Festool customer service sucks

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=3085]Joseph C[/member] The OP hasn’t visited the forum since January 2021 …..

 

[squall_line]

[member=3085]Joseph C[/member] The OP hasn’t visited the forum since January 2021 …..

That's a good point.

I would say that the same post applies to [member=79938]kelly@kwcontracting.uk[/member] , although if their username is to be believed, they're in the UK and not the US, so Festool NA discussions aren't as applicable.

I got the sense that Festool UK was at least on par with, if not better than Festool USA in terms of service to their clients, but I may be wrong about that.  Festool Australia is the one that I hear mostly horror stories about, which is unfortunate.

 

[sancho57]

I lived in the UK for 4 years from 2013-2017 contacted FT UK service a few times. I ever had a problem with them. Found their service for the most part in line with FT USA.

Not to say that FT has made some changes since then

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Festool's parts inventory supports their tools' wear and repair for decades, and no other company is doing so on their level

Hilti, Mirka, Mafell, Lamello, Fein and DeWalt = "Hold my beer .............."

 

[Doug S]

How timely for Kapexgate to raise it's head again, my Kapex is currently on it's return journey from UK Festool Service after having motor number 4 fitted.

I'm not complaining, the first 2 were when they had problems and only lasted about 18 months each, the third one was the improved type which has lasted about 7 years. The saw does get a lot of use, I don't cut anything big but lots of quick, small cuts on mouldings etc, I do think the constant cycling on and off is what does the damage.

My saw died again a few days ago, it wasn't the magic smoke this time but a grinding noise (and the blade lock stopped working). I sent it off to Festool and looks like they are replacing the gears and the motor. It's not a cheap fix but I love my Kapex and a new one is about £1300 so I went with the repair, hopefully it will come back like a new saw.

I have used Festool UK Service a few times in the last couple of years and have been really impressed with them. They have turned repairs around really quickly and kept me well informed all the way through which is what you want when you rely on your tools for your income.

Invoice here if anyone interested

[attachimg=1]

 

[mino]

...
However, I have sent them various emails regarding what I class as serious, or potentially serious issues but, never get a reply, which I find rude.

Surely an email reply is as easy as a phone call?
...

Do you happen -not- using Gmail etc ...  by chance? Email can easily fall into SPAM so it is best to not assume delivery by default. If I do not get a reply, the standard approach is to send a reminder with receipt requested. That way you get to know the email was received (by the server) and read (by the user). If no receipts come, I call the party on phone, assuming there was some problem with the email delivery. Most of the time, it is found the emails indeed never arrived to the party for one reason or other.

*)
I mention -not-using- Gmail, as Google likes to do shenanigans with randomly blocking/dropping emails from senders *other than* those using their systems. They do this to make other email service vendors "unreliable" and thus force everyone to move to Gmail ... if that happens, the emails are sent directly to the black hole, not even shoving in the "spam folder" for the recipient.

EDIT: yes, yes, old thread ... but the comment is IMO still valid, even more so than in 2020. Email reliability is going down, not up, the last few years.

 

[vdvorkin]

Unfortunately, my post will be me raving about Festool Customer service.

I love the quality of Festool Tools; having said this, I despise the way the customer service and tool repair service operate and dread talking to them because I know that I will not receive straight answers.  I currently have 2 Rotexes out for repair.  They have been received by Festool 3 weeks ago.  I got quotes and paid for repairs 2 days later. 

There had been no communication from them for a week, I called customer service and was informed that the service department is waiting for parts to come in from Germany, but parts should be in soon.  A week and half passes, still no communication from Festool.  Yesterday morning I called back for an update.  Customer service stated that the parts are received, and repair is being completed, both tools should be shipped back to me yesterday, and the tracking will be emailed today.

Just for giggles, I called them today to get tracking number.  I was informed that not only did they not have the tracking, but the repair was not completed, and the parts have not arrived.

Right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing; communication is horrible.  How can the tools be so good and service be so poor?

 

[Packard]

All customer service sucks if you don’t get the result you are looking for.  All customer service is stellar if you do.

The reason Starbuck’s customer service is generally regarded as very good is, “Your coffee was not up to snuff?  Here’s a coupon for a free beverage.”

Festool’s response would have to look at the math.  It is not right, but that is how most businesses operate.

Buy cheap tools, and replacing them is cheap too.  Buy expensive tools and the cost to replace them is troublesome. 

For many years, Hasselblad sold their cameras without any written guarantee at all.  This was OK because everyone knew that they would fix defects for free even after times well beyond a typical guarantee.

Laws changed and Hasselblad added a written guarantee.  They still stood behind their cameras 100%.  But their cameras were 3 or 4 times as expensive than their competitors, so hobbyists did not buy their cameras, only professionals.

And their equipment was far less user friendly, so rich doctors, dentists and others did not flock there.

Festool, over the years, seems to be getting more hobbyists.  Maybe the less reasonable demands that some amateurs make is affecting the guarantee.

Does anyone remember what their guarantees were like when they were almost entirely used by professionals?

 

[Cheese]

Does anyone remember what their guarantees were like when they were almost entirely used by professionals?

Here's the warranty from 20 years ago...it's from the Festool 2005 catalog.

[attachimg=1]

 

[peter halle]

Unfortunately, my post will be me raving about Festool Customer service.

I love the quality of Festool Tools; having said this, I despise the way the customer service and tool repair service operate and dread talking to them because I know that I will not receive straight answers.  I currently have 2 Rotexes out for repair.  They have been received by Festool 3 weeks ago.  I got quotes and paid for repairs 2 days later. 

There had been no communication from them for a week, I called customer service and was informed that the service department is waiting for parts to come in from Germany, but parts should be in soon.  A week and half passes, still no communication from Festool.  Yesterday morning I called back for an update.  Customer service stated that the parts are received, and repair is being completed, both tools should be shipped back to me yesterday, and the tracking will be emailed today.

Just for giggles, I called them today to get tracking number.  I was informed that not only did they not have the tracking, but the repair was not completed, and the parts have not arrived.

Right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing; communication is horrible.  How can the tools be so good and service be so poor?

I might suggest that you call back and ask to speak to the Service Manager. and explain exactly what has transpired.  If you get pushback, politely insist based on the varied past answers you have received.

Peter

 

[Packard]

Does anyone remember what their guarantees were like when they were almost entirely used by professionals?

Here's the warranty from 20 years ago...it's from the Festool 2005 catalog.

[attachimg=1]

I was not being clear.

What I meant was,  has their attitude towards customers changed as more and more amateurs became owners of Festool equipment?

 

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=74278]Packard[/member] I'm not sure you're right.

I personally don't think that any brand of premium tool is numerous amongst hobbyists. Your viewpoint may well be skewed by a number of guys on here (maybe 20-30 of you in total?) who have both the finances and the desire to up your game by using quality tools. It's practically unheard of over here - in almost 40 years working in the homes of customers where the guy does a bit of fixing-up himself, I've never once encountered anything more high-end than a cheap DeWalt. Many of them show great interest as I roll my equipment out of the van, saying that they're never heard of any of the brands. And when they enquire about the cost - their jaws hit the floor.

I also find it hard to believe that any company's warranty could possibly be influenced by a possible reduction in the number of professional users. A company's service either sucks - or it doesn't, and I've never experienced any differentiation in service quality according to the demographic of its customer base.

 

[ChuckM]

There is no question in my mind that there must be more buyers of Festool equipment who use them for their businesses than those who are amateur woodworkers. I don't know if any official statistics exists and, even if it does, it has ever been released by any party.

A friend of mine who is a cabinetmaker/renov guy by trade owns a DF500 and a sander. Everything else he uses is non-Festool. He also works part-time at a local Festool dealer, and his impression of the ratio of business owners to hobbyist owners is roughly 75 to 25. But again, that's his feeling based on the 7 to 8 years he has been selling there, not on any store records or analysis.

I believe there're more amateurs participating on FOG as they tend to have more time on their hands, though.

 

[Mini Me]

Festool have always had the corporate strategy that the professional trade market was their bread and butter and retail sales to the hobbyist was just cream on the cake so to speak and when I said that in the past here I was criticised for it. In Oz their main market is the car smash repair industry as the construction industry has been dominated by other brands. I have never seen a building tradesman use any Festool tools at all TTTT in Oz. It is obvious that the way they have integrated their vacuums with the tools is aimed at the trades working in people's homes and there is nothing wrong with that idea at all.

 

[woodferret]

I can relate to vdvorkin's plight though.  Last year when I had the CSC in for servicing, I got the run around about parts needing to come in.  Of course, I get the saw back untouched after waiting weeks

I was also waiting on some OF1010 accessory parts which my dealer was having a heck of a time getting the warehouse side to properly put on a pallet.  Several pallets and months later, it finally got on.  Ah, globalization and supply chain squeeze.

But I agree that the higher level service managers handle things properly.  I was hoping they rectified the glitches in the standard flow since then, but I guess not.

 

[Cheese]

1. I despise the way the customer service and tool repair service operate and dread talking to them because I know that I will not receive straight answers. 

2. There had been no communication from them for a week, I called customer service and was informed that the service department is waiting for parts to come in from Germany, but parts should be in soon.  A week and half passes, still no communication from Festool.  Yesterday morning I called back for an update.  Customer service stated that the parts are received, and repair is being completed, both tools should be shipped back to me yesterday, and the tracking will be emailed today.

3. Just for giggles, I called them today to get tracking number.  I was informed that not only did they not have the tracking, but the repair was not completed, and the parts have not arrived.

4. Right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing; communication is horrible.

1. It seems you have a pre-judged conclusion before you even contacted Festool.  [eek]  I'd consider that to be a problem...how will that ever end well? If you don't expect to receive straight answers, then why are you wasting your time asking Festool questions? Just move on to TiK Tok or Chat and you'll certainly be happy with the answers they give you.

2. So being more real...In-service communication is not a Festool strongpoint. The limited amount of Festool communication begins when they receive the item to be serviced and when they return the serviced item. All other communication is strictly ethereal between the service associates...it's called mind reading as far as the tool owner is concerned.  [smile] It's frustrating for sure but that's the service they offer.

3. Ya, that's also not unusual because the spare parts supply chain to Germany seems to still be broken. I had to wait 4 weeks for the replacement parts needed to repair a new CXS 12.

4. Ya, that may be so but unfortunately that happens to be the case for probably 70% of the manufacturers we currently deal with. The latest manufacturer that gets a 5 star rating for doing things correctly...SendCutSend.

 

[bobfog]

I have a very low use DF700 that only gets used on projects that my DF500 can’t handle. It developed a motor fault waaaaaaay outside warranty but because of the low use Festool UK repaired it completely free of charge including covering the shipping. That’s the only interaction I’ve ever needed with them and for me it was faultless.

 

[Cheese]

3. Ya, that's also not unusual because the spare parts supply chain to Germany seems to still be broken. I had to wait 4 weeks for the replacement parts needed to repair a new CXS 12.

Just to expand on this statement a little bit more, the CXS 12 was purchased from Festool Recon on 11/3/23 and became very wonky with continued use. I sent it in to Festool on 9/5/24 and finally received it back on 10/17/24. I enquired on the status several times and was told they were waiting for parts from Germany for the entire duration.

When I received the drill back on 10/17/24, the drill was still acting weird and even a little bit more wonky than when I first sent it in. I used it for a week and documented the issues on a daily basis.

I sent it back in to Festool service on 10/22/24 along with the documented problems and received a NEW CXS 12 SET on 11/6/24 along with a Festool cap for my trouble.

In spite of the extended time it took to remedy the CXS issues, I'd still consider this to be excellent customer service. I should mention, the various issues with the drill were random in nature so it was EXTREMELY difficult to diagnose the root cause of the problems.

 

[Imemiter]

All customer service sucks if you don’t get the result you are looking for.  All customer service is stellar if you do.
(snip)

I have to disagree with this. All four of my returns have had stellar outcomes. But only half of those were stellar experiences. The positive spin is that the two most recent were better experiences.

 

[squall_line]

Does anyone remember what their guarantees were like when they were almost entirely used by professionals?

Here's the warranty from 20 years ago...it's from the Festool 2005 catalog.

It seems to me that the warranty now is much better than 20 years ago, inasmuch as "wear and tear" is actually covered by the current warranty terms (up to a certain definition of those words, of course).