Warranty support by the different manufacturers

[Van Huskey]

First I used manufacturer loosely in the title since most brand names now are simple importers.

My question is what manufacturers routinely send out a tech to fix machines under warranty? I know from experience PM/Jet do this and added to the 5 year warranty is one of the reasons they are worth the premium to me.

Are there any other manufacturers that provide this level of support? I am guessing MM, Felder and the like do this but I would like to know. This question is coming at the beginning of my research for machine upgrades I am contemplating when I finish my new shop.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Van,

I suspect it depends on where you are located.

I am 260 miles from Seattle....Boise.....Portland...

110 miles from Spokane.

I have Jet, Powermatic, Grizzly, Ridgid, Delta and Mini-Max in my shop. The only problems I have encountered was on the Jet and since part of my nickname is Gorilla....when I overtightened and eventually broke the handles on the tailstock of my Jet VS Mini..I just ordered several more because I knew I'd do it again.


I would imagine that most of the manufacturers would try to get me to do my share first.

[Rod Sheridan]

General do, and for hobby use their machinery has a lifetime warranty.

Felder/Hammer also have service personnel.

Regards, Rod.

P.S. For me General isn't imported however it is for you.

In the case of Felder/Hammer it's an import for both of us, however with all 3 machines those are the manufacturers, not just resellers.

[glenn bradley]

Sounds like you are doing your research; good man. Delta used to offer a service called "Delta at Home". They did come 35 miles to fix a run-out problem on my DP. They took the headstock with them even though they were supposed to come prepared to fix it on site. They took it with them to swap the original bearings out and it did fix the problem. They had it for 30 days to accomplish this so; coming to my shop and providing "service" may be generous. They no longer offer this as part of their warranty, new or existing and I don't really care after experienceing what passes for service in their definition.

Orion shipped me anything I needed for my hybrid in a couple days, no questions asked (some bolt holes didn't align). Grizzly does the same plus provides pickup of the failed or broken part if they want to have a look at it (shadow in the casting of my jointer fence, I've never had a failure).

If I was buying a $1000 item and was told that if I paid $1800 I could get service calls, I wouldn't do it. Maybe that's just me. If a machine shakes down for a number of hours, most issues that would be warranty covered are out of the way. If the issue is such that I can't get it resolved without a great deal of inconvenience to myself; I'll let my wallet do the talking on future purchases ;-)