Sericol problems

[IntegrityShirts]

[alan802]

bastards

[Homer]

it's been long enough. . . .what's the problem?

[jasonl]

There is a thread about it already!

[blue moon]

the problem I have is their sales tactics. I think they knew we were going to use them so they played hardball . . .

Everybody and their brother received 4 gallons of free ink, some even 8. They would not give it to us, but gave us a 50% discount. I did not complain about it much at first but it did not sit well with me. I figured we'd have the time to sort that out later. (strike 1)
Then I requested a price list and received a full MSRP without any discounts. Now, I have no problem with earning your way to the discounts, bt several other ppl passed along their pricing and they started with lower than MSRP price, but that was not to be offered to us. . . When I brought it up the answer was "Sorry, take it or leave it." No desire to make the customer happy. (strike 2)

So still hoping for some semblance of customer service, I emailed on monday listing the inks I would need for a job that needs to ship this week and the response came back on Wed. Now I could certainly have done more to get in touch with them (and I was about to), but two days to answer a time sensitive email is not really my idea of good customer service. But OK . . . In my answer to the email, I brought up the 50% rather than full discount we received on the samples and asked for the 50% on this order to come up something similar to what everybody else received. Was told NO, it is not happening. We can discount a little but not what you want. (strike 3).

We have a lot of ppl come in here and have NEVER asked for anything but what other ppl have received or something we have deserved; not once. For the most part, we get the same deal as everybody else and in many cases we pay for the samples and even pay for the product we test for the manufacturers.

All I was asking for was the same samples and the same pricing as everybody else, but they want us to pay more. Some way to take care of the customer, a high profile customer at that. . .

pierre

[tonypep]

3 options for you buddy

Rutland Five stars on CS. All products are first rate (I phone in orders) Tony Chapman is always available for tech suppport
Magna From Nazdar great product don't know if they have formulas. Zero tech support
CCI Haven't used pigments but formulas come from Pantone book. I am confused on how to buy as Nazdar wants to push Magna. Base and white are awesome. Don't no about tech support
All are PCs
Call me if you need to
tp

[Nick Bane]

Weve been using CCI discharge white, base, and pigments and are very happy with them.  Cant ask for better service than what we get from Jaime Fernandez.

[alan802]

I didn't know they were giving away free samples of their stuff.  Shops were getting 4-8 gallons free?  Wow, I would have loved to have gotten in on that generosity.  I can't remember but I am pretty sure I paid full gallon price for the red and yellow I wanted to sample about a year ago.  I go through a supplier in Houston for my sericol needs so I don't have to deal with poor customer service, and I wouldn't tolerate it either.

[blue moon]

3 options for you buddy

Rutland Five stars on CS. All products are first rate (I phone in orders) Tony Chapman is always available for tech suppport
Magna From Nazdar great product don't know if they have formulas. Zero tech support
CCI Haven't used pigments but formulas come from Pantone book. I am confused on how to buy as Nazdar wants to push Magna. Base and white are awesome. Don't no about tech support
All are PCs
Call me if you need to
tp

Magna is high on our list as we are already testing some product for Nazdar and have a good relationship with them. Another well known manufacturer has a new line of DC inks coming out and we have an opportunity to test/evaluate for them. It sounds pretty promising and offers more than Sericol, but it is not RFU.

I am sure a phone call or two would generate more opportunities. . .

pierre

[ZooCity]

Pierre, just talk with your rep on this. Sericol is not used to doing"small" qty direct. My rep set me up with our starting pricing and it's important to make sure everyone at sericol has it noted on your account. They send gal samples bc that's the smallest they stock.  If you just have an ornery rep, Atlas and Jim at Dimensional have decent enough pricing.

I hear you on this, I too often insist in paying for my samples other than initial ones for testing and do not ask for handouts so this must be frustrating.

That said, you will out grow a DC rfu system quickly.  I now have cci pigs in the house and will be using a combo of the two. Some of the sericol colors are exceptional, right out of the bucket and I imagine we will use them for a long time to come but I'm a PC man and need that ability to boost.

[blue moon]

Pierre, just talk with your rep on this. Sericol is not used to doing"small" qty direct. My rep set me up with our starting pricing and it's important to make sure everyone at sericol has it noted on your account. They send gal samples bc that's the smallest they stock.  If you just have an ornery rep, Atlas and Jim at Dimensional have decent enough pricing.

I hear you on this, I too often insist in paying for my samples other than initial ones for testing and do not ask for handouts so this must be frustrating.

That said, you will out grow a DC rfu system quickly.  I now have cci pigs in the house and will be using a combo of the two. Some of the sericol colors are exceptional, right out of the bucket and I imagine we will use them for a long time to come but I'm a PC man and need that ability to boost.

I did exchange a few emails with him and they/him would not budge. I realize that they might not be set up for "small customers", but they are either doing those sales or not. If they are not interested, they should then stop selling it. It should be done right no matter the size.
At the end of the day we could have been a $20-$50k/year account for them. While not big, it is not that small either. The thing that makes even less sense is the free publicity (of the good kind rather than what's going on now) they would get from a high profile and what I hope is a respected shop using their product.

so crap service, crap sales . . .

pierre

and yes, I am on a tear, as being treated worse than others pushes my buttons!

[ZooCity]

Pierre, I'm going to email my rep and tell him to straighten yours out.  That's a very nice account and they are royally screwing it up.  We are a comparatively tiny account and were treated much better.  They have to shift the sales approach here and maybe all of their sales staff is not there yet.

[Prosperi-Tees]

I had a Sericol rep here a few weeks ago and was not impressed with them. He wanted to say thank you to me for sending a few people his way. Other than that he seemed very dis interested when he saw my little shop. I asked about a distributorship as I am still seeking out the possibility of selling supplies and he flat out said no way they dont do that.

[blue moon]

Pierre, I'm going to email my rep and tell him to straighten yours out.  That's a very nice account and they are royally screwing it up.  We are a comparatively tiny account and were treated much better.  They have to shift the sales approach here and maybe all of their sales staff is not there yet.

now, we are not at that level yet, and would probably be only $5k the first year. As we ramp up ans switch more and more to waterbased it would be in that range.

I am not sure I want to go back to their product. I think I'll stick with ppl that are actually interested in working with us. It makes for a much better relationship.

pierre

[tonypep]

As most know, Sericol is a division of Fuji Films. A very, very large conglomerate. Sericol has quietly been making discharge for over 15 ys and selling to a select few companies that were buying it in large quantities. It has always been a superior product. They never pushed it because (despite my valiant effforts!) no one wanted it.
Now I suppose I had something to do with the 4 gal free samples issues. Prior to landing here i was bopping around a bit helping people like Andy A getting their feet wet (pun intended) with DC. I had Sericol drop these 4 packs of flourescents like care packages. Then I mentioned here a few times. Corporate finally got wind of it and that is whats happening now. And they are not interested in qt container samples. Sorry Pierre but take light, a little bird told me CCI is really stepping up their game and is coming out with some knockout flourescents