I may have mentioned that I acquired a pre-owned Woodrat from CL. The
previous owner advised that one of the cauls that hold the wood piece in
place was defective and when it arrived I discovered that the trip to
my shop didn't cure the problem.

I called Woodrat and after a brief chat with Martin, inventor and
proprietor, and he quickly offered to send me the replacement part at no
charge. Now that's what I call service!

I am now starting to make friends with my new toy. It looks like a
fairly steep learning curve, but I have lots of odds and ends from the
scrap bucket to practice on.

Larry

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:14:36 -0600, "
wrote:

I may have mentioned that I acquired a pre-owned Woodrat from CL. The
previous owner advised that one of the cauls that hold the wood piece in
place was defective and when it arrived I discovered that the trip to
my shop didn't cure the problem.

I called Woodrat and after a brief chat with Martin, inventor and
proprietor, and he quickly offered to send me the replacement part at no
charge. Now that's what I call service!

I had a contractor break a hose reel while working on my windows (new
house problems) last summer. Of course they didn't tell me they
broke it. I went online to Ames' site and they not only had the
plastic part, but it was free, including shipping. Not bad service
for a purveyor of a stupid $50 hose reel.

Last week my Panasonic plasma TV crapped out so I text-messaged (their
web site) their support group. While going back and forth I found the
charge on the Amex site; I bought it two years minus three days
before. Unfortunately, it only had a 1 year warranty. The service
rep took all my information and I sent them a PDF of that section of
the online bill. The next day they called to set up an *in-home*
service call. Two days later the repair techs drove 50mi each way to
replace the power supply. No charge.

I know how you feel. Yes, I'll certainly buy plastic crap by Ames and
Panasonic electronics in the future. I'm always shocked when things
work out like this, but it seems to happen more often now than it did
just a few years ago. Maybe customer service is making a comeback.

I am now starting to make friends with my new toy. It looks like a
fairly steep learning curve, but I have lots of odds and ends from the
scrap bucket to practice on.

green

krw wrote:

snip


Last week my Panasonic plasma TV crapped out so I text-messaged (their
web site) their support group. While going back and forth I found the
charge on the Amex site; I bought it two years minus three days
before. Unfortunately, it only had a 1 year warranty. The service
rep took all my information and I sent them a PDF of that section of
the online bill. The next day they called to set up an *in-home*
service call. Two days later the repair techs drove 50mi each way to
replace the power supply. No charge.

I know how you feel. Yes, I'll certainly buy plastic crap by Ames and
Panasonic electronics in the future. I'm always shocked when things
work out like this, but it seems to happen more often now than it did
just a few years ago. Maybe customer service is making a comeback.

My Westinghouse LCD crapped out last week -- 14 months after I bought it
with a one-year warranty. I called the service center and all they
could do for me is point me at the local rep, who came over ($50) and
diagnosed the problem as a short somewhere internal in the power supply
route. He charged me another $25 to give me a full estimate for the
repair ($225). This time I went for a Toshiba.

wrote:

repair ($225). This time I went for a Toshiba.

Once had a jinxed Toshiba ... it would only make a "click" and not come
on, except from one specific circuit in the house, three rooms away, and
ONLY then when using a certain 50' extension cord, attached to an UPS
.... and that combination never failed.

You could then switch to the jinxed receptacle, but very quickly, and it
would work for that one time ONLY!

Wanted to turn the damn thing on, you better use that extension cord and
UPS, fifty feet away and make quick switch, otherwise click city for days.

Occasionally, and suddenly out of the blue, you could walk by and hit
the power button and it would come on, but never twice in a row, and
then maybe not do it again for months at a time.

There was nothing wrong with the electricity on the closest receptacle,
or in the house (checked thoroughly with all sorts of electronic
equipment, receptacle replaced, etc.), and, of course, it would NEVER
fail to start at any of the myriad of TV repair shops that picked it up
to fix the problem.

Many parts were replaced to no avail, and out of self defense, we simply
left the damn thing on for the better part of three years ... until even
I, who doesn't watch much TV, had "enuff o dat stuff", and got a new one
.... which started just fine for the next two years until we moved, and
from the very same receptacle.

Go figure ...

I now a have another Toshiba.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

Swingman wrote:

Many parts were replaced to no avail, and out of self defense, we simply
left the damn thing on for the better part of three years ... until even
I, who doesn't watch much TV, had "enuff o dat stuff", and got a new one
... which started just fine for the next two years until we moved, and
from the very same receptacle.

Oh, and I forgot to add. Said jinxed TV was purchased from Sam's, and it
started, without fail, until the 369th day after purchase. 4 days out of
their one year replacement warranty at the time.

The original receipt was looked upon with disdain by Sam's and they
refused, despite numerous attempts, to honor the warranty saying it was
a manufacturer's problem ... CS at Sam's, FAIL.
--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
Swingman wrote:

Many parts were replaced to no avail, and out of self defense, we simply
left the damn thing on for the better part of three years ... until even
I, who doesn't watch much TV, had "enuff o dat stuff", and got a new one
... which started just fine for the next two years until we moved, and
from the very same receptacle.

Oh, and I forgot to add. Said jinxed TV was purchased from Sam's, and it
started, without fail, until the 369th day after purchase. 4 days out of
their one year replacement warranty at the time.

The original receipt was looked upon with disdain by Sam's and they
refused, despite numerous attempts, to honor the warranty saying it was a
manufacturer's problem ... CS at Sam's, FAIL.


I learned that if you want help from Sam's you had better have purchased
their service contract.

Leon wrote:
Oh, and I forgot to add. Said jinxed TV was purchased from Sam's, and it
started, without fail, until the 369th day after purchase. 4 days out of
their one year replacement warranty at the time.

The original receipt was looked upon with disdain by Sam's and they
refused, despite numerous attempts, to honor the warranty saying it was a
manufacturer's problem ... CS at Sam's, FAIL.


I learned that if you want help from Sam's you had better have purchased
their service contract.


Costco has a great return policy.

You can pretty much return something after you eat it. :-)


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

Swingman wrote:

Oh, and I forgot to add. Said jinxed TV was purchased from Sam's,
and it started, without fail, until the 369th day after purchase. 4
days out of their one year replacement warranty at the time.

Sounds like the engineers met the design spec of the beancounters
without much breathing room.G

Lew

Lew Hodgett said:

Swingman wrote:

Oh, and I forgot to add. Said jinxed TV was purchased from Sam's,
and it started, without fail, until the 369th day after purchase. 4
days out of their one year replacement warranty at the time.

Sounds like the engineers met the design spec of the beancounters
without much breathing room.G

Which is an all too common occurrence. Sad.


Greg G.

Greg G. wrote:
Lew Hodgett said:

Swingman wrote:

Oh, and I forgot to add. Said jinxed TV was purchased from Sam's,
and it started, without fail, until the 369th day after purchase. 4
days out of their one year replacement warranty at the time.

Sounds like the engineers met the design spec of the beancounters
without much breathing room.G

Which is an all too common occurrence. Sad.

FWIW, a friend of mine got a first generation 42" 1920x1080 Sceptre from
Costco when they first came out--that's a Chinese TV back when the Chinese
were the only ones making 1920x1080 LCD panels (they stole a march on the
Japanese and Koreans). It's still going strong.

On the other hand, the prices on such things are in rapid decline.