New Kapex Purchase Concerns

[kevinculle]

The point here is that Festool operates with margins that should facilitate absolutely bulletproof packaging and delivery.  When you sell your SCMS for $1500 there should be plenty of room in the bill of materials to make sure it arrives perfectly.  It would be like a Mercedes dealer delivering a new car dirty, dented and with a quarter tank of gas.

 

[TXFIVEO]

Comparing apples to oranges but whatever...

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

Product yes, box not so much...

There lies the problem, the boxes and minimal foam packing, are fine sitting in a dealer’s stock room.
Then when sold, it’s handed over the counter to the customer, or taken out to the car park to the customers vehicle, that’s all fine.
When a distance buyer buys that item, unless extra internal packing is added, it’s picked up by a courier, and from there on in, it’s very much pot luck. Even with “fragile” and “this way up” stickers, makes no difference.

I’ve had tools from Festool and other companies, turn up with a bit of bubble wrap around a systainer, no extra internal packing. When the systainers were opened, the tools and accessories had been bouncing around all over the place. All had to be returned three times, simply because the supplier chose to ignore my advise about extra internal packing.
On the final attempt, I told them to pack inside, because if the tools arrived damaged, I’d want a refund.
They added screwed up paper, and some bubble to the inside of the systainers, making sure everything was packed firm.

The packing probably cost almost nothing, the tools arrived in perfect condition. Problem solved.
As one of the companies was Festool, I wrote to them twice about the packing, I never got a reply.
I wrote to the other companies, who both replied and said, they’d give it some attention.

The heavier tools are more prone to damage, as when the cardboard box is dropped or banged around, the tool breaks the polystyrene, leaving everything very vulnerable to damage.

 

[Cheese]

On the final attempt, I told them to pack inside, because if the tools arrived damaged, I’d want a refund.
They added screwed up paper, and some bubble to the inside of the systainers, making sure everything was packed firm.

The packing probably cost almost nothing, the tools arrived in perfect condition. Problem solved.

That was one of the nice  [big grin]  things about doing business with Bob Marino. He always placed bubble wrap INSIDE the Systainer to prevent damage to the contents. I purchased a lot of tools from Bob, including a Kapex, and I NEVER had a single item damaged.

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

On the final attempt, I told them to pack inside, because if the tools arrived damaged, I’d want a refund.
They added screwed up paper, and some bubble to the inside of the systainers, making sure everything was packed firm.

The packing probably cost almost nothing, the tools arrived in perfect condition. Problem solved.

That was one of the nice  [big grin]  things about doing business with Bob Marino. He always placed bubble wrap INSIDE the Systainer to prevent damage to the contents. I purchased a lot of tools from Bob, including a Kapex, and I NEVER had a single item damaged.

Yes, to be honest Cheese, I’ve read so many great reports about Bob, and how he used to go the extra mile on packaging. It makes sense too, if the customer sees that the supplier cares about his customers, and receives their order in tip top condition, they’ll be happy and come back for more, so the supplier is also happy.
Some suppliers feel they’re being asked to do too much, and blame a courier or manufacturer.
I’m at a stage now, especially with heavy items, that I expect it to arrive damaged.

There are exceptions though, I recently bought an enamel lobster steamer from the states.
I’ve owned these in the past, and as great as they are, they don’t travel well, and dent and chip easily.
So, I emailed the seller and offered to pay extra for extra packaging. Don’t worry he said, I’ll take care of it.
Well after a few weeks, the steamer turned up, the box looked fine. On opening the box up, I saw no real packing at all, just tiny bits of cardboard separating the two pots, lid and faucet.
After a thorough inspection, I found the the steamer to be in perfect condition.
I’m still baffled how it survived such a journey, unscathed without any packing?

It proves that the damage is done by the way it’s handled. So every seller should assume that a package might get banged around on it’s journey, and put counter measures in place.

 

[FestitaMakool]

On the final attempt, I told them to pack inside, because if the tools arrived damaged, I’d want a refund.
They added screwed up paper, and some bubble to the inside of the systainers, making sure everything was packed firm.

The packing probably cost almost nothing, the tools arrived in perfect condition. Problem solved.

That was one of the nice  [big grin]  things about doing business with Bob Marino. He always placed bubble wrap INSIDE the Systainer to prevent damage to the contents. I purchased a lot of tools from Bob, including a Kapex, and I NEVER had a single item damaged.

Yes, to be honest Cheese, I’ve read so many great reports about Bob, and how he used to go the extra mile on packaging. It makes sense too, if the customer sees that the supplier cares about his customers, and receives their order in tip top condition, they’ll be happy and come back for more, so the supplier is also happy.
Some suppliers feel they’re being asked to do too much, and blame a courier or manufacturer.
I’m at a stage now, especially with heavy items, that I expect it to arrive damaged.

There are exceptions though, I recently bought an enamel lobster steamer from the states.
I’ve owned these in the past, and as great as they are, they don’t travel well, and dent and chip easily.
So, I emailed the seller and offered to pay extra for extra packaging. Don’t worry he said, I’ll take care of it.
Well after a few weeks, the steamer turned up, the box looked fine. On opening the box up, I saw no real packing at all, just tiny bits of cardboard separating the two pots, lid and faucet.
After a thorough inspection, I found the the steamer to be in perfect condition.
I’m still baffled how it survived such a journey, unscathed without any packing?

It proves that the damage is done by the way it’s handled. So every seller should assume that a package might get banged around on it’s journey, and put counter measures in place.

You are so right.. I have earlier been on the dealer side (then with photographic equipment).
The extra minute you would use on packaging, such as opening the systainer and throw in bubble wrap, wrinkled paper, anything that would keep the inside tool stay in place even turned upside down and put the systainer with room for padding in the box will make all the difference.
I cannot see dealers think that this extra care, maybe using a couple of minutes extra actually pays off? They will earn very satisfied customers, there will most probably be so much less claims handling so that it pays off in that manner as well. Of my purchases the dealer could have saved one systainer, one systainer insert, one less (expensive) return for exchange of a heavy shipment, and new shipping to me.

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

Exactly, and when I think back, the vast majority of any tools that I’ve returned, have been because of initial delivery damage, not failure of the tool further down the line.
This sort of thing must cost the industry an awful lot of money.