Shopsmith Customer Service Help

[RFGuy]

Part of the issue here is some of us remember many years ago when SS Customer Service was very technically savvy. There was one particular lady who was extremely knowledgeable and could answer just about any question you asked with the right answer. She was so popular that there is a thread here on the forum about what we might do for her when she retired. I am sure there is someone here that remembers her name.

Back then SS Customer Service was very technically knowledgeable because many of them had been there for years. Unfortunately they have all retired and we lost all of that knowledge.

My guess is that SS implemented the engineer consult program because all the Customer Service talent retired. Back then you didn't need to talk to an engineer because Customer Service could handle 99.9% of the questions with the right answer.

John,

Thanks. I appreciate it. That makes sense, but I have NEVER experienced anything like this at any company I have contacted before and I have been around a fair number of years. I bought my Mark V in the 1990's but everything worked as intended and was "good" quality back then, so I had no need for customer service from them (not until more recent purchases a few years ago). What you describe sounds like a very rare circumstance at a rare time for the company and society in general (perhaps a "golden era" of customer service?). In my opinion, I think the right approach for Shopsmith would be to follow the industry trend and have a product (not design) engineer on staff to answer customer calls like Carter and Incra do as well as many other woodworking companies. This thing about calling and paying per 15 minutes of an engineer's time is BS in my opinion and doesn't serve them if customer service isn't technical enough as everyone is saying on this thread. IF they want to excel in the industry then they need to embrace modern technology and follow more like what Festool is doing with regular live stream events while answering customer questions during it. Just my 1 cents (adjusted for inflation ).

[JPG]

Then again there was "you know who"(Dave???)

[jsburger]

Then again there was "you know who"(Dave???)

Yes, he was the other one that was brought up often. But, we could get around him.

[dusty]

Dave did not seem to be as knowledgeable as Jan but John was capable of being every bit as helpful.

Remember, effective communication is a two way street!!!