JessEm customer service

[Robert Chapman]

I have a JessEm Mast-R-Slide sliding table and a Mite-R-Excel miter gauge. Both of these products are very high quality, heavy duty, well engineered and well finished. I recently needed parts replaced and an accessory for the Mast-R-Slide. My initial e-mail and phone requests for assistance to JessEm went unanswered. My experience requesting parts from retailers was not satisfying. Eventually I e-mailed the president of JessEm and recounted my experiences. I received a response in minutes and a prompt and very satisfactory resolution of my problem.

JessEm may have had past problems with customer service but I believe that they have put that behind them. I am really encouraged and pleased with my latest JessEm experience. I will continue to buy their fine products with confidence.

[Dave Sweeney]

Thanks for posting that, it's always nice to hear about the other side of the coin also.

[Don Morris]

Why did you have to email the President? Sound to me their problem is still there.

[Dan Mitchell]

Why did you have to email the President? Sound to me their problem is still there.

+1

I had a Mite-R-Excel briefly, which I returned due to the huge amount of slop in the pins. I have the impression their designs are good, execution/service, not so much.

[Gene Howe]

Wow! Sorry to hear about the poor service.
I've had excellent service and guidance from them.
Gene

[Ron Bontz]

I also believe they stand behind their products. Negative issues will travel like wild fire these days due in large part to the internet. What we don't hear or see is the day in, day out support of the products. When the president of a company gets involved for one reason or the other it tells me he is in touch. That's a good thing in my book. Best wishes.:)

[Rick Gooden]

I recently bought a Zip Slot to play around with and immediately had a problem with one of the bits. I called the company, phone was answered, sent a replacement that day. Can't ask for more than that. I will keep an eye on their products and not hesitate to buy anything I find interesting.

[Philip Johnson]

I tried their miter gauge also and it had so much slop in it, it was useless, but it did look nice. They have to get their quality control back before I worry about customer service.

[Ron Bontz]

My miter gauge seems to work fine. Happy holidays to all.:)

[Dan Mitchell]

My miter gauge seems to work fine. Happy holidays to all.:)

Seems like that's a major part of their issue - inconsistency. Your gauge worked fine, mine (and Philips, apparently) was so full of slop due to poor execution as to be a real PITA, if not totally worthless. One person calls & calls about a problem with no result, another gets a reply from the president. To me, this kind of unpredictable retail experience is much more aggravating & stressful (especially when dealing with items with Jessem's price tags) than dealing with, say, a HF, where you know what to expect going in. At least HF will readily refund your $$$ without difficulty if you're not happy, IME. And I say this as someone with a fairly broad range of equipment, in terms of price point.

Dan

[Peter Aeschliman]

As an outsider, I've tried avoiding their products... I've read negative things about the customer service and the fact that you had to email the president to get any communication to me is a bad thing. Great that the president emailed you back, but it sure would be nice if his staff took care of you from the start.

The fact that Rockler dropped them as a supplier also worries me a bit.

This is just based on second hand info, but for me there are enough choices in the marketplace that I can avoid companies with poor reputations.

[michael flay]

A question for the people that had trouble with there miter guages, where was it made? I have the canadian made one and it is perfect!

[Rick Fisher]

If you have the email address for the President of Jessem, could you send it to me in a PM ?

[Bill Huber]

If you have the email address for the President of Jessem, could you send it to me in a PM ?

It is at the bottom of his letter.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=126269&highlight=Jessem

[John Piwaron]

The fact that Rockler dropped them as a supplier also worries me a bit.



That much never worries me. I got a small lathe from them, one made by Fisch, that's also no longer carried by them.

I got a table saw made by General from Woodcraft. Woodcraft no longer handles General. Not at my local store at least.

Brands come, brands go. It'd be nice if they'd hang around for a while. But, so long as I can get parts from *somewhere*, it's o.k.

[John Piwaron]

I tried their miter gauge also and it had so much slop in it, it was useless, but it did look nice. They have to get their quality control back before I worry about customer service.


To Dan and Philip,

I have one of these miter gauges too. It *is* a beautiful piece of gear, isn't it?

But like both of you, I had too much slop in the pin(s) to accurately and repeatably locate angles. Either 90 or any other.

Jess-Em exchanged my first unit with a new one. The new one was better, but also not perfect.

My opinion - For the money, the level of precision required for their chosen method of indexing the miter gauge just isn't affordable to manufacture.

I disassembled my gauge and studied the system. They use steel dowel pins fitting into holes arrayed in a semi-circle to locate the gauge. The bottom line problem is that the amount of play between the dowel pin and the indexing hole is too great to allow total accuracy. The pin drops into the hole just fine, but the hole is in a relatively thin plate (~1/4" thick or so). Given the length of engagement, the amount of play, even if it's only a thousandth or two is just too much for totally accurate positioning. If there was a whole inch of engagement, the same amount of play might not be noticeable.

The holes in the indexing plate should be put there by reaming, not drilling. Even then, maybe the short engagement would still be trouble.

Maybe a better method would be that the pins be a little conical and fit into a similarly conical hole. That'd take up all the slop. With the same array of holes now, all that would happen is the pins might appear to sit a little deeper or shallower in terms of unit to unit variation. But no one will have more than one so who'd know? Or care since the gauge would be more accurate.

[Charles Green]

I had an experience similar to yours. I consider it a negative experience though. After calling the regular line many times I began emailing everyone at the company. I received my mast-r slide table warped and wanted it replaced. It took weeks to get it done and I had to contact all the top people to get it done.

While they did take care of the problem, it took way too much effort on my part to have them do it. A company should stand behind their product without you having to take it to the top.

I do love my sliding table though.

[Mike Shields]

You beat me to starting this post.

It took over a year, and about 12 calls with numerous emails to have an issue resolved.

Yes, they make a decent product. But definately overpriced, almost like Festool.

And now, an issue with all 4 feet on their stand for a router table. Honestly, for my grief, I'll just fix/pay for it myself, instead of dealing with them.

Mike