A wrong part comes back. A failed part goes to its maker.

We don't make milking machine parts. We stock them. So the warranty on a pulsator, a vacuum regulator, a transfer pump or a butterfly valve is the manufacturer's warranty, on the manufacturer's terms, for the manufacturer's period. We pass it to you exactly as it reaches us and we don't add to it or shorten it.

What we do is the paperwork. You don't chase a factory in another state. You call the desk, we open the claim with the supplier, we send them the part and the details, and we tell you what they decide. Where the maker's terms allow an advance replacement, we will say so and ship one. Where they don't, we won't pretend otherwise.

The period and the conditions differ by maker and by part. The desk tells you what applies to a given item when it confirms the order, and the invoice carries the part number the claim will be judged on. Keep the invoice. A claim without it stalls while everyone hunts for the order.

If we shipped a part that doesn't match what you asked for, that is on us. Wrong size, wrong material, wrong model, wrong count in the box. We send the correct part and a prepaid return label for the wrong one, and you don't pay freight in either direction.

The test is simple. We compare what we shipped against what the inquiry said: the part number, the measurement you sent, or the photo against a ruler. If the invoice says a 2-inch EPDM tri-clamp gasket and the bag holds a 1.5-inch one, it goes back at our cost. No argument.

Tell the desk as soon as you open the box. Don't fit it to see if it works. A liner that has been on a claw for one milking has taken a set, and we can't send it back to a shelf.

This is the most common return in the trade, and it's the reason we ask for a number. Someone orders a gasket by what the old one "looked like", or a liner by the colour of the shell, and it arrives exactly as ordered and still doesn't fit.

We will still take it back if it's unused, clean and in its original bag. The difference is who covers freight: you pay the return and the replacement's shipping, and we credit the part in full. No restocking charge on consumables in stock. On a part we ordered in specially for you, such as a pump impeller or a plate heat exchanger gasket set, the desk will tell you before it orders whether that part can come back at all.

The cheapest way to avoid all of it is to send us the ID in millimetres before you order. A caliper reading on a gasket, a mouthpiece bore on a liner, the plate on a pump. The desk matches by measurement and will ask one more question rather than guess.

Rubber and silicone wear out. That is their job. A silicone liner is good for about 2,500 milkings and a rubber one about 1,200; a liner that splits at 3,000 milkings has not failed, it has been left on too long. These things fall outside both the exchange and any maker's warranty:

• Normal wear on liners, inflations, gaskets, o-rings, brushes, filter socks and hose.
• Damage from the wrong chemistry or temperature, such as EPDM run in a hot acid wash above its rating, or PVC milk tubing used on a hot-water line.
• A part fitted to equipment it was not specified for, or a tri-clamp gasket clamped onto a ferrule of a different size.
• Seal faces run dry. A centrifugal pump started without milk or water in it will burn a carbon face in seconds.
• Parts cut, drilled, re-machined or welded after delivery.
• Loss of milk, labour on the farm, a vet's visit or downtime in the parlour. We replace parts. We don't pay for what happened around them.

Ring the desk on (608) 355-8791 or email [email protected]. Have these ready and the call takes five minutes:

• The invoice number, or the name and ZIP the order went to.
• The part number on the invoice and what is actually in the bag.
• For a failure, how many hours or milkings it ran and a photo of where it failed.
• For a pump or regulator, the plate. A clear photo is fine.

The desk replies with a return reference and a label where the return is on us. Write the reference on the outside of the box. Returns go to 8401 GREENWAY BLVD SUITE 600 · MIDDLETON, WI · 53562. An unmarked parcel of loose gaskets can take a week to match to anybody.

You can also use the inquiry form and pick "exchange or warranty" in the notes. The general flow of orders and freight is on how ordering works.

We won't resell a returned liner, inflation or gasket that has been fitted, even once. We don't sell used rubber, from anyone. It has already taken the set it's going to take, and the next herd would be milking through somebody else's compression.

We won't promise a maker's decision before the maker has made it. And we won't quote or ship a replacement for a part nobody has identified, because a second wrong part is worse than the first. None of this overrides any right you have under Wisconsin or federal law; the terms of use set out the rest of how orders are handled.