Originally Posted by
Rob Sack
I have a theory as to why their repairs are so expensive. I discovered that the right fence extension on my Kapex was bent. It was obvious that it came that way as there was no indication of trauma of any kind. I contacted Festool requesting a replacement extension, which just slides on. The saw was under warranty. Festool initially insisted I send the whole saw back to their service center. When I asked why I had to send the saw back, at their expense, for a slide on part, they said they would go over the whole saw, take it apart and check everything out. I told them the saw worked fine, I just needed the replacement fence extension. I finally had to go to a supervisor, who, after I sent pictures of the bent extension, acknowledged it was bent and not due to trauma, and reluctantly sent me a replacement, which solved the problem.
The point of all this is that they preferred that I send the saw back to them, even if it meant having it packaged professionally, at their expense, disassemble and reassemble a perfectly good saw, at their expense, and then return it to me, at their expense, with the replacement extension. Clearly this would have resulted in a major expense by Festool in order to just replace a slide on part. Not to mention my having to pack it up or arrange for packing it up, taking it to UPS or FedEx, and being without the saw for at least three weeks. All this over a bent slide on part. If this is a regular occurrence, no wonder their repair costs are so high.
I have quite a few Festool tools and while I think they are over priced, their function and quality are top notch. But only when I cannot find a comparable tool, will I pull the trigger on a Festool. And my previous posts regarding dust collection for the Kapex speaks for itself.