What kind of experiences do you have with GSG?

[Gilligan]

It seems like to use that there is ALWAYS a problem when we order from GSG.  They are an hour away and make two deliveries a week to my area, so depending on the day of week or brand of product we need, we try to use them.

First it seems they NEVER have what we need in stock.

Second, we were on "COD" because when they deliver we cut a check no problem.  They failed to inform us that since the product is shipping out of Houston we will have to pay $17 COD charge to UPS!  Then because the order was "broken up" they slapped a $5 delivery charge on us for the "under $100" order when our emulsion arrived.  They credited the $5 back after realizing the mistake, but it is taking time out of our day to always correct these problems.

We called and left a VM (might have been an email) a while back because we need something ASAP from them.... they called us back about 4 days later!

I'm this close to just being done with GSG.  I know every supplier will have hiccups, as we all do, but when it becomes the norm, it's time to move on!

[mimosatexas]

I bought my Kruzer through them and that process was more or less painless. 

Not to talk badly about them, but I do not buy supplies through them because for the longest time I couldn't even get their website to properly load to even know what they carried or how much it would cost.  Additionally, when I asked about a few products like CCI discharge for example, the delivery time to actually receive items they "carry" is often longer than ordering from pretty much anyone else.  It was faster to order from a distributor in California and have it sent by UPS ground than ordering through GSG, which leads me to believe they are just ordering the stuff when I order it, then delivering or shipping it to me, which just adds a day or two to the time. 

[ericheartsu]

We order almost everything from GSG, aside from a few things like emulsion (from kevin and sonny), and random supplies here and there.

Living in Houston we have the beneifit of getting a delivery daily, and we order enough now (not including the i-image, STEII, and heat presses), that they are generally really great.

For a long time they were really difficult to work with. Up until we got an inside rep it was really hard.

[ZooCity]

The website is much better now. 

We used to order Wilflex from them but they wound up being kind of a pain so I stick with Nazdar.  Nobody's really close to us so we just plan ahead and bear with the 3-4 day lead times.  GSG does have CCI in stock though so I don't know, maybe time to look at them again....we have too many damn suppliers. 

I have their service division doing an inspection, teardown and crate of some gear I bought.  So far that's been fantastic and fairly affordable.

[mimosatexas]

I just don't understand how a company their size can have such a poor website and not even be able to just show people what they sell and how much it costs...

I understand giving premium service to larger accounts and the benefits of local delivery in certain markets, but there is a baseline that I have come to expect from suppliers that they really didn't meet when I was trying to use them for supplies.  I also find it odd that they really don't have a lot of things in stock, so that local delivery is slower than just having something sent UPS ground from a dozen other suppliers.

Edit: To be fair it has been 6-9 months since I checked out their site.  They also just opened a physical location in Southeast Austin, so I may go see what they are actually stocking locally.

[ZooCity]

Yep, stock was my issue in the past, seemed like ordering every little gallon or five gal was somehow a big honking deal that was going to take a week or more.

[ericheartsu]

The website is much better now. 

We used to order Wilflex from them but they wound up being kind of a pain so I stick with Nazdar.  Nobody's really close to us so we just plan ahead and bear with the 3-4 day lead times.  GSG does have CCI in stock though so I don't know, maybe time to look at them again....we have too many damn suppliers. 

I have their service division doing an inspection, teardown and crate of some gear I bought.  So far that's been fantastic and fairly affordable.

Casey or Steve? Or Tony?

[ZooCity]

Casey.

[Orion]

They do all right by us. I've been dealing with them for many years. The new website is a vast improvement over the old one. They do stock CCI DC now, but I don't think they are stocking the pigs...

[alan802]

I've dealt with GSG for 8 years now and the first 3-4 years we were buying 95% of our supplies from them.  Then around 2008 things got weird, sour I guess you could say, and we started buying from other suppliers.  We have a new outside sales rep that stops by now where there was at least 2 years where nobody stopped by the shop and our preventative maintenance plan we had with our auto just stopped without any communication as to why it stopped.  They just stopped showing up for our quarterly PM plan.  I like our sales guy now but I've got a great supplier now that is local and deserves our business more.  Not that I won't buy anything from them now and I feel good about what they offer but it's a matter of our current supplier doing a better job the last 5 years and that's where we'll stay.  If they offer stuff that I need that Kevin doesn't have then I'd buy from them without question.

[tancehughes]

Alan, I think gsg just opened up a location there in Austin if I'm not mistaken. My experience with gsg is very similar to yours. I had a few guys that didn't want to give us the time of day about four or five years back but now we've got a good inside and outside guy and we buy a pretty good amount from them.


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[mimosatexas]

I may make it by their new Austin location tomorrow morning as I'm dropping off a job in the area.  We'll see...

As Alan mentioned, Kevin (River City Graphics) is awesome and I try to use him as often as possible.