Venting my spleen.

Hi,

At the Melbourne WWW Show I ordered a fair bit of machinery. About three grands worth, from a wood working store that has copped a bit of a flogging lately. Anyway, they informed me that they were seriously back ordered on some of the items that I ordered and that I would have to be prepared to wait. No worries says I, they told me about it prior to me putting pen to paper so I accepted having to wait a couple of months for SOME of the things I had ordered. They told me that they would have everything before christmas.

In this order, I ordered a ML392 Planer Thicknesser. I was told at the time (in October) that they were in stock at the Brisbane store and some would be coming to Melbourne during the week and I would get one of them. Bewdy says I, actually believing him.

Well. It's now three and a half months later and I still haven't got it. I called about a week ago and spoke to a man there who got things done when it came to my table saw. He called me back and apologized but he can't give me any idea, he spoke to Brisbane and there's just none in the country. They're all waiting on Taiwan to supply. Again, no worries, patience wearing very thin by this time. It's amazing what we'll wear for a good price.

After speaking on the phone, I thought maybe Brisbane may be able to shed some light when they will arrive so I emailed them. The following reply was received;

Quote:

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Mr. Perrett:

Thank you for your email message received on Friday. All of the XXXXX-XXX stores are independently operated and do from time to time run out of stock. I am sorry that you have waited so long for a machine ordered in October.

However, we currently have ML-392's in stock in our Brisbane warehouse and if you would like to purchase this item from Brisbane I would be happy to supply it to you. Alternatively, you could choose to wait for the item to come into stock in Melbourne.

Please let me know what you have decided. Thank you.

Regards,

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:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I don't know what s me more, the fact that I'm being told there's none in the country when there is. Or Brisbane trying to poach business from one of their franchisees. I think that Melbourne truly believe that there are none to be had but Brisbane are making sure they keep some in stock. :mad:

Another phone call to Melbourne today should be interesting,

Stay tuned..........

Dan

But one of our members here in Perth was told they don't sell the ML 392 anymore, due to continued problems and returns................beats me. :confused: :confused:

check this thread and the reply from Timbecon

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=14507

Danp, my deepsest sympathy in dealing with franchisees

Obviously your mythical tool store does believe in the words "customer" and "service", however it would appear they have never seen the two words follow each other in a sentance!

There is another store out your side of town, in Preston.. WMS is the name

Don't want to be a spelling nazi but should XXXXX-XXX be XXXXXXXX?
I had the same problem, gave up and went to HAFXO in Clayton and WoodWorkers WarehouXX in Braeside.
There seems to be a shortage of bovine excrement at the latter two mentioned, maybe XXXXX-XXX could supply them some :rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gumby

was told they don't sell the ML 392 anymore, due to continued problems and returns

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Gumby,

I just spoke to Bayswater again and they are pretty dirty on Brisbane. He said that there is a lot of internal 'b1tching' at the moment between the stores. They have this problem all the time apparently with Brisbane having plenty of stuff sitting in stock and the other stores are screaming for machines to fill orders. He then told me that they have been having problems with the machines and the boss told him that they aren't really worth the grief. Another member has a thread going that had me considering cancelling anyway.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brudda

There is another store out your side of town, in Preston.. WMS is the name

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My side of town?? I live three hours from town. it takes about the same to Preston as it does to Bayswater. The reason I went with Carba-tec is that I got a really good deal at the WWW Show for table saw, dust extractor and planer thicknesser. I can't really afford to spend more than I have. I would have all ready gone elsewhere if I could afford to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iain

Don't want to be a spelling nazi but should XXXXX-XXX be XXXXXXXX?

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Nope. Look at the Cattledog. :D



End result of phone call to CT Bayswater was that he offered to sell me the CTJ 340 - 12 1/2" Thicknesser and and the 6" jointer for $900. I'm now in a stew as to whether to get this (can't really afford and don't really have the space for two machines) or to sit off and wait for next WWW show and see what I can get there (don't really want to wait that long). :confused: :(

Dan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DanP

Gumby,
End result of phone call to CT Bayswater was that he offered to sell me the CTJ 340 - 12 1/2" Thicknesser and and the 6" jointer for $900. I'm now in a stew as to whether to get this (can't really afford and don't really have the space for two machines) or to sit off and wait for next WWW show and see what I can get there (don't really want to wait that long). :confused: :(

Dan

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Dan, depending on what you work with you might be a bit dissappointed with only 6 inches:D ...on the jointer that is. Just my personal exp.

Cheers

It's funny how when you don't have any machinery, owning a 150mm jointer is your idea of what heaven must be like, then you get one, and every piece of timber you want to use is 160 mm or wider.

(Phew, that kept me away from the imperial connotations :D )

Do all you blokes with bigger ones, find they are big enough, or do you still want more??

Cheers

P (looking forward to the first SPAM email offering to make my jointer bigger)
:D :D :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bitingmidge

Do all you blokes with bigger ones, find they are big enough, or do you still want more??CheersP (looking forward to the first SPAM email offering to make my jointer bigger)
:D :D :D

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Same answer as for sheds. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bitingmidge

Do all you blokes with bigger ones, find they are big enough, or do you still want more??

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Ask SWMBO :D :D :D


I'm concerned that 6" will be a problem, which is why I wanted the combo machine. I would prefer 8" ;) but definately can't afford it. The sherwood looks to be at the right price but once you add the freight I might as well buy in Melbourne and pick it up.

Dan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bitingmidge

It's funny how when you don't have any machinery, owning a 150mm jointer is your idea of what heaven must be like, then you get one, and every piece of timber you want to use is 160 mm or wider.

(Phew, that kept me away from the imperial connotations :D )

Do all you blokes with bigger ones, find they are big enough, or do you still want more??

Cheers

P (looking forward to the first SPAM email offering to make my jointer bigger)
:D :D :D

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Is it the width / height (read girth) or length you're having trouble with?:D

HH.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bitingmidge

It's funny how when you don't have any machinery, owning a 150mm jointer is your idea of what heaven must be like, then you get one, and every piece of timber you want to use is 160 mm or wider.

(Phew, that kept me away from the imperial connotations :D )

Do all you blokes with bigger ones, find they are big enough, or do you still want more??

Cheers

P (looking forward to the first SPAM email offering to make my jointer bigger)
:D :D :D

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I'll send you a few dozen :mad:
Swmbo must have been talking on the net coz between those and the viagra/ciallis ads it's damn near all I get :eek: :D :D

I think that even the female woodworkers on the site would quickly tell you that 6" is not really big enough to satisfy most people. 8" or bigger is the way to go.

See if you can get the same price on an 8" combination deal from these people. They have, after all, mucked you around considerably. Failing that I would look at cancelling the order and looking elsewhere. They seem to have taken your money under what is almost false pretences.

Dan,

You are lucky you received an EMAIL back, I am still waiting for a response from 3 or 4 years ago on a similar issue of a series of broken promises. :( :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

It did finally arrive - about 7 weeks after my birthday even though it was ordered 3 or 4 weeks prior to the birthday and was going to be definitely in the store 2 days after it was ordered.

In their defence though, the staff did appear sorry when Meg broke into tears in their store when she realised she couldn't surprise me with an LN for my birthday. Their sorrow didn't translate into action though.

Like heaps of others in Victoria, I don't have any problems with them now. I now find that everything is on time as promised, service with a genuine smile and great prices too.

Bob,

Luckily I didn't pay up front. Just a small deposit. If I cancel they will either pay me bck or I'll buy something with it.

Rob,

I haven't really had any problems with Melbourne, other than the lack of stock, but I figure that is an outside factor. The bloke I always speak to, Cliff, always seems honest and forthright and doesn't feed me bull poop. When I got lied to about the TSC10HB table saw I ordered he offered me a bigger table saw at $600 off the list price. He has offered me the Jointer and the Thicknesser at $100 off each. It's just that little bit more than I could afford on top of seperate machines I cant really fit and a much smaller jointer.

Dan

You are correct Dan, the staff seem to want to do the right thing but for some reason(s) orders don't get past the office or are stuffed up in some way clerically. I have spoken to ex staff and they felt embarrassed having to tell loyal customers that "sorry even though we promised it would be in today, the order hasn't been placed yet, you'll have to come back next week".

When I said I didn't have any more problems, I meant I deal with MIK in Adelaide now.