Customer Service

[jsburger]

I ordered the drill press laser on Tuesday not realizing there is free shipping starting today. I called CS today to see if they would remove the shipping ($15). I got right through, no waiting on hold. I talked to a nice young lady named Cathy. I asked if I could get the shipping removed or cancel and reorder to get the free shipping. She said I am not sure let me check. She was gone maybe 30 seconds max. She came back and removed the shipping from the order. I just checked the order and the promo code has been changed so I assume that is the free shipping.

I also asked if they are in stock. She checked and said they out of stock but the system showed 7 to 10 days to ship. I haven't called CS in a long time and given some of the complaints here I did not know what to expect. It turned out to be a very pleasant experience that ended as I hoped it would.

[reible]

That sounds like the old shopsmith we all loved.

I might order one of these too since they have the free shipping. I do sometimes use one of my other shopsmith's for drilling (other then the one I have dedicated as a drill press). If I had another one of these lasers it could be my floating one which might be nice.

Ed

[jsburger]

That sounds like the old shopsmith we all loved.

I might order one of these too since they have the free shipping. I do sometimes use one of my other shopsmith's for drilling (other then the one I have dedicated as a drill press). If I had another one of these lasers it could be my floating one which might be nice.

Ed

Yes it does. I was pleasantly surprised.

Over in Woodworking Tool Review Kenbu commented on this subject...

"So, a $30 Wixey and a $40... bracket??"

The Wixey is $40 on their web site. It includes a Stainless Steel hose clamp to attach to a conventional drill press column and is not meant to be moved once calibrated.

The SS version needs a precision bracket to be removable and re-instable to maintain accuracy. I think the price is reasonable.

[RFGuy]

I ordered the drill press laser on Tuesday not realizing there is free shipping starting today. I called CS today to see if they would remove the shipping ($15). I got right through, no waiting on hold. I talked to a nice young lady named Cathy. I asked if I could get the shipping removed or cancel and reorder to get the free shipping. She said I am not sure let me check. She was gone maybe 30 seconds max. She came back and removed the shipping from the order. I just checked the order and the promo code has been changed so I assume that is the free shipping.

I also asked if they are in stock. She checked and said they out of stock but the system showed 7 to 10 days to ship. I haven't called CS in a long time and given some of the complaints here I did not know what to expect. It turned out to be a very pleasant experience that ended as I hoped it would.

I am glad you had a great experience. I hope my past comments haven't skewed anyone's perception of Shopsmith CS (customer service). If so, I do apologize. Overall, my experience with Shopsmith CS has been very positive. I take issue more with Shopsmith's shipping department and lack of communication on backordered items (overall customer experience). The key points (culled from evidence on a dozen orders over the last year), from my perspective, are as follows:

-CS are very friendly and courteous on the phone
-phone wait times are highly variable, sometimes very short, sometimes over 20 min
-emails are not always responded to, so phone calls are best
-when you need engineering support, Jim McCann is superb
-CS may/may not have knowledge on when certain part #'s will be available
-grossly inadequate packing to protect fragile items in shipment
-no communication after online order, e.g. CS says I should get a purchase invoice by email but never do, also no communication when my items go to backorder status or when they ship
-backorder items could take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months to receive so a lot of patience is required

Not trying to reignite a debate again over Shopsmith CS, but I did want to stress that I have had good interactions with Shopsmith CS over the past year. Areas for improvement (IMHO) aren't in CS but other areas of the company. I think Shopsmith CS is doing the best they can given the internal systems in place at Shopsmith and manufacturing delays.

[Shawn]

I too have had mixed experiences and have voiced my concerns not to complain, but just out of worry. I am very patient with Shopsmith because it is a system and business I want to support and want to see it succeed. When I have multiple issues that would keep me away from other places, I worry that others might stay away from Shopsmith. My best experiences are with using the phone, e-mail often does not get replies or acknowledgements. It can take persistence to follow up on questions, credits, backorders, etc. but my best luck is with the phone.

That said, Shopsmith now has inside sales support. I won't list names because I have dealt with multiple people due to turnover, but if you call and ask for their inside sales, you will be linked up with someone that can help with ordering. You can get their direct line, or line with extension, and they have helped me with issues if I am not getting the responses I need from CS. I believe they will give you 5% discounts on your orders, and they also send out specials - separate from the daily/weekly specials advertised on the site or sent through the normal e-mail. This was how I got 30% off on a reconditioned PowerPro DIY - I don't believe it was advertised through the regular notifications.

[RFGuy]

Thanks Shawn. All good information you are sharing here. Maybe a little too tempting though...a cheaper DIY solution might prompt some of us to jump on the PowerPro bandwagon!

Just curious, do you have to call sales to find out about these other promotions, or is it through email?

Hope you get the static issue figured out on your PowerPro.

[Shawn]

Thanks Shawn. All good information you are sharing here. Maybe a little too tempting though...a cheaper DIY solution might prompt some of us to jump on the PowerPro bandwagon!

Just curious, do you have to call sales to find out about these other promotions, or is it through email?

Hope you get the static issue figured out on your PowerPro.

Well I will let you know how my reconditioned PowerPro works out. I haven't had a chance to use it much yet.

For the sales, I get an email just about monthly. I also get phone calls. I didn't ask for it, I think it comes from me having ordered regularly for the past year or so. It hasn't been too intrusive, I think I got 3 or 4 calls this year. Most recent email ad is for $300 off Mark 7, $250 off 520, or a gift cert for $350, or a convenience package with purchase. If you know someone looking for a system, they sometimes offer a free SPT with new purchase.

Thanks for the support, my plan is to run it hard and if it happens to go "bad", hopefully it happens while still in warranty!

[RFGuy]

Well I will let you know how my reconditioned PowerPro works out. I haven't had a chance to use it much yet.

For the sales, I get an email just about monthly. I also get phone calls. I didn't ask for it, I think it comes from me having ordered regularly for the past year or so. It hasn't been too intrusive, I think I got 3 or 4 calls this year. Most recent email ad is for $300 off Mark 7, $250 off 520, or a gift cert for $350, or a convenience package with purchase. If you know someone looking for a system, they sometimes offer a free SPT with new purchase.

Thanks for the support, my plan is to run it hard and if it happens to go "bad", hopefully it happens while still in warranty!

Well, it is interesting. I placed a dozen or so orders with them in less than a year time, albeit all of them were online orders. If there is some preferred customer list that Shopsmith keeps, I am not on it!!! Then again, it took an enormous effort for me to just get on the email list for receiving the weekly email specials.

Best of luck on the PowerPro...keep us updated on it. I assume the static noise is coming from one of the components of the PowerPro directly and not from anything else in your shop being interfered with. Reason that I say this is that the PowerPro is a switching power supply and produces a good bit of EMI/RFI as I understand it. In the past, I have heard of PowerPro owners having FM radio disruption in their shop necessitating adding input filtering. So, if you have a stereo in the shop, it could be outputting noise when the PowerPro is powered on. Just wanted to mention that on the off chance that you noise is being caused by the PowerPro, but the noise is actually coming out of stereo speakers. Also, by "static" noise, you mean popping and crackling kind of noise or do you mean a kind of constant hiss sound?

[sryoder]

I've had mixed service but my latest experience has not been good. Placed a fairly large order on November 16. To-date I have had no indication that anything has happened. No email indicating the order has shipped or been back-ordered or anything. Tried calling but couldn't reach a human. Left a message and have gotten no response. That was last week. I'll try again tomorrow when the office is open again. BTW, the "tracking numbers" I've gotten on this and another recent order just lead me back to the original invoices. No tracking information at all. I'm a bit miffed as my SS sits in pieces and I'm anxious to get it back together.

[RFGuy]

I've had mixed service but my latest experience has not been good. Placed a fairly large order on November 16. To-date I have had no indication that anything has happened. No email indicating the order has shipped or been back-ordered or anything. Tried calling but couldn't reach a human. Left a message and have gotten no response. That was last week. I'll try again tomorrow when the office is open again. BTW, the "tracking numbers" I've gotten on this and another recent order just lead me back to the original invoices. No tracking information at all. I'm a bit miffed as my SS sits in pieces and I'm anxious to get it back together.

Yeah, this has been the problem that I have had. According to CS, you are supposed to get an order invoice by email when you place an online order. I am NOT talking about the order confirmation email, but an actual order invoice. The few times that I have needed the invoice, I had to call special and get CS to email it to me because their automated system doesn't send to me even though it is supposed to. Similarly, if your order doesn't ship after "x" weeks, you are supposed to automatically get backorder emails informing you of the backorder and giving an estimate of when it is expected to ship. I was on backorder for months before I finally got up with a CS person who magically turned on the backorder emails for my 2 parts that were backordered. Only advice that I can offer is to keep at it on the phone. I know I spent multiple hours on hold on the phone this past year for all of my orders. I don't know what has to happen at Shopsmith for them to turn on these order systems that are supposed to work for all customers, but I am sharing it here so everyone knows CS claims they exist. The biggest source of frustration with my orders was always the not knowing the status of them...