A warning to aussies...

Ladies and Gentlemen

- A community service announcement -


Don't deal with the clowns at Red Dot Machinery (supposedly in Sydney / Australia, but actually in China, just using a shared warehouse in Sydney) ...

http://www.reddotmachinery.com.au/index.html

I'm sorry if I'm not supposed to post links, feel free to delete it and this whole post if deemed appropriate...
But leaving it up for a few weeks might save somebody some pain...


The saga is so long I've forgotten most of it...

I'm just glad I'm a bit of a tech / mech head and able to sort things out myself a bit...

The basics on my purchase of a 300w fiber laser cutter...

1- Zero support, no need to expand on that, Zero is 0 no matter how you look at it.

2- They are NOT in Australia, try and phone them and see how you go. Apparently "we can't provide a competitive price when we are on the phone all day".

3- They have no idea what they are doing / selling, and I guess that well... neither do I now.

4- Dishonest, using videos of higher powered machines, and say that its yours 'just before being packed'... as my daughter would say... lol

5- World Champions of "We will consult our engineer when he gets back from holiday", which means--- "Hell, I don't know".
And this engineer dude sure has a good job, 50 weeks annual leave.

6- Sent me a video of "my" fiber laser and its 'awesome cutting speed' on stainless, and claim that its using nitrogen, when its actually on pure oxygen to increase the speed, loss of edge cut quality is enormous in real life. The "engineer" accidentally spilt the beans in an email I eventually got when he returned from his 50 week break.

7- Quoted (in email) my machines outside dimensions of 1500x1200x1200 - bwaaaa haaaaa - smallest dimension on machine that arrived is 1800 - needless to say I can't get it into my workshop so its home in the shed. Nicknamed 'The great white elephant'.

8- The 'Live Focus System' (auto height adjust for warping sheet) was totally incompatible with the main Ruida controller software. So I had to buy update patches for both and install myself, (I had this done way before the engineer returned from holidays).
Sam at Red Dot is still looking into it apparently (11 months ago), he should be back in touch soon, I'm quite excited and can't wait. Then I can instruct him on how to do it for the next poor soul.


I've got mine going 90% of what I wanted, and it just does the job I need. But if you are not able to do some homework on these machines and do your own repairs, source your own information etc, then don't use these people, they will leave you up sh#t creek without a paddle.

Anyway - to any Aussies out there contemplating dealing with this mob --- DONT !

And to all - have a nice and safe festive season :)

Cheers,
Chris

Those look like Bodor machines. Out of curiosity, how much did they charge for the machine (PM me if you don't want to share here). I have a pretty good idea what they cost ex works so it would be interesting to see how much they have piled on top.

Thanks for the update-I've just been thinking about another machine...

I know this company, they sell their machines on eBay. They were there 10 years ago too so they are quite old. If I remember it right a the laser brand they were selling back then was "omnisign".

It is not hard to guess they are just reselling cheap Chinese machines with quite a huge markup and it will probably be the same with any other company that uses the same business model. I was considering buying my first laser 10 years ago from them, but ended up buying a used versalaser laser from an owner who does not need it anymore.

Even those distributors that sell expensive and well known brands may not have enough knowledge to do some basic repair and testing.

I have heard a lot of excuses for my $50K laser from a distribution company tech not to come and help me. And there were a lot of similar bad things I can mention from the past about it.

It hurts much more when a tech cannot replace a simple $2 power switch(he does not have an electrical license) or cannot find the right firmware for a 50K laser or simply not quite polite because clients insist on him coming and helping with repair after warranty support comparing to when it happens with cheap chinese machines.

With my last repair with a synrad tube fault I have had to do everything myself. That's simply what I was told to do by my distribution company "I do not know what's wrong with it, send it to Synrad". And I have had to replace that switch myself.

What suburb in Brisbane are you from, Mike?
(we're an hour NW of Toowoomba)

I am in Kenmore Hills Ian.

Thanks, Mike- we used to live in Kenmore, Bellbowrie & Brookfield years ago!
Would you mind if I visited sometime?

What bed size is your biggest laser?

(I need some engraving done on the back of 10mm clear acrylic, 2400 x 900 picture size, oval shape, in the middle of a 3050 x 1200 sheet... a bit big to fit through our Goldenlaser except in 4 steps, and I can't afford joins in the engraved photo...)

Hi Chris,
Is this a Bodor machine?
I’ve recently started working at Industrial Laser in Melbourne. 20 year laser service company and recently been given the Bodor Fiber laser cutting agency for reasons you’ve pretty well outlined above. What has happened to you hurts the manufacturers name, itÂ’s not a great long term plan to say the least. We have 4 full time service Techs and have sold 8 Bodor Fiber machines in the last few months.
We are reaching out to Aussie Bodor Fiber users to help with service and support.
Service can be anything from fault finding an electrical short to retrofitting a new laser. Support meaning helping to get your cutting engraving parameters set up correctly. I have pm’ed you my details
Regards,
Phil.

Phil,
Thank You sincerely for your reply.
I have texted you and will chat soon.

I'm very keen to follow this through, and am happy to pay for results...

Cheers,
Chris

Here is a bit of hard learned wisdom from my dealings with industrial electronic things...

Keeping them going is expensive - but a good tech is worth his weight in gold. You may or may not be able to find a factory tech out of the factory sales office... Anymore with big company cost and cash flow pressure coming down from on high - the good factory techs leave the mothership which is only interested in initial sales.... If you can't get q good factory tech... Or you can't identify "The Factory" - pursue a 3rd party service organization. Often these 3rd party companies will snipe the best of the factory techs and so can give you excellent service at competitive prices.

Hi Chris,
Got your message.
Basically if it’s a Bodor then we can help if it’s not then probably not. We will support what we sell and also what we represent. We have already done repairs (replace lead screw, etc) on Bodors that we didn’t sell.
Bodor (3 peeps) are actually coming to town including an Engineer next/this week. He will be doing training with us on the machines and software and also visiting customers with us.
We’ll chat next week.
Cheers,
Phil