Midwest Locators still horrible

[rakusa]

when relocating. 1 year now and they still haven't placed all my machines. Their ploy is to blow you off when you email relocations and let them build up. With each relocation email I would list the one's from the past so they see them building up to over a dozen to date all within their warranty period.

In November of 2008 they told me they would get to them this year since they were so busy back then so I sucked into that ploy and setup, to wait till 2009. Then this year they said its past their warranty but send the emails (as if I never did) and they will review. I kept them all and sent them highlighting each to make it easy,  showing they are all dated well within the warranty period. Now they don't answer emails, dodge phone calls and don't return phone calls. When you are a potential customer with dozens of machines they reply to everything immediately.

Another ploy is they don't change the spreadsheet for those you notified them you pulled. When they did relocate one or two out of the dozen last year to throw a bone, their ploy is to continue to show all those pulled weeks/months ago as "IN" even when I sent multiple emails reminding them of the errors in addition to replying with corrected spreadsheets,  but they kept sending that old list over and over. This is how they ploy it.

I haven't given up yet but my patience is at end. This is the beginning of a crusade to alert others on other message boards and file a complaint on ripoff reports if they don't come through very soon. Then FTC, BBB and whoever else one can file a complaint for this situation....

I have been the usual nice and patient through this and venting here since yelling and threatening isn't my style.    

BOL all with your locators relocating!

 

[lurtsman]

If the relocation is free, they will push it off until they have nothing to do, and then will have to consider if they want to pay the person to call to find you a new location. It's also MUCH easier to stick to their own spreadsheets, since their caller is making less money per hour when they honor those relocates.

IMO, it's best to either only give a small amount of business at a time, or not deal with the guarantees and just try to get a low price, so you can get your relocates again with the low price. So long as people feel you still have money they will come to help you.

If they make you wait over a year, they have no intention of ever doing anything.

I'm still thinking I may put in a small order with midwest to see what they can do, but it does appear that they have had more complaints in 2009 than in 2008. Perhaps the challenges of operating a business that needs to grow to accommodate the demands of a forum this size are too great. The challenge of recruiting intelligent and diligent staff is enormous. Keep in mind 20% do 80% of the work. If they recruit the wrong people, they can't keep up with the business. It is very challenging, and I shudder to think of trying to run a locating business instead of a vending business.

[alyssamma]

I think Midwest is much better in 2009 than they were in late 2008.

I too have problems getting relocations from Midwest - but I also had the same problems with Kickstart.

One thing I will say about Midwest is that their averages are high enough that I am ok waiting a little while for the replacement.

So, while I may be stuck with a machine making $5/mo, they've also given me a machine making $40/mo, so my average is $22.50/mo.

All of that being said, 1yr is pretty inexcusable. How many machines did you give them and how many do they need to relocate?

Kevin