[Bilster]

It's difficult to know who to blame. E-M missed the boat on their shipping estimation, for sure. But here is their reply:

Bill-

I'll see if I can do anything on our end, but it's doubtful. We have not had this happen with Conway before, (we did have it happen with Consolidated) but nonetheless, I'm not surprised. They do reserve the right to reclassify freight any time they want. And there are so many guidelines which classify freight in overlapping ways that they can always pull some new rule out of the book and say this is what it should be. Having observed this over the years, I really think what happens is that when business gets slow, they send their sales people out to book new accounts at very favorable freight classifications. Then a couple of years go by, business picks up, and they start reclassifying things, perhaps even giving up the "marginal" accounts that they don't make much money on. They were the ones, a few years ago, that said they could ship the frame class 100, and indeed, we have shipped many frames at that class. But there is nothing in writing, and I expect they will now contend that 300 is the required class.

But again, I will make a contact on our end and see if any good comes of it.

Best regards,

Brett

My disappointment comes from the disconnect between Con-Way and the customers. It seems to me that if the customer's part doesn't meet Con-Way's criteria, the should let you know before it leaves Florida, in this case. The first time I was notified of a price change SHOULD NOT have been when the item arrives at my door. I feel like that is poor business practice. I certainly would not use Con-Way ever again.