do not buy from gerbers

[Ridgerunner]

Three wrongs do not make a right.

If the customer said I want welding coveralls and the clerk sold him coveralls not for welding, the clerk made a mistake. If he did not know how to meet the customer's requirements, then the clerk should have asked. I think the clerk probably bears some blame. Exactly how much, I don't know what the OP told the clerk to start with. It could be a lot of the blame, but I was not there.

The instructor should have been real clear on what protective clothing was required. In a proper welding school, there is some class time before you fire up the welding equipment. It is not unusual for the instructor to provide a list of stores and what to get at that store as far as equipment goes. Was the OP awake during this part? I don't know. As a minimum the instructor should have done a safety inspection before firing up the equipment. So even if the instructor did all the preliminary classwork stuff and made suggestions on what to buy, the instructor still bears some responsibility for not properly inspecting. A good welding school should have procedures to handle that. Did the instructor follow those procedures?

The OP bears some responsibility. It is the OP's safety on the line. Before yelling "Make it hot" or firing up the machine it is important to know what the risks are and that you have done something about those risks.

I think there is plenty of blame to go around. I remember when a company that worked for us got their welders flame-resistant coveralls to weld in. They were treated so they would not burst into flame, but they would melt. A pair of blue jeans provided better protection than those coveralls.

Nomex is what they got that melted. Nomex is good for working in an area where fire is a risk, like a refinery, but Nomex is not suitable for welding unless it has changed a lot in the recent past. I am retired and no longer totally up to date on all this. But it has not been that long.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

All I can say is that if you think its a sales persons job to be your safety officer do not go it to any line of work that has any danger.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Ive never seen real Nomex melt. Im sure it can at some point but I have trusted my life with it for years in burning houses an sure trust it for welding. I have seen people come out of houses with there helmets melted down around there heads an the nomex hood looked fine.

DuPont

The rate of material decomposition and charring rate is high only after the temperature greatly exceeds 350°С; however, the material does not melt.​

 

[halo]

Quote:

It is the job of the salesman to know what is used in welding if he is working in a store that sells, um, WELDING/WORK GEAR.

My husband works in a hardware store and is required to know a lot about hardware, or else he would not be much good to his customers, now, would he? That would be like having someone working in a jewelry store who knows nothing about jewelry.

True, buyer has responsibility. But when buyer makes a reasonable request, "I need coveralls for welding class, do you have them?" and the seller directs him to an item, it actually SHOULD be the item the customer has asked for, now, shouldn't it? It sounds to me like the buyer may be a young person, asked in good faith for the item he needed, was directed by the seller to an item and LED TO BELIEVE that's what it was for. Seller's at fault.

Seller is not at fault. If the request was "I need coveralls for welding class, do you have them?" (which we dont know was the actual request), he bought coveralls for welding class. Im positive he did not say "I need fireproof coveralls for welding class, something that WILL NOT BURN". For all the clerk knew, welding class was a class to sit and study how to weld, not how to actually weld. Maybe the clerk didnt even know what a welding class was; he doesnt HAVE to know! The buyer has to know. Again, the responsibility is 100% the buyer to convey exactly what he wanted to buy, and Im sure he didnt.

 

[HHandbasket]

I disagree. My spouse has worked retail for the entire time of our life together and says it is irresponsible on the part of the seller to direct a customer to the wrong item. If the customer is unclear in what they need, it is then incumbent upon the seller (you know, that person in the store who asks, "May I help you find something?") to get clarification. Even in cases of there being no liability, a reasonably responsible retailer wants their customer to walk out the door with the item they need the first time out the gate and not have it returned.

I would be willing to bet that the same people who are saying the seller is not at fault (which I disagree with, but this is a good forum where we are all entitled to our own thoughts and opinions based on our own life experiences), are the same people who complain that customer service isn't what it used to be. Good customer service entails getting the customer what they want the first time around. Anything short of that is poor salesmanship on the part of the retailer and is poor customer service.

Maybe not ILLEGAL, but poor customer service nonetheless.

 

[debilorrah]

Even seeing that this topic has generated 7 pages of conversation irritates me.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
If it was a welding supply store I would agree they hold a responsibility to sell the right product for welding... It was not. My understanding- OP asked for coveralls at a store that sells coveralls. They pointed OP to the coveralls that they had an the OP pick what he wanted.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:

You are correct. It did not melt. That was a bad choice of words. It scorched the material and that scorched material fell out, leaving holes behind. Open holes do not protect very well from sparks from welding.

Our specs were actually the problem. It was for work on offshore production platforms. Even when working with production shut in and other safety precautions, we required Nomex or similar due to the fire/explosive risk.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Wow, maybe yall needed Kevlar covered Nomex. I think thats what turnout coats are.