Water Value's Relationship With Manufacturer/Supplier

I think this week's article will answer many questions that potential customers have about how our training and business structure are set up.

For the most part it is best to think of Water Value Company's relationship with Fleck, Autotrol, Microline and others as a car dealership. Not a used car dealership but a new car dealership such as a Ford or Dodge dealer. We maintain a certain inventory but most products are shipped directly from the manufacturer's warehouse outlet. We are trained by the manufacterer's representatives and engineers in the operation and mechanics of their products. We can contact them at any time with questions or concerns. We are authorized to use their logos and trade marks and even copyrighted material to their standards and requirements. Heck, they'll even put our logos and trade marks on their equipment if we desire, but that would drive costs up a bit which defeats the purpose of saving the consumer money.

If I were to drive over to the Ford headquarters in Dearborn Michigan to purchase a truck, I would be given the phone number and address to an authorized Ford dealer. I can't just march in and buy a truck from them. So too is the case with the Fleck 9000 system. You can't just go to Brookfield Wisconsin and pick one up. For one, not all of the components you need will be there. If you were to tell Fleck that you wanted a K90R320, they would not know what you were talking about, but we would. That's what we're here for. And just as Ford Motor Corp. does not manufacture the tires that go on their F150s, Fleck does not manufacture every component that their Fleck 9000 needs to do the job for you.

While we do stock some equipment we strive to keep our inventory low to keep overhead costs low. There are some manufacturers that we use who still insist on sending us bulk quantities of their products to stock as opposed to shipping directly to customers that we specify. Fortunately, there are fewer and fewer manufacturers like that. It is the consumer that sets the standard for quick response and low pricing and that is the way of the future for the water treatment industry, and we will be here in the future no matter what the consumer demands of us.

Once your online order is placed it is confirmed via email and translated into part numbers and sub-components that the manufacturers can understand. It is then either FAXed or emailed to them for configuration and packaging. For the most part, your order is ready to ship the day you order it, that is how efficient these suppliers have become. And all of the equipment and systems that you see on Water Value's web site are in stock and ready to go unless otherwise stated. A curious note here: Many people that call in their orders feel that the phone will actually speed up the ordering process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Stated simply; a phoned in order will require two of us to process where an online order only requires the labor of one person, thus saving a great deal of time to actually translating and placing the order with the supplier.

After your order is placed by you and translated and forwarded to the supplier, it is a simple matter of waiting for confirmation and shipment. Once the shipment is complete, UPS ground service, FedEx, R&L Freight (which now sponsors the #17 NASCAR Nextel Cup Ford Fusion of Matt Kenseth, thank you very much) or even US Postal service picks up the shipment, provides us with tracking information and expedites your order to your doorstep as efficiently as possible. I have witnessed on countless occasions a customer clicking on one of our "Buy Now" buttons at 11am local time, and receiving their equipment in less than 24 hours! If that does not impress you then think about this. Why is it acceptable for an order from Dell computers for example, to take up to 10 days to arrive and nobody thinks anything of that? In our humble opinion, we have this fast assembly, distribution and shipping system down to a tee! The rest of the country's businesses could learn a lot from the water treatment industry.

The above statements bring to mind a minor flaw in our system; the business of over night shipping. While the customer mentioned earlier can quite often receive his order in less than 24 hours, it depends solely on his proximity to a supplier's outlet. Take Florida for example. Because we have been unable to locate a fast turnaround factory supplier in that state, it will probably take at least 3 business days for a Florida resident to receive an order from us. Once in a while, a Florida customer is going to be in a hurry and want his order shipped air-freight to him. Due to the size of most of our products, air-freight shipment will undoubtedly cost more than the equipment itself. Therefore, it becomes impractical for us to send most items via that method. While we have tried and succeeded in the past to provide over night shipping, the cost alone tends to out weigh the benefit to the customer. And on other occasions, we have failed to provide over night shipments due to circumstances beyond our control such as supplier assembly, configuration and packaging times. While the product does not make it out the door the same day, we are still charged for over night shipment the next day when the order does finally ship and the customer does not receive his order in time. In order to avoid this type of added expense and disappointment, Water Value has decided to not support over night shipments. Most water treatment requirements to not warrant emergency expedition.

So now you have orderd and received your water treatment equipment. Now what do you do? You assemble it and install it. You might not be quite clear on the provided instructions or owner's manual and you might not be aware of our extensive online support so you need to ask a few questions. No problem. We have full technical email or telephone support for you. We have installed and maintained countless water treatment systems that we sell and many that we do not sell. We have not only the hands on experience required to talk you through planning and setup, but we also have factory training. Thanks to the professional dedication and commitment of the manufacturers we use, Water Value can provide the next best thing to hands-on service and support saving you at least hundreds of dollars over local dealers. An important note here; if you have very problematic water or out-of-the-ordinary water treatment requirements, there is nothing wrong with investing extra in a local dealer who may better understand your local requirements because they can experiment with different water treatment methods and evaluate results without costing you trial-and-error expenses. After all, we're local dealers too! But for the vast majority of water treatment requirements, choosing and purchasing online directly from us can save you a great deal.

Our web site is dedicated to educating everyone about water problems and their solutions. We have information and solutions for nearly every conceivable water issue known, you only need to look for it or ask us. That is why we tend to train frequently whenever training is available. If a factory rep or engineer is scheduled to be anywhere in our vicinity, we will make it a point to go or even have them as our guest. The water treatment industry is constantly upgrading to new and improved treatment methods and equipment. It is our goal to stay on top of these technologies as soon as they are practical. That is why there may be times when a customer calls us and received an automated message stating that we are unavailable for phone support during a training session. Not to worry though. Because of our new wireless laptop computers, we are able to deal with email in a highly efficient manner. Any time there is a break in the lecture or demonstration, at least one of us will be checking email messages to better serve you no matter where we are.

When choosing a water treatment solution for your requirements, keep in mind that we at Water Value Company realize it's not only our superior products, service or methods that have brought us to where we are today, but you the consumer, and we appreciate every one of you no matter how large or how small your water treatment needs may be.