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Thread: Grizzly Frustration

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    fayetteville Arkansas
    Posts
    629

    Grizzly Frustration

    I've been wanting to upgrade my planer & jointer so during Christmas I sold my 6" Jet and Dewalt 635 to a nice young fellow who is starting woodworking as a hobby. I had some extra Christmas money so I ordered a Grizzly G04543ZW 15" spiral planer and G0490x 8" spiral jointer. When I placed the order about 10 days ago, I was told the jointer is backordered and should ship around Feb 15th. Ok, I need to use it before then but I am willing to wait. Grizzly shipped the planer, it arrived today damaged. It looked like a forklift fork had pierced the upper portion of the crate and struck the planer. Not sure this was the right decision but I refused it without opening the crate, sent it back. I checked Grizzly's website and found that this planer model is now discontinued.
    I'm thinking ok, I'll ask Grizzly to cancel both machines and purchase their 12" spiral jointer/planer combo. As I am looking on their website I see the 12" combo units are all backordered as well.
    My gosh this is frustrating, what does a guy have to do buy one of their machines and have it delivered undamaged? I recall reading some other members stories about waiting 7 or 8 months on Grizzly backordered machines. Seems like you may need to plan a year in advance to be assured of receiving one of their machines.
    This seriously has me thinking about cancelling the whole order and spending the extra money for a better grade of machine and service.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Kansas City
    Posts
    854
    I ended up doing the same thing. I cancelled my jointer and planer order from Grizzly and got a combo machine from someone else. I’m not anti Grizzly, but I just didn’t want to keep waiting.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    New Hampshire, USA
    Posts
    240
    Unless you plan to pick up your machine, you might end up with the same shipping company anyway. Were the customer service people at Grizzly helpful when you contacted them?
    Last edited by Scott DelPorte; 01-05-2018 at 5:38 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    Duvall, WA
    Posts
    706
    Keep in mind too that the reason for the back orders is that Grizzly is a popular source because of the quality they provide at the price point they sell to but especially because of their customer service and support record. And no, I'm not on the payroll but I do have a bit of the green in my own shop (plus, it also helps that I'm only 20 minutes away from their main Bellingham, WA office and warehouse ).

    As a post script, if you do decide to reorder through them you might see if it's possible to make other arrangements for shipping.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Sacramento, CA
    Posts
    2,005
    Quote Originally Posted by julian abram View Post
    This seriously has me thinking about cancelling the whole order and spending the extra money for a better grade of machine and service.
    I would. After my experiences with Grizzly Im not at all impressed. They did solve the problems over the course of months, but yea, it took a while and a lot of time on my part. Save up a bit more and look at a Hammer A3-31 12" jointer/planer combo if youre going to consider a combo.
    If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    West Lafayette, IN
    Posts
    6,529
    Things gets damaged in shipping. You’re certainly not the first and will not be the last. Sometimes you have to wait to get something. Seems like you gave up on Grizzly pretty quick.

    See if the same models in white (Shop Fox) are available.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Camas, Wa
    Posts
    3,853
    The majority of my shop is Grizzly. I only waited on 2 machines ant that was that they were introduced the year I bought them. I am glad that I won't be needing any tools in the near future because I see more and more posts about stuff on backorder. I can understand you frustration. I would be curious to know if the issues is increased popularity in Grizzly tools or supply issues. All of my grizzly tools arrived without damage. I picked a few of them up at the shipping terminal. I don't know if that made a difference. They usually some tools listed on E-bay but it looks like that is very limited at this time also.

  8. #8
    If your frustration is things being back ordered I guess I can understand that but if it’s because there was shipping damage I’m not sure how Grizzly can be held responsible for that at all. Also it sounds like your talking about a pretty big difference in what your wanting to do, going from hobbiest stuff, to dedicated machines to possibly foreign combo machines. Seems like a big commitment to make and a little more research needs to be done for you to be happy.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,647
    I understand your frustration but you should not have sold your old machines until after the new ones arrived in good shape. I've only bought a few Grizzly machines; all arrived on time and w/o damage. I've always called to place my order. That way I can verify what I want is in stock and when it will ship.

    John

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    NE Connecticut
    Posts
    695
    I have no problem with Grizzly - I have a couple of their machines. That said, I decided a couple of years ago that I would only buy machines that couldn't reasonably be upgraded unless I started a serious business. I looked at some Grizzly machines but eventually went with a Minimax FS41 (16") J/P combo. I couldn't be happier with it and, for the first time in 20+ years of woodworking as a hobbyist, I'm not lusting after a bigger, better machine. I guess that places me solidly in the "buy once, cry once" camp.

    Another thing to consider is that 8" is quite limiting in terms of what lumber you can easily flatten. 12" will cover most situations, but 16" will cover all but slabs and also allow you to skew pieces with tricky grain. Also, if you buy a combination machine, you are limiting your planing to the same width as the jointer. That's another reason to consider a 16" machine.

    Best of luck with your decision.


  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    15,332
    Generally speaking, Grizzly makes a fine product at their price points. I honestly don't think you can get a better bang for your buck and so do lots of other people and hence the popularity. I think if you're patient, you will be happy, but there are other vendors out there, too. I went with Minimax many many years ago for my 16" J/P combo machine. While my planer width isn't anything to write home about, my jointer width is envious.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

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  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    fayetteville Arkansas
    Posts
    629
    Ok, don't want everyone to think I hate Grizzly, just seems like everything I want to purchase is backordered or discontinued, then arrival of the damaged planer this afternoon was the cherry on top of frustration. I have their 690 tablesaw and have purchased a couple of their bandsaws picked up at the Springfield showroom. Agree that their equipment is good quality for the price point. I sent customer service an email about the damage. Being deaf makes phone and customer services calls a no go without involving wife or others. I'm sure we'll get this worked out to my satisfaction.
    Last edited by julian abram; 01-05-2018 at 10:39 PM.

  13. #13
    My nephew was going to order a Grizzly 490 jointer, and the backorder time was too long, so he ordered another brand from Grizzly, but was not Shopfox. Think they have a 3rd brand now as well. The jointer looks just like the 490, but forgot the name.

  14. #14
    Jim did your nephew buy the Steelex jointer from Grizzly? I did because of the long back order time it is the same as the GO490X but with the helical head and 2 year warrenty

  15. #15
    Yes, that was the name.

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