Old fashioned good service

[Cogsy]

I dropped in to a small machine shop / metal supplier today, to try and pick up some material for my Rupnow engine build. The place is jammed full of CNC and manual machines, cranking out complex parts for industry applications, or just cutting up pieces for orders of raw material. Everyone was busy, yet I was treated like I was their biggest customer.

I was shown where the various offcut racks of brass, Ali and copper were (in various places out in the machine shop), and told they would cut pieces to size if I needed it, no matter how small. When I mentioned I'd neglected to bring my verniers with me, I was lent a pair of digital Mitutoyos to use. Then they left me alone to sort out what I needed and told to take as long as I wanted.

Once I had as much material as I thought the wife would let me bring home, I weighed it, took it to the office and was pretty much charged scrap prices! And these were more than little offcuts - I had pieces of 3/8"x 4" Ali flatbar 3 feet long!

I didn't have time to meet him, but I'm told the owner is a qualified metallurgist and is happy to provide any advice you need. I'll speak to him next time and get some info on casting as he's done some in the past.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get across is that I can't remember ever being treated so nicely by any business, ever, period. Here in Western Australia it can be extremely difficult to find a metal supplier that will even deal with a hobby customer, but these guys welcome us with open arms.

I'm sharing the story so the few members on here from Perth will hear of this supplier, but also so everyone knows that real customer service DOES still exist - it's rare but you'll know it when you find it.

The place is called Robert Cameron and Co and is located in Burswood, Western Australia. No affiliation, just a truly satisfied customer who thinks they deserve some recognition.

 

[Shawn]

I had a similar experience when I first bought a lathe. I was having a hard time finding a place that would sell me short pieces of stock. I finally tried a small machine shop that was a bit out of the way. The fellow I dealt with was amazing, he actually gave me a bunch of various drops (in addition to what I bought) and advice on turning each one. I have never gone anywhere else since, customer service like that is hard to find these days.

Shawn

 

[Buchanan]

In my company we try to give good old fasiond service. One gets a kick out of sending sombody away happy when they came looking for somthing that they did not have much hope in finding. It makes for loyal customers.
All appreciat that kind of service but some do seem to take unfair advantage of it sometimes and want to spend half an hour chatting after paying 10 dollars for somthing or want an enormous amout af work for a small sum of money. Dont streach good service to far and you will be a welcome customer.

Buchanan

 

[AussieJimG]

If you are close enough, try The Steel Store (Bohler Udderholm) in Wollongong.

I do a round trip every so often to buy 1215 free machining steel and sometimes some cast iron. Don is very helpful and if you ring a couple of days beforehand, he will have it cut and ready for you. For smaller sizes, you might have to buy the full 3600 length but I have it cut to 1200 to fit in the boot of the car. And it always gets used.

Postage is the killer for stuff from the model suppliers.

Jim