I bought my first Festool from my local Woodcraft Store (Forest Park, Ohio).  They were EXCELLENT, (Kudos really to Dusty) spent a lot of time with me showing me how it all worked together, gave me a chance to try the sanders out in their classroom (I bought one then) and gave me a lot of extra literature to go with it.  They made my purchase a lot easier.

Santa bought my TS 55 at Rockler in Springdale, Ohio.  I found their staff to be pretty knowledgable, but when Santa went to make the purchase, she didn't know the fence came with it and she got the one guy who didn't know the tools either. When I went to collect my fence and I showed them the receipt I got the fence and an apology.  It was no big deal.

I'd buy tools from either dealer.

Steve

Many posts here have given a great deal of credit to dealers for their quick service.  One thing to note here is that this would not be possible in many cases if Festool USA was not also very prompt in processing your order -- it takes both parties to get the job done well.  Festool USA certainly does their best at this. 
 
 Corwin,

 Absolutey correct. Festool does a great job getting em' shipped.

 Bob

Bill and Darcy from FestoolSupply were one of the original Festool dealers in USA. I cannot recommend them highly enough especially if you are in the West coast.

What is most impressive, is Bill speaks from experience. He is too humble to "toot his own horn". Yet, Festool engineers have flown out to his shop to study his creative ideas. This speaks well for Festool that they listen to the PROs and incorporate what works into future releases.

I can also speak well of Eli at Woodcraft Seattle. He was the one pushing me to go with Festool. However, it was visiting Bill's shop that got me believing.

PS. I have not dealt with Bob (I do visit his website regularly). It's too convenient for me to visit FestoolSupply since they're on my commute home.
PS2. I dislike buying Festool from Rockler since most all the reps have not been trained. I also heard they have to pay for their own training, only the manager gets Festool training.
PS3. Bill also has said that having Rockler and Woodcraft selling has increased his business since he carries most everything and people need help-training to use the tools.

Timmy c is "a freak of nature" when it comes to customer service and knowledge, not just Festool either.  When you ask him a question he answers with a confidence that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside and you know you are on the right path.  Don't tell big brother but Tim will tell you what you don't need based on your work style or current set up.  The guy has his own t shirts for crying out loud.  Oh yeah and Tim is a wicked cool dude to which is nice these days.  Junkie for life.

In the good old days  when Festool USA would still ship to Canada, I purchased Festool tools and supplies from:

1) Claude Ouellette who was a Festool ISA located near Ottawa.  When Hafele took over, Claude was dropped by Festool and I regard this as a shameful move on Festool's part.  Claude did know the product line and he helped my both on the phone and via email to make my very first Festool purchases.

2) McFeely?s.  This was simple purchase of a jig saw that I had researched in advance, so required no expertise on their part. 

3) Bob Marino.  I met Bob on the internet shortly after making my initial Festool purchases and most subsequent Festool purchases were through him  (a few were through Claude).   All my dealings with Bob have been great  and I can't add anything to the nice things that folks have said about him.

Since the Festool USA ban on sales shipped to Canada  , I have purchased Festool tools and supplies from:

1) Bob Marino.  I have had tools and supplies shipped to friends in the USA.  From there, they eventually find their way to me.  By the way, one of my friends subsequently bought a couple of Festool tools after seeing mine.

2) Marc St Pierre of Hafele Canada.  Marc is the refreshing exception  to the abysmal  job that Hafele is doing in Canada.  Marc does know the Festool product line.  Last April we had an "event" in my shop where Marc spent about four hours demonstrating the complete Festool line to about 20 fellow woodworkers.  Through Marc, I upgraded from a AFT55 circular saw to a TS75 and I purchased a second (smaller) multi-function table.

Message to Festool management follows.

Not surprisingly, there seem to be some broad conclusions one can draw from the many and varied comments in this thread:

Almost everyone that buys Festool products from what Festool used to call an ISA is pretty happy, and some are ecstatic.

Almost everyone that buys (or tries to buy) Festool products from a large, national retail chain is not so happy, and some are grumpy.

There are exceptions noted in some of the posts here, but I think my conclusions are reasonably fair and accurate.  Hmmm.

Bob,

My take in Woodcraft/Rockler Festool relationship is some buyers need to see/feel the tool before buying it.  I can make a lot of research, and start liking a tool but sometime it is something so abstract like the MFS or the MFT that you need to see it in action.

I also use Woodcraft to buy consumables even I have to pay sales tax, it is lower than UPS/DHL ground services fee.  Also when I need a consumable, I need it now.

Other than that I agree with you 100%.  In Houston we had a young sales associate, he was very knowledgeable in Festool, he left woodcraft and they don't know anything about festool anymore.

Frank and David,

I'd bet that at least Christian O. of FestoolUSA is "listening."  But is he free to act accordingly?  Festool central management/ownership may be pushing to maximize revenue NOW.  You know, the USA MBA Harvard/Wharton Wall Street approaches which inculcate in their students a focus on the short term, more outlets, more marketing efforts, more stocking dealers, with the expectation of ramping up sales and production and more sales.  I personally hope they aren't doing that, and hope they stick to a much longer view in their planning.  Like many others, I have found dealing with knowledgeable ISAs has been most helpful to me.  When I have purchased from a local stocking dealer, with few exceptions (for some consumables or a couple of clamps), it has been connected with special demonstration events at which a Festool factory representative showed what the tools could do, and at which he either answered all questions from personal knowledge or immediately called Festool to get correct answers (like whether the edge guard would fit my early model RO 125 - it won't, the housing is different).  The last tool show with factory representative demos I went to was most interesting.  After the basic demos of the TS 55, 1400 router, Ro 150, with MFT and CT 22 E, I asked the Festool rep if he had an MFS and if he could show it to me.  He said he did in his car, and after completing his normal demos, he retrieved a MFS 200 set.  Soon after he started to show me some of what could be done with it, including making an inlay, the crowd of interested observers quickly became much larger than it ever was throughout the preceding 4 hours.  And that sparked even more interest in other Festool products.

Dave R.

It's amazing to me how many people (including me) would rather buy tools from Bob Marino than in a store.  You would think that people would prefer things like instant gratification, ability to handle and try the tools before buying, face-to-face relationships, etc.  It is a great compliment to Bob that he has actually managed to turn that situation around so that many or most of us prefer to do business long-distance and applaud the greater customer service we get.

Another exceptional source for those of you in Northern California is Japan Woodworker.  Bill is extremely knowledgeable, friendly and helpful about every aspect of Festool.

(I used to live not too far away and still visit there occasionally myself.)

I love instant gratification.  In fact, I have been known to pay a little extra to get the stuff right away.  When I purchased my Sawstop, it felt like the longest week in my life.  It was shipped cross country because the store did not have it in stock.  I didn't even have an issue that I had to pay an $150 to get it shipped to my house.

OK, so I believe this post was a bit unfair to my local store, but it does bother me when you walk into a shop and the employees, including the manager, have no idea what they are trying to sell.  Instant gratification is nice, but it's sometimes spoiled when you buy something due to employees recommendation, only to find out they were completely wrong.

V/R,
S

Frank,

 I think Festool is  listening and is working to correct the situation. But with the number of dealers coming on board so quickly, may be a bit of a task.



 Bob

I would like to put my .02 in from the Canadian perspective. Hafele Canada has only one sales type in Ontario who actually uses the tools. The guys out west have just vague ideas about them. If I need real info I call up Bill @ Festoolsupply. He is helpful, uses the tools day in and day out. Jerry Work is just a huge help. I know for a fact that a major Canadian retailer and manufacture of woodworking tools would just love to sell Festool. They have dedicated woodworkers on staff, bend over backwards to keep their customers statisfied and stores right across the country. Plus they have deep pockets to actually stock the acessories. I am having to wait for a hose garage, panther blade and vac handle to come out of the states! As a group I sure hope that those of you guys south of the 49th keep pushing Festoolusa to keep the marketing plan the way it was. These are NOT B&D to be sold at big box stores.
Thanks for all the help that the people on this forum give to the new guy.
Steve Birmingham

Except for the Kapex, Jim.  I've been asking for months and months and . . . NO KAPEX!  (Of course, it's not actually Bob's fault that he can't deliver a product that doesn't quite exist in this part of the universe).

 

I first learned about Festool at the Rockler in SD, and ended up buying the MFT, Trion, Rotex150 and TS55 from them. I'd seen the display on several prior visits but didn't really know what it was until Mike, the manager, walked me through the line. The presentation was clearly intended to make a sale, but then again that's what a store is for, and the information was very helpful and gave me confidence to plunk down a lot of cash at one go. While we were talking, someone came in for an interview with him, and he was so generous with his time with me that I was actually the one getting uneasy that he had someone waiting so long. In the end, it was clear that he was gonna prioritize a customer over an interviewee. As a new user of Festool and not having done woodworking since jr high shop class, I didn't have any challenging questions. So, I bought on the concept of the integrated system and the professed quality of the tools. Since then, I've learned a lot more thru using the tools and websites such as this one, and nothing I've learned has conflicted with anything Mike has said. He's also been very helpful to this newbie in demonstrating tools and suggesting ways of using them. many suggestions are over my head, until i get home and come across some problem at the bench and remember what he said. I think the prior posts may be correct that Mike is really the go-to guy for Festool at that shop, but that's fine. he always seems to be around. Someone who really knows Festool and has a difficult problem may be disappointed with shops like Rockler, but it works for me. The one time I went into a Tool Depot the staff seemed so surly I got the creeps and left.  I didn't even know they carried Festool. And I didn't know about the other local dealers until reading this thread just a few minutes ago.

Since my original purchase, I've bought the OF1400 and various accessories thru McFeely's, whom I can't fault at all. Fast ship, and the no tax thing is really appealing. If I need something right away, or I need to touch and hold before buying, I'll buy locally. but if I know what I want then I'll always look to buy online first.

I'll bet Tom Silva's OF1400 is metric and it hasn't stopped him.