Tools maker cst service, how imp is it?
kenney66
| Posted in Power Tools and Machinery on
Question for all you woodworking enthusiasts and pro’s. How important is a tool manufacturers customer service after a major tool purchase. The reason I am asking is that Italked with a salesman at our local woodworking store regarding band saws. He said that the Jet was a good inexpensive model and that he recommended that. Then I asked him about the Laguna saws which were recently touted in a recent publication. He told me that Laguna, though it is a quality machine, has terrible after the sale cutomer service. So which companies have good reputations and which do not. Is customer service a reason to purchase one product over another.
Sincerely confused wanna be woodworker,
Replies
Obviously, if you don't need customer service, how good they are doesn't matter at all. If you need them once, it matters. If there's a part that keeps a powertool inactive and you can't get exactly the same part from another company, you'll be looking at a nice chunk of wasted money. This applies to machines that can't be adjusted to work properly. If you hear that a company is good to deal with during the warranty, they should be at least that good after it runs out. They don't make any money during the warranty period if they need to replace parts and ship them all over the place. Out of warranty, they do and if they have a tiny piece of brain, they'll know that any time they deal with a customer, as long as the experience is good for that person, there's a chance that they will buy something else from the company.
I bought a tablesaw(4 yrs ago), jointer(6 yrs ago) and planer(10 yrs ago) from Grizzly. There was something minor with the jointer that I called them about (I don't even remember what it was- I think it was the metal panels that were packed together and were scratched, not wrapped in paper or plastic) and they asked me what it would take to make me happy. I wasn't even mad. They looked up my history with the company and asked if I needed any accessories for the other tools. They sent me a motor cover for the saw and some dust collection ports along with the paint. Any time I have e-mailed or called, they have responded very quickly. Just my $.02
"Is customer service a reason to purchase one product over another?"
ABSOLUTELY! If you're looking at Laguna, I'd consider looking at Minimax too....incredible customer service, outstanding machines.
can you imagine buying a car with no future access to spare parts..??
These things can, will and do go south on you, usually at the worst possible time. It's the after-sales that make or break a company reputation, not the show room...
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
"How important is a tool manufacturers customer service after a major tool purchase?"
It's always important and with direct marketers such as Laguna, MiniMax, and Grizzly, it becomes critical. I'll vouch for MiniMax customer service ........... topnotch. Over the years I've dealt with factory service centers for Makita, Milwaukee, and PC/Delta for parts ............. no problems. PC/Delta did have some problems when they merged their warehousing/service operations a few years ago. I hope this doesn't repeat itself with the B&D merger (I own lots of gray stuff) ........... I think you'll see consolidation of DeWalt/PC/Delta factory service centers and of all the field reps and hope it's not too disruptive. My worst experiences have been with Craftsman and Ryobi.......... for power tools I won't touch either with a 10 foot pole.
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