It's been time for maintenance and repairs at the shop lately - and upgrading some equipment. The tools can really take a beating with so many people using them, so when it was time to upgrade the dust collector on the SawStop, I naturally shopped around.
I'm going to go off on a bit of a rant here, so if you're not in the mood, then you might want to stop reading. Right now.
I finally decided on this ShopFox unit. Now - I'd love to buy locally, but considering that there was a $400+ price difference, I decided to use Amazon. I buy a ton of tools online, and I have to say - I've never had a problem.
Until now.
Oh, the delivery came quickly, and the box looked fine, but once I opened it up, I could see a crushed component.
Honestly, if it had been a dent in something that was simply cosmetic, I wouldn't have cared. But in this case - this ring is where the dust bag sits - and a dent here means the seal would have been compromised.
No problem, right? Just call the company and they'll send out a new one?
The part didn't weigh very much. I mean - if I could pick this part up with my fingertips, it can't weigh more than four or five pounds, right? So the shipping couldn't have been that much.
After three different calls to ShopFox, I finally reached someone who was helpful and said he'd check into sending me out the replacement part. But - everyone I spoke to told me two things.
First, they said that this part commonly gets damaged during shipment. Ummm - am I the only one who thinks they might want to reexamine their packing method? If this part regularly gets crushed, then maybe their packaging is to blame.
And next - everyone wanted to complain that Amazon ships this out wrong, claiming that it should be sent as a freight shipment, rather than a ground shipment.
Blah, blah, blah.
When they finally got back to me, they said they couldn't send the part out because their computer showed that it was a 34 pound part, and that would be too costly to ship on their dime.
You know what's costly?
Having poor packaging for your products, so that this part regularly gets damaged.
Oh - and you know what else? Losing a customer.
So - you guessed it - I had to pack everything back up - like these random parts,
and the motor,
and jam everything back in the box. Luckily, UPS picked it up.
I'm still a big fan of Amazon, they handled everything perfectly. The return was easy; they really do have their act together.
But ShopFox?
Not so much.
i hope you're an amazon prime member,
ReplyDeletefor $80 a year you get unlimited shipping. It's infact such a good service that amazon is losing massive money on it. (for example, the company that has seen sales of their oversized gun safes go through the roof, people using prime for $80 instead of paying $750 to have the safe shipped). It also allows for returns.
if you use amazon enough, it's a well invested $80!
I've just started looking to upgrade my dust collecting system and will steer away form ShopFox. No customer should have to put up with the kind of crap they gave you.
ReplyDeleteJay
here's the link to the story about amazon's losses thanks to shipping:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newser.com/story/158436/testing-the-limits-of-amazon-prime.html
was trying to find it before and forgot to finish it off for ya..
To answer your question: "Why can't companies do the right thing?" ; simple: GREED
ReplyDeleteSeems as if they want the most profit from the least amount of quality, work, and materials (including shipping). Can you imagine how long you, me, and the other average small person trying to make a business venture would last if we conducted ourselves that way?