Hi BMF_AG95!
I'd be happy to help get a deal that works for you, do you know who it was that quoted you previously? There are some brands that have manufacturer pricing stipulations and should be an even playing field, Sub-Zero Wolf being one of them, but we should be competitive and keeping up on something like KitchenAid.
For an example of the stipulations on brands like Sub-Zero, any dealer (Ferguson's included) is under contract to sell at Sub-Zero's stated price in order to remain an authorized dealer. Most high end brands do this and refer to it as UMRP (Unilateral Minimum Retail Price), and they check quote pricing on the back end when we place the order with them. Sub-Zero is particularly aggressive about enforcing this, and will refuse to ship the products in question if any dealer is caught breaking this price point.
This type of pricing is basically going to be any premium brand like SubWolf, Thermador, Gaggenau, Jenn-Air, Monogram etc. Most of those brands do typically have some sort of package deal incentive, like a package discount or free dishwasher/hood etc. Sub-Zero Wolf will actually make a custom bid if you have five or more appliances being quoted. We can submit the models to them, and they'll send us back the custom bid for the package based on models chosen.
Aggiejumper, I'm almost 99% certain this is the price difference you're seeing - I'm willing to bet that if I contacted Sub-Zero with your information referenced, they'd hit me back with the same pricing you're seeing at Ferguson's. Sub-Zero Wolf custom bids are not dealer specific - once it's in their system with your info, it's available to you at any dealer you choose to buy through. On the downside, if this is the case, we should have done the footwork for you and sent the models to SubWolf to bid on your initial request to avoid playing catchup.
The 1% uncertainty I'd have on us matching the pricing would be a competitor salesperson breaking the contract rules - there's no other reason we shouldn't be able to get you that price. If anybody is quoting you less and hasn't referred to this type of bid, get it in writing with model numbers included, and not quoted as something generic like "dual fuel range". SubWolf will force their hand on charging you full price or refuse the shipment once they find out.
On mid-range brands that aren't price protected, like KitchenAid, we're usually pretty competitive. Even though we're a Texas only company with 7 stores, we're one of the top Whirlpool dealers nationwide (Whirlpool owns both KitchenAid and Jenn-Air). So we have strong buying power to keep up with the big box stores. We shouldn't be quoting straight MSRP, with the exception of the brand types mentioned above, or we wouldn't be getting any business at all. I know I'd never hear back from anyone. But just to make sure we're on the same page, MSRP is what's going to be posted on the manufacturer's website, but not what you're going to see as the going price on a dealer/big box website.
If you're finding better prices elsewhere (big box included), we can almost always match the pricing, even on limited holiday deals. With the exception of the aforementioned UMRP prices, which are a different contractual ballgame, nobody pays MSRP. If that's what you're getting priced or if we're getting beat, let me know and I can definitely look into it. I'm sure we could make it work for both of you.
Long story short though, we'd love to work with both of you and earn your business if it's possible. We are a local Texas company that gets by more on word of mouth and references than anything else. If either one of you wants to reach out to me, you can email me direct at rchristiansen@factorybuilderstores.com, and I can get with the salesperson that quoted you to see if there's anything we missed that would put us in a better light. If I happened to be the one that quoted you, then I might have missed something myself and will definitely take another look. If you have any questions at all, let me know!
~Rodney Christiansen, Factory Builder Stores
