Squashed Sanding Drum Beef

[RFGuy]

On Sunday I sent an email to customer service expressing disappointment that Shopsmith would think that these partially squashed sleeves are fit for sale, requesting a Return Merchandise Authorization, and wishing them luck re-selling them.

I am happy to report that I just got an email from Shopsmith doing a complete about face. Brooke in Customer Service apparently took it upon herself to bypass the engineer’s judgment that these sleeves were ok and to discuss it with “the owner” who agreed to ship out a new set of sleeves. Hooray for Brooke and for Shopsmith’s owner upholding the company’s reputation and taking some pride in doing things right! Faith restored!

That is awesome. Let's hope the replacement is packed better so that you get it in good shape this time. Fingers crossed...

[algale]

I should add that what I didn’t tell Shopsmith or Brooke when I initiated my request for a return, was that I was also going to cancel several hundred dollars of back-ordered items and curtail all future orders where a substitute could be obtained from third-parties. So this small gesture, which was totally done on Brooke’s initiative, has saved the company hundreds of dollars today and many hundreds more in the future!

[dusty]

On Sunday I sent an email to customer service expressing disappointment that Shopsmith would think that these partially squashed sleeves are fit for sale, requesting a Return Merchandise Authorization, and wishing them luck re-selling them.

I am happy to report that I just got an email from Shopsmith doing a complete about face. Brooke in Customer Service apparently took it upon herself to bypass the engineer’s judgment that these sleeves were ok and to discuss it with “the owner” who agreed to ship out a new set of sleeves. Hooray for Brooke and for Shopsmith’s owner upholding the company’s reputation and taking some pride in doing things right! Faith restored!

This is good news and is consistent with ALL of my past dealings with Shopsmith. Is Brooke the same CS support person that you spoke with initially?

[algale]

Is Brooke the same CS support person that you spoke with initially?

Yes.

[JPG]

Take note that she responded to an EMAIL!!!

[algale]

Take note that she responded to an EMAIL!!!

Yeah, but not using the email address you find on the contact page. I called and waited on hold and when I told her the issue she asked me to send a photo of the issue and gave me an email address that is different than the one that the recorded message says to use when you are on hold or that the website says to use to contact customer service.

[dusty]

WE complain quite a bit about Shopsmith not returning calls, not answering telephone calls or not responding to emails. Maybe the only "problem" is that the office within Shopsmith whose responsibility to respond is either under staffed or not receiving these messages.

I have to believe that it is something like this rather blatant disregard for the customers' needs.

[RFGuy]

I don't presume to know Shopsmith's internal systems, email servers, etc. I suspect there might be an issue with their internal system and how it forwards customer emails into a queue for them to answer. When I had customer service issues earlier this year, the only way that I got them resolved was by getting the direct contact email for the manager of customer service. Alan is reporting here that he got the direct contact email for Brooke. Based on my experience, it seemed like the Shopsmith email (catreq@shopsmith.com) was 50/50 for whether you'd get a response back or not. However, I had good experience getting responses on the direct contact emails I was given. My guess is the catreq@shopsmith.com email is a catch-all email account that multiple employees at Shopsmith check. As a central email contact for the entire company, I am sure it is full of spam that has to be waded through. On top of this, with multiple employees checking this one email account, it is possible for messages to inadvertently be marked read and missed.

I don't know if my speculation here is correct or not, but I think it would explain some of the hit or miss responses on the customer service email...and likely why Shopsmith customer service started giving out their direct email contacts to select customers.

[algale]

Wow! What a difference with the replacement drums. Packed in a box (rather than a soft envelope) with padding and the drums themselves loosely packed rather than sealed into a too small package. And the drums are perfect!

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[JPG]

YES that is what they are supposed to look like!!!

I doubt that 'engineer' was Jim McCann.(at least I hope not!)