Gordon Electric Supply

My initial experience with the order was quite positive. One of the items I needed to order was a specialized wire connector from Legrand. It's used to make the connections in their wire mold, since a standard wire nut is too bulky. There are two kinds of this connector; one for supply wire and one for ground. Both were listed on the same page on your site, and were described as being in stock. The connectors were listed as being available individually, although there was no means on the page to specify which connector you wished to order. There was also a note that if a customer needed a full carton of the part, they'd need to order 24 pieces. I needed 6 of each, and called to see how I could make that clear for my order. I was told to put a note to that effect in the delivery instructions window of the order form. I also chose to have someone check up on the order. I had an email response almost immediately after placing the order, which was impressive. After having told this contact that the order appeared to be as intended, I noticed that the total number of wire connectors ordered had changed to 24. I went back to the item page on your website in case there was mention of them coming in pairs, but couldn't find any such mention. I called my quality control contact, Riley Welch. They indicated that the part was not actually in stock, and that company policy required ordering an entire carton of the part in that case. I could find no mention of this policy on the part's web page. We then went through some effort to confirm whether a carton was a mixture of the connector types, or whether I was going to have to go through the prohibitive effort of ordering a carton of each type just to get the 6 I needed. Riley indicated that the carton was an even split of the connector types. I was still ordering twice as many of each as needed, but I had a pair of plug molds awaiting installation, and Legrand doesn't pack ANY of the connectors with the mold. The order arrived VERY quickly. That was great! However, when I opened the box, it turns out a carton of the wire connectors is 2/3 supply, 1/3 ground. Since this still gave me at least as much ground connectors as needed, I could proceed with my installation. It was, however, the last frustrating bit in what turned out to be a frustrating process. First off, let me make clear that Riley was great to work with. Your rep was quick to respond and clearly committed to helping me get what I needed. I'm also gathering that some of this lands at the door of Legrand, since they don't seem to have these parts as readily available as one might hope. Beyond that, here is a quote from my final conversation with Riley:

"You are no doubt tired of hearing about this order by now, but my understanding is your involvement in the order is intended to help maintain your company's quality standards and good relationships with your customers. To that end, it would be great if the web page for this item could be made more accurate, specifically:

- make it clear when it is and isn't possible to order individual connectors
- make it possible to order connectors by type (W30 vs. W30G) from that page, instead of having to rely on a note in the shipping instructions
- make sure you offer accurate information of what the actual contents of a carton of these connectors is

For my small order, it took a phone call and a series of emails to be sure I was getting what I needed, and my initial order automatically increased without any input or approval on my part. Once the order arrived, it still didn't match what I'd been told to expect. Your company's responses in the course of all this have been relatively quick and polite, but it ended up taking an exaggerated amount of effort on both our parts to get this order worked out. I'm guessing you'd like to see that go better as much as I would."

Lastly, know that I was pleased to have the opportunity to buy from a woman-owned company and not a big box corporation. I'm one of those people who is happy to spend a bit more to do so. I was also impressed that you are clearly striving for a robust and effective customer service experience. Everything other than the accursed wire nuts was easy and straightforward. I'd suggest seeing what can be done to improve the ordering process for this part, and identify any other parts that might have a similar issue. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond.