Cylon14

First Alarm has been our Company security for many years. They patrol at night and respond to break-ins (and false alarms). Pretty reliable.

Strengths: First Alarm is reliable and calls us when there is questionable activity outside of office hours.

Needs to improve: First Alarm doesn't run alarm tests as often as they should

Fairly good pricing. Great selections. For our company needs, Fry's had what we wanted. Packaging was good.

Strengths: Large Selection of computer peripherals. Competitive pricing.

Needs to improve: Customer service is a little weak. Employees are not experts on the products.

Excellent products usually. On occasion, we get boxes that are cut a little funny, so they don't assemble as good. Probably could use slightly better quality control on items going out the door. Quick shipping. A little pricey on the shipping, but if we order in bulk, it's worth it. They use their own vendor truck, so it takes a couple days for the orders to get to our warehouse. Competitive pricing on products. Very good customer service.

Strengths: Prices are competitive. We use Uline for ordering boxes, peanuts, packaging supplies. Very fast shipping on their own Vender Truck in California

Needs to improve: Uline has a good website, but could use improvement on their ordering. Visually not as appealing as some other companies I have used. A little hard to search for a specific item for our Machine Shop.

Google has exceptional service, especially the Gmail system. We filter our in-house network emails through Google Gmail. It has made our business run more smoothly. Keeping track of responses via email has never been easier. Many times I had to search through emails for customer/supplier debates over a particular issue/problem. Google has made it so easy to find the specific key word search. Saved me a ton of time and energy!

Strengths: Google Search engine is really great. We use Google to research outside sourcing for our company needs. We like to look at user reviews, competitive pricing when outsourcing for painting, plating, anodizing, etc. Google Maps has helped our driver many times. Very accurate Mapping and directions.

Needs to improve: Google could improve on live Traffic Conditions for our drivers. Could save us time if they had better alternate routes.

Overall, Digi-Key Corporation has been very professional. Excellent products. Never had to do a return. A little slow on the shipping, but accurate on the products themselves. Packaging is well done. No issues on the shipping containers. Met our company needs and has an easy re-order system.

Strengths: Easy to use Website when ordering for our Company. They have our account on file. Easy to get to my orders, invoices, payment history, etc.

Needs to improve: A little slow on the shipping. At least for our company, I feel like the raw products don't get to our location as quickly as we would like. However, the distance between MN and CA could be a factor. Pricing could be a little better.

Excellent Customer Service. Products arrive the next day, even if I've ordered through their website in the late afternoon/evening. Ordering on account is super easy. Purchase orders go through without any issues.

Strengths: Our company uses McMaster-Carr regularly. Excellent Website. Easy to order (and re-order). Trackable items. Extremely quick shipping. Items are usually at our shop the next morning. Invoicing and payments are accurate. Items shipped are accurate. Returns and refunds are easy. Excellent customer service

Needs to improve: McMaster is usually really great about everything. On occasion, there I find some of their prices are a little higher on some metal products. Prices are competitive though. They are pretty much in the ballpark.

Excellent services with Ebay for the last decade. Several forms of payment sent/received is a plus. Invoicing, shipping, fees/rates are good. Easy to communicate with Seller/Buyer with a click of a button. Shipping information, product description is great. multiple Pictures and instant relisting features are great improvements on Ebay recently.

Strengths: Strong Website. Very informative. I use Ebay for musical items, including sound tech equipment. Buyer and Seller protection is a plus. Refunds are easy.

Needs to improve: The search engine on ebay could be a little better. Key words in descriptions would be nice. Everything is tied to the title bar. Searching could take a little longer if people don't know how to use the Title Bar correctly for searches.

Fluke pays on time and initially communicates fairly well on email. Their second email responses are really slow. Does not acknowledge some of the questions right away. Again, Initial emails are quick and to the point. I suppose, they answer emails based on what they want. If there is a conflict or question, they are very slow to respond.

Strengths: Fluke has accurate accounting and billing. Payments are also on time.

Needs to improve: Fluke is such a large corporation that the right hand doesn't seem to know what the left hand is doing. Inner company structure could use some work. Email communications are fine, but their Fax documents needs to go away. Half the time, the faxes don't go through. Accounting and Buyers need to work together a little better.

Use them on a weekly basis for deposits, bank reconciliations for small business. Very nice people, but has a lot of inconsistencies with Bank Charges and fees that aren't suppose to be there. Checks are often cleared at a different amount.

Strengths: Good customer service. Very Cheery. Always willing to help us figure out any inconsistencies in banking for the business.

Needs to improve: Rates are not that great. Bank statements are inconsistent. They will clear checks at a different amount than what is written on the checks themselves. Lots of headache to try to clear these inconsistencies up. Okay for personal use, not okay for Businesses.

Exceptional services, good attitude, quick turnaround. Overall great experience!

Strengths: Excellent communication. Quality components and parts. Quick turnaround and competitive prices. Excellent customer service

Needs to improve: could use a little more information on the website, but otherwise, excellent company.

Overall, great experiences. Decent food and consistent with every meal. Only downside is the local Santa Cruz Chipotle likes to close earlier than advertised. They are suppose to close at 10pm. At 9:15pm, they already had their doors locked and we were ignored at the locked door. We had to find another eatery.

Strengths: Excellent Service. Same chain mannerisms throughout each visit. Very consistent.

Needs to improve: The hours are not consistent in Santa Cruz.

incredibly fast shipping. Amazon Prime is true to their word. Overnight or Two-day service are spot on, regardless of shipping to business or home.

Strengths: Quick Shipping with Amazon Prime. Great descriptions of products. Easy to read reviews of other buyers of the product. Easy to read website and vendor options are excellent! Returns are very easy. Quick confirmations.

Needs to improve: Not all description of products are accurate. Vendors tend to write in the description. Occasionally the dimensions of a products are off. Amazon needs a little more quality control regarding accuracy of product descriptions.

Drivers are nice. Drop off and pickups are handled correctly. Doesn't handle boxes roughly.
FedEx charged us a very large fee when we flagged down a driver on the road and gave him a package (as we were on the way to the FedEx dropoff center). We figured giving the driver a package is quicker. FedEx charged us a large Fee. Customer beware!

Strengths: Treats packages well. No damage to shipped items. Pretty good tracking system online.

Needs to improve: Delivery times are not very accurate at the business. Drop off and pickup times are not as predictable as UPS or USPS. Even On Trac (more local carrier) has a better track record of timeliness than FedEx.

Good turnaround on Purchase Orders. Quality is excellent. Pretty good communicating as well. Let's us know when parts are finished and ready for Will Call.

Strengths: Excellent heat treatment. Quick Turnaround. Very Professional

Needs to improve: Fixed lot charge is a little bit high. We can give them 1 pc or 50 pc and it will cost the same. If we give them 3 different orders on the same day, they will charge 3 separate lot charges.

Swift Metal Finishing has a quick turnaround time. They offer excellent communicating. Emailing habits could be better. We are in the day and age of emails/computers. Not a fan of Faxing and hand written documents.

Strengths: Overturn on items are extremely quick. Finishes are excellent. Plating services are great. If there is an issue with any plating, they work with us to make it right.

Needs to improve: Haven't had any real major issues with Swift Metal. They are one of our top outside sourcing plating companies. Wish they had a good website though or made better use of emails in terms of contact. Phone/verbal is okay, but easier to keep track of the paper trails if using emails.

The drivers are courteous and polite. They work with our office hours and are easily accessible via personal cell phone. I prefer UPS over USPS or FedEx. I am a little tired of their Online services though. Prices fluctuate too much on shipping costs. Wish they could update the software maybe once a month instead of daily.

Strengths: UPS is on time. The daily drivers I know locally are courteous and willing to work with our business hours. They drop off packages in the morning and come back in the evening for pickups. They arrive just as we are closing and are rarely late.

Needs to improve: Occasionally, the website is a little unstable. It gets a little frustrating sometimes. Obtaining supplies online is not the easiest. They limit certain items and I would have to repeatedly log in and order the same supplies multiple times in one sitting so I can have a larger quantity (of labels) shipped to our company.