Crossposted to rec.woodworking and rec.crafts.woodturning

Had an intersting experience over the past coupla weeks, and figured I'd
share...

First some history:
I bought a Powermatic 3520 lathe about 5 years ago (thats 3520 - not 3520A).
It was one of the early sreies that had a few problems. Powermatic did a
pretty good job dealing with them, except for one - the banjo was a royal
PITA to move around. It kept getting stuck instead of sliding. Spent a few
months dealing with thier customer suport, and ended up just dealing with
this particualr problem. PITA to use, but they had dealt with other (bigger)
problems, and I wasn't doing too much turning, so......

Fastforward to about 3 weeks ago. Picked up a Dewalt portable planer. Great
machine, but it was missing the screws for the dust port. The port would
more or less hang on for a bit, but was unstable, and just one more thing to
watch out for when planing (I hate parts that bounce around). Called their
customer support line on a Thursday, got hung up on a few times, but ended
up talking to a person, and was assured that the screws were on thier way.

Because the planer was down, I decided to catch up on some turning (and test
out Art Ransoms tool rests). The banjo finally ****ed me off enough that I
called Powermatic customer service again on Wednesday (6 days after I called
dewalt). Spoke to thier front line support, got told that the warranty was
way gone, but because it was a problem when it *was* under warranty, I
should talk to the product manager. Got his phone #, he was on vacation for
a week, but his voicemail pointed to another guy. Left *him* voicemail. Got
a call back thursday, explained the history, and what the problem was, and
he said he'd "look into it and get back to me" (I consider this a danger
sign...). The next day (Friday), I got a call from a young lady who wanted
to know my shipping address so they could send me a new Banjo....

About this time I realized that I hadn't heard back from Dewalt, but I was
pretty busy, so I didn't get time to call them until the following Tuesday.
Its been 12 days since the screws were "on thier way". It took 3 tries to
get through (get the "press X system, walk through too many options, sit on
hold for 5-10 minutes, and as soon as the person on the other end picks up,
the line gets disconnected). Finally get a person, explain whats going on,
and ask if theres a way to see what's up with the package. He starts out be
telling me that *his* planer works fine without the screws, and that I
shouldn't be having any problems. I explain that loose parts are not an
option in my shop, and get put on hold. After a pretty good runaround, he
says that the order was "put into the system" on the day after I called, but
that because it was a Friday, it wasn't processed until Monday, and it took
a little while to get orders packaged and shipped. If it was such a big
deal, I should have requested overnight shipping. I pointed out that because
the screw up was on thier end, I had sort of assumed that they would be
doing their best to fix the situation as quickly as possible. I give him
credit for not actually laughing out loud..... He claimed that they should
arrive by Thursday, and if they didn't I should call him again, and he'd
express mail me a set to arrive Friday. They did actually arrive Thursday,
with a tuesday postmark. Coincidence? maybe, but I don't think so. so, it
takes 2 weeks, and 2 phone calls (6-8 if you count the hold-and-drops) to
get them to send something that should have been in the package in the first
place.

I don't think I'll be buying any more dewalt products for a long time.

Powermatic has its problems, but they are responsive, and at least follow
up. Dewalt is more like the old Ma Bell.....

YMMV
--JD

That's a shame, but it's also directly in contrast to my experience with
them. I have had several of their tools, and a few that came with problems,
and they have always sent me new parts no questions asked. This happened as
little as a month ago with the table saw.

Bill


"j.duprie" wrote in message
...
Crossposted to rec.woodworking and rec.crafts.woodturning

Had an intersting experience over the past coupla weeks, and figured I'd
share...

First some history:
I bought a Powermatic 3520 lathe about 5 years ago (thats 3520 - not
3520A).
It was one of the early sreies that had a few problems. Powermatic did a
pretty good job dealing with them, except for one - the banjo was a royal
PITA to move around. It kept getting stuck instead of sliding. Spent a few
months dealing with thier customer suport, and ended up just dealing with
this particualr problem. PITA to use, but they had dealt with other
(bigger)
problems, and I wasn't doing too much turning, so......

Fastforward to about 3 weeks ago. Picked up a Dewalt portable planer.
Great
machine, but it was missing the screws for the dust port. The port would
more or less hang on for a bit, but was unstable, and just one more thing
to
watch out for when planing (I hate parts that bounce around). Called their
customer support line on a Thursday, got hung up on a few times, but ended
up talking to a person, and was assured that the screws were on thier way.

Because the planer was down, I decided to catch up on some turning (and
test
out Art Ransoms tool rests). The banjo finally ****ed me off enough that I
called Powermatic customer service again on Wednesday (6 days after I
called
dewalt). Spoke to thier front line support, got told that the warranty was
way gone, but because it was a problem when it *was* under warranty, I
should talk to the product manager. Got his phone #, he was on vacation
for
a week, but his voicemail pointed to another guy. Left *him* voicemail.
Got
a call back thursday, explained the history, and what the problem was, and
he said he'd "look into it and get back to me" (I consider this a danger
sign...). The next day (Friday), I got a call from a young lady who wanted
to know my shipping address so they could send me a new Banjo....

About this time I realized that I hadn't heard back from Dewalt, but I was
pretty busy, so I didn't get time to call them until the following
Tuesday.
Its been 12 days since the screws were "on thier way". It took 3 tries to
get through (get the "press X system, walk through too many options, sit
on
hold for 5-10 minutes, and as soon as the person on the other end picks
up,
the line gets disconnected). Finally get a person, explain whats going on,
and ask if theres a way to see what's up with the package. He starts out
be
telling me that *his* planer works fine without the screws, and that I
shouldn't be having any problems. I explain that loose parts are not an
option in my shop, and get put on hold. After a pretty good runaround, he
says that the order was "put into the system" on the day after I called,
but
that because it was a Friday, it wasn't processed until Monday, and it
took
a little while to get orders packaged and shipped. If it was such a big
deal, I should have requested overnight shipping. I pointed out that
because
the screw up was on thier end, I had sort of assumed that they would be
doing their best to fix the situation as quickly as possible. I give him
credit for not actually laughing out loud..... He claimed that they should
arrive by Thursday, and if they didn't I should call him again, and he'd
express mail me a set to arrive Friday. They did actually arrive
Thursday,
with a tuesday postmark. Coincidence? maybe, but I don't think so. so, it
takes 2 weeks, and 2 phone calls (6-8 if you count the hold-and-drops) to
get them to send something that should have been in the package in the
first
place.

I don't think I'll be buying any more dewalt products for a long time.

Powermatic has its problems, but they are responsive, and at least follow
up. Dewalt is more like the old Ma Bell.....

YMMV
--JD

It took DeWalt's people less than two weeks to get you some parts you could
have picked up at Lowe's, and it took Powermatic five years to fix a problem
that should have been fixed right away, but you're complaining about DeWalt?
Weird.

You're in luck, though. DeWalt and Powermatic are the same company, now,
so, what're you gonna do?

Kevin
--
=====
"j.duprie" wrote in message
...

I don't think I'll be buying any more dewalt products for a long time.

"You're in luck, though. DeWalt and Powermatic are the same company, now,
so, what're you gonna do?

Kevin"


You sure? Jet, Powermatic, Performax are all owned by the Swiss WMH:
http://www.jettools.com/ Dewalt is part of Black & Decker:
http://www.bdk.com/

Derek

Oh, no, I'm wrong. Sorry.

Kevin
--
=====
"Derek Hartzell" wrote in message
...
"You're in luck, though. DeWalt and Powermatic are the same company, now,
so, what're you gonna do?

Kevin"


You sure? Jet, Powermatic, Performax are all owned by the Swiss WMH:
http://www.jettools.com/ Dewalt is part of Black & Decker:
http://www.bdk.com/

Derek

"j.duprie" wrote in message
...
Crossposted to rec.woodworking and rec.crafts.woodturning

Had an intersting experience over the past coupla weeks, and figured I'd
share...


(snip)

Powermatic has its problems, but they are responsive, and at least follow
up. Dewalt is more like the old Ma Bell.....

Ya mean Dewalt moved their tech support to India too???


YMMV
--JD