This was copied from an earlier msg in “Table Saw”. One respondent asked me to post this on a separate thread and I’m happy to do so as I like to be aware of a vendor’s concept of corporate responsibility to it’s customers, in framing my buying decisions.
Sears delivered the saw body (Big sticker on 4 sides of the box stating that this is box 1 of 2) on Sat, but did not include the fence. I called the salesman, Garry Crafton and he delivered the fence package in his own vehicle the next day; Sunday morning! The saw (made in China) arrived perfectly aligned, while the Biesemeyer fence (made in USA) had problems. Had to retap one hole, adjusting screws filled with paint and the cursor slots don’t match the mounting screw holes. Now if I can get the cursor problem fixed.
I called the 800# on the owners manual on Monday and sent an email to Porter-Cable as well. The following email came on Wed:
Joe,
I made our production manager aware of your problem with your hairline
pointer mounting holes. In speaking with him, I found out that we received
a batch of the material from our supplier that was oversized. The angle
crossarm portion of the fence was oversized. this caused the arm to sit
incorrectly in the drilling fixture. Thus causing the holes for the pointer
to be drilled incorrectly. He thought that all of the bad crossarms had
been returned to our vendor. Obviously we did not catch all of them. At
this point, the quickest fix is to ream out the slots on the pointer. It is
an option (and I do agree with you) not the best way to handle it from a
customer service standpoint.
Since you had the foresight to include your address with this e-mail, I am
going to have a new fence made for you (with the holes drilled in the
correct location) and I will have it shipped to you at no charge. When you
get the replacement fence, contact me again and I will make arrangements to
have the defective fence picked up and returned to us. Please let me know
if you have any questions or concerns.
Regards,
Don Ewing
Biesemeyer Customer Service
1-800-782-1831 Ext 117
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I will follow-up, Joe
Replies
Thanks for bringing Biesemeyer's excellent response to our attention (and the Sears guy, though that's a local thing -- wow!).
How's PC involved in this? Do they own Biesemeyer? I'm confused, and probably ignorant, LOL!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
I'm taking my hint from the email addresses....
From: <[email protected]>To: "Joseph Scharle" <[email protected]>Subject: Re: CursorsDate: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 10:05 AM
Joe,I made our production manager aware of your problem with your hairlinepointer mounting holes. In speaking with him, I found out that we receiveda batch of the material from our supplier that was oversized. The anglecrossarm portion of the fence was oversized. this caused the arm to sitincorrectly in the drilling fixture. Thus causing the holes for the pointerto be drilled incorrectly. He thought that all of the bad crossarms hadbeen returned to our vendor. Obviously we did not catch all of them. Atthis point, the quickest fix is to ream out the slots on the pointer. It isan option (and I do agree with you) not the best way to handle it from acustomer service standpoint.
Since you had the foresight to include your address with this e-mail, I amgoing to have a new fence made for you (with the holes drilled in thecorrect location) and I will have it shipped to you at no charge. When youget the replacement fence, contact me again and I will make arrangements tohave the defective fence picked up and returned to us. Please let me knowif you have any questions or concerns.
Regards,Don EwingBiesemeyer Customer Service1-800-782-1831 Ext 117
"Joseph Scharle" <[email protected]> on 12/13/2004 02:03:48 PM
To: <[email protected]>cc:
Subject: Cursors
on 42" fence that comes with the Sears 22124 saw don't fit the pre-drilledholes in the T square. The slots miss by 1/8". These cursors are part of apackage labeled #1356535, Sears FNC, KNH, CRS BIESEMEYER BAG. I'm awarethat this may mean nothing to you but 3 (includes mine) of these sawspurchased by members of my woodworkers group report the same gripe. Theyhave reamed out the slots, but I don't think that is really the fix. I'mhoping that you have an answer because all Sears can do is keep orderingreplacements.
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This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.______________________________________________________________________
"because all Sears can do is keep orderingreplacements." Pretty funny, good one!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
the thing about this email is that he does a good job of telling you what went wrong in the process that resulted in the bad components, and even admits that "he thought that all of the bad crossarms had been returned to our vendor", but doesn't say what they will do differently in the future to prevent this from happening again. In other words, if there is a problem in the process (and obviously there is), then what are they going to fix to ensure future customers don't go through what you did.
I'm all for vendors admitting when mistakes are made, but if they want to get my business in the future I am interested in knowing what they will do differently to ensure that problem doesn't repeat itself. My compliments to manufacturers who have good customer support, but the preference is to have a process that results in the highest quality products leaving the factory so that I don't need to use their customer service.
New Biesemeyer fence arrived 2115 21 Dec via FedEx. Looks good...works fine
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