A Facebook Response from Shopsmith

[RFGuy]

RF Guy
I just wanted to put in a good word. I read some of the BBB posts and one guy was complaining that he did not receive his order for a 1/4-20 screw. Crying out loud, can't he find a hardware store???
Bill V

Bill,

LOL. I admit I didn't read every review and must have missed that one. That is too funny. I guess I have to lower the standard that I hold the BBB to, if that kind of complaint is being made there.

[dusty]

??? Missing parts from an order, warranty service issues and purchase agreements that aren't honored until a BBB complaint is opened? Seems like more than just an entitled customer to me. For any business to have a dozen or more BBB complaints in one year is not good. It looks like Shopsmith is trying to fix it though, which is good.

P.S. Interesting post this morning from Shopsmith on FB. They are no longer offering repairs on products that are out of warranty.
warranty.jpg

And you take all of these comments at face value and then further circulate them.

Dusty,

I don't know what I have said here to cause you offense. I was looking something else up online and this link to the BBB just came up. I thought it was noteworthy so I shared it here. I did not say that I took all of the posts at face value, but your willingness to discount them as impatient customers doesn't seem right either. In reading through this forum and some of the FB group recently, there seems to be general consensus that Shopsmith has struggled a bit with customer service and order fulmillment the past year or two. Something those of us waiting on actual orders can attest to. There also seems to be supporters who indicate Shopsmith is making improvements and has had to deal with employee losses, etc. I do give Shopsmith credit for setting up a customer service page on FB and I honestly do believe they are trying to make improvements. Maybe I am naïve, but BBB complaints tend to have a bit more weight for me, than just whether someone goes online (Yelp, FB, this forum, etc.) and complains. The good that I see is that Shopsmith is resolving the BBB complaints, but it shouldn't have to come to that.

I have not been offended. I might have been if I was a Shopsmith employee, however. Everyone seems to be anxious to jump on the wagon when criticizing Shopsmith.

[RFGuy]

Just one more comment I want to make as a reference here. I finally broke down and bought new guides for my Shopsmith bandsaw. I went with the Carter guides. When my order came, I rolled the bearings between my fingers and one bearing on one of the guides just didn't feel right. It wasn't smooth rolling and I could feel a restriction. I called Carter up and in just a few minutes, I was transferred from customer service to an engineer there. We discussed briefly and he agreed with my assessment of the problem. They sent out a replacement bearing that I got within a week free of charge. In my mind this is what customer service should be and was exemplary. Sure I would have preferred that there not be a quality issue to begin with, but these things happen. Their handling of it was superb from my perspective. I highly recommend Carter after this experience that I had with them. I hope Shopsmith can get back to providing this level of support for its customers like Carter provides to theirs...

[RFGuy]

I have not been offended. I might have been if I was a Shopsmith employee, however. Everyone seems to be anxious to jump on the wagon when criticizing Shopsmith.

Dusty,

You are right. Many of us are first in line when it comes time to complain, but then slow to step up at times to say something good (hence my reference to Carter in my other post - highly recommend them). I didn't start the post off this morning intending to complain. I do have more than one open order that I am waiting patiently for Shopsmith to fulfill. I am grateful that they still have the parts that I need/want and can send them to me. So, I do try to bite my tongue a lot when it comes to these topics because I am grateful to them. Maybe I gave too much credence to the fact that these were BBB complaints instead of being elsewhere online. I did not intend to "pile on" to Shopsmith, though I know my posts could be seen in that light. There are a lot of positive posts on FB that I have seen and only a couple of posts critical of Shopsmith. So, when I saw several negative comments on the BBB, I was surprised and thought others would be too. Fortunately, I haven't need support from them, just an order to be filled. This morning though, they did post on FB that they are not doing any more repairs (PowerPro I believe) at this time, unless it is under warranty. I couldn't quite tell if this was a short term only issue, or more long term for them.

[WileyCoyote]

I think your original post was a great possible explanation for their Facebook pages. I was quite taken aback by the BBB site. Although most of the issues were cleared up, it is sad that it had to come to that level to get a proper response. I don't blame people for using the BBB. If it gets results and nothing else you have done has worked, that is what they are there for. It does seem people are getting the same if not better level of support on the Facebook page as the BBB page. I have seen a few on this forum use the Facebook page with great results.

[RFGuy]

I think your original post was a great possible explanation for their Facebook pages. I was quite taken aback by the BBB site. Although most of the issues were cleared up, it is sad that it had to come to that level to get a proper response. I don't blame people for using the BBB. If it gets results and nothing else you have done has worked, that is what they are there for. It does seem people are getting the same if not better level of support on the Facebook page as the BBB page. I have seen a few on this forum use the Facebook page with great results.

Thanks. Yeah, I have seen it suggested by some on the FB pages that customer support is better for those who have new machines, i.e. purchased recently from Shopsmith. I don't know if this is true or not, but would definitely suck for those of us with older machines if we are stuck with a lower tier of service/support. Their post this morning stating no repairs for PowerPro's out of warranty certainly hints at that as well. I am just trying to get the few remaining accessories that I need/want, so unless I break something after this, I guess I can see Shopsmith's reluctance to cater to my side of the market. I do wonder if the Shopsmith FB pages didn't come out of a result of some arbitration, etc. relating to the many BBB complaints. I think it is a good idea no matter how it got started. For anyone having issues with service, support, repairs, etc. it seems to be the place to go for direct contact with Shopsmith. I mean the phone system takes 20 minutes to sit on hold, and that is only if it is a day that they haven't switched the system to send you straight to voicemail. They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease and that seems to be the case for those that voice their problems on the customer service page on FB for Shopsmith. Not saying that is a bad thing or not, just what I have observed.

[RFGuy]

This just posted on FB group. It looks like Shopsmith will start offering a couple of live videos there each week with Q&A offered at the end. Interesting...I guess they really want us on FB.

FB_live.jpg (115.98 KiB) Viewed 21928 times

[jsburger]

This just posted on FB group. It looks like Shopsmith will start offering a couple of live videos there each week with Q&A offered at the end. Interesting...I guess they really want us on FB.

FB_live.jpg

That is very good for those on Facebook. However, for those of us that don't do Facebook or any other social media it is a non starter. It would be much better if he does Webinars like Doug Reid. That way everybody interested could be included and you could talk to him live.

[jsburger]

Interestingly I just got this article in the Malwarebytes news letter about Facebook. Looks like most of the industry does not believe in Zuckerberg's claim to do end to end encryption to the data they collect and they still collect and store EVERYTHING you put on Facebook. No thanks!!!

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/security- ... omebrowser

If you have taken time to completely read this lengthily article why would you get a Facebook account?

[rpd]

I want what I want and I want it now.

That is what most of these comments say to me.

??? Missing parts from an order, warranty service issues and purchase agreements that aren't honored until a BBB complaint is opened? Seems like more than just an entitled customer to me. For any business to have a dozen or more BBB complaints in one year is not good. It looks like Shopsmith is trying to fix it though, which is good.

P.S. Interesting post this morning from Shopsmith on FB. They are no longer offering repairs on products that are out of warranty.
warranty.jpg

Actually, it says they are not currently doing out of warranty repairs. That would suggest that they are concentrating on clearing the backlog of warranty repairs and at some point, when workload allowed they may resume doing the "out of" repairs.