TSO Parallel Guides

[TSO_Products]

However, I am now anticipating making some deeper cabinets and furniture and thought I would just pick up the 30” rails. The TSO website indicates that you can mix and match the parallel guide parts to make the set you need. So, I thought no problem on adding just the rails. But no, it seems the 30” rails are not available outside of the $$$ kit. I’ve emailed them twice and both times have been told simply that they are not sold separately.
At this point my options are to buy the 50” rails or . . .

. . . or for TSO to sell you a pair of 30" rails as spare parts (rather than as stock product) by reaching out to
info@tsoproducts.com

Our Customer Service Team will figure out how to help you.
Trust me!

Hans

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I really don't understand how companies don't actively build long time brand loyalty, especially in the area of power and hand tools, but true old school customer service just doesn't seem to be popular anymore with a lot of companies.

It seems to pretty much just be about the short term gains, which I can get to a degree, but the damage to a company from a single disgruntled customer can be somewhat significant, especially if they have some sway over a larger group of other like minded people.

I think this might be more of a societal issue in general. People use to work for the same company for decades. The company respected them and their loyalty. It was the era of the company pension and the gold watch. Somewhere along the line (I assume because of government interference) pensions went away, in favor of 401k. This basically allows for a "portable" pension. The loyalty to a single company is no longer needed, you change jobs, take it with you, transfer to the new company, and your "seniority" is still intact. (though your loyalty is not) This may or may not have been better for the employees, but it definitely wasn't for the company.
I don't claim to know exactly how this really happened, chicken or egg? I'm not an economist, it's just observation, sort of from the outside. Most of my life, I didn't work for a company big enough to have either.
Point being, I'm not so sure that brand loyalty is really a thing? (anymore)
Look at your cable company/internet provider or phone carrier. Who gets the best price? The offers, used to entice new customers, are always lower than the person who has been "loyal" for years. Don't think so? Call them up and threaten to cancel your service. The very first thing they will do is offer you a lower rate. If you still so no, they will offer something else, like additional speed, or a streaming subscription. (or even move discount) but if you say nothing, you stay right where you are.
Do they say "hey, stick with us for 10 years and we will give you a free year" or something like that? No
"Stay another 5 years and we will......" nope. The thing is, they would only have to actually pay up, on a very small percentage of people. (or they get bough up by a bigger company, that never honors that deal) Either way, it looks good, they did make the offer.
That one happened to me. I had a lifetime subscription to an image editing software. I bought it on a physical CD, which pretty much tells you how long ago this was. I paid for up-dates a few times, eventually opting for the lifetime option. Several more up-dates came, my key was always accepted. At some point, the company was sold, nothing since.
I guess, what I'm trying to say, is "reward for loyalty might be dead, because we killed it"?

 

[Dr. P. Venkman]

I agree with all of this, but it was 100% shareholder and executive thirst for profit that destroyed the pension environment and employee/company reciprocal loyalty, not government interference.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I agree with all of this, but it was 100% shareholder and executive thirst for profit that destroyed the pension environment and employee/company reciprocal loyalty, not government interference.

I'm not saying that the government interfered by some directive, but "allowed it" through legislative changes.
I wasn't implying that it was so direct.
I get the shareholder bit though.
The housing market is experiencing this right now. People are complaining about the cost of houses, but it's because so many of them are being purchased by investment groups. They become rentals, reducing the supply, which increases the demand. Prices rise to fill the void. Yet those same people have investments in those companies and would be mad, if they didn't increase in value.
It's a dog chasing its own tail, then being mad, that it either can't catch it or that it biting it hurts.

 

[luvmytoolz]

@Crazyraceguy Sadly I think you're on the money with most of that. I've spent the majority of my working life directly and indirectly customer facing, and loyalty in general, not just brand loyalty, seems to be on the wane.

I think at it's core though there is still a strong case for a certain degree of brand or product loyalty. For example my only buying into the Makita LXT platform for cordless tools for many, many years, until I wanted the SYS 50 and then I subsequently bought into the Festool 18V platform as well.

Also, every woman I know has a specific vendor and product for food, health and makeup, and household items they stick to religiously. And my tradie son recently needed a cordless planer, so as like all tradies here he's heavily invested in Milwaukee gear, he bought the most hideous looking and heaviest planer for the size I've ever seen, but it was the only offering they had in the platform, so that was it.

So I think there's still a lot of room and good reasons to appeal to a customers sense of loyalty.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

@Crazyraceguy Sadly I think you're on the money with most of that. I've spent the majority of my working life directly and indirectly customer facing, and loyalty in general, not just brand loyalty, seems to be on the wane.

I think at it's core though there is still a strong case for a certain degree of brand or product loyalty. For example my only buying into the Makita LXT platform for cordless tools for many, many years, until I wanted the SYS 50 and then I subsequently bought into the Festool 18V platform as well.

Also, every woman I know has a specific vendor and product for food, health and makeup, and household items they stick to religiously. And my tradie son recently needed a cordless planer, so as like all tradies here he's heavily invested in Milwaukee gear, he bought the most hideous looking and heaviest planer for the size I've ever seen, but it was the only offering they had in the platform, so that was it.

So I think there's still a lot of room and good reasons to appeal to a customers sense of loyalty.

Well, I think the battery platform subject is a little "special". People are loyal to the chargers..... or at least to minimizing the number of chargers they have. If the batteries were a universal fit, I think that might change. (pure speculation, based on my own experience) I'm also willing to bet that is why they don't do it either. It would become a race to the bottom, to see who could make batteries the cheapest. It would allow them to ignore batteries and concentrate their time/money into the tools themselves though.
When I first started in the Makita platform (LXT) the tools were limited. I bought the "starter set", which included a reciprocating saw. However, they were not part of the retail delivery. You had to register your purchase, and they came in the mail, several weeks later. At that time, there was no jigsaw available. I inquired with every dealer and regional rep I could come across, with no joy, not even "it's in the works, give it a year or two" nothing.
IIRC, it took about 4? I got the first kit in Nov 04, but the jigsaw didn't hit the market until late in 08? something like that. Sadly though, the thing sucked. 4 years for that? It was big/blocky and very heavy. The hope was to be quicker, more convenient, than the corded Bosch, that I had for years. It wasn't. This was all back in the day, where 3ah was the biggest battery they had.
This is also part of the reason I chose the Carvex over Trion. That thing is a brick, in comparison. It may be argued that the Trion is a "better" saw, more precise, etc. If that is not important, Carvex (especially barrel-grip) is a far nicer experience. For me, a jigsaw is little more than a small recip-saw. I use it to cut the bulk away from corner rounding, sink cutouts, etc. A jigsaw cut is either not the final cut or is hidden somewhere. Precision not required.
I have also had guys ask me "why such an expensive saw, if it doesn't matter?" That comes down to one simple thing, well maybe 1.5 things. System integration (Plug it cable) and dust extraction (to some degree) it doesn't work with all bases or cuts.
Except for CXS, my only batteries are LXT