Shopsmith Forums

I would call CS and request speaking to someone higher up the management chain and not go away until something far more definite was stated!

Then IFF it appears return is the best choice request a RMA.

While I was visiting the festool road show yesterday someone ask about the service on these tools. They have a policy of turning around a repair in two working days. When it arrives at the repair facility the clock starts.....

I think that sounds like a good policy.

Back a few years ago perhaps about the time this forum came to be I was thinking that I had been really fortunate with my shopsmith. I had not had any thing bad go wrong and while there were updates and preventive measures taken along the way it was never the case where I had any downtime other then when I wanted to work on it. I got the machine in 1976 so that was a lot of years of good fun and reliable operation.

I got to thinking that I might be due for some more serious issues anytime so I went hunting for a second, second hand machine to use as a back up or for parts. I found a basket case 510 and it had been mis-used and not treated well at all. But a decent price and if nothing else it was a source of parts. Well soon I had all the fixes done and I had a second machine up and running and it turned out to be very useful having a second machine. I did sometime later change it to a 520 to match my other machine and it was a well worth it to me upgrade.

Then there was the question of was shopsmith going to survive or not. I got a few spare parts to squirrel away and even got a few more machines. I've upgraded to the powerpro twice now and sometimes think about a third one.... I do think 6 machines is excessive but 2 or three is quite reasonable, well OK maybe 4.

I have no idea what is going on with this situation. I've never experienced anything remotely like this from shopsmith.

I do love my powerpros. I'd really like to think shopsmith can fix this and you will get to find out just why I'm so positive about them. It really does change your prospective on the headstock and what it can do.

Ed

I have restrained myself from commenting negatively on this thread trying to give the mother ship the benefit of the doubt and time to work this out. However as candid as an Amazon review all the negativity about this situation cannot be good for Shopsmith or this forum. So let's look at what is reasonable. In my opinion you have gone well beyond what would be reasonably ask of a consumer. If it were me I would call Shopsmith and give them the ultimatum of shipping me a new tested unit and sending a return tag for the old unit. If they aren't willing to do that then I would just ask for the return tag for the old unit. Either way you would be out of this situation and then could decide how to move forward if they choose the latter.

Re: My recent problems with SS Tech Support (see "Where is Shopsmith Tech Support?) i have reluctantly accepted that SS is most likely in trouble because they cannot effectively support their premier product, the Powerpro.
I sincerely hope that my fears are ill founded and the latest events are merely a transitional issue. At the moment my PP is working. If it fails again I have my fingers crossed that there will be a ShopSmith there to fix it. BTW I have three units, one with the PP, one with my original head stock and the third is a unit restored by Bill Mayo. I have thought I should pick up another head stock in the event I have a unfixable failure of the PP.
Dick

It may just be me, but I think this all started when some of the long term employees retired (I won't name names) over the last year or so. I know before the retirements and after the retirements is night and day as far as knowledge and response.

Just sayin'

I don't know the time frame of which you speak but there was that time period when Shopsmith restructured to avoid financial crisis. During this time, they reduced their floor space and the employee count. Services were reduced to only those supported by a minimum head count. Just enough to keep things rolling. Then came the PowerPro.

Since they introduced the PowerPro, I have seen evidence of none other than recovery. Yes, there have been some service issues like the one that started this thread but I believe those to be the direct result of new employees attempting to fill the shoes of the previous seasoned veterans during a time of increased production requirements.

On the flip side, take a look at all of the positive changes that have occurred here on the forum and don't ignore the work that is being done on the PDF catalog and the web site. Management does not commit funds to those types of expenditures unless they are planning for growth.

RELAX. Cut out all of this conjecture and it is conjecture because none of us have the "inside line".

Dusty, i like the way your brain is wired!

dusty wrote:I don't know the time frame of which you speak but there was that time period when Shopsmith restructured to avoid financial crisis. During this time, they reduced their floor space and the employee count. Services were reduced to only those supported by a minimum head count. Just enough to keep things rolling. Then came the PowerPro.

Since they introduced the PowerPro, I have seen evidence of none other than recovery. Yes, there have been some service issues like the one that started this thread but I believe those to be the direct result of new employees attempting to fill the shoes of the previous seasoned veterans during a time of increased production requirements.

On the flip side, take a look at all of the positive changes that have occurred here on the forum and don't ignore the work that is being done on the PDF catalog and the web site. Management does not commit funds to those types of expenditures unless they are planning for growth.

RELAX. Cut out all of this conjecture and it is conjecture because none of us have the "inside line".

I could not agree more Dusty. There are all the things you mentioned plus the traveling academies are back and the new relationship with Woodcraft with demos there. Looking at the web site they are hiring including demonstrators. So things are looking up.

Yes, we have heard here of a couple of CS hiccoughs in the last few months but as you said we don't know the whole story. I say growing pains and if it gets fixed that is not a bad thing.

Do we have a recent update of this situation? Has it been resolved or is it still on going?