First of all, I am fortunate to live about an hour away from Detroit warehouse in case I need same day.

I placed an order Thursday at 4:30 pm and they said it would ship on Friday. Well, I received package today, something that doesn't surprise me with this company. Thank you JDS!

Now, the not so kudos.....but not all that bad.

I ordered some 3x5 alder picture frames for 4-H. I needed 12 pieces but catalog said 24 pieces to a case so I purchased by case to get lower price.

When I opened the package I found 2 boxes of 12 pieces each. I find that interesting.... :S 

Hi Brian,
Were the inner cartons strong enough to ship in? I always wonder why many companies ship with a thin inner and an outer carton when one strong outer carton would do just fine.

Dee

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Dee,

The inner boxes aren't real good for shipping but they were reboxed with the rest of the order anyways. Just not sure why the 12 piece box couldn't be the "sold by the case". The price could even be adjusted up slightly......

BTW, I just received the invoice via email and for some reason was given the 10 case price.....wonder what's up with that.

They may be giving members last column pricing.

If so they need to get in touch with David for the 'preferred supplier' program.

They probably receive them in 2 box cases and it is a 'master' case, (of two), that they are talking about. It is easy to get into the 'master case' scenario and then have to repack for shipment without the powers that be not even knowing about it. That is the benefit of a small shop with a hands on owner that bigger companies lose.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

JDS used to sell the 3.5x5 frames in a case with quantities of 72. They have recently dropped the case quantities down to 24. The 4x6's went from 48 qty down to 24 qty per case too.

The smaller frames are packed in quantities of 12 in boxes that many companies would use for shipping purposes. Knowing that JDS ships them in stronger "outer" boxes leaves me much more confident there will not be problems with frames damaged in shipment.

I've ordered alder frames from them a number of times and I've been very pleased with them. (My customers love them too!) On my last order for 8x10's there were a number of frames that had fine scratches under the finish. You couldn't notice them in low light, but in direct light or from various angles they really stood out. Once I gave JDS a count of the frames, they immediately sent me replacements. In addition, they checked each frame prior to shipment to ensure I received perfect ones.

I think JDS has their frames on sale. That could explain the lower price.

Michel

I only wish I did enough business to buy $5K in product. I guess the frames must be on sale but I wasn't aware of it.

Anyhow, I love engraving these frames, they're one of my favorites...

Brian,

Those frames are some of the highest quality around for the price. Their walnut frames are a bit higher in price, but are of the same great quality.

JDS has been winning the customer service award in my book -- and that's a tall order. After almost 20 years in the customer service industry I have very little or no patience for what Clark Howard routinely refers to as "Customer No-Service".

Anyway, about JDS. Recently I ordered some glass paperweights. It was a small order -- probably 4 pieces -- so I ordered 6 just in case. Unfortunately when I unwrapped them, the corners were cracked on 4 of the 6! I couldn't tell when I initially unpacked them because they were shrinkwrapped. When I was engraving the job, on Friday (having received the order on Tuesday from JDS), I discovered the problem. Had I been able to get to the job sooner, I wouldn't be faced by the worst case scenario -- my customer's banquet was on Saturday! I called JDS and was fully prepared to swallow overnight freight charges for Saturday delivery -- ouch! But it was my fault, I felt, since I didn't discover the problem until the eleventh hour.

Customer Service to the rescue! JDS overnighted the replacement items to me (as well as a couple extra that I ordered just in case) AND they paid for the Saturday delivery! That was HUGE in my book!

Guess who moved up to Preferred Supplier status in my book?

Now, I won't start in on Discount Trophy/MPI. Maybe we should start a Customer No-Service thread so they can be the star player!

Kudos from me for JDS.

If you were following another thread, I ordered some key rings that were "laserable". When I received them, they turned out to not be laserable. I called JDS and the rep asked why I wanted to return them. I answered that the catalog says that they are laserable but that when I try to laser them I get a very dull finish. "OK", she said, "I'll send a pick up tag for all 150 of them". "Well," I answered, "I have three that I have used trying to laser engrave them". "No problem," she answered, "throw them in the box so that we can see what results you are gettting."

Full refund, no freight, no hassle. Total length of conversation: probably less that 60 seconds. Great company with OUTSTANDING customer service.

Bill

Bill,

I've had similar experience with JDS. No unnecessary questions, and we always got what we needed.

They didn't get where they are today by providing mediocre service, my friend!

cody

I've had the same experiences with JDS. There's never a question andd they're quick to replace as necessary.
I had a situation where we ordered a bunch of the victory man resins. The customer rejected the order because the man was too "correct" and the awards were going to young kids. JDS took them back without a hassle at all.
On the rare occasion when I request a sample, they gladly send it out. Some other companies say it's not their policy to do so, even tho the order might be a large one.
You're right.. JDS, like us... don't become successful by antagonizing the most valuable asset.. the customer.

Steve

Hey Lisa - great to meet another Clark Howard fan! I too am rabid about good or even great customer service and customer no-service drives me nuts. I have no patience for being treated poorly at a place I WAS planning on spending my money. The WAS part usually turns in to WILL NOT if the customer service is bad, no matter how good the product is.

BTW - I was lucky enough to meet Clark in person when he came to town and he is exactly how he is on the radio. He talked to me about possibilities of how to buy my own business building and some out of the box alternatives - and by following his advise, I was able to make it happen last year. He's a very smart guy.

Cindy Murdoch