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Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:25 am
by RFGuy
dusty wrote: Are you assuming that questions posted on FB and answered there are answered by someone other that the Shopsmith respondent that you talk to in Customer Service.

If Shopsmith was a "large" operation with dozens of employees, I might agree. Otherwise, I do not.

I have said this before. When pursuing information from Shopsmith...be persistent.

To avoid long wait times, call early in the morning.
Dusty,

The FB groups that I know of related to Shopsmith, there is a Shopsmith Owners Group, Shopsmith Customer Service, Shopsmith Troubleshooting and Tips, Shopsmith Sales Group and Shopsmith Digital Motor Conversions. With regard to customer service in my post above, I am only referring to responses from actual Shopsmith employees on the Shopsmith Customer Service FB page. I also talk above about general technical discussions on FB and I am mostly referring to the discussions on the Shopsmith Owners Group there.

In short, if you want a response from Shopsmith customer service, go to the Shopsmith Customer Service FB page (nothing similar to this exists on this forum). If you want to discuss Shopsmith equipment sales, etc. go to the Shopsmith Sales Group FB page. If you want general technical discussions and sharing what you have built, go to the Shopsmith Owners Group FB page. If you want to see what a few brave souls are doing with converting a Shopsmith to a DC (often treadmill) motor, check out the Shopsmith Digital Motor Conversions FB page.

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:47 am
by RFGuy
dusty wrote: I have said this before. When pursuing information from Shopsmith...be persistent.

To avoid long wait times, call early in the morning.
Dusty,

What does this mean though, i.e. to be persistent? I have called early in the morning and still sat on the phone for 15-20 minutes every time. I have called during the day and found sometimes the voicemail system left turned on during normal phones hours for them so that I could only leave a message. I have had 50/50 luck with phone messages or emails left with Shopsmith actually being returned. I have called on more than one occasion and received different information about the same order or worse no information other than just wait for it. Persistently calling, only to get inconsistent responses doesn't really help me. Not trying to be argumentative here, but it is just frustrating to say the least. I understand we are dealing with a niche product that is decades old so certain parts are barely available. However, once an order is placed and accepted by a company, a minimum level of customer service is expected by most consumers. It seems like the Customer Service FB page is a means of getting answers when all else has failed and/or your order has fallen through the cracks.

P.S. More than once I have called and gotten my order shuffled around (to get an item faster) and been told one thing. Then I call back a short time later and get another rep who pulls up my orders and says "I don't know why the last rep did this", then proceeds to change things around again.

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:50 am
by rpd
RFGuy wrote:
dusty wrote: Are you assuming that questions posted on FB and answered there are answered by someone other that the Shopsmith respondent that you talk to in Customer Service.

If Shopsmith was a "large" operation with dozens of employees, I might agree. Otherwise, I do not.

I have said this before. When pursuing information from Shopsmith...be persistent.

To avoid long wait times, call early in the morning.
Dusty,

The FB groups that I know of related to Shopsmith, there is a Shopsmith Owners Group, Shopsmith Customer Service, Shopsmith Troubleshooting and Tips, Shopsmith Sales Group and Shopsmith Digital Motor Conversions. With regard to customer service in my post above, I am only referring to responses from actual Shopsmith employees on the Shopsmith Customer Service FB page. I also talk above about general technical discussions on FB and I am mostly referring to the discussions on the Shopsmith Owners Group there.

In short, if you want a response from Shopsmith customer service, go to the Shopsmith Customer Service FB page (nothing similar to this exists on this forum). If you want to discuss Shopsmith equipment sales, etc. go to the Shopsmith Sales Group FB page. If you want general technical discussions and sharing what you have built, go to the Shopsmith Owners Group FB page. If you want to see what a few brave souls are doing with converting a Shopsmith to a DC (often treadmill) motor, check out the Shopsmith Digital Motor Conversions FB page.
For those that have an interest, there is also a Facebook Shopsmith 10E & 10ERs group.

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 9:51 am
by RFGuy
rpd wrote:
For those that have an interest, there is also a Facebook Shopsmith 10E & 10ERs group.
Thanks Ron. I thought there were, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for pointing this out.

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:23 am
by rpd
RFGuy wrote:
rpd wrote:
For those that have an interest, there is also a Facebook Shopsmith 10E & 10ERs group.
Thanks Ron. I thought there were, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for pointing this out.
That one is fairly new, and they proliferate like Easter bunnies. :D Hard to keep track of them all. :)

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:46 am
by JPG
Perhaps the SS employees that are monitoring and responding to FB would make better use of their time by answering the CS phone. If they are providing accurate answers, they clearly would be more valuable than those who are presently answering the phone.

I hate to actually say/think this, but, where is Dave when you need him? :D

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 10:54 am
by RFGuy
JPG wrote:Perhaps the SS employees that are monitoring and responding to FB would make better use of their time by answering the CS phone. If they are providing accurate answers, they clearly would be more valuable than those who are presently answering the phone.

I hate to actually say/think this, but, where is Dave when you need him? :D
I don't know how much it would help though. In fairness to those Shopsmith employees that are responding in the FB group, they are often responding after hours and on weekends when they are not getting paid (going above and beyond I think). So, I do want to give them credit for this. I don't think they are constantly on FB and monitoring it all day, but they do check it often enough to respond to some of these complaints that seem to fall through the cracks.

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 11:05 am
by JPG
RFGuy wrote:
JPG wrote:Perhaps the SS employees that are monitoring and responding to FB would make better use of their time by answering the CS phone. If they are providing accurate answers, they clearly would be more valuable than those who are presently answering the phone.

I hate to actually say/think this, but, where is Dave when you need him? :D
I don't know how much it would help though. In fairness to those Shopsmith employees that are responding in the FB group, they are often responding after hours and on weekends when they are not getting paid (going above and beyond I think). So, I do want to give them credit for this. I don't think they are constantly on FB and monitoring it all day, but they do check it often enough to respond to some of these complaints that seem to fall through the cracks.
From what has been said here, I have to agree that more time is devoted to the answers being given. With a backlog of incoming calls, I see a perceived need for quick answers.

False IMO. Quick also has to be correct. Correct is what appears to be missing.



BTW "early" in what time zone? Dayton is EDT.

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 12:28 pm
by RFGuy
JPG wrote: From what has been said here, I have to agree that more time is devoted to the answers being given. With a backlog of incoming calls, I see a perceived need for quick answers.

False IMO. Quick also has to be correct. Correct is what appears to be missing.



BTW "early" in what time zone? Dayton is EDT.
JPG, yeah I agree. Accuracy is important, but also expectations are wide open. For example, if I go and purchase new furniture at any store it is typically 8-12 weeks lead time and you are told this and expect this. If I order from one of the Shopsmith weekly sales and I place my order early in the week, then I get my order typically within a week or two. No complaints. If I order late in the week on one of their sales, I have fallen into a different queue (beyond the initial inventory or production run) and end up waiting 2 months for fulfillment on what was a weekly sale! So, I have personally seen inconsistent deliveries on weekly sales from Shopsmith, but also long lead times (expected) on "rare" items like speed reducer, 5 feet extension tubes, table extension bracket (555997), adjustable stop collars, table insert blanks, etc, etc. IF I had ordered something "rare" and gotten an email from Shopsmith stating expected lead time is 6 months, then I know that I need to wait 6 months for it and I can plan around it. If I can wait great, if I need it asap then maybe I cancel the order and make some kind of other arrangements. The problem is ordering from Shopsmith has open ended expectations and there is zero communication after an order is placed. It can take 1 week to 1+ year to fulfill an order with Shopsmith. This could be alleviated if customer service would give accurate information when I call to inquire.

I really can't fathom what is "rare" and what isn't because like I have said some items I order are one of the weekly specials and it seems like if you don't order it early in the week and get high up on the list, you end up on a waitlist and have to wait for a follow-on build or something that can take 2 months. Weekly sales seem like an inventory clearing activity and if this is the case then I should expect a delay. However, I have seen comments posted that Dayton is small in size now and that they don't really carry inventory so I don't know what I should expect on order deliveries.

With regard to "early", I am up hours before Dayton phones come online. I usually try to call right when they open, but it usually takes them a few minutes for them to switch off the voicemail system and the lines to become "active".

Re: A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2019 2:31 pm
by WileyCoyote
The way I look at the Facebook pages, it's just another avenue to take advantage of if you are having issues. I have yet to see someone post and not get a response from Shopsmith that was not quick and viewed as satisfactory.

I also don't see any difference in posting on Facebook and posting on this forum. Other than using your real name and that doesn't have to be real either, the other information can all be made up, if you decide to put it in. As far as a site monitoring and keeping your info, it's no different than Google, Yahoo or Amazon.