Continental Alloys & Services (CA&S) is committed to supplying material to its customers that meets the customer specifications to which it is supplied. Customer claims for non-conforming materials or products will be dealt with expeditiously and courteously.
CLAIMS POLICY
7-17-14 Rev 2.
Claims for non-conforming products and/or material supplied by Continental Alloys & Services
Continental Alloys & Services (CA&S) is committed to supplying material to its customers that meets the customer specifications to which it is supplied. Customer claims for non-conforming materials or products will be dealt with expeditiously and courteously. CA&S reserves the right to inspect, test, and analyze all material returned as non-conforming and submitted by the customer with a claim for replacement or refund. Any such products must be delivered to us at your local CA&S facility, which will forward the returned products. The customer must protect all returned products from environmental deterioration and package all returns appropriately, in the same manner as it was delivered to the customer, clearly marked with customer’s PO, the heat and lot number, and the RGA number. No returned products will be accepted for claim without an RGA number issued by the CA&S Sales Department.
The following will not be accepted or considered for claim:
1. Materials that are lacking in heat traceability;
2. Materials that are damaged or corroded beyond normal use;
3. Materials that have been rejected based upon testing or test values not specified in the customer specification; and
4. Materials subjected to inappropriate inspection methods (for the grade) or by methods not specified in the customer specification.
Continental Alloys & Services orders materials to Continental Alloys & Services’ specifications, which are usually a compilation of customer specifications. Where the customer specification does not explicitly require a test, value, method, etc., ASTM A519 (or API 5CT as appropriate) specifications will prevail for tubulars and ASTM A29 for bars except as modified by CA&S specifications for bars or tubes. Any provision, test, value, parameter or method not specifically ordered by the customer and accepted by CA&S will not be accepted for claim if the provision, test, parameter or method is acceptable under the ASTM or API specification.
5. Materials heat-treated or re-heat treated by the Customer
In the event that the customer heat treats in-house or arranges for any commercial thermal treatment of products provided by Continental, CA&S will accept liability neither for cracking of the material nor for the properties achieved by heat treatment. The customer assumes all responsibility for special processes that affect the metallurgical or mechanical properties of the material.
Materials rejected by the customer for imperfections must have the imperfection clearly marked. Materials rejected by the customer for surface imperfections must demonstrate that the imperfection exceeds the reject depth tolerance. The customer is directed to review the recommended stock removal tolerances for hot finished products prior to submitting a claim.
Any analysis on the returned products that is done by the producing mill will be shared with the customer. Any analysis, testing or inspection on the returned products that is done by CA&S or its approved testing vendor will be shared with the customer. CA&S’s resolution of the claim with the customer will reflect the conclusions of the mill analysis, CA&S testing results and commercial considerations.
