Bad Experience with Dominion and Grimm

[Kirk]

My wife and I recently spent $1700 on a D&G maple cream machine after visiting Leader, CDL, Lapierre, and D&G on their open house weekends. The Canadian manufacturers all make a similar gear pump style machine while Leader makes the traditional open pan and spatula type machine. We thought the gear pump style unit would be the best choice and D&G looked like the best made of the 3 Canadian machines. We brought it home, cleaned it out, and put a gallon of syrup through the machine. We noticed specks and chunks of black crud in our finished cream. Turns out this was teflon tape and grease. Called D&G USA to speak with their manager, who couldn't give me any answers other than "this shouldn't be happening". We made another batch of cream and same thing, more grease in our cream. I then put about 5 gallons of boiling water through the machine and still was getting grease out of it. Called D&G USA manager again with same results - unapologetic, no answers, general apathy. I wasted 2 gallons of syrup on this machine and had the worst customer service imaginable here. I think a squirrel would be better served as a D&G manager than this fellow. After being thoroughly disgusted, we bring the machine back to D&G and demand our money back. We were told that a refund couldn't be issued from the US, it would have to come from Canadian D&G. Two weeks later, we were issued a check from a VT account under D&G USA. We were completely jerked around by this clown and we'll never go there again. Awful, awful customer service.:mad:

[Ausable]

Kirk - Sorry to hear about Your bad experience. Some folks in business - just don't seem to get it - Without satisfied customers - They are Not Needed and with satisfied Customers - They Prosper with the Company they work for. Glad You were finally able to get a refund and shame on them for being to ignorant to apoligize to You. Also - Thanks for the Warning about this Company and the way they operate. --- Mike

[ennismaple]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience. You spend that kind of money on equipment and you expect a premium product and the customer service to go with it.

Trust me - the manufacturers troll this site reading what people are saying about them and their products. Hopefully your honest feedback gets noticed and this doesn't happen again to someone else.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Sorry to hear about your problem, should have asked for an additional $100 for the syrup you lost using THEIR machine.

[Ausable]

My wife and I recently spent $1700 on a D&G maple cream machine after visiting Leader, CDL, Lapierre, and D&G on their open house weekends. The Canadian manufacturers all make a similar gear pump style machine while Leader makes the traditional open pan and spatula type machine. We thought the gear pump style unit would be the best choice and D&G looked like the best made of the 3 Canadian machines. We brought it home, cleaned it out, and put a gallon of syrup through the machine. We noticed specks and chunks of black crud in our finished cream. Turns out this was teflon tape and grease. Called D&G USA to speak with their manager, who couldn't give me any answers other than "this shouldn't be happening". We made another batch of cream and same thing, more grease in our cream. I then put about 5 gallons of boiling water through the machine and still was getting grease out of it. Called D&G USA manager again with same results - unapologetic, no answers, general apathy. I wasted 2 gallons of syrup on this machine and had the worst customer service imaginable here. I think a squirrel would be better served as a D&G manager than this fellow. After being thoroughly disgusted, we bring the machine back to D&G and demand our money back. We were told that a refund couldn't be issued from the US, it would have to come from Canadian D&G. Two weeks later, we were issued a check from a VT account under D&G USA. We were completely jerked around by this clown and we'll never go there again. Awful, awful customer service.:mad:

Kirk - Another thought - You would think that this Maple Cream Machine costing $1700.00 would have an ID Number. Also that the Idiot Manager would really want this number to see which one of his Bone Head Employees played games when assembling this machine and cost His Company a sure sale and a very mad customer -- and like Flat Lander said also refund you for the lost syrup cost......... Boy -- They sure handled You all wrong - Seems like someone at that stupid outfit would be Hot and kicking some Employee Butt from the Manager on down the line -- Mike

[Kirk]

The whole situation was super bizarre...after 2 gallons down the tubes, I asked him they were going to do about my situation. The responses were "I don't know", "That shouldn't happen", and "I'm not sure". So it was pretty apparent that I wasn't going to be reimbursed for my loss. He claims they only use white food grade grease in their machine which I thought was interesting considering we had black grease in our cream. I even had him question whether the grease was from our syrup and not his machine! Thanks for the support, guys, hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.

[Bruce L]

Kirk,glad to hear you are getting some satisfaction,hard to imagine companies treating their customers like this.It used to be if you got screwed on a deal or a bad product it was only you and a few neighbours the company had to worry about getting a bad rap from,nowadays with the internet everyone knows and learns from it.I have seen other topics on here from producers complaining about their evaporators,customer service etc,I would personally want to get on it before my reputation got ruined.This same company was touting their new Tornado evaporator to me,but when I asked for more info or references from owners they wouldn;t return my emails or calls,too bad for them.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

not that I'm in the hunt for a creme machine but will not spend any! money with that company at this time or near future.

You should also email the company headquarters about your issue.

[KenWP]

How pray tell did you find anybody in that company that spoke english.I have to have translators and my french to deal with them.I have never been able to find a english speaking person.I have given up trying to deal with all the Quebec companies.

[DrTimPerkins]

He claims they only use white food grade grease in their machine which I thought was interesting considering we had black grease in our cream.

Makes you wonder if this particular unit had come back defective and the previous owner had put the wrong grease in it.

Not to defend these practices in any way, but all companies can have a bady day, or a defective product, or just fall down on customer service every now and then. It is when there are several reports of this happening, and it isn't corrected promptly to the customer's satisfaction that it becomes a real issue.

[paul]

Has anyone ever bought glass from them? they charge you extra for the caps. what good are the bottles with out the caps.And if you must charge extra for the caps why not just add them to the price of the glass and don`t tell anyone. Thats just stupid, we stopped dealing with D&G years ago.

[Brent]

In defense of D&G there is no where in the machine that grease is used except in the Oberdorfer pump ... which D&G does not make. Where the black tape came from is another issue. Our D&G machine runs like a charm. Of the gear pump style machines on the market, it is the easiest to clean with the clamp on sanitary fittings. Sorry for your bad luck.

[maplecrest]

I do alot of business with D & G. yes the caps seperate is a pain, when you get home and have the wrong ones.but i under stood that is how it works with that co. I also own one of their ceam machines. but took 'apart and cleaned the unit before using'. never had a problem other than the learning curve. makes cream fast. the only thing i do not like on the machine is the elbow needs a quick connent to take apart and clean.and i will say that i have lost 2 gallons of syrup learning to use the machine. The manager is a sugar maker himself and i am sure did what he could on the U.S. side of a canadian based co. to refund your money.i would think that a call to the home office in canada would have been more in order for the kind of responce you were looking for.the usa store is a outlet store warehouse.

[peckfarm]

Through your post it seems that perhaps you did not ask them to do anything specifically. It does not come naturally to me however I have learned that when I call to complain regarding service or defective items it is important to have a list of "demands" ready to go. It is a classic manager vs. customer game. You ask for twice as much as you expect to get from the company, they in turn have been trained to not offer anything that is not requested of them. Hope this helps.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

Through your post it seems that perhaps you did not ask them to do anything specifically. It does not come naturally to me however I have learned that when I call to complain regarding service or defective items it is important to have a list of "demands" ready to go. Hope this helps.

I ran my electrical business for six years before having to close it and go to AZ for 2 but that is beside the point here. When I had a customer call up and tell me something they didn't like or what ever the problem was, I did everything in my power to make them happy. 6 years of business and I never advertised all word of mouth.

That manager should have called HQ in Canada and started something rolling if it isn't his call to totally fix the problem. Because of what he didn't do I think there are people here who will be very reluctant about purchasing items from them.

I just installed two RAB motion detectors and was having problems with them. I emailed RAB tech support the issues, with in 24hr I had a response and my supply house told me if the issue persists after you try what tech said to do bring them back we have two more right here for you. That is customer service!

[Ausable]

I do alot of business with D & G. yes the caps seperate is a pain, when you get home and have the wrong ones.but i under stood that is how it works with that co. I also own one of their ceam machines. but took 'apart and cleaned the unit before using'. never had a problem other than the learning curve. makes cream fast. the only thing i do not like on the machine is the elbow needs a quick connent to take apart and clean.and i will say that i have lost 2 gallons of syrup learning to use the machine. The manager is a sugar maker himself and i am sure did what he could on the U.S. side of a canadian based co. to refund your money.i would think that a call to the home office in canada would have been more in order for the kind of responce you were looking for.the usa store is a outlet store warehouse.

Howdy Maplecrest ----Hmmmmmm! You do a lot of business with D & G - Find not having the caps packed with the bottles a pain (Lids & Rings come with Canning Jars) - The D & G Manager is a Sugarmaker himself - so - No caps with the bottles gotta be a pain for him toooooo -- etc - etc... So how is giving D & G a wake up call a bad thing? Sounds like that is what they need if they want to continue in business ----- Mike

[Kirk]

After posting my disparaging D&G comments, the manager got word and gave me a call yesterday. He explained that the reason he kept telling me "I don't know" was that he truly did not know what was wrong with the machine - nothing they've ever seen before. It was a very busy time of year for them and this may have been why I feel like I didn't get the response I was looking for. He attempted to straighten things out with me by sending over a few rolls of tubing. I appreciate the fact that he contacted me to try and smooth things over. I did not accept the token, and wished it had been ironed out when my machine went haywire. I may have laid it on a little heavy with my squirrel comment towards the manager. I hope others have better luck than I did with D&G products.

[DrTimPerkins]

After posting my disparaging D&G comments, the manager got word and gave me a call yesterday.

It may have been a bit of "too little too late" for you, but at least it was an attempt to make things right. That is at least a positive sign in the right direction.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

hopefully he will take this unfortunate experience and learn from it and be a better manager.

[Kev]

hopefully he will take this unfortunate experience and learn from it and be a better manager.

LOL for that matter I do not think great managers are born (good ones maybe) they learn it the hard way.

I do not know... is a terrible answer. I do not know, because we have never seen that happen before. Is a much better answer.
I gotta agree with the Docs comments too.