Have an ongoing situation with SCM, overcharging me $300 for shipping, and not getting back with me. Looking for help with how to proceed.
Current situation:
SCM charged my card $337 for freight on a couple parts for my wide belt sander. The parts could easily have been sent FedEx or UPS Ground in a box about the size of a large pillow, but instead they were sent flopping around in a box stapled to a large pallet. Originally I was told by SCM parts that yes, indeed, this was a mistake and I wouldn't have to pay freight. But I've contacted SCM many, many times, with no help, and have started a dispute with my credit card for the amount.
Back situation:
Last year September I ordered the 2 parts, agreed to the price of the items, and asked them to update me when the parts are in the US and what the bill will be. Weeks later, without any notification, a large pallet arrives and I get an invoice for the parts and $337 freight. I take pictures and immediately call SCM parts to be told that yes, logistics should not have used freight, so I will get an updated invoice less the freight amount.
A month or two goes by and I haven't received any invoice, after calling them trying to get it sorted. In the meantime, I need a couple more small parts, order them, they arrive with standard ground shipping, I call in to pay my bill. I do not give them permission to keep my card on file, but to process the one-time payment. They still aren't able to give me an invoice for the prior order. So off I go, happy with my new parts, having the second order paid for, but still no updated invoice for the first.
8 months go by, until a couple weeks ago, and wham, my credit card is billed for the first order, for the full amount, including $337 freight. What ensues is a spiderweb of SCMs departments pointing fingers at each other, not answering phones, not answering emails, putting me on hold, telling me the "manager is away on vacation", etc. The first call to billing I actually talked to somonee, Andrea, who, when I asked why I'm getting billed 10 months late, her flat response was simply "covid". (Yet they had no problem billing me and keeping my card on file for other orders). In logistics I called Adam 4x, Kim 4x, Beth 3x, leaving polite and patient messages each time. In billing I talked to Andrea 2x, and each time she pointed me to logistics. When logistics wouldn't answer, I called Andrea again 2x, had to leave messages, and also wrote 2 emails. I've left half dozen voice messages on the general SCM answering machine, spoken with 2 different front-desk people multiple times, asked several times to talk to a manager, and spoken to a couple different parts department employees, yet no one is doing anything. In total I have emailed maybe 20 times, called 35 times, left 15 messages, all with about 10 different staff.
Any time I do talk to someone they say someone else has to handle it, or that they will escalate my request, or that so and so is out, etc. The only 2 times I have gotten a call back from SCM over the last 8 or 9 months were at 5am. According to any employee these are automated call-backs by their system. According to another employee they "always send these parts freight so they don't get damaged."
To make it all worse, employees don't give out their extensions or email addresses. You only can get an email address if they email you first.
Last week on Monday I wrote everyone I had an email address for, which was 3 different people, that I would be refuting the charge with my card company if I hear no resoution by end of Wednesday. Come Thursday morning nothing came in, so I filed a dispute with my card company. And that's where we're at. I continue to call and email them but am getting nothing.
How can a company make such good machines yet offer such support as this? At some point I'll be in the market for a new slider, a new wide belt, and a new planer, and hopefully one day a CNC. Would I be crazy to want to avoid SCM from a year of such experiences? Am I alone in this? Are other european companies such as Felder, Barth, Martin, just as bad?
Any help with next steps would be appreciated. It sucks that they may end up getting their way, keeping my money, losing a customer, and I can't do a damn thing about it. All over $300, 10-month late invoicing, and keeping my card on file without me knowing. The money isn't as big a deal as me just wanting to have options of purchasing good machines from a supportive company.
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