Should I be unhappy?

campbellcraft

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2007
Messages
50
Purchased a RO 90 and supplies from my local Woodcraft today. The warranty card had been filled out and two of the sample packs had been opened and a sheet of paper from each was gone. It would be fair to call the tool "extremely" gently used. 1 1/2 hrs of my time and $10 of gas to go back. What would you do?
 
If you call FT, I bet they would send you a free pack of sanding disks...
 
id be unhappy but not mad.
id ring up the dealer and say it to them , they might eleviate your unhappyness with some free goodies or a box or two of paper.
if you bought a new tool it should be new.
also make sure the tool acn be registered to you and not the first person.
if you have their detail you could give them a ring and see why they didnt keep it. maybe there is something wrong with it
 
This is not acceptable. Our dealers should not (oops edited for this missing word in my post  [tongue]) be selling used tools, even gently used. I will contact you via PM.

Shane
 
My Woodcraft store did that to me too with an ETS 150 (no warranty card, but saw dust inside the sander when the pad was removed).  Now I'm wondering if this is a Woodcraft silent policy or just a coincidence that two different stores would do the same thing.  I heard that if they do sell you a demoed tool, it's supposed to be marked down 10%, but still, they are supposed to make it clear it's not brand new.
 
I would be unhappy with Woodcraft but, not with Festool.  I'm sure that Festool will make things right and I'm also sure that you'll love your RO90.

Jack
 
Ken Nagrod said:
My Woodcraft store did that to me too with an ETS 150 (no warranty card, but saw dust inside the sander when the pad was removed).  Now I'm wondering if this is a Woodcraft silent policy or just a coincidence that two different stores would do the same thing.  I heard that if they do sell you a demoed tool, it's supposed to be marked down 10%, but still, they are supposed to make it clear it's not brand new.

Dealers have permanent demo tools, or at least they should. There's no reason they should need to pull salable inventory for demo purposes. If you buy a tool from a dealer and it appears to be used, please bring it to our attention and ask the dealer to replace it.

And, my hope is that you are never unhappy with a Festool purchase. If you are, let me know and I'll do everything I can to make it right.

Thank you.
 
Shane,

My Woodcraft had it packaged with all of the other new tools.  It was the only one left and I pulled it from the pile of systainers.  That was around a year ago.  I just decided it wasn't worth complaining about at the time and it certainly wasn't worth a long trip back.  I bought enough from them since 2003, I wasn't going to complain to them about it.  I'll just be more careful.
 
Although since 1946 I have purchased hundreds of power tools, as far as I know only a few came from big box or chain stores. All of those were in sealed cartons with appropriate registration paperwork.

Every one of my Festools were purchased from independent brick and mortar dealers within a realistic distance from me. My on-line Festool purchases have been from 3 different dealers. Those were for smallish accessories not good in stock from my primary dealer.

Never have I had any reason to believe Festools and accessories I have bought were not new and complete. Most of the time, especially the first of a particular model, were removed from a sealed carton by the dealer so the contents could be double checked as complete. Subsequent purchases of a duplicate tool have not always involved opening the carton at the dealer's store.

It is shocking that a well-known chain would pass off as new used tools, especially when included supplies were short of full count and saw dust was inside the tool.

Shame on the management of the chain and if the stores involved are franchised, the owners of those stores.
 
Carroll,

In all fairness to Woodcraft, we don't know the circumstances and honest mistakes happen. Let's hope that's the case in these two instances. Also, remember that there are part time employees and turn over which makes it hard to keep the staff informed of policies, especially those specific to Festool. Regardless, I'm on the case and will get this resolved to the full satisfaction of the customer. That's what's important. When you buy a Festool it comes with the best service on the planet.  [wink]

Shane
 
Early in the year I went and helped out with a tool demo day at Woodcraft.  They had demo tools in the rear along with the items for sale.  It would be very easy to MISTAKENLY grab the wrong one.  Mistakes happen.  It will all work out.

Shane is absolutely correct - Festool goes the extra mile and I have heard some stories that I can't repeat that would illustrate the extremes to which they will go.

Peter
 
Shane,

Without doubt Festool USA provides the best service and support in the history of hand operated tools. So far none of mine has required a return trip to Lebanon for service. Between my dealers and the End User classes we know how to maintain our Festools to factory-spec.

I deliberately did not single out any particular chain. Even my preferred dealers need to use part time employees. People can and have made mistakes.

However, it is a major blunder to sell as new a used tool missing components of the set. Since it is the USA dealer who handles the registration, we can only hope that happened in the mentioned cases. Had all the paper work for the sale of those tools been done by part time employees without direct supervision, then there is a huge management problem with that dealer.

Trusting Festool USA as I do, I am sure this situation will be resolved fairly to everyone's satisfaction.

Of course since my own first copy of a new Festool has been pre-ordered, long before it is available for pick-up I have researched the packing list, so I can be sure the carton/Systainer has the full collection of parts. I use so many sheets of abrasives I am not sure I would count them, but an open package would to be be suspicious enough I would resolve the issue before leaving the dealer.

Although I have never purchased anything from a Woodcraft store, largely because none are convenient to me, one of their employees was a fellow participant in an End User class. That is a fellow who really knows fine woodworking, so his customers will receive excellent coaching.
 
Thanks to all who replied.
I'm not mad at anyone. I just read Shane's recent post and fully agree. We don't know exactly what happened. We do know that I am completely protected by Festool's policies. Not a bad place to be.
Shane has contacted me and I am happy to leave things in his hands.
 
WarnerConstCo. said:
Who doesn't open the systainer while you are in the store to look at your new tool?

I did, but it was at night just before closing time and I didn't notice it was used when in the store.  It wasn't until I took it out at home the next day and took the pad off to change the pad that I noticed sawdust inside of the housing.  For all I know, it could have been a customer return and not a demo.  Otherwise it looked and operated perfectly.  Accident or not, I'm more careful  when making the purchase.

Don't take this as a defense of Woodcraft, but I've come across odd stuff like this, mainly repackaging by the two major big box stores many times in the past with other brands of power tools.  You just have to check stuff out well.

 
WarnerConstCo. said:
Who doesn't open the systainer while you are in the store to look at your new tool?

I open it, but don't typically scrutinize as closely as I should.  Consider this a behavior adjustment!
 
Shane would be the authority about customer returns.

What has been disclosed on The FOG is that customer returns are supposed to be shipped to Lebanon, IN in a timely manner so that those tools can be reverse-engineered to find a solution to any manufacturing or design problem.

A customer return is not just a used tool, it is a used tool already reported as defective.
 
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