RotoMetals changes the rules????

[Case Stuffer]

Has anybody bothered to call Rotometals and ask them directly about their policy change? I see lots of talk but how about some first hand info?

I posted the link and quoted a Review posted on their site where a customer was shorted.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2104449

[BRobertson]

I emailed them when this subject was first posted, and refered him to the thread

I got a reply from Ryan immediately

He said to put " Castboolits Friend weight check" in the comments section on your order, and he would personally check the order, and check weights and add a little extra.

They are trying to do the right thing

Bob

[Kull]

I emailed them when this subject was first posted, and refered him to the thread

I got a reply from Ryan immediately

He said to put " Castboolits Friend weight check" in the comments section on your order, and he would personally check the order, and check weights and add a little extra.

They are trying to do the right thing

Bob

That's not so bad. A lot better sounding that "please don't short me".

[Hawkeye45]

I got my order for 20 ingots today and it came out to 108.5lb. Next order may be short, but I am not unhappy with this one.

Mr. Ed

[dragon813gt]

No one is expecting to get more than they paid for. I hope if they read this thread they realize that.

[Matt_G]

No one is expecting to get more than they paid for. I hope if they read this thread they realize that.

Exactly. This is a commodity and should be treated as such.
We don't buy gold and silver "by the ingot". It's by ounces. For lead it's by the pound...period.
Weigh the ingots and charge for actual weight.
No one that I can see is asking them to cut ingots to make a perfect weight.
And I can certainly understand why they would want to get away from that.
What a PITA that would be...

Here's is my suggestion.
Go ahead and keep selling them by the ingot but with the following caveat:
"If you order 10 ingots, we will weigh them and charge your credit card for the actual weight.
If they weigh 54.5 pounds, you will be charged for 54.5 pounds.
Conversely, if they weigh 48.5 pounds, you will only be charged for 48.5 pounds."

Just my two cents worth.

[kerreckt]

I received an order from Rotometals which was priced by the pound and I saw the note that it was sold by the bar. I ordered 6lbs. when I received 4lbs 2oz. I emailed them that they had shorted me 1lb 14oz. They have sent me the difference. I told them if it is priced by the pound I don't care how many bars they must send to fill the order. I bought it by the pound it doesn't matter how many bars they must send to equal 6lbs. I am buying pounds.

[Bigslug]

I guess the real question here is:

Who are Rotometal's competitors?

A rapidly shrinking customer base has a tendency to rectify one's thinking - though the "Castboolits Friend Check" is a step in the right direction.

[alha]

I was thinking the same thing, but conversely. Does Rotometal have any competitors who would supply people like us in the "small" quantities we usually purchase. From seeing how things are going locally with lead, how the supplies are getting contracted more and more, I wonder how long there will be a supply for people like us, who would find it hard to justify purchasing lead by the ton from an industrial supplier. I don't want to rip them too much, but I would 2nd Matt_G's thought, that I understand they only sell by the ingot, and an ingot is around 5 lbs, so I want 5 ingots, or around 25lbs of metal, but that it will be properly weighed and charged. Saves them time adding little pieces in the box to get to an precise weight, but we pay for exactly what we get. Seems like a win-win for both customer and company. Just some more thoughts.

[Oreo]

As for the gold reference, its measured a lot finer then ounces. No quarter is given AT ALL. If you order an ounce of gold you demand it be at least an ounce out to several decimal points of accuracy. No reason not to expect the same accuracy on a percentage basis when buying lead.

[Sasquatch-1]

I emailed them when this subject was first posted, and refered him to the thread

I got a reply from Ryan immediately

He said to put " Castboolits Friend weight check" in the comments section on your order, and he would personally check the order, and check weights and add a little extra.

They are trying to do the right thing

Bob

This also seems like an unfair buisness practice to me. He is saying because we are raising a stink, if we put the name of our organization in, he will take care of us. What about everyone else who orders from him. Do they continue to get the short end of the stick. As mentioned by several others here, weigh each order and charge accordingly. I am sure that anyone ordering metal is not opposed to the charge being adjusted by cents per ounce to charged properly. (Order 20lbs get 19lbs 12 ozs and charged accordingly.) If you are you shouldn't be complaining

[Rotometals]

Dear Fellow Casters,

Thank you all for the helpful information. I have read every post and want to take a moment to address your concerns while assuring you that we will consider your thoughts and advice. Just as many of our competitors do, we now offer our alloys by the ingot instead of by the pound. This does not mean we are changing the pricing structure. We are simply changing the manner in which we offer the material while maintaining our excellent customer service to you.

There are many reasons why we no longer offer cut ingots. In short, it requires a great deal of time each day to cut the many ingots for the multiple orders we ship on a daily basis. This process has proven to loose up to 20 pounds in cut waste each day. Additionally, as many of you know, we strive to ship every order within 24 hours of receiving it. For us to maintain this efficiency, we need to stream line our packaging and shipping process. Eliminating some of the cutting process will help us do this. Ultimately, we want to continue to provide you with the best possible price and fast shipping while continuing to provide you with the great customer service that deserve and expect from us.

In closing, our objective is not to short anyone on their order. To ensure customer satisfaction, large orders (500 pounds or more) will be weighed as we understand that even small variances in ingot weight could result in large discrepancies. Smaller orders may result in minor weight discrepancies but we are refining our casting process to mitigate, if not eliminate this altogether. In the meantime if you are concerned with the weight accuracy of your order, simply put "CASTBOOLITS WEIGHT CHECK" in the order comment box when placing your order and we will be happy to ensure your order ships with a weight that is as accurate as possible.

We appreciate your continued business and look forward to providing you our outstanding customer service for future orders.

[jmort]

Thank you for addressing this and for being proactive

[milrifle]

I understand not cutting ingots, for reasons of time as well as material lost to 'kerf'. However, I do not understand not weighing EVERY order. Pack it by the ingot, but charge by the pound. Let everyone know they may get 47 lbs or 53 lbs when they order however many ingots it takes to average 50lbs, but charge for the 47 or 53 or whatever it actually weighs. That is the only fair thing to do. When people FEEL like they are being cheated (whether they are or not) they will go somewhere else. Are you going to save enough money on NOT weighing to cover the loss of business? What about loss of reputation? Bad news travels fast (And far, in these modern times). I'm new to casting and have not yet ordered any alloy from Rotometals, but I have checked out the website on many ocassions and have been contemplating placing an order, but this thread has me reconsidering.

[Oreo]

We've been informed of how to place our orders to get the service we're asking for. Until that doesn't work I'd say this issue is resolved. Other customers are free to contact Rotometals directly about their needs. We don't have to do that for them. Leave it up to Rotometals to decide how to service their customers.

[Defcon-One]

There is a pretty easy solution, just make all their bars 5 lbs. or more, like I do.

If I can figure out how to make a 5 lb. bar quickly here at home and still make it 5.04-5.06 lbs. then I think that they should be able to do the same. Ask someone who has purchased lead from me, they are all 5.0 pounds+. Very close to there nominal weight, but never lower than 5.0 lbs.

If they can't figure that out, then they should make them all a bit heavier say 5.1 and take the loss. You should always get at least what you pay for, a bit more is OK, but never less!

[Kull]

I received my second order. I ordered 40 lbs of various stuff. Out of the eight ingots only three were less than five pounds, and not by much. 4.90, 4.86, and 4.97. The rest were over five pounds. Three very close to each other at 5.15, 5.16, and 5.17. Last two were heavy at 5.21 and 5.48. So I'd say in this instance Rotometals was right on if they're shooting for a five pound average. I received .9 lbs more than I expected.

Granted it's only my second order but the first thing I noticed was the ingots, all but one, are different that my first order a few weeks ago. Maybe this is part of what Roto was saying about "refining our casting process". They are a lot more uniform on all sides.



These two weight the same and are the same alloy.

[rbertalotto]

I started this thread.....I'm a huge fan of RotoMetals and have sent customers their way through my web site and word of mouth....The quality of the products and the extremely quick shipping is best in the business......But I sure wish they would put a scale under the ingot mold and pour to 5 pounds. This whole new plan of putting something in the comment box or risk not getting a fair deal sounds too much like something Chuck Schumer would think up...........But I'll still buy from them and take my chances as I need lead and I want to put the best alloy I can down my expensive barrels.

[dverna]

I was set to order 2000 lbs a while back when I saw the change in pricing from lb to ingot. I was not pleased with the obvious "scam" so I searched out another supplier and will place my order there. Price seemed good too:

on 2000# 2/6 1.70/lb + 210.00 in shipping


So they lost a $3500 sale due to stupidity or maybe arrogance. What kind of process control do they have if they produced ingots with that much variation or a scale??? I am not going to bitch about being 5 lbs off a 2000 lb order but it would suck to get shorted 100+ lbs. And if they cannot invest in doing it right, the proper thing to do is to sell at the minimum weight and "give away" the added product in ingots than exceed the minimum. In fact, there may be legal requirement to do so.

Now I see they have decided to weigh orders over 500 lbs and by throwing in one ingot they will get within 1% of order quantity. Too late for my business.


Don

[Levant]

I know of many items I buy that work how rotometals does - pay a fixed price but the weight might vary. Others are order a set size but what you get and pay for will be larger or smaller. They eliminate the cost and waste by requiring orders to be by ingot but billing by pound.

At $2.70 to 3.00+ for a commodity trading at 1.01 a pound, their pricing is hard to take. I might be forced to pay it if I want the goods but I will look around other places and opportunities first.