two part question with a mini rant in between parts:
1) has anybody had any experience dealing with Carpe Diem Store other than as a walk-in customer? I've found it impossible to get hold of them which is super frustrating given that their prices are so reasonable. (i'm sure there are devout followers out there who love the owners, etc. but i'm telling you, i've tried getting an order from them unsuccessfuly for over a month now (order placed july 31).
mini-rant) our office has been using Graphaids at great expense. granted we're willing to pay the large mark-up (often twice what you can find online) for the ability to browse and shop last minute for supplies, but they don't have the most favorable billing or customer service record. (we've been buying large volumes from them for over 10 years but they cut us off if we're a day late on our invoices, they have a $20 min for each order, they won't fill more than one purchase per day on our account, and they bill use individually on each purchase rather than collecting all p.o's for the month and billing us - not terribly functional). over the course of our dealing with them, we've given them at least a couple hundred thousands dollars in business.
2) what other supply sources are there with decent prices and customer service? after getting fed up with graphaids, we decided to simply make sure our shop is stocked so there will be no need to run out to the store for each project. therefore, proximity is not really an issue.
customer service = Roark. Not quite as good of a selection as Graphaids, but Rob is an amazingly nice guy who genuinely cares about making his customers happy, and handles a suprising amount of stuff himself.
As for Carpe Diem.... do they have an actual Los Angeles store again? I've drove all the way out to their Pomona store during thesis in search of the perfect perforated metal, which they had. Decent place, lots of miniature tools which are fun to look at. Don't really know what else you want to know.
Ah yes - roark IS great but has a limited selection (if my experience purchasing from them 2 years ago is still valid). we still order our all 6" trace from Rob.
Carpe Diem has a fantastic selection and equally fantastic prices. They just seem to think it's not important to sell inventory. I am wondering if anyone has had any success or frustration ordering from them remotely, especially over a period of time. I'd love to figure out a way to order from them but i literally cannot get a response from them, and i think I've been pretty nice.
Sep 17, 07 9:42 pm ·
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LA supply source - carpediemstore.com - any experience?
two part question with a mini rant in between parts:
1) has anybody had any experience dealing with Carpe Diem Store other than as a walk-in customer? I've found it impossible to get hold of them which is super frustrating given that their prices are so reasonable. (i'm sure there are devout followers out there who love the owners, etc. but i'm telling you, i've tried getting an order from them unsuccessfuly for over a month now (order placed july 31).
mini-rant) our office has been using Graphaids at great expense. granted we're willing to pay the large mark-up (often twice what you can find online) for the ability to browse and shop last minute for supplies, but they don't have the most favorable billing or customer service record. (we've been buying large volumes from them for over 10 years but they cut us off if we're a day late on our invoices, they have a $20 min for each order, they won't fill more than one purchase per day on our account, and they bill use individually on each purchase rather than collecting all p.o's for the month and billing us - not terribly functional). over the course of our dealing with them, we've given them at least a couple hundred thousands dollars in business.
2) what other supply sources are there with decent prices and customer service? after getting fed up with graphaids, we decided to simply make sure our shop is stocked so there will be no need to run out to the store for each project. therefore, proximity is not really an issue.
Thanks in advance... pesc
customer service = Roark. Not quite as good of a selection as Graphaids, but Rob is an amazingly nice guy who genuinely cares about making his customers happy, and handles a suprising amount of stuff himself.
As for Carpe Diem.... do they have an actual Los Angeles store again? I've drove all the way out to their Pomona store during thesis in search of the perfect perforated metal, which they had. Decent place, lots of miniature tools which are fun to look at. Don't really know what else you want to know.
Ah yes - roark IS great but has a limited selection (if my experience purchasing from them 2 years ago is still valid). we still order our all 6" trace from Rob.
Carpe Diem has a fantastic selection and equally fantastic prices. They just seem to think it's not important to sell inventory. I am wondering if anyone has had any success or frustration ordering from them remotely, especially over a period of time. I'd love to figure out a way to order from them but i literally cannot get a response from them, and i think I've been pretty nice.
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