How's This Working Out?

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
As you all can see, this section of the forum is meant to provide more direct contact between Festool and the Festool Owners Group.  Of course, all sections of the forum can be accessed by Festool, but this section is special in that way.

Many thanks to Christian Oltzscher and Shane Holland at Festool for providing responses to member questions.

As with all forum boards, I need members' thoughts about it.  I'd like to hear everyone's response to these questions:

• Generally speaking, how do you think the "Contact Festool" board is working out?
• What improvements or changes do you suggest for this board?
• Would you like to see a closer connection between the FOG and Festool?
• Are there general subjects you would like to see covered here more often?

Thanks everyone!

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[danrush]

Matthew,

This board was one of the big draws for me to stick around FOG early on.  Rarely do we as consumers get the chance to speak directly to corporate types.  I'm always glad to see the green monikers responding to questions (even though I sometimes don't like the answers ie. release dates, NAINA, etc   ) 

One thought:  I would like to maybe see FESTOOL service or repair guys participate a bit.  (designers too, for that matter) Maybe to comment on some of our home made jigs and tool modifications.  Will some of our ideas show up on future editions of FESTOOLS?  Are there ways to improve on our jigs, from their perspective?.

Thanks Matthew and FESTOOL,    Dan

 

[Eli]

I too would love to hear direct from the Festool design 'lab'.

Positive mon. Big up.
I have no complaints about the board whatsoever Matthew. I'm as pleased as ever. Good work.  ;D

 

[jonny round boy]

I like it too.

The main thing I'd like to see is Festool UK and the dealers in the UK participating. I've mentioned FOG to my dealer before but, nice guy though he is, he struggles with e-mail so I'm not holding my breath.

Having said that, I agree that it would be really good to have some Festool designers/repair technicians chip in every now and then.

It's all very well us saying this though - getting them involved isn't really something you can control Matthew - they either want to, or they don't.

 

[Warrior]

One thought:  I would like to maybe see FESTOOL service or repair guys participate a bit.  (designers too, for that matter) Maybe to comment on some of our home made jigs and tool modifications.  Will some of our ideas show up on future editions of FESTOOLS?  Are there ways to improve on our jigs, from their perspective?.

Thanks Matthew and FESTOOL,    Dan

Dan has an excellent point. I think this would be an excellent portal for Festool initiate interation with us (users) as well.

 

[Daviddubya]

...Generally speaking, how do you think the "Contact Festool" board is working out...

I think it is great that some of the Festool folks read and respond to threads on the FOG.  It is good to know that the manufacturer's representatives are listening and participating.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Just to be honest, I would not expect to see any participation on the part of the engineers and designers from Germany.  I don't want to build any false hopes.  I can, however, assure you that there are a lot of Festool employees eyes on the forum even though they may not actively participate in the threads.

 

[Tom Wales]

Just to be honest, I would not expect to see any participation on the part of the engineers and designers from Germany.  I don't want to build any false hopes.  I can, however, assure you that there are a lot of Festool employees eyes on the forum even though they may not actively participate in the threads.

Well I hope they are registered and not just LURKERS!!! ;D
Tom

 

[mhch]

Only four german members ....

 

[Fred West]

As long as they continue to keep the same quality and innovations, I am way okay with just a few members from Festool Corporate participating.  Fred

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
Thanks for offering your responses here.  Having a connection with Festool is one of the best parts of this forum.  But like all other things, there's always room for things to evolve, if necessary!  Or there might be good reason to leave everything as is.

In some ways, your comments here are like uber-contact-Festool postings!  Or maybe that should be oberpostings?

Matthew

 

[Dave Rudy]

DON'T TOUCH IT!  This part of the forum is excellent.  For the most part, it has been used responsibly by the members.  The Festool input has been direct, straightforward, and almost always helpful.

My $.02.

Dave

 

[Eli]

Only four german members ....

But WHICH four Germans? ;D ;D ;D

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Afternoon,
Seems like people are happy with the way this board has been going.  The only general improvement that seems to come up is a desire to have more technical support staff visible.

Regarding the board itself: if there are no objections, I'm planning to move "Contact Festool" into the "FESTOOL TOOLS IN GENERAL" category.  Generally, to me, it seems awkward to have a whole forum category for just one board.  The only exception is the "SALES ZONE."

Matthew

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
Just a quick note: I have moved the "Contact Festool" board ino the "FESTOOL TOOLS IN GENERAL" category.
Matthew

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Everyone,
It has now been approximately a month since anyone from Festool has posted to the "Contact Festool" board.  I'm really wondering whether it's time to move the discussions from this board into the general boards.

Of course, we can be patient waiting for answers.  But the bigger issue is that, often a question in the "Contact Festool" area really would do better in the general area, but to have a chance of getting a response from Festool people have to put it in the "Contact Festool" board, where it is less visible to most members.  By the same token, if someone posts a good question in the "general" area, it might not get seen by Festool people because they are focusing on the "Contact Festool" area.

In either case, good questions run the risk of going unseen by Festool or other members who do not visit in the "Contact Festool" or "general" boards.  The result is that these good questions may not receive the responses they deserve.  From my perspective, that's a problem.

A good example of this is the recent discussion of the Kapex miter table problem.

It might be better to keep all these kinds of questions in the "general" area.  People from Festool can follow the discussions in the general area and respond (or not).  But more people will see the questions.

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[bonesbr549]

Matt, I've personally not had to use this section until today.  Do officials from Festool monitor this section? I look first to the general for most things.  The current topic on the kapex especially since I've been waiting to see how it is in the field prior to making the jump.  With what's been coming out lately and what I've read on other forums, I'm not inclined to make the jump yet.  Lots of the comments on changes in design and fixes reccomendations show something is up.  It would be nice to have somebody from Festool (not a salesman or marketing person) preferrable high up linked to manufacturing issue a statement of what the issue is, and how it will be addressed.  I was really hyped on getting the kapex, but now I'm pulling back, as others maybe.  The scraping issue seems so out of kilter with Festool. It would be best for Festool to get out in front of this issue if indeed it is a systemic issue.  That's my two cents worth. 

 

[Matthew Schenker]

bones,
Thanks for writing.  The whole point of the "Contact Festool" board was to, um, contact Festool.  If we go a month without a direct response it does call into question the meaning of the board.  To be clear, there were not a lot of responses prior to that.

I've said before that we should be patient waiting for responses from the company.  Obviously, they have a lot of other things to attend to.  Also, it is a great benefit to have the CEO of Festool USA personally write into these discussions.  So this is not necessarily a judgment of the Festool employees who respond.  It's a simple matter of what works best.

My plan for now is to go to the end of July and see if this board lives up to its name a little better.  If it does not, then I'll move the disussions from "Contact Festool" into the other boards.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[bonesbr549]

bones,
Thanks for writing.  The whole point of the "Contact Festool" board was to, um, contact Festool.  If we go a month without a direct response it does call into question the meaning of the board.  To be clear, there were not a lot of responses prior to that.

I've said before that we should be patient waiting for responses from the company.  Obviously, they have a lot of other things to attend to.  Also, it is a great benefit to have the CEO of Festool USA personally write into these discussions.  So this is not necessarily a judgment of the Festool employees who respond.  It's a simple matter of what works best.

My plan for now is to go to the end of July and see if this board lives up to its name a little better.  If it does not, then I'll move the disussions from "Contact Festool" into the other boards.

That works for me.  Since my original post, I've see enough to think they are working on the solution.  I have never seen a product that did not have a bug or two when launched.  The real test of the vendor's metal is how do they make it right!  I'm confident (from past history) they will get it.  I'm sure there is some engineer somehwere going Sheiz!! and working on the solution.  (Not saying the plate will not take care of it) Have a good one Matt.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[slb]

We seem to have some sort of self-fulfilling thing going here  !  Notice that there have been no comments from Festool in this thread. ??? ??? ???