Is it difficult to get certain Festool parts to arrive undamaged?

[Ivanhoe]

First damaged product was a mft/3 top. Smashed corner, but to me only cosmetic and I didn't even bother to call the dealer, especially since it was drop shipped from Festool. (not double boxed)

Second damaged product- 55" "holey" rail. Arrived today. UPS really bunged this one up. Two corners on the same side are dented. Box was trashed on this end and had been taped up. (not double boxed) I purchased this from Amazon as no one had it in stock or I would have bought from one of the dealers here on the FOG that I trust.

I was just wondering what to expect on these somewhat hard to process packages. Is it normal? I am hesitant to re-place/re-order  the rail  from Amazon and may just wait until one of the FOG dealers get them in stock. Unfortunately, I don't have a festool dealer within several hours from my home so most all purchases must be online.

Thoughts?

 

[mprzybylski]

It's unfortunate that you are having issues. I just purchased a TS55 REQ from Bob Marino and replaced the rail with the holey rail. It just came yesterday and was double boxed. Rail is in perfect condition.

I normally purchase off of amazon because it's usually cheaper and free shipping but that doesn't obviously apply to Festool items so I normally buy those from dealers here on the FOG.

 

[copcarcollector]

Any large, heavy or unusually long package is prone to damage in the UPS, FedEx or any shipping system.  I too have received double boxed items from Bob Marino and they came in just fine. Luckily, so far at least, my purchases have arrived intact and damage free---

 

[wow]

My 55" Holey Rail was shipped from Ohio and arrived undamaged. My 95" Holey Rail came from Amazon, and also arrived undamaged. I'd say you had unusually bad luck.

Obviously buying from a local dealer is a better guarantee if you can do it, but I understand that isn't always possible

One suggestion when buying from Amazon. When shipping large or fragile items pay the $3.99 to upgrade them to overnight shipping. Not only do they get to you faster, but they are handled a lot less and more carefully. I have never had an overnight item damaged.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Thanks, folks - rail is making it's way back to the Amazon....

 

[jimmylittle]

I don't really have a local dealer, my dealer is just a showroom that has to order most things, other than domino stock and sandpaper. 

I order most of my stuff off Amazon, and I agree with wow's post.  If you're an Amazon Prime member, pay the 4 bucks for overnight.  It gets transferred a lot less and has less chance for damage.

I have 2 55" rails and the 108" rail all from Amazon undamaged.  Sounds like you just had some terrible luck. 

 

[greg mann]

Or, you could just order from one of our forum participating dealers who actually bring extra value to all of us thru their forum contributions, perhaps pay a bit more, but know that you will get extra care in packaging, extra care in service, and somebody that will personally make things right in the event of a problem.

 

[Ivanhoe]

Or, you could just order from one of our forum participating dealers who actually bring extra value to all of us thru their forum contributions, perhaps pay a bit more, but know that you will get extra care in packaging, extra care in service, and somebody that will personally make things right in the event of a problem.

Already done -

 

[dltflt]

I always order my Festools from The Festool Store (an authorized dealer) and have never had any issues with rails or my MFT 3

 

[Paul G]

I've lost count of how many damaged packages I've received from UPS, at times I wonder if it is a contest they're having.

 

[peter halle]

Festool products that aren't in Systainers and are either large, oddly shaped, or heavy have the greatest chance of damage.  This includes the MFT's, Sysports, long rails.

I have never had an issue with UPS damage.  My MFT was double packed (I did offer to pay for the additional protection but the offer was refused).  My CMS came on a pallet (not UPS). 

I do tip my UPS driver $100 at Christmas.

Peter

 

[leakyroof]

Festool products that aren't in Systainers and are either large, oddly shaped, or heavy have the greatest chance of damage.  This includes the MFT's, Sysports, long rails.

I have never had an issue with UPS damage.  My MFT was double packed (I did offer to pay for the additional protection but the offer was refused).  My CMS came on a pallet (not UPS). 

I do tip my UPS driver $100 at Christmas.

Peter

  Wow, I am your new UPS driver from now on.... now I gotta go find some brown uniforms... [wink]

 

[Gotoh]

If you've never seen the soul-crushing conditions that Amazon pickers and packers exist in, it's worth a look. No one can work in that environment for very long without giving up on pretty much everything and they don't know what that rail is let alone why anyone would want it double boxed. Now that they're collecting sales tax and routing most Prime shipments through OnTrac (if they're not in your area yet, UPS is absolutely amazing compared to them) the only real benefit to ordering from them is that if your relatively large and/or heavy package shows up damaged, but not damaged enough to be unusable, they'll usually knock 30% off the price for you to keep it so they can just throw another insurance claim on the pile rather than deal with the headache of a return.

They're great for things like Toto toilet parts no one stocks that you can't live without, but I've dialed back my Amazon usage significantly in recent years because of problems like this steadily increasing.

 

[peter halle]

Came home to see a box on the front porch.  To the credit of UPS there was barely a smudge on the box.  And inside?

[attachimg=#]

Happy dance!

Peter

 

[Paul G]

My all-time worst UPS failure was an urgent next day shipment of a box of 24x30" printing plates that had bold messages printed reading "LIGHT SENSITIVE" and "DO NOT STAND ON END". I happened to witness the truck delivery that day at the plant, the box was standing on end in the aisle of the truck, and about 6 inches of the corner of the extra heavy duty box was ripped off as well as the heavy black plastic liner with the plates in clear view exposed to daylight. That was about a $1000 claim not including the lost stat business we couldn't fulfill that day, all future plates came on a pallet via another carrier.  Other than that the number of damaged boxes via UPS has been astonishing with varying degrees of impact on the contents. Probably a dozen or so products needing replacement, I've lost count over the years.

Probably the most frustrating issue though is their habit to leave packages at the door at home without a signature and not even bothering to hit the doorbell. A neighbor just recently got surveillance footage of a thief taking his package riding away on a bike with several other packages with him, he just follows the brown truck around the neighborhood.

 

[wow]

My all-time worst UPS failure was an urgent next day shipment of a box of 24x30" printing plates that had bold messages printed reading "LIGHT SENSITIVE" and "DO NOT STAND ON END". I happened to witness the truck delivery that day at the plant, the box was standing on end in the aisle of the truck, and about 6 inches of the corner of the extra heavy duty box was ripped off as well as the heavy black plastic liner with the plates in clear view exposed to daylight. That was about a $1000 claim not including the lost stat business we couldn't fulfill that day, all future plates came on a pallet via another carrier.  Other than that the number of damaged boxes via UPS has been astonishing with varying degrees of impact on the contents. Probably a dozen or so products needing replacement, I've lost count over the years.

Probably the most frustrating issue though is their habit to leave packages at the door at home without a signature and not even bothering to hit the doorbell. A neighbor just recently got surveillance footage of a thief taking his package riding away on a bike with several other packages with him, he just follows the brown truck around the neighborhood.

My worst story about the brown-suited package smashers goes back to when I did a bunch of business on ebay. They destroyed 7 printers in 5 weeks! In one case the customer watched as the driver literally kicked it out of the truck, then rolled it end-over-end up to the customer's garage.

Do I even need to say that I refuse to ship anything UPS?

 

[K119Phil]

Peter nailed it.  Rails, SYS-Ports, and MFTs are the hardest to ship.  And guess what?  That also applies for us dealers, receiving our shipments from Festool.  Nothing infuriates me more than receiving a bundle of guide rails with a gorilla of a boot print on it.  Really?  Shipment dude.  You're going to STEP on something that looks flat and thin?  ROAR! 

That all said, so far I've had very good luck (though I'd like to call it good due diligence) with my shipments arriving at end users in one piece.  As many of you are aware, I idolize Bob Marino and the ToolNut crew.  What they do, I learn, and hope to do better, so yup, I also double-box and quadruple bubblewrap as best as humanly possible.  I also try to do followup calls with customers to look for feedback on ways to improve, and that process has been massively helpful.

Does anybody here have any experience with Fulfillment by Amazon?  I've been reading up on it, in an effort to try to shorten my shipping time (and cost) to East coast guys, but am a little nervous not being able to hand pack every item by myself to know that it leaves my shop in a packed condition that I deem fit for travel (I'm a bit of a neat control freak ).

 

[Wooden Skye]

Not to hijack this thread, but has anyone ever had a cast iron top shipped by amazon?  Obviously I don't want it damaged. I am debating ordering a new router table from amazon to use Amex points or from infinity tools.

 

[jimmylittle]

Does anybody here have any experience with Fulfillment by Amazon?  I've been reading up on it, in an effort to try to shorten my shipping time (and cost) to East coast guys, but am a little nervous not being able to hand pack every item by myself to know that it leaves my shop in a packed condition that I deem fit for travel (I'm a bit of a neat control freak ).

I order through The Tool Nut's Amazon storefront quite a lot.  The only thing that has ever arrived damaged was a Systainter that came without the plastic insert in the TLOC.  That wasn't even a shipping issue, it was probably a packing issue in the warehouse.  Of course the problem with Amazon in that situation is I had to send the whole Sys back for an exchange.  A local dealer would probably have just mailed me the 20 cent part.

I'm expecting a new LR32 55" track today.  I'll let you know if it gets here undamaged!

I'd much rather go to a local dealer, but as I've said before, we really don't have one here in Brooklyn that has anything in stock ever.  Ordering through a dealer's Amazon store at least gives them a little compensation.

 

[Ivanhoe]

As a follow up, I received my replacement rail yesterday (ordered instead thru Tom Bellemare) and it arrived in perfect shape! Thanks Tom!!