A few years ago I ordered a number of pots & pans (for home use) from Katom. Lately I've seen some negative reviews of Katom (late shipment, poor C.S., etc.) -- and I know such reviews need to be taken with a few grains of salt -- but before I place another order, I wonder if there are online sources you've had good recent experience with.
FSW is going out of biz. No returns, and horrible comments on Glassdoor from former employees. I used them years ago and they were good. Now it would be a gamble.
I used them years ago too and they screwed up the orders but not in a way I would object to. They actually sent some better knives than what I ordered. Shame, I always felt that the online suppliers were doing pretty well but who knows.
Up thru last year I had positive experiences with all of the vendors mentioned in this thread especially FSW. Dunno' what happened there and at the time of this posting I am totally blindsided with the negative reviews of FSW. For me, their customer service was fine - at least thru 2015 and all of my orders were received in a timely manner.
1. They all compete by minimizing costs for customer service and fulfillment.
2. A late or wrong order is a serious matter if the item essential to a business. Not like getting the wrong novel from Amazon. So some places will get 5 stars from one customer and 1 from another.
3. Most customers, if they have no experience or at least no bad experience with a company, shop mostly on price. My kind of compulsive research before ordering is just a weird thing about me.
4. I originally asked about Katom because it was good with several orders years ago, but some recent comments gave me second thoughts.
5. Overall best impression from current reviews is a place called Ace Mart. Haven't tried them, and it would be online only for me, as I'm nowhere near their stores.
6. When possible, I'd tend to buy something that's sold by one of these companies but fulfilled by Amazon Prime, because I've never had Amazon deny me the 30 day return priviledge with such orders. At least if something arrives defective, there's no wrestling match.
My guesses about this are:................................................
4. I originally asked about Katom because it was good with several orders years ago, but some recent comments gave me second thoughts.
............................................
Up thru last year, 2015, I had perfectly great experiences with both KATOM and FSW and i really dunno' what happened with both of those vendors lately because I haven't ordered anything from them lately. Things do, indeed, change in the world of retail sales on a daily basis.
FSW took forever to ship my cambro, almost 2 months. Did not reply to any customer service inquiries about my order status. Their website just says they are closed now. So I disputed it on my credit card. Of course it arrives a few days later..
Katom I ordered hotel pans 40 days ago and it hasn't shipped yet, but still in talks with their customer service.
Short answer.... you get what you pay for. If you're okay with waiting, go for the deals
I was going to delete FSW from my bookmarks but just for the hell of it I clicked on it expecting to see a "this site for sale" message. Nope. Looks like they may be reorganizing. CHECK BACK SOON FOR A NEW FOODSERVICE EXPERIENCE
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