Tap Plastics - resolves issue and earns a thumbs up

[Nancy Laird]

I am VERY perturbed about Tap Plastics. I want to buy some 12x24" 1/4" acrylic sheets, and on Saturday, May 26, I completed a request on their website for a quotation for materials and shipping, before I pulled the trigger.

It is now June 4--and I have not heard one single peep from Tap Plastics.

Does anyone else have any experience with this company and their response times? I'm inclined to forget it and find someone else, rather than deal with this kind of lack of attention from someone who wants my money!:mad:

Nancy

[Matt Meiser]

I don't have any experience with them in particular, but in general I find that companies don't respond to requests from their web sites in a timely manner if at all. I'd give them a call.

[Joe Pelonio]

Nancy,

I deal with their local Bellevue WA store, and have always found them to be great people. I also know people at the Seattle store, and often when Bellevue is out will have materials shipped to me from Seattle or Portland.

Unfortunately, though, I have heard similar stories about the website and the corporate people in CA before. They even do custom laser cutting, but don't like to mess around with small jobs so people are charged a fortune plus shipping from CA and have to wait a long time.

What you could do is call David (mgr) or Grant in Bellevue at 425.861.0940. Unfortunately the only toll-free number goes to the same people as the website e-mail. I'll certainly mention your complaint to David next time I go there.

[Dave Jones]

I don't know if you've ever bought from Delvies, but since you are talking about 12" x 24" sheets, you might want to check them out:

http://www.delviesplastics.com/

[Mike Null]

Nancy

Let us know if you find somebody. Buying plastic is a real chore.

[Kenneth Hertzog]

Nancy
I use www.usplastic.com for all my plastic items. they ship quickly and have always given me good service. they are in Lima OH.
ken
slippery rock, pa

[Belinda Barfield]

Nancy,

I have purchased acylic sheets from both Laserbits and Johnson Plastics. Have you tried either of these companies? Great service from both.

[Brian Robison]

I'm with Dave, I use Delvies for cast acrylic. I have them ship parcel post and I get it in 2 days, ground UPS take over a week and costs more.
I've shopped around a lot and I keep going back to Delvies.

[Gary Shoemake]

I get mine from Sloans Woodshop. Fast delivery haven't had any trouble prices are right in line.

[Nancy Laird]

I get mine from Sloans Woodshop. Fast delivery haven't had any trouble prices are right in line.

Gary, the only problem is that they aren't stocking 1/4" in the transparent colors I want (they have only clear), and their prices are a trifle higher than Tap.

I'm going to try Delvies and see if they have what I want. Thanks, all.

Nancy
Nancy

[Ray McAlister]

In D/FW I use Regal Plastics IN Fort Worth and Allied Plastics in Dallas(214-350-3990). Allied is cheaper on everything except mirror and will cut and deliver for free if you buy 1 or 2 4' by 8' sheets. Mike at Allied has been very helpful. I know this doesn't help for mail order, but they may ship and regal has several stores.
Ray

[Carol VanArnam]

Nancy, wow do I have a story for you. I went to TAP and they were a bit high in price but they were nice and had plastic.

I then went to GE Plastic http://www.geplastics.com/gep/en/Home/Home/home.html
and WOW OH WOW. Talk about nice, helpful, friendly, good prices. The first visit I had with them then gave me samples like you would not believe. They then gave me about $100 worth of plastic for free just to try and work with.

My second visit I wanted to buy a specific color but they were out of it but said they would order and ship it to me asap. We went out to look at their drop off bin. I thought I'd buy some 1/2 sheets of a few different colors. We had about $300 in plastic sitting there and the salesman said not to worry about it he didn't want to write up the paperwork and I could just have the plastic for free. WOW what a praise report. :) :) :)

I made both of the sales reps a very nice pen set as a gift. I figured I could give them both a $10 set for all of the help and plastic they gave me. I found I could buy a 4x8 sheet for what it cost me for a 4x4 sheet at TAP

[Ralph Lindberg]

Never used their web-site, just bought in person, with no issues.

Even today, many firms operate their web-sites with complete clueless-ness. I dropped by one firm and asked why they hadn't responded to an e-mail ~$10K RFQ, they stated $*%&, the e-mail must be down again. Turns out it had been down for at least two weeks, and they didn't know

[Russ Miller]

I am VERY perturbed about Tap Plastics.
It is now June 4--and I have not heard one single peep from Tap Plastics.


Nancy

Nancy,
Have you ever thought that your email never made it to TAP Plastics? Did you try calling the 800 number? We are here to help. :Dhttp://www.tapplastics.com/

What kind of Colored Acrylic do you need? If you are going to Engrave it, make sure you get CAST Acrylic and not the Extruded type like FF or MC. The cast material engraves with a nice Matte finish but the extruded type will melt. If you are going to be cutting through them, then either one is OK.

A 12"x 24" piece of 1/4" colored acrylic costs $19.00 plus the UPS charges. TAP Plastics will cut any size you want and will charge you only for the material you are getting. We stock Smoke, Black, Green Edge, Lt.Blue Transparent, Bronze, Two different Whites, Sign Blue, Amber, Mirror and of course Clear in 1/4" thickness. TAP Plastics has been in business since 1954, we pride ourselves on our customer service. We have 20 locations on the West Coast but we ship all over the United States and the World.

I do not work at our Website or Corporate Office but a lot of the questions concerning Acrylic, Fabrication and Signage get forwarded to me. I've been with TAP Plastics for 27 years and I will be happy to answer any questions you might have. We do all of the LASER Cutting and Engraving here in our San Leandro location.

Russ Miller
TAP Plastics Store Manager
San Leandro , CA
TEL (510)357-3755
FAX (510)357-4761
tap10@sbcglobal.net

[Nancy Laird]

Russ, thanks for your response; you may be right--maybe the e-mail never got there. (Sometimes I assume that because of the magic of electronics, mails get to where they need to be.) But...I got home on Monday afternoon and there were two (2) calls on my voice mail; both were hang-ups, but when I checked *69, at least one of the calls was from a phone number in area code 925, and when I called it, it was answered by a machine that identified it as Tap Plastics. I truly don't know what it going on http://graphics.hotmail.com/i.p.emcrook.gif.

I'll get back to you directly. Thank you.

Nancy

[Nancy Laird]

Now for an update:

Russ Miller, Manager of the Tap Plastics retail store in San Leandro, CA., Russ saw my post, sent me a direct e-mail, quoted me for the material I wanted (which was actually less than the prices showing on the website), and I ordered the material directly from him today. I got an e-mail back from him late this afternoon, stating that my package has been deposited with UPS, giving me the tracking number, and also telling me that he had tucked some "extra goodies" into the package. I am VERY pleased with TAP Plastics now, at least with Russ, and when I need more materials that TAP carries, Russ will get my call rather than going anywhere else.

Thanks, Russ, for your help, for your service, and for redeeming your company in my eyes.

Nancy