Warrantying Tools Costs Distributors $$ ?

[gibbon_guy]

So my Matco guy, who talks **** about me behind my back, is whining that I have been trying to get him to visit a few shops that don't have a dealer. One reason is to warranty tools, another is to price out broken non-warrantable items, and finally to get new customers. He says, "gee thanks for recommending more customers that need to warranty tools." He then explains he has to pay shipping to send the tools in and he is not reimbursed. Is there validity to this?

Somewhat related, have you ever told a dealer to go away?

 

[jeep450]

Tool dealers have to ship back broken tools and are not reimbursed from the flag company. That is correct.

It also ties up their money for a little while until they get credits from their flag company.

 

[jeep450]

Also sounds like he is having problems if he's bitching about warranty tools. It's not like it's a new thing they do.


If you don't want him around tell him. Save him time. May be bad for warranty though.

 

[Roots]

So my Matco guy, who talks **** about me behind my back, is whining that I have been trying to get him to visit a few shops that don't have a dealer.

I wouldnt allow him back to my facility, that's not a business partner.

 

[belu0501]

I also am a matco guy, and I see both sides to this. I have no problem taking care of warranty for anyone that walks on my truck. But I do have my 400+ regular guys I see every week so I have to keep them at the top of the priority list. Therefore if someone comes on my truck with more than one item, I tell them that I will gladly take care of it for them but they will have to meet me next week as I have to order it. That takes care of their broken tools without me taking tools out of my inventory that I could use to warranty my regular customers tools. I have 3 open routes around me and I have the scenario happen almost everyday. I get the phone calls saying please come to my shop im only x miles away, as much as I would love to have the chance to make a sale I have to think realisticly. I am already on the road 12+ hrs a day do I really want to take more on and not see my family? So this is what I tell all the new guys that start around me. If this scenario happens all you say is " I will be glad to warranty your tools, I will be at X shop at X time please come meet me and I will see what we can do" this has worked extremely well for me, I do take a little risk of the customer not coming to trade their tools out so I can have a drawer full of stuff that I have to send back and pay the restocking fee on. The main job of a tool guy is to provide service to the too user/buyer. Sorry about the rant, PM me if anyone has questions.

-luke

 

[warmpancakes]

Tool dealers have to ship back broken tools and are not reimbursed from the flag company. That is correct.

It also ties up their money for a little while until they get credits from their flag company.

snap on provides prepaid UPS labels to my dealer he doesnt pay to ship broken tools back, only thing is costs him is labor to open the boxes and paper work,

 

[crewchief888]

Somewhat related, have you ever told a dealer to go away?

i've never had to run one off,
the crappy dealers usually fade away in a year, and are never seen again.

i have seen more than one dealer just stop coming by our shop because of 1 person wasting their time.

 

[garfunkle24]

Why do you care if he visits those others shops? What's it got to do with you?

 

[transittech]

Even if he is not reimbursed for shipping, he should still be able to write it off.

 

[signcrafter]

If you run him off and need a Matco tool you will have to pay to send it in to matco.

I'm sure no dealer wants to go to shops just to warranty tools. If the shop has been buying tools from him then he has made money off them and shouldn't have a problem paying shipping to warranty the tools and keep paying customers happy. But if he goes to these shops just to warranty tools and they never buy anything new from him then he is just wasting his time and money. The flip side is that he can warranty the tools and HOPE(being the key word) that the mechanics buy some tools from him. It's a gamble when you are in business. I can see where a truck driver would not be excited to spend his time and money running around to shops just to warranty tools if the guys never buy anything, especially if he didn't sell them the tools originally. But like I said sometimes you have to spend money to make money and a good salesman should be able to sell something when making these warranty calls. A warranty gets the customer on the truck, the driver should be able to sell something to the customer to make a few bucks to cover his shipping charges. Plus I would think matco guys would get a pretty hefty discount with UPS or whoever they use.

It sounds like your driver might be tight on cash and lets these little expenses get to him. Maybe he is close to going out of business and can't afford to pay 5 bucks to ship some tools. Maybe he doesn't have any inventory on his truck so he can't even try to sell anything new to these guys warrantying tools.

 

[ncfh]

I ran our Snap-On guy off for nearly nine months.

He never handed out flyers, charged full price for things on sale, broke up the deal packages and tried to sell them individually at a tiny, tiny discount. Was a punk about warrantying stuff, and on and on.

Not just our shop but every stop on his route had nothing good to say about him.

Total scumbag, and the Snap-On lady "regional whatever" who rode around with him the first few weeks was almost as bad. I had asked about purchasing a rebuild kit for an old service ratchet, my father's. The ***** wanted to take it, saying it's gov't property. I told her I would close the gate and fire up an excavator (hint hint) before I let her run off with my dad's ratchet.

After catching him in the act for like the third or fourth time I told him to never come back or I would indeed bury him and his whole truck out back.

We have another Snappy driver who lives right down the street, but can't service us because of territory restrictions.

Meanwhile my guys at work have been without a Snappy fix for nine months, pestering me everyday to get a new guy in here. SO corporate didn't care and wouldn't do anything, so I had to let the scumbag back. I did give him the mafia-girl ultimatum which I won't repeat here. A couple of my guys actually went to HS with him and warned him that I make good on my promises.

First time back he brought flyers, some pink stuff for me and a SO tool bag for free.

Still don't like him one bit, but the boys get their weekly fix and everyone is cautiously happy once again.

Besides the pink stuff I couldn't resist I won't be buying anything from him. I talked to the other SO guy, and he said he can meet me at my house or his anytime. Even on the weekends, and his truck has 10x the amount of stuff on it too. He will get my and the shop's business from now on.

Still wish I could get a Cornwell truck in here, apparently they only service the other side of the Hudson. fml

But yeah, don't take any tears from your driver too seriously. It was his choice to get into this business, if it's too much work for him, he's free to do something else.

"Stop your crying, do your job, or GTFO."

 

[supersteve]

He never handed out flyers, charged full price for things on sale, broke up the deal packages and tried to sell them individually at a tiny, tiny discount. Was a punk about warrantying stuff, and on and on.

My Cornwell guy is the polar opposite. A few months ago I had him order a socket set. A week or two later it came in at the same time that exact set went on sale in the flyer. He gave me the flyer price even though he paid full pop for it. I make it a point to buy something from him almost every week.

I told her I would close the gate and fire up an excavator (hint hint) before I let her run off with my dad's ratchet.

lol

 

[Skin]

So my Matco guy, who talks **** about me behind my back, is whining that I have been trying to get him to visit a few shops that don't have a dealer. One reason is to warranty tools, another is to price out broken non-warrantable items, and finally to get new customers. He says, "gee thanks for recommending more customers that need to warranty tools." He then explains he has to pay shipping to send the tools in and he is not reimbursed. Is there validity to this?

I'd be a bit surprised if they didnt offer labels like Snap-On but really whats he complaining about even if he does? Use a flat rate box, chances are hes got to warranty something anyway then just fill that sucker. And most importantly its part of the game. If i were in his shoes i'd be more than happy to warranty things in the hopes of creating new customers. Be a jerk right off the bat and i can promise most guys will never set foot in his vehicle again.

Matco has a great online warranty system in place. I've used it a few times. Takes about a week turn-around.

 

[camarotoolman]

Yea, you can get alot of broken tools in a $15 flat rate box. But wait, MAC guys are way worse then SO.

 

[chris142]

imo the tool guy knew what he was getting into when he started in the tool business and should handle non abused tool repairs and replacements asap.

 

[Fedwrench]

There are good dealers and there are not so good dealers. Kind of like there are techs that pay on time and there are those techs that never pay or try to skip out of paying.
You know the old saying, the more yoou owe, the better service you'll get.
There's no excuse though for not getting decent service if you're on a route. I can see a dealer not wanting to mess with a pedestrian walking up to the truck though. It's gamble. Will he want something for nothing or will he buy something.