I've been using AD products since 1994 when they were PLCDirect and Tim Hohmann sometimes answered the sales phone himself. (Things were a little slow, then, and my wife and the PLCDirect salesman in Georgia, Butch, would often discuss bass fishing.) PLCDirect was originally an offshoot of Koyo, who made and brand labeled products for GE and then Texas Instruments. When TI was acquired by Siemens, one of their biggest competitors, Koyo and PLCDirect saw an opportunity to market by mail order, and they did it right and have kept growing.
AutomationDirect sells less expensively because they pioneered a new marketing channel - customer direct. They can sell equal quality products for less because they don't have distibutors, local representatives, supply chain transporation costs, etc.
I have, on very rare occassions, had a problem with one of their products. I have never had a problem with the way they fixed things, their level of service, or their response time. Their tech support has always been top notch, and better than a great many of their competitors. The down side to their business model is that if you are a rookie on your first project and need a lot of face time and hand holding you can't get that from AutomationDirect. Handholding, yes, face time, no.
I have been an Allen Bradley customer since the 1970's when the company was still owned by the Bradley family. I can see the clock tower when I drive downtown. A-B has earned a reputation for top quality products too. As the old saying goes "Nobody ever got fired for specifying Allen Bradley." The service has degraded a little since Rockwell took them over, but it is still better than their main competitors. I think they have gotten large enough that most of their factory programmers (many offshore I suspect) haven't been in the field and don't really undersand the end user's problems, but overall they are still excellent in quality and service.
You won't get factory direct service from A-B like you will from AutomationDirect, but you generally don't need to. Most of the local representatives earn their share of the pie by having top notch local support, great product knowledge, and excellent service in their territory. Our Milwaukee based distributor is as good as it gets, and I've called them from across the country helping solve problems for local integrators, and they helped, even knowing there wasn't a nickel in it for them. They are just professionals.
Picking between the two is a little like deciding between choclate cheese cake and rasberry cheese cake. There isn't a wrong answer. If you are risk averse, have an installed base, need in person support, and are reasonably well funded then A-B is your choice. If you are experienced, on a tight budget, and just need to get the job done and the system performing reliably, then AutomationDirect is your choice.
