McMaster-Carr is ******* me off!

[Duck tape Bill]

So I've been browsing the McMaster-Carr website for a while now, getting ideas, making lists of things I will need when I start renovating my garage and basement in the house just bought... but now I am getting this absolutely absurd message, and can't look at any of the product descriptions


Access has been restricted

We apologize for the interruption.

To protect product information, we limit search activities on our web site. Your use exceeds typical patterns of our visitors, so we have restricted access.

Your access will be restored in 23 hours and 51 minutes.


Has anybody else seen this stupid ****? What kind of company restricts people from looking at their products, do they not want us to buy from them? I've never seen anything like this, and it's ******* me off.

 

[wornoutoldman]

Next time you are browsing place a few items in your cart to avoid this. You don't have to complete check out.

 

[Duck tape Bill]

Thanks for the tip wornoutoldman.

...I just got this from their customer support people


From: McMaster-Carr [[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2012 1:15 PM
To: William Harper Liden
Subject: RE: Your Restricted Access


Hi William,

We restrict access to protect product information, regardless of the intent of the user.

Your access will be restored tomorrow.

If you require help determining what you need, please call (630)833-0300.

Erin



...it still makes zero sense to me why they would do this... it's not like they are selling classified government secrets or something... I just don't get why they need to protect the "product information" of a piece of all-thread (what I was looking at when this happened).

 

[Burtonrider10022]

You might be able to clear your cookies, cache, and history or use a "private browsing" window to circumvent this...

 

[Duck tape Bill]

You might be able to clear your cookies, cache, and history or use a "private browsing" window to circumvent this...

Yea, this might help as well... but my point is that I shouldn't have to go through this bs just to look at products on a website. I've never seen this before, and it just really rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Burtonrider10022]

I agree, just trying to help solve your issue, not your concerns.


I wish they'd give a more direct and reasonable answer.

 

[ptschram]

I haven't used McMaster-Carr since about 2000 when I bought a very expensive heated pressure washer from them for my employer.

After using it for a few months, I needed to buy some repair parts for it and contacted McMAster-Carr as they had re-branded it and I did not have the true manufacturer's name.

Imagine my surprise when the customer service person began to berate me for buying an obsolete piece of equipment and why did I expect them to support it?

After this piece of equipment resulted in the shutting down of a tier-one paint line (it was used in the water treatment system to remove paint sludge) the Lear Corporation suspended their buying from McMaster-Carr. I suspect they are now buying from them again, but after it damn near cost me my job, I won't buy from them.

There are many other vendors who sell the same things they do with better support after the purchase.

 

[fivespdcat]

Some websites do this to prevent "scraping". It's a bot that comes through and pulls all the product info from a competing website to set up another one. It pulls all the info to create a database for someone else. Why should MM do all the work for someone else? Otherwise I understand the frustration for a real customer.

 

[TOOL MASTER]

We apologize for the interruption.

To protect product information, we limit search activities on our web site. Your use exceeds typical patterns of our visitors, so we have restricted access.


JUST RAN INTO THIS,,WHAT A BUNCH OF ****...CANT EVEN PLACE MY 3000 BUCK ORDER..WTF...

GRAINGER WILL GET MY ORDER I GUESS.

 

[Mr. Fixer Upper]

Wow, that is something. Likely one of the best web sites in the world in my opinion. They probably have people looking at the site just from a design/navigation standpoint.

I sometimes browse stuff just to look at what is commercially available in areas that I am not so familiar. Hopefully they can more properly enforce and protect their content without blacklisting half of GJ.

 

[chris_1001]

I use the site a lot for work, lots of hardware (and downloads) and no orders direct from me. Never had an issue, and have been on the site for hours.

 

[APEowner]

That's a new one on me. I often have the McMaster site open in my browser for days on end. I wonder if your computer has a virus or some other Maleware on it that was doing something while you were browsing.

 

[AndyA]

Do you have an account setup with them?

I have an account, with purchase history. I browse their site like a madman and never get locked out.

 

[rmmiller]

I dislike them for a completely different reason, seems the engineers at the nuke res like to use them and spec in their numbers. They will send us an RFQ for those items with no sub and it will be something we stock and can sell to them for less. That happened one time for a 2" hose we stocked and could have sold for $9 but no, we had to buy out what they specified and it was $21 after we put our share into it which wasn't much either.

Grainger is a whole different story.....way too expensive. They quoted us a price for T12 bulbs that could cause heart failure, for what they wanted per bulb I bought a contractor pack from Lowes.

 

[Strouty]

We apologize for the interruption.

To protect product information, we limit search activities on our web site. Your use exceeds typical patterns of our visitors, so we have restricted access.


JUST RAN INTO THIS,,WHAT A BUNCH OF ****...CANT EVEN PLACE MY 3000 BUCK ORDER..WTF...

GRAINGER WILL GET MY ORDER I GUESS.

So what was the $3000 mcmaster order at grainger, $5000?

 

[APEowner]

I don't know how long "a while" is but if you've been browsing for months and you're only going to place one 3k order then you're not McMaster's target demographic and realistically they won't miss you if you buy from somewhere else. Before the web they wouldn't even sell to individuals and small businesses. They only do it now because having a website that makes it convenient for their big commercial accounts makes it difficult to filter out the small ones.

 

[dclassical]

Probably to avoid crawler activity, as in an automated tool to gather up prices/information. If using incognito/private mode (no cookies) does not help, you can try using a proxy for a different IP address (though it can be annoying... I use FoxyProxy widget).

 

[Chaznsc]

It's possible they are posturing against a hacker attack. With all the recent attacks they may have seen activity that would predict an intrusion attempt.

 

[softailgarage]

I don't know how long "a while" is but if you've been browsing for months and you're only going to place one 3k order then you're not McMaster's target demographic and realistically they won't miss you if you buy from somewhere else. Before the web they wouldn't even sell to individuals and small businesses. They only do it now because having a website that makes it convenient for their big commercial accounts makes it difficult to filter out the small ones.

Try to get a catalog from them...good luck. After a couple of years asking, I finally got one...from Ebay. I like them cause for one, they have everything and two, they have a warehouse in Santa Fe Springs, which means 2 days or less shipping. But yeah, they definitely get a little arrogant if your not a major corporation. I think they should kiss anyone's **** that's willing to pay some of those prices, shouldn't matter if your a corp. or small business.

 

[Rory Bellows]

McMaster Carr is great! Until a few years ago I could call in with an order and then pay cash at will call. They ended cash sales at will call. Still, kind of unbelievable that you could do that.

Yes, I have experienced the restriction once before. It was not a big deal to me. The service and local availability if needed far outweigh any inconvenience. Selection is top notch and prices are decent. Comparing Grainger, MSC, or any other supplier to McMaster Carr is laughable.

 

[Scott0023]

I lived i the Chicago area up until a couple years ago. I placed orders for my work in the morning and they had their own delivery truck drop it off that day. Cool.

I am guessing that they put restrictions on browsers because of competitors who are copying their data. I know Grainger would call me for a free lunch and $$ ($50???) so they could pick my brain on how to make a better web site. They would hold these focus group lunches fairly often in the Chicago area.

 

[e30bradley]

I have placed tons of small ($15-$300) orders with mcmaster over the years.. I have never had an issue with them and have found there customer service to be excellent.

 

[softailgarage]

If your having problems with the website try the android app. I've been able to browse without a problem.

 

[CGT80]

I had that message pop up once, IIRC. Since I made an account with them, I haven't had that problem.

The two things that I don't like about MMC is that they don't list the brand of the item and you don't find out what shipping will cost until it gets to you. I bought a v point drilling end mill from them and was happy to get a USA made item and it has worked great. The file handles I bought looked like Nicholson on the picture but had no brand. They were Nicholson when I got them, which is specifically what I was looking for as I wanted them to match what I already had.

Shipping has been fast. I live about 60 miles from the LA area. Grainger is a joke. A lot of the items I have looked for are not in stock and the prices are much higher than anyone else. MMC has impressed me so far. I am a home and small business buyer.

 

[Nor'Easter]

I've always had pre-determined shipping included in the total price.

Although for some items with many variations I do find it easier to just call, rather than do a lengthy search for something very specific. They're always friendly.

 

[APEowner]

The two things that I don't like about MMC is that they don't list the brand of the item and you don't find out what shipping will cost until it gets to you.

I used to find the brand thing frustrating but now I kind of like it. I always get quality stuff and I've "discovered" some brands that I never would have sought out on my own.

As far a shipping is concerned they don't mark it up and they ship from the nearest warehouse so it costs what it costs. If you phone in an order they'll tell you what it'll be or you can use your own shipping account.

 

[Stuey]

Happened to me a few months ago too. Their customer service cannot and will not help when this happens. I think my block was only for a few hours though.

They promised me a catalog on two occasions, never came. Other occasions, they flat out say no.

 

[catalytic]

McMaster Carr is a company built to sell to businesses. I feel fortunate that they sell to individuals and permit small orders -- I would have no idea where to look for, get ideas about, and buy a ton of stuff otherwise. They are always been super competent and helpful on the phone, too.

To the OP, this sounds like an anti-scraping measure. In other words, they are trying to prevent automated scripts from downloading data on all of their prices. Competing companies do this and then try to pricematch/undersell each other.

 

[dogdog]

..... just was trying to order something from them , it was fine all morning when I was planning and checking, then right after 6PM.... my anti-virus got spammed with alerts from their site WTH

........ otherwise very helpful services calls.


Now guess have to wait for the mornings to get access again, just hate the returns.

 

[Phil1]

I think its their right how to protect their information and its ur right browse it or not...

 

[dogdog]

^^^^^^^^^
That would be a messed up business model, to limit the information available to potential buyer by browser blocking...... they are not blocking price per item per say...but blocking product, I call see the price of the item any time without an issue.

 

[84scrambler]

We have a corporate account with them and use them extensively. I never had that message show up but we probably do tens of thousands of dollars of orders from them per year, and that's just from 1 small division out of probably several hundred.
The lack of knowledge of brand has always been a little frustrating but they have always seemed to try and go in the high quality route and US made so I never really had to complain, and if you really want to know just give them a call and ask. I have done that numerous times to get some tools and parts to match our existing inventory.
Also there solid model data base is fantastic if your a tooling designer and if its not listed just call and ask and they will get you something to work with, whether its an actual solid model or a pdf drawing calling out the dimensions.

 

[APEowner]

.... just was trying to order something from them , it was fine all morning when I was planning and checking, then right after 6PM.... my anti-virus got spammed with alerts from their site WTH

I certainly could be wrong but that looks more like a Kaperski issue than a McMaster-Carr issue to me.

 

[dogdog]

I certainly could be wrong but that looks more like a Kaperski issue than a McMaster-Carr issue to me.

Nope you are right when I searched, it seems others using kapersky is flagging them for some reason maybe it's the pattern or codes they used. Usually Kapersky is very good in protecting against virus and stuff. I emailed mcmaster, the say kapersky issue, I emailed kapersky, of cause.. their Level 1 says something else. None have explain to me why. It is weird that only sometimes it is flagging, visiting the exact same page.

 

[hardtrailz]

Always been good to me but I only have small orders and usually buy day of my browsing for parts.