Leslie Judson Jones said:
[quote="Mikey P":133sluvz]I would like to hear the story Les.
Why not just post it for all to read and judge?
OK, Mikey. If you insist, I’ll tell the story. First of all, I would like to say something about Judson. All equipment that Judson manufactures is original designs. All other equipment being manufactured is variations of existing designs. Judson holds 26 patents in the carpet cleaning industry including the truckmount and the wand patent. We mind our own business and are more than fair with our customers. This is why we are still in business after 49 years without having to spend $10,000 - $30,000 pr month on an advertising campaign like some of our competitors do. We are always honest, more than fair, and do the right thing. This is why it is so hard for me to believe Blueline treated us the way they did. But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me so much, because this sort of thing seems to be the norm in the carpet cleaning industry these days. No matter what happens, Judson will not change our ways. We will continue to have satisfied customers who are using their original units in excess of 25 years. There is no other manufacturer in this industry that can make this statement.
So without further adieu, here is the story of Judson being a distributor for Blueline:
As many of you know, Judson specializes in propane powered truckmounts. We knew all along that a heat exchanger would never be as reliable, and to this day, it doesn’t come close. However, a lot of people like not having to buy propane. There is nothing new about heat exchangers. They have been around for about 20 years and a new company came along called Blueline. When I first saw one of their truckmounts, I was very impressed. Seeing that we did not manufacture a high temp heat exchanger, Judson looked into some of their units. We purchased a Champ and a Thermalwave. Blueline was even nice enough to send them on a 90 day credit. Once I got the units in my showroom, the workmanship and engineering of the unit appeared to be outstanding, from an engineer’s point of view. The units sat on my showroom floor for about a year before we sold them. I felt that we had a good working relationship. I’m glad that we did not sell the units earlier, because they had some issues with units that they had sold. Blueline sent all the parts needed to correct my units in the showroom before we sold them. I commend Blueline for correcting their issues.
The only problems I had with the two units that I did sell is the units would not maintain the heat that they claimed they would, but the units were being used in a residential environment where the triggers were released more often, and the units could catch up with the heat, so it never was an issue for me with these units. Since I sold them, the Champ has had a lot of trouble. I get a phone call almost weekly about it. I’ve not had any issues with the Thermalwave. It was purchased by a retired man who still doesn’t have 100 hours on it.
During the time we were with Blueline, Judson did a lot of warranty repair updates on existing systems they sold. These warranty repairs and updates were done at both Judson locations, Florida, and Greenville, SC. We had Blueline units coming from Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. We did warranty repair and updates for units sold to Servicemaster and Servpro.
The agreement with Judson on warranty repair was $45 pr hour towards credit with Blueline. This credit was to go towards parts and equipment to be purchased at distributor cost. The estimated amount for this warranty work is around $4,000 including the Greenville, and Florida location combined.
When I first came to Mikey’s Board two years ago, you might remember my signature promoting Blueline and
Vortex truckmounts. About 2 – 3 months after I joined Mikey’s Board, I was told by a member that there was another Blueline distributor in Greenville and that they had been a distributor for quite a few months! So, the whole time I was promoting Blueline products, they were too COWARDLY to even let me know they had put another distributor right under me. I did some checking around to see who this new distributor was. I found out that they had made a local carpet cleaner (who I am very familiar with) a Blueline distributor. This same local carpet cleaner tried to be a
Hydramaster distributor about 20 years ago. One day I had a customer walk in my front door with a brochure from
Hydramaster and my customer told me that a man was in front of our building handing out literature. We all looked out the window and it was the local carpet cleaner that Blueline has made their distributor. I’m glad Judson has never had to stoop to tactics like this to sell our equipment. Personally I feel like if I’m a supplier of equipment that it doesn’t seem right to be competing with my customers, so Judson has never cleaned carpets and competed against our own customers.
To this day, I have never been notified from Blueline that I am no longer a distributor. I had to find this out when I called to order parts for the Champ. I was told that we were no longer a distributor and would have to pay full retail for the parts. Then we asked Blueline about the money owed for the warranty repair on the units we did not sell. We were told there is no credit. Needless to say, it takes a lot to piss me off, but I think anyone would have to agree, I had a good reason to be angry at this point. I still have had no communication with anyone other than the parts man at Blueline to get this information. That was the end of the relationship between Blueline and Judson.
About 6 months later after making a lot of good friends on Mikey’s Board, I was told by someone on this board that every single one of you know, that he had spoken with Tom Fielding about Judson. This person that everyone on this board knows says that Tom Fielding told them, that he sent Judson sales leads and that Judson took Bluelines sales leads and sold Judson units instead. This is the LIE of the story. Blueline sent Judson 6 sales leads. I called all 6 leads 3 times each. I got 3 return phone calls, and I discussed the sales of a Blueline machine only. Judson machines were never mentioned. One thing I don’t’ understand about this part of the LIE is why would I do this when there is about $3,000 - $6,000 more profit when selling a Blueline instead of a Judson.
You can say a lot of things about me. You can say I’m fat, that I’m stupid, or that I’m ugly, but don’t ever accuse me of being dishonest! Honesty and fairness is what has kept Judson in business all these years, not marketing hype and cheap shit tactics. What I would like for Tom Fielding to do is locate the leads that he sent me (and I know he knows who they are, because he sent them) and prove to all of us that I sold a Judson unit instead of a Blueline. If he can’t, how about if he PAYS me the money he owes me, since he didn’t FULFILL HIS COMITTMENT. I never sold ANYTHING to these 6 leads.[/quote:133sluvz]
that right there is info you will ONLY get on mikeys board!!!!! airing of the dirty laundry. how long until customers are treated this way?? character matters and it looks like blueline has none, we all know they watch these boards, maybe they should chime in after they have sent a check for $4500 to the owner of judson.
