.
Now, any ideas where, in the Sacramento area, I might be able to get these broached????

Check the yellow pages in your local phone book and give any of the machine shops in there a call. You should be able to find one willing to broach your sprockets for a small fee, if not for free.