I bought a TS-55 from a woodworking franchise dealer one week before Festool started their "buy a TS-55, get a free ripping blade" promotion. I bluffed that I would hate to return such a nice saw under the chain's 30-day full-satisfaction guarantee, figuring that those promotional coupons didn't just appear the day they were effective. The manager said he would call Festool and I got the free ($36) blade.
It didn't occur to me until later that the dealer probably just handed over the blade. It probably cost him less than $25. I'm sure his computerized cash register has a little YUPPIE icon right next to my name. Lie Nielsen jointer plane, Starrett combination square, Japanese pull saws, diamond-covered sharpening plate, waterstones, carbon steel plane iron, instructional DVDs, wood magazines, parts to make a eight-inch tall egg timer (hand-blown glass and white sand), oh and some poplar and glue just in case I decide to actually make something out of wood.
When I went to pick up the free blade, I bought the ridiculously expensive quick-release Festool clamp for the guide rail along with $75 of other stuff. What we YUPPIES call a "win-win" when we're "doing lunch" with our "buds". So if your dealer throws a quart of your favorite glue or a bar clamp your way, I say that's part of the fixed-price, high-service model. The amazoning of retail sales means it's very difficult to get service from local stores even if you want to pay for it. A year ago I overheard the very same dealer that got me the free blade tell his salesman to ignore me and wait on someone else because I "wasn't worth the time." (On a Tuesday morning with three customers in the store and three employees.)
I don't normally shop in person and buy on-line elsewhere. But I might call Uncle Bob since the local franchise didn't have a single Festool router in the store to hold or buy and it just might have been Uncle Bob who hauled $5,000 of Festools halfway across the the state to show anyone who stopped by his booth at the woodworking expo the unique charms of these unusual, wonderful tools.
It didn't occur to me until later that the dealer probably just handed over the blade. It probably cost him less than $25. I'm sure his computerized cash register has a little YUPPIE icon right next to my name. Lie Nielsen jointer plane, Starrett combination square, Japanese pull saws, diamond-covered sharpening plate, waterstones, carbon steel plane iron, instructional DVDs, wood magazines, parts to make a eight-inch tall egg timer (hand-blown glass and white sand), oh and some poplar and glue just in case I decide to actually make something out of wood.
When I went to pick up the free blade, I bought the ridiculously expensive quick-release Festool clamp for the guide rail along with $75 of other stuff. What we YUPPIES call a "win-win" when we're "doing lunch" with our "buds". So if your dealer throws a quart of your favorite glue or a bar clamp your way, I say that's part of the fixed-price, high-service model. The amazoning of retail sales means it's very difficult to get service from local stores even if you want to pay for it. A year ago I overheard the very same dealer that got me the free blade tell his salesman to ignore me and wait on someone else because I "wasn't worth the time." (On a Tuesday morning with three customers in the store and three employees.)
I don't normally shop in person and buy on-line elsewhere. But I might call Uncle Bob since the local franchise didn't have a single Festool router in the store to hold or buy and it just might have been Uncle Bob who hauled $5,000 of Festools halfway across the the state to show anyone who stopped by his booth at the woodworking expo the unique charms of these unusual, wonderful tools.
