# CPO Tools Ain't What It Use To Be...



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

*CPO Tools Ain't What It Use To Be...*

A little over four weeks ago I did an online order for a cordless 12V Bosch jigsaw through CPO...
*CPO Bosh Tools*
At checkout time I see that a 20$ promo offered by Bosch wasn't applied nor free shipping for the order was over 100$...
Not only that, the shopping cart showed/had two saws listed at checkout for full price...
I tried to cancel one saw, apply the promo and get the free shipping w/o success through the site...

The following morning I called CPO C/S to try and get the order straight...
The kid I talked to said there was nothing he could do about the promo nor the free shipping not getting applied...
When I said that is not what the site says he said *''It is what it is''...* Then proceeded to ask for a CC# to processes the order...
I said I was canceling the order and he said *''FINE!''* and hung up...
I waited two days and called their CS again and got pretty much the same run around again and another* ''It is what it is''...*

What prompted this post was the fact that I got another email from CPO this morning wanting my CC to complete the order...
Yes, I told their CS I was canceling the order...
Yes, I clicked the box on every single daily notice/request that I was canceling the order...
Yes, I unsubscribed from CPO emails, multiple times...
And yes, I received no help from their CS this morning – only got hung up on...

I'm done w/ them and can no longer in good faith recommend them...
After some look/see their pricing isn't the best any more either... 
*Their CS* has moved from ''outstanding to *''Flat out sucks''
*


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

Sorry to hear that, Stick. Thanks for the heads up.Guess we'll have to look elsewhere to satisfy our Bosch addiction.


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## Arcola60 (Jul 4, 2009)

Thank you for the warning Stick. That is unfortunate, and hurtful.
CS is the sale, after the sale.
We have all probably seen this situation come up in our journey for satisfaction.

Ellery


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

Thanks for the warning.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

How sad to see what was once always on our recommended list, fall. Not really a fall, but a suicide. I have been finding decent prices and good CS through WalMart, Home Depot online. It was a surprise, great customer service, and free delivery to a local store was very convenient. Can't get everything there, but I was surprised at what they do carry online.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

DesertRatTom said:


> I have been finding decent prices and good CS through WalMart,
> Can't get everything there, but I was surprised at what they do carry online.


I was surprised when I found they carry bagpipes.

I shop on-line with them at times, because they are usually the closest available source for what ever I am looking for, also least expensive, and it beats the Hell out of tramping all over the store trying to find something, because it's been moved.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I'd love to know what changed at CPO Corporate. Bought up by a larger cannibalistic company? New CEO and Directors? Maybe just a new hotshot in charge of sales? (let the CS guy go?)


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

I understand they bought up some of the other tool outlets...
Acme Tool
Tyler Tool
Tool Barn..
CPO Outlets, which sells certified pre-owned tools from all of the major tool manufactures has just added three new brands to their growing number of online stores. The addition of Black & Decker, Panasonic Tools, and Fein, brings their total number of stores to 32 different brands. 
got too big and lost control???
https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.cpooutlets.com


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## Arcola60 (Jul 4, 2009)

In today's competitive sales market, and online sales, that is total suicide.
It's like buying a car, now. You can get the same car from any dealer. It
doesn't matter to the buyer, it should matter to the seller.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I Hear you, crossed them off my list. Spread the word. 

Go Harbor Freight!!!!!!!
Herb


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## RTR (Mar 20, 2019)

DaninVan said:


> I'd love to know what changed at CPO Corporate. Bought up by a larger cannibalistic company? New CEO and Directors? Maybe just a new hotshot in charge of sales? (let the CS guy go?)


What years was CPO "good"? When did CPO become "bad"? 

If you are at all like me, years flash by in a seeming instant nowadays, faster than weeks used to laboriously languish on and on decades ago, but here is a brief history:

CPO started in 2004. Ten years later, in 2014, CPO was acquired by Associated Stationers, which I suppose you could say is the "larger cannibalistic company." Need proof? Read below. In 2015, a big corporate change happened, and Associated Stationers, and all the companies they gobbled up along their voracious acquisition path over the previous 40 years, suddenly became Essendant, stock symbol ESND as traded on NASDAQ.

Ok. The proof:

At the same time that CPO Commerce (parent company name for all the CPO Outlet websites, ie CPO Bosch, CPO Milwaukee, etc) was acquired, Associated Stationers, which at the time was #484 on the Fortune 500 list of companies, also scooped up MEDCO (the automotive tools company, NOT the Medicare scripts prescription company... familiar with both at this age) and G2S (another automotive tools company). Two years previous, Associated Stationers acquired OKI Supply (formerly OKI Bering in Canada and in the Middle East... industrial supplies and welding equipment). Prior acquisitions included MBS Dev, ORS Nasco, Sweet Paper, Peerless Paper, Lagasse, Azerty, and the BIG one... United Stationers Inc, a publicly traded company that itself had just swallowed Stationers Distributing. United Stationers had a longer history that dated back 60 years to it's initial incorporation as Utility Supply Company. 

So yes, big business. And ironically, one that actually sells BOTH kinds of routers. :laugh2:


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## RTR (Mar 20, 2019)

Stick486 said:


> I understand they bought up some of the other tool outlets...
> Acme Tool
> Tyler Tool
> Tool Barn..
> https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.cpooutlets.com



The information quoted above is not correct.

Neither CPO Commerce / Outlets, nor their corporate parent Essendant, has anything to do with, nor any control over, nor any association with, ACME Tools.

Acme Tools, established at the beginning of the post war boom in 1948, stands alone and apart from any of the tool outlets on that list. I just ordered six tools from ACME tool, and their customer service has been excellent.

Tool Barn, on the other hand, is associated with Tool Parts Direct and Pressure Parts.com. I ordered parts from Tool Parts Direct about a month ago, and still don't even have a tracking number. Let me repeat that. I ordered parts from Tool Parts Direct, that were shown as IN STOCK at the time of order, and still show as IN STOCK now a month later, and have showed as IN STOCK for each week between time of order a month ago and today, and I still don't have a tracking number. I'm on hold with Tool Barn / Tool Parts Direct, even now, as I type this. The recorded voice has said that my call should be answered within 1 minute, for the last 20 minutes. They have never answered my emails. So let's review: Tool Barn / Tool Parts Direct / Pressure Parts are under the same umbrella, where you can expect a rain of shipping delays, no responses to email, and long wait times on hold, while being lied to by a recorded voice saying "your call should be answered within 1 minute". 

Clearly, CPO Outlets is a better bet, because while the customer service agents at CPO are rude and surly, at least they pickup the phone... even if they hang up a short while later.

Finally, the one instance of truth to the quote above is Tyler Tool. In 2011, Tyler Tool was indeed acquired by CPO Commerce.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

With me they get one kick at the can. They need me; I DON'T need them!
As far as CPO is concerned, they don't ship to Canada in any event so it's all moot.


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

DaninVan said:


> With me they get one kick at the can. They need me; I DON'T need them!


TOTALLY agree!


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## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

Not all customer service reps have the same level of 'know how' or knowledge. When I get one that isn't cuttin' it I ask for a supervisor or manager.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Jim; no argument there, but I make a distinction between their inexperience and just being obnoxious.


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## sgcz75b (Jan 8, 2019)

My experience with CPO has always been positive. I've found that if I'm nice and try to be understanding I'll usually get that in return.

Attitude works both ways.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

!...when has Stick ever been anything _but_ sweet, mellow and lovable?!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

> Neither CPO Commerce / Outlets, nor their corporate parent Essendant, has anything to do with, nor any control over, nor any association with, ACME Tools.


then the rep at Acme lied to me...

I asked if they were affiliated w/ CPO and the girl said yes..
they also do business the same way as Tool Barn / Tool Parts Direct / Pressure Parts does...
in stock moved into back order..
no receipt...
no follow up...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> !...when has Stick ever been anything _but_ sweet, mellow and lovable?!


exactly...


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## RTR (Mar 20, 2019)

Stick486 said:


> then the rep at Acme lied to me...
> 
> I asked if they were affiliated w/ CPO and the girl said yes..
> they also do business the same way as Tool Barn / Tool Parts Direct / Pressure Parts does...
> ...



It is interesting to read the contrast in customer experiences.

Stick had lots of problems with CPO...

Whereas Steve has never had a problem with CPO.

Stick had in stock items downgraded to back order, and didn't get a receipt, or any follow up from Acme... 

Whereas I ordered a mix of in stock and out of stock items from Acme, and the in stock items shipped immediately (already have them) and the out of stock items became in stock a full week earlier than promised. I also received immediate followup from Acme after I placed my order, and received a receipt immediately after the items in stock were actually charged to my credit card and shipped, and received another followup from Acme apprising me of the tracking numbers, and received another receipt immediately after the originally out of stock items became in stock, which then generated another invoice, since Acme didn't charge my card for items they didn't have until they had the items on hand ready to ship, and then I received another followup letting me know the new tracking numbers. This all happened within the last couple of days, so the experience is fresh, as well as my first, with Acme.

That doesn't mean that Steve's or my experience invalidates Stick's, nor does it mean that Stick is anything but sweet, mellow, and loveable...

But what it does mean is that it takes a chorus of reports of experience, all singing the same note, before drawing any over arching conclusions regarding a vendor. I only WISH that I had researched vender reviews of Tool Barn and Tool Parts Direct PRIOR to placing my order with them. It didn't occur to me until three weeks had passed by to look up Tool Barn on consumer review websites, and lo and behold, I was FAR from alone in having to wait MONTHS for them to ship parts, wait hours on hold, and not hear back from emails. Had I read through the chorus of reports before hand, I would have weighed price against service, and would have found a different online outfit to buy parts from (no bricks and mortar store locally carried the parts I wanted).

A few folks in this thread mentioned good experience with Walmart. I'll have to add to the chorus of agreement. I've only done it a couple of times, and it felt a bit strange doing it, but indeed online ordering from Walmart and picking up in store worked out surprisingly well.

I don't know what to say about the girl at Acme who said "yes" when you asked her a question about CPO. Is it possible that she would have simply said yes to anything you asked? Do you have a velvety voice that melts hearts? I don't, because just for fun I called up Acme myself... and interestingly enough a woman from Accounts Receivable answered the phone. I assured her that I already paid the bill, and she said "Relax, I answer the phone when customer service is busy, to reduce wait times". Impressive. So I put the question to her... and she said "NO." Very confidently too. Of course, I've been told "no" infinitely more times than "yes", so consider the source!

Prior to the internet, Acme Tools became famous for their catalog business in earlier decades, and that well established mail order business was a natural segue for Acme to establish an online sales presence in the mid 90's, as the internet was metastasizing. By 1999, Acme sold the mail order and online segments of their business to Amazon. Ten years later, around 2010, Acme re-entered the online tool sales business and launched their own website. No affiliation with CPO, although CPO did acquire a different online tool vendor about a year later, in 2011, called Tyler Tool.


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## OldCurmudgeon (Feb 25, 2012)

DesertRatTom said:


> I have been finding decent prices and good CS through ... Home Depot online.


Maybe for tools; never ordered tools online from them. But I'll NEVER AGAIN buy appliances from them, certainly not online, but not even at the store. My story probably deserves a thread on its own, but it has nothing to do with woodworking...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

OldCurmudgeon said:


> Maybe for tools; never ordered tools online from them. But I'll NEVER AGAIN buy appliances from them, certainly not online, but not even at the store. My story probably deserves a thread on its own, but it has nothing to do with woodworking...


knowing what happened sounds like something that'll benefit others...
the lobby is made to order for the subject...


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

I haven't seen anything at the right price from CPO so never ordered.... glad I missed their CS


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