Chemical Concepts, INC counterbalanceshop.com chemical-concepts.com Same product, different websites, rude customer service, even the manager was unfair Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
These guys have 2 websites. One for companies and one for the general public. The one for the general public have prices that are 3 times the one for companies.
When I called them on this, a $10 product was $30.....they were very rude to me and I needed the product so I paid $30 anyway.
This is no way to treat a customer in this economy.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Customer Service
Huntingdon Valley,Pennsylvania,
United States of America
Our Side of the Story
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, February 02, 2011
Yes we do have 2 web sites and yes we do have 2 price structures.
There is a perfectly good reason why.
Our products are primarily industrial and we sell 99% of our products to companies that purchase in volume and also purchase repeatedly throughout the year.
A few of our products CAN be used directly by homeowners for minor repairs or there are some granite counter top shops that, for reasons beyond my understanding, send consumers directly to us to purchase items that THEY should be selling and making a profit on.
Since the majority of our customers purchase and resell these items directly to consumers, we cannot or should not appear to compete directly with our resellers and distributors. We sell our products at a consumer oriented web site at list price so as not to compete with our dealers but to also make these products available to those that cannot find them elsewhere.
Our costs of selling to consumers is higher. We need to take credit cards, pay credit card processing fees, process small single orders, maintain a separate web site, provide much, much more technical support and installation assistance. On average, our telephone support personnel spend 3 times as much time on the phone with general consumers as they do with our regular industrial customers.
So yes we do sell at higher prices to consumers.
Yes, we do make a profit.
Yes, this is the United States of America, where we can still set our prices, make a profit, pay our taxes and everyone has a choice of buying the item from us or shopping elsewhere. We are an industrial supplier. We neither need, nor want to deal with the general public.
And finally NO, we do not "rip" people off. Anyone making a purchase from us is making a conscious decision and knows exactly what the product will cost before paying for the item. We do not misrepresent what we are, what we sell, or hide any details of the prices or the nature of the products we offer. In point of fact, any consumer can visit either of our web sites and plainly see our prices.
Oh yes and I was rude to the gentleman on the phone because he continued to argue with me after I and one of my employees explained the above to him.