Fellers

[Flame]

I don't buy from Fellers unless in a total pinch due to:

1. People on the phone know nothing about the sign business.

2. 50/50 on whether they have what I want and can get it to me quickly.

3. Price (last time I needed vinyl, I called to order some translucent. It was DOUBLE the cost that Pacific Coast Sign had it for, and Pacific Coast had more in stock!!!).



I have no serious beef with them, I'm just usually less than impressed.

 

[HulkSmash]

I don't buy from Fellers unless in a total pinch due to:

1. People on the phone know nothing about the sign business.
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[Sign Works]

I don't buy from Fellers unless in a total pinch due to:

1. People on the phone know nothing about the sign business.

2. 50/50 on whether they have what I want and can get it to me quickly.

3. Price (last time I needed vinyl, I called to order some translucent. It was DOUBLE the cost that Pacific Coast Sign had it for, and Pacific Coast had more in stock!!!).



I have no serious beef with them, I'm just usually less than impressed.

Just out of curiosity, what does it matter that the person taking an order is knowledgable about the sign business or not? For me all that matters is that they send me what I ask for, I could give a rat's ass if they know anything about my business, the way I see it that's my responsibility.

It would appear that they are stocking less opaque vinyls with the primary focus being digital print medias, I'm noticing this with other local suppliers as well.

 

[Flame]

Just out of curiosity, what does it matter that the person taking an order is knowledgable about the sign business or not?

Lets say salesperson tells me about a new line of banner material they are carrying, it's a great price I should check it out. I ask....is it scrim, or non curl? Hmmmm, that wasn't on the sales sheet. Salesperson stares at a sample on their desk, not sure how to answer that so makes something up. It's "non curl". Cool! I'll buy a roll.

I get the roll, wft scrim? That won't work for rollup banners.



Just a made up example, but seriously, a sales person should know their stuff. Would you want to walk into Home Depot and buy lumber from a guy that doesn't know that a 2x4 isn't exactly 2"x4" ? I bet not.

 

[Sign Works]

Just out of curiosity, what does it matter that the person taking an order is knowledgable about the sign business or not?

Lets say salesperson tells me about a new line of banner material they are carrying, it's a great price I should check it out. I ask....is it scrim, or non curl? Hmmmm, that wasn't on the sales sheet. Salesperson stares at a sample on their desk, not sure how to answer that so makes something up. It's "non curl". Cool! I'll buy a roll.

I get the roll, wft scrim? That won't work for rollup banners.



Just a made up example, but seriously, a sales person should know their stuff. Would you want to walk into Home Depot and buy lumber from a guy that doesn't know that a 2x4 isn't exactly 2"x4" ? I bet not.

You mean to tell me that Home Depot actually still trains sales personel in Washington? They havn't done that here in Cali in over 12 years, hell your lucky if you can find one capable of operating the cash register so that you can pay for your goods and exit the store. Once again I rely on myself to know what it is that I'm buying and what it is that I need to buy. Not trying to give you a hard time Flame, I'm just a realist.

 

[Flame]

You mean to tell me that Home Depot actually still trains sales personel in Washington? They havn't done that here in Cali in over 12 years, hell your lucky if you can find one capable of operating the cash register so that you can pay for your goods and exit the store. Once again I rely on myself to know what it is that I'm buying and what it is that I need to buy. Not trying to give you a hard time Flame, I'm just a realist.

Don't always get it, but I expect my supplier to know just as much if not more than I do about what I'm going to buy. My favorite supplier can give me everything short of the chemical breakdown of the vinyl, suggest how a media prints, longevity, preferred brands, real world conformability, the strongest blades etc.

And yes our local Home Depot is mostly full of people who used to be in the construction trade. Lowes is closer, but no one knows jack **** there. lol. I get the dumb stare....

 

[threeputt]

Fellers has been great so far for me. They ship overnite from a nearby city and I have yet to be disappointed. Knock on wood.

My advice to naysayers is to try taking their salesperson out to lunch next time he/she visits.

Use the occasion to fill him or her in on your particular operation, it's needs, etc.

You may be able to negotiate a nice discount program on often ordered items, especially if you're doing any kind of volume.

Two cents.

 

[bob]

...I find that the customer service at these places is pretty laughable. Nobody knows the products or the answers to any questions either...

Depends on what you mean by 'customer service'. If you mean dealing with your order in a workman-like manner, they're fine. If you mean having some knowledge of their products, they have none.

If you know what you want, there's nothing wrong with Fellers. If you are in a quandary over the suitability of one product over another, they are of absolutely no help. Call someone else who actually knows what they're selling.

If I know what I want, which is 99.9% of the time, I use Fellers. For that other .1%, I might either call around, or do a little research and still call Fellers. Out here on the wild frontier it's the only place I routinely can get stuff the next day. Most of the time.

 

[BALLPARK]

I think Fellers is great. Sure Frank puts himself out there for a few good punch lines with all the photos. But the bottom line is they sell more for less in most cases.

I was not to happy about the last 2 price increases on my wrap media kits. But even with the price increases my other suppliers could not touch the Fellers price. I even had one supplier tell me that I was wrong about the price being that low..lol. He said they cannot even get it for that.

I order all of my Arlon & 3M wrap combo kits from them. I will be ordering to new kits on Monday and will have both kits within 1-2 days max.

So... Fellers does a great job and gets it to you QUICKLY.

 

[BALLPARK]

Depends on what you mean by 'customer service'. If you mean dealing with your order in a workman-like manner, they're fine. If you mean having some knowledge of their products, they have none.

If you know what you want, there's nothing wrong with Fellers. If you are in a quandary over the suitability of one product over another, they are of absolutely no help. Call someone else who actually knows what they're selling.

If I know what I want, which is 99.9% of the time, I use Fellers. For that other .1%, I might either call around, or do a little research and still call Fellers. Out here on the wild frontier it's the only place I routinely can get stuff the next day. Most of the time.

Yes, they do have high turnovers and thus less knowledge in the field on a lot of the medias.

But when I need another professional opinion on a media, I call my rep and he has the rep for the company contact me directly. It has helped many of times make hard choices on large roll orders.

 

[Techman]

Just to let us all know
It is not just Fellers...

This is not just a sign industry challenge either. There are economic problems we are facing because of some present policies.
There are other industries having problems getting supplies.
For example..
The body motion industry (gymnastics, dance, karate, etc) is suffering real shortages of products. It seems the Chinese are tired of the sliding dollar and are demanding cash in advance. Not only cash in advance they are demanding bigger deposits than before. IF an order is 30 grand they want 40 to make sure the exchange rate is equal. Since the dollar is sliding and becoming worth less they want their money in advance.

Another company I know is having the same problems getting machinery to distribute. Cash in advance and an amount more than normal; to cover the inflation.

I purchase certain items and could not get any since October. In the end I had to substitute something else to replace.

Distributors will not hold large inventories because of the inflation.
I remember well the late 70's inflation and huge price increases and shortages of products.
I am afraid this inflation deal is really gonna cause us great pain in the near future. Get out of debt my friends. These hard to get items will get worse.

 

[cdiesel]

We use Fellers a ton. Always great service. They have our orders to us same day if we order by 11am 95% of the time. The ther 5% of the time, we have what we need in a day, and that's for the odd ball stuff.
As for pricing.. we have negotiated prices on the items we use most. The odd ball stuff, heck, they gotta make money too so they can give us great deals on the high volume items. I hate when customers beat me up on price, so I don't do it to my suppliers.

 

[David Wright]

It seems that after expanding the quantity of stores they have kept about the same amount of inventory and spread it out among all the stores.

 

[phototec]

I order all of my Arlon & 3M wrap combo kits from them. I will be ordering to new kits on Monday and will have both kits within 1-2 days max.

Which wrap kits do you purchase and what is the price?

 

[cdiesel]

I ordered today at about 1:30pm.. had the order in our warehouse at 2:15. Totally unexpected, but very nice.

 

[Mosh]

Remember the old Ameriban catalogs that always had the pictures of Frank in his garage sewing banners?

I in fact asked to talk to Frank as a joke and got him on the line back 8-10 years ago...
I have nothing but GREAT service from them, no one can stock everything at EVERY location!!! But, they most of the time have it somewhere!!!
No other supplier can do that...unless you are looking for some odd-ball materials.

 

[njshorts]

Just spent 5 days going back and forth about getting a few products with our area rep, he's been pretty short and rude with me, never answering in full and sometimes outright ignoring me... This was his second chance. May be looking for another emergency ink and oracal source... I may not be the biggest client, however I have dropped over 2k in the last week- I think I deserve friendly service at the absolute least.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

I use Fellers because my other options is Harbor or NGlantz...Harbor doesn't carry Oracal, and Glantz can't get an order right to save their a$$, and Fellers does cut by the yard, when I need an oddball color...Nobody on this side of the country does that...

All in all, I like Fellers service, and their delivery times are fine by me. If they don't have it in B'more, most times than not they have it in Jersey, and its still only one day ship...

Once in a while, something does come from the mid-west, so it takes a couple of extra days... And only a couple of times have I had to order it directly from Oracal. If your bent out of shape because it takes a couple of extra days to get material becasue it has to come from another part of the country, then you either need to order it earlier, or tell your customer that they can't have it the next day. Sure some customers think that they can't wait, but you can't let your customers control your business.

My biggest gripe is the fact that Fellers went from $75 free shipping to $100... When I order, I try to get that extra $25 to order, but sometimes, at least for me, I just don't have the extra business. Granted I'm a lot smaller than some of you guys, but I like free too...

The last time I ordered, I had $90 on the order, so I ordered some scrapers, and a couple of squeeggees, and my wife, who was standing there listen to my order, thought I was nuts, untill I told her that it was order a couple of extra things, or pay $15-$20 in shipping, which would have made it well over the $100 order...

 

[BALLPARK]

Which wrap kits do you purchase and what is the price?

Arlon DPF 6000 XRP is the most ordered for our wrap projects. I cannot list the price. All I can say is talk with your rep, let him/her know the amounts you will be ordering and you will get a good price based.

 

[Tommy_]

When i started i really liked Fellers, then all of a sudden prices for increasing like crazy comparing to other suppliers around. But when it comes to fresh vinyl they really do have the freshest vinyl out of all the suppliers in or around chicago. Every single time that i've bought white Oracal 651 from other suppliers i had hard time weeding and the vinyl felt old, but when i buy from Fellers it weed like it should and it feels fresher and new.