3-15-04 ordered lathe- didn't arrive immediately- big panic, pacing floor
3-17-04 lathe shipped
my prediction-
3-24-04 lathe arrives- scratch in paint- big panic- pacing floor

"Michael David Lay" wrote in message
om...
Update: The lathe did ship, and truthfully it should arrive well
within their alloted 7-10 business days for delivery. So, was I being
reactive? I don't know, I never really minded having to wait for my
item, and would have been quite content if someone had just answered
one of my numerous inquiries and told me either "it would ship soon",
or "it was being loaded from China, expect to see it in two months".

Thanks,
m.


(Michael David Lay) wrote in message
. com...
I am sure others have experienced similiar problems, but I want to
post my story because I did my homework, did the research, to watch
out for this exact situation.

I decided I wanted a lathe, did some looking around, a lot of reading,
checked out the very EXCELLENT www.mini-lathe.com, and ordered my
Homier 7x12 Mini Lathe for $299, plus $63 in shipping. That was last
Wednesday. Thursday morning my order shows some pending status, the
money had been charged to my card...gone, no longer in my possession,
in Homiers hands. Thursday afternoon my order shows waiting to be
picked up by Fed Ex, good...we are on track. Friday morning, still
waiting to be picked up, same that afternoon. Finally I called to
find out what the hold up was, and after a very long wait on hold, the
lady explained it was waiting to be picked up by Fed Ex, thanks, but I
knew that. I wanted to make sure, so I asked, "is it on backorder?".
No, it should go out today she says. All weekend, still shows waiting
to be picked up by Fed Ex.

Monday comes, and suddenly my order shows the item on Backorder! Odd,
my payment to them wasn't back ordered, they had my money, I had no
indication from them that there would be a problem, but now there was.
I started calling to find out when it might not be on back order, the
line was busy, called again, busy, again, busy...you get the idea.
Called again, it rings....I spend a long time on hold, then....I got
to voice mail, so I can leave a message for someone to call me back.
That's irritating, I thought. Left a message, left my cell number, no
call back. Called again, same thing, waited a long time on hold, just
so I could leave a message....give me a break! Did I mention, I sent
some e-mails through the customer service section of their website
while I was spending all this time on hold. Did I get a response?
Nope.

Now, I have no lathe, they have my money, they apparently don't want
to talk to me to either give my money back or at least tell me when I
might get the friggin lathe.

Look, I live in the middle of no where, so mail order is my only real
option, and I am not naive, I don't expect stellar customer service
when shopping for the best deal in town. I don't really even mind
having to wait longer for the lathe, it was after all $29 dollars
cheaper then the closest competitor. I realize that to sell this
cheaply they can only afford a staff of 2.3 people for their entire
operation, and their order server is a souped up Commodore 64, but
geez.....

I did find one post that talked about this problem from a cached post
from Homiers own forum. This was from a year ago, and their response
was that the problem should be fixed in their new system by 3rd
quarter 2003. I think they did not make that deadline.

So, just wanted to know if others had experienced this problem, and if
anyone new when I might get my lathe?

Sorry for the length of this post, but as I don't have my lathe yet I
don't have anything to do but complain.

P.S. I just checked again, and the status of availability for this
lathe on their website has gone from good to limited. That is an
understatement.