SS Back-orders?

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:37 pm

when I got home last night, I discovered that not only did my (555982) 510 to 520 upgrade for the older style 510 now say shipped, but it was sitting in the living room. the wife had carried it in and I got to tell her what that heavy box was.

I do wish SS would improve their packing. the top and the bottom of the box were stapled, but ONLY the top was taped. as usual for a heavy box from SS, several of the bottom staples had come loose. last time all but one staple came loose. this time only one end of the bottom had separated from the flap. telling customer service does no good other than having them ship replacements for the parts that fell out of the box en route.

I mention this here in the faint hope that someone at SS might notice it.

still_waters_43 · Post by **still_waters_43** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:53 am

Glad to see some of you are getting your backorders filled.

I am still waiting on a bandsaw blade and a universal 5/8 molder/dado arbor from SS at the end of June:( . I tried eBay but they typically sell arbors for more than the "new" price (go figure!)

.

woodworkerthad · Post by **woodworkerthad** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:08 pm

if anyone is waiting on the 5/8 arbor like me they should get in shopsmiths warehouse no later than the 17th of this month maybe earlier

thanks thad:p

cincinnati · Post by **cincinnati** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:25 pm

iclark wrote:when I got home last night, I discovered that not only did my (555982) 510 to 520 upgrade for the older style 510 now say shipped, but it was sitting in the living room. the wife had carried it in and I got to tell her what that heavy box was.

I do wish SS would improve their packing. the top and the bottom of the box were stapled, but ONLY the top was taped. as usual for a heavy box from SS, several of the bottom staples had come loose. last time all but one staple came loose. this time only one end of the bottom had separated from the flap. telling customer service does no good other than having them ship replacements for the parts that fell out of the box en route.

I mention this here in the faint hope that someone at SS might notice it.

I think Shopsmith is small enough that it will make a difference.
I had tracked my belt sander sent back to Shopsmith. Jan on the phone said "Yes! It is hear I saw it sitting on the dock when I came in.

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:23 pm

iclark wrote:(555982) 510 to 520 upgrade for the older style 510

-982?

I'm afraid one of us is going to be disappointed.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:51 pm

keakap wrote:-982?

I'm afraid one of us is going to be disappointed.

I do not think it will be you!;) I hope he mis-spoke!:) If not, he needs some nuts and washers and bolts(?).

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:42 pm

On the (back) orders/ shipping matter, I ordered the 520 upgrade on 8/27, and it arrived about three minutes ago. Not too shabby!

(Disclaimers: it went into production two days after I ordered it, just a pure coincidence; and there is no surface delivery out here -- at least not for stuff what don't float!)

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:44 pm

[quote="JPG40504"]I do not think it will be you!]

I'll know in about two minutes!

"Fed Ex!"...

yee-hah!

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:38 pm

keakap wrote:-982?

I'm afraid one of us is going to be disappointed.

you are right - and it is not you.

backordered since January and it never occurred to me to look up the part number in the catalog! I ordered by phone. the first call I placed an order at the sale price and got educated how to tell which one I needed. second call, I asked for the older model upgrade to go with the rails with holes. the description on the invoice said "Pro Fence System Retro(510 T"

the installation instructions are for 555771 and the box does not have any of the 3 model versions marked. I just assumed that everyone got the same instructions and got to figure it out.

to make even more frustrating, this is the second time in the last month that I have received the wrong version after placing a phone order. the other one being the manual for the wrong generation of lathe duplicator.

how much of a problem do I have? are the mounting holes in the 2 versions in the same place? waiting another 7 months for the right version is almost too frustrating to consider.

please forgive the venting.

Ivan

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 11:58 pm

cincinnati wrote:I think Shopsmith is small enough that it will make a difference.

in just under 2 years of ordering from SS, telling customer support has not made any positive difference in packaging that I can see.

starting with my first order, the box bottom was popped partially open. the small plastic bags of washers and screws in that order had not been closed and many of those small parts fell out of the box. the guy on customer support assured me he would pass along the info to the packers.

I long ago lost track of how many boxes arrived with the bottom or side staples ripped out. I think that I have had to have replacement parts shipped 3 times now. twice for stuff falling out of the partially open box bottom and once because loose chunks of metal are unfriendly to uncushioned DVDs.

I have also called to order additional parts after receiving orders and told CS about the ruptured box bottoms or parts sticking out the sides of packaging. the ladies in CS are uniformly friendly and sympathetic and tend to joke about those guys in packing, but it never results in a piece of tape on the bottom of the next box. I told CS that my first 510 to 520 upgrade (for an '89) arrived on my porch with just one of the bottom staples still holding. They are still using that same cardboard box for the upgrade. This time the shippers were gentler and 3 or 4 staples were still holding and only one end of the bottom was open. why should I expect anything to change if I tell CS about the false economy of saving tape on this same box again?

there are a lot of things that I like about SS, but their packaging for shipping is some of the worst that I have ever experienced (although Woodcraft seems to want to challenge here for their house-brand items).

sorry if I am being blunt, but this issue has gotten really old (plus finding out about the upgrade miss-order tonight here in this thread and a Woodcraft order that came in tonight shorted me. I ordered 2 shop stools; Woodcraft invoiced for 2 and fedex delivered 1.) anyone still reading this is probably wondering if I would like some cheese with my whine.

Ivan