Trouble with Penn State Industries order

[Paul Coffin]

Hi All,
For the past couple of weeks I have been pulled into the lathe tool vortex. I recently placed my first order with Penn State Industries for several items including their pen press. I received the order tonight and when I opened the pen press box things looked fishy right away. The press was packaged in a plastic bag that had obviously been ripped open at some point in the past. The next thing I noticed was how dirty the press was, then I noticed that the aluminum press head and the opposing plastic press head were both worn and scarred. The plastic side has a rather large well worn divot from someone using the press multiple times. Also there were no instructions at all. So as far as I can tell PSI sent me a well used press for the price of a new one, what a bargain!:rolleyes: I will call them tomorrow and see if they will straighten it out but according to their invoice it looks like I will get stuck for the shipping cost to return it. Has anyone else returned items to PSI and if so did you have to pay for shipping again? Thanks for letting me vent!
Paul

[Dave Lehnert]

I once purchased the slow speed grinder and the jig table had been missed drilled. I called CS and they connected me to the guy in the shop who did the work drilling. I told him that one of the 3 holes was missed drilled. He answered "well if two line up whats the problem".
I have purchased some small things since from them but anything big like a dust collector I will look someplace else.

[alex carey]

hmmm, definitely worrisome, I have ordered a few things and never had a problem, its usually pretty speedy and comes in the right order. I am definitely going to follow this thread. Hope it all works out for you.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I once had a problem with an order from them, no questions asked they sent out the replacement.

[Greg Just]

I would recommend calling them and explaining the problem. Be reasonable and I'm sure they will fix the situation. Probably some rookie in the shpping department. Let us know how things work out.

[ROY DICK]

Paul,
By all means give them a call. If you can email them some pictures, ask if they would like those.
Like greg said keep us posted.

Roy

[Paul Coffin]

I talked to Penn State this morning, the customer service rep was very nice and apologetic. She is sending out a "new" press via a 2 day shipping process with no additional cost to me, and she told me to keep the old one for spare parts. So hopefully everything works out OK. I will let you know.

Paul

[Chris Stolicky]

My experience:

I asked them a question through their Web site about a pricing switch they made, many many months ago, and still haven't received an answer. :confused:

Add that to other experiences I have read about, the relatively high charge for shipping, the lesser quality of a lot of their products, I only order from them where there is no other option.

I must say though, the BB line of tools is a good deal for the money. I would just recommend ordering them form a reseller.

I'm not a fan of bashing companies, nothing above is exaggerated. Its just been my experience.

[Bill Arnold]

I've ordered many items from PSI over the years, starting with a DC in 1999. I've never had an issue with anything I ordered. When I have sent an inquiry, it has been answered. My most recent inquiry was about availability of parts from their TSGUARD since I wanted to build up my own assembly. The responder told me they had some scratch-and-dent units for a reduced price, so I bought one. The only issue I had was a turnbuckle with bad threads, which they replaced with no questions asked.

[Robert Parrish]

Paul, If your pen press is anything like the one I got from Grizzly good luck with it. I had to rebuild mine, the handle broke almost immediately, screws holding the press to the base came out and the plunger would not stay lined up. I now use my bench vise to press pens.

[Jeff Nicol]

I have ordered many things from PSI, the first thing was a dust collector motor and fan to build my own DC. It has never given me one bit of trouble in the 5 years I have had it. Every other order from tools to chucks and many things inbetween have been shipped fast and no problems ever. I find it strange that things like a well used item is packaged and sent to a customer, maybe the guy filling the order was disgruntled and had been having a bad day and figured that you should have one too! We once bought a coffee maker at a Walmart and it was in the box and taped just like all the rest on the shelf. But to our amazment when we opened the box it was a different brand and filthy and very well used! Sometimes things are returned and not inspected and just put on the shelf as new by one person and nobody thinks anything of it, until a unsuspecting customer gets it and sees the problem! I think you will be happy with what you get for your replacement, you were one of the unlucky ones that gets the short end of the stick. We can't fix stupid and generally evil people who live to make others unhappy!


It always could be worse,

Jeff

[Scott Lux]

Glad to hear they took care of you. I'm a fan of their stuff. I like affordable.

[David E Keller]

No experience with PSI but I have a different option for a pen press that has worked well for me. I use the pin out of an old door hinge in my drill press. You could cover the working end with a piece of leather or felt if you are worried about scratching the pen parts but I've never had a problem. It's cheap and there are no moving parts.

[Jerry Sambrook]

Why did you start a rant if you had not talked to them about this problem yet? Once you called, I bet you were pleasantly surprised. I have had small hiccups with Penn State, and have never had an issue once CS was called. I will go as far as saying, that I have not had a problem with any of the turning dealers. If there was an issue, CS has always been pleasant to me.

Sorry, but I get real annoyed now with the people who just jump off the handle with a rant, bad-mouthing things/places/people, before trying to fix things.
Bad etiquette

Just my .02 as I see it here
Jerry Sambrook

[mark kosse]

I agree. I would like to know if things couldn't be resolved with anyone, but not before trying.

I order annually from PSI and have had no problems. They will even coombine mlcs and psi orders together for one shipping cost.

[Jerome Hanby]

I've had Jekyll and Hyde experiences with them. If you get the right person, they are wonderful to deal with. Get one of the guys like that "two holes line up" guy and killing would be too good for them.

[Jerome Hanby]

Didn't seem like much of a rant to me. More like gathering information in anticipation of a bad customer service session. Would have been useful to be able to counter with a "you ate the shipping when you did this to xxxx" if they tried to charge you return shipping. I know if I'm dealing with a new seller I assume that dealing with them will be an ordeal until they prove otherwise.