very poor customer service from jessEm but great from dowelmax

[Eoin Ryans]

I enquired to JessEm about shipping a dowel jig to my location. Over one week later they responded requesting my shipping address. Now, almost three weeks later, still no response from them.I've since ordered a dowelmax, and although a little more expensive than the jessem, their ordering experience was much smoother with lightening fast shipping. It's a quality product too.just thought I'd post my opinion.

[Robert Chapman]

I'm suprised to hear that about Jessem - I have always received excellent service from them.

[Cary Falk]

I have a few JessEm items. I have never ordered from them directly or had to call customer service. I have had rumors to which you speak. I got my JessEm doweling jig from another place for a lot cheaper. I am happy with it.

[Eoin Ryans]

I'm suprised to hear that about Jessem - I have always received excellent service from them.

This was my first dealing with them, and will be my last.

[Brian Brightwell]

I have a few JessEm items. I have never ordered from them directly or had to call customer service. I have had rumors to which you speak. I got my JessEm doweling jig from another place for a lot cheaper. I am happy with it.

Me too!!!!!

[Matt Day]

What is your location?

I would never judge an entire company by one experience, especially when they are human and not every single service person is going to be stellar.

How many times did you call them and/or email them? Did you call/email once and then just wait for a response? I'm not saying they shouldn't have gotten back to you sooner, but you could have called them to find out what was going on instead of giving up.

Sorry to hear about your experience though. Mine was great with them and their product is top notch. Congrats on your Dowlemax purchase, I'm sure you'll love it.

[Bill Wyko]

I had called them one time about their miter slide. I mentioned I'd like to attach it to my incra fence, they weren't mean but I could tell they were not happy about it. They said it couldn't be done. 2 little 3/4" x1" x 1-1/2" blocks to space it up & I was good to go.

[Martin Jodoin]

I'm suprised to hear that about Jessem - I have always received excellent service from them.

Same for me. I always ordered directly from Jessem direct and i received it within a week. What country are you from ?

[Chris Padilla]

Eoin is in Ireland.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Last fall I emailed Jessem with a question concerning their router table fence. After a week or so, with no response, I ruled out ordering the Jessem and went with a Kreg table & fence. Incidentally, Jessem never did respond (but in all fairness, I never did a follow-up email).

[Mike Heidrick]

I ordered a fence piece from them. It came 7 months later. A few weeks would have been like lightening fast. I am in IL USA. They are nice folks but not in it to win it for sure.

[Gary Crompton]

I have to agree with Matt. I have had nothing but excellent service from them. Even when they made a mistake they took care of it quickly and never ask for payment.

[David Weaver]

Last fall I emailed Jessem with a question concerning their router table fence. After a week or so, with no response, I ruled out ordering the Jessem and went with a Kreg table & fence. Incidentally, Jessem never did respond (but in all fairness, I never did a follow-up email).

You shouldn't have to follow up. It seems like vendors are either going one way or the other in service. If they don't respond to emails with questions, either they're viewing the email as not that important to respond to or they're spending their time elsewhere and made a decision in terms of priorities. Which is fine, I don't want to make it out like every company that doesn't answer emails or return phone calls should go out of business. They just don't get mine. I would've done exactly what you did.

[Bill Huber]

I have had nothing but great service with Jessem, the last time I emailed them at 8:15 and had a replay by 8:45.
I think that their products are very good and made to last, I have had NO problems with any of my Jessem equipment.

[Phil Thien]

People way underestimate what it takes for a small business to handle all the requests they get via phone and E-Mail.

The special requests ("you don't normally do this, but can you do it for me?") can eat a ton of time and are often (as they should be) assigned a pretty low priority.

I don't think it is fair to indict a company for not being able to address special requests in what a prospective client perceives as a timely manner.

[Harry Hagan]

People way underestimate what it takes for a small business to handle all the requests they get via phone and E-Mail.

The special requests ("you don't normally do this, but can you do it for me?") can eat a ton of time and are often (as they should be) assigned a pretty low priority.

I don't think it is fair to indict a company for not being able to address special requests in what a prospective client perceives as a timely manner.

It doesn’t take a month to tell a prospective customer if you can ship them something overseas. UPS and FedEx CSRs are available 24/7. A simple “We can’t do that.” or “We’re not interested in your business.” would have been better than ignoring him.

[Phil Thien]

It doesn’t take a month to tell a prospective customer if you can ship them something overseas. UPS and FedEx CSRs are available 24/7. A simple “We can’t do that.” or “We’re not interested in your business.” would have been better than ignoring him.

It sounds like he E-Mailed, and they responded. He then followed-up with his address. How do you know they received that response?

My public E-Mail address receives literally (not figuratively, but literally) THOUSANDS of pieces of spam a day. On a weekly basis, I receive 2-4 inquiries from clients that cannot send E-Mail to an address because the sending mail server has been blacklisted at one of the 50+ blacklisting services out there.

There is a very real chance they never got his shipping address, and had already deleted his original E-Mail. For all we know, there is someone at Jessem thinking "that guy in Ireland must have lost interest."

So how do you know they are ignoring him?

[ken masoumi]

There is a very real chance they never got his shipping address, and had already deleted his original E-Mail. For all we know, there is someone at Jessem thinking "that guy in Ireland must have lost interest."

So how do you know they are ignoring him?
Thank you for saying that ,when I first read this thread it bothered me that Jessem a Canadian Company (as far as I know) would treat a fellow woodworker/member this way,so much so that I did what I have never done,I emailed Jessem and asked if they are aware that some one is sleeping at the switch and ignoring requests and inquiries,they emailed me within half an hour ,this is cut and paste of some of the reply:
Hi Ken

Thank you, we are aware of the post and we searched high and low for any correspondence both via email and verbal and cannot find anything pertaining to this person. As far as we can tell the person by that name did not contact us. We strive to give the best possible service at Jessem not to say mistakes don't happen as they do on occasion but in this instance I don't believe it happened

Thank you for letting me know.

[Ray Newman]

Phil Thien: +1 om your posts.

[Jeff Monson]

Thank you for saying that ,when I first read this thread it bothered me that Jessem a Canadian Company (as far as I know) would treat a fellow woodworker/member this way,so much so that I did what I have never done,I emailed Jessem and asked if they are aware that some one is sleeping at the switch and ignoring requests and inquiries,they emailed me within half an hour ,this is cut and paste of some of the reply:
Hi Ken

Thank you, we are aware of the post and we searched high and low for any correspondence both via email and verbal and cannot find anything pertaining to this person. As far as we can tell the person by that name did not contact us. We strive to give the best possible service at Jessem not to say mistakes don't happen as they do on occasion but in this instance I don't believe it happened

Thank you for letting me know.


Sounds like a miscue on emails, can happen to anyone. How they followed up, and how quickly they followed up speaks volumes about their customer service. I have not dealt directly with Jessem, but I would not hesitate if I had to.

[glenn bradley]

I always enjoy JessEm threads. Such diversity of opinion and experience :).

[Matt Day]

Thanks for posting that Ken - glad to hear the manufacturer's get a chance to defend themselves here.

Am I the only one who has worked with multiple companies/subcontractors/clients/suppliers/customers/any-living-breathing-human with whom I had to follow up on an issue, or from whom I didn't receive a timely response via email? I do not expect there to be someone sitting there at the other end just waiting at my beck and call, because everyone is working hard and has many other responsibilities to attend to. And when I let an email slip through the cracks or forgot to call someone back, it's nice when the sender gets in touch with me to remind me. For the companies that somehow live up to some of your expectations and qualify themselves to receive your business - Kudos to them, but you're also missing out on some other great products and companies by blowing them off so quickly.

[Dan Rude]

I recently ordered the new doweling jig from Jessem and ordered some loose tenons for use with my Jessem zip slot. About a day later I receive a call asking me if I meant to order dowels instead for the doweling jig. They wanted to make sure I had the right item. To me this is great customer service, confirming the order instead of having to ship the incorrect item back.
Dan

[Eoin Ryans]

Thank you for saying that ,when I first read this thread it bothered me that Jessem a Canadian Company (as far as I know) would treat a fellow woodworker/member this way,so much so that I did what I have never done,I emailed Jessem and asked if they are aware that some one is sleeping at the switch and ignoring requests and inquiries,they emailed me within half an hour ,this is cut and paste of some of the reply:
Hi Ken

Thank you, we are aware of the post and we searched high and low for any correspondence both via email and verbal and cannot find anything pertaining to this person. As far as we can tell the person by that name did not contact us. We strive to give the best possible service at Jessem not to say mistakes don't happen as they do on occasion but in this instance I don't believe it happened

Thank you for letting me know.


Just to clarify, the email was not sent from my address!!!! You seem to be missing the point - why dont Jessem respond to the original emailer??? They only decided to react to Kens correspondance when they realised that it was public on this forum!!!!

I do not defame any company, why would I??? This is just poor customer service - I can only guess that Jessem have treated more than one customer like this?

I hope I am getting my point across clearly? I am just a DIY weekend woodworker from Ireland, who wanted to buy a jig to make dowelling easier. I researched using this forum, (which is an extremely helpful resource by the way - with people who use their own time to help me, at absolutely no charge!), and decided to get the Jessem.

I decided to email Jessem (calling is quite expensive from my location!) about buying a jig and this was not sent from eoin ryans email address but sent by my mate as I had forgotten the password of my account!!! (but it is completely besides the point - it doesn't matter if Barack Obama sent an email - a customer is a customer no matter what the name!).

I then spent the extra and ordered the Dowelmax, end of story.

I think Jessem should respond to that email!!!!! If they can't, then I think I am not the only one to have this experience!

Thanks guys,
Eoin

[Eoin Ryans]

see my latest reply guys, glad you had a good experience - I didn't. May be they will learn from this and improve their service for the good of everybody. Personally, I have noting to lose or gain from posting on this, but hopefully will help prevent this happening to others in the future - for potential or exising customers of JessEm.

[Phil Thien]

Jessem not responding to an E-Mail they may or may not have received (that was sent from your friend's account because you couldn't even remember your own password) just isn't enough to drag a good company's name through the mud like this.

To now claim that Jessem is only responding because the matter became public is completely unfair.

Jessem may have been lucky not to do business with you, I can only imagine your reaction if you had received a unit with shipping damage, or otherwise experienced a problem.

[John Lanciani]

I decided to email Jessem (calling is quite expensive from my location!) about buying a jig and this was not sent from eoin ryans email address but sent by my mate as I had forgotten the password of my account!!! ...I think Jessem should respond to that email!!!!! If they can't, then I think I am not the only one to have this experience!

Thanks guys,
Eoin

How are they supposed to know who to reply to at this point if you didn't use your own e-mail? Do you expect them to guess your friend's name?

[Brian Elfert]

Email is not infallible. I work in IT and I get complaints from users fairly frequently that someone emailed them and the email never showed up. Sometimes emails get caught in spam filters. About 90% of the email my employer gets is discarded as spam.

On the other hand, a lot of companies treat email as an afterthought. You'll get great service via phone, but sending an email you might gets a reply days later. I tend to call most companies unless I have dealt with them in the past via email.

[Homer Faucett]

Just to clarify, the email was not sent from my address!!!! You seem to be missing the point - why dont Jessem respond to the original emailer??? . . . .

Thanks guys,
Eoin

I think you're the one missing the point. There is a very real possibility that Jessem never received your e-mail, as has been pointed out by many. If you use e-mail very often, you know this happens. On top of that, you're using multiple e-mail addresses to try to get a single transaction done. I agree that we should be able to comment on company customer service standards, but as customers we should be held to some standards as well.

[Craig Behnke]

Any company can get something crossed up and drop the ball on a particular transaction because we're all human and make some mistakes. when it happens to me I try to work with the company and politely let them know where and how they dropped the ball so that they can look into the issue and correct it so other customers don't have the same issue.

When I do have to call or write to tell a company to tell them that I'm trying to help them solve the issue for me and potentially other customers, they appreciate that i'm not attacking them and that I want to work with them to get the transaction right to create a satisfied customer. Most companies can get a transaction right, but outstanding businesses are ones that can screw up a transaction but then work fast and hard to correct it in a way that makes the customer know it was a mistake, they apologize, and they value your business. Sometimes you even get some type of comp in the form of a future discount or expedited shipping on the order, etc.

There are not many private sector businesses operating in competitive markets that purposefully try to avoid making money by selling product to customers. That business model just doesn't work in the long term. I don't judge a company by a single interaction, but if the company develops a pattern of dropping the ball and making mistakes even after I call to work with them to resolve the issue, then I take my business elsewhere.

I respectfully submit that your unsatisfactory Jessem incident falls into the honest mistake, rare occurrence category and Jessem in no way, that I have seen or heard about, has a pattern of such mistakes and poor customer service.

[Sean Walker]

Why wouldn't you send them a follow up email instead of waiting 3 weeks and then complaining about it?

[Eoin Ryans]

How are they supposed to know who to reply to at this point if you didn't use your own e-mail? Do you expect them to guess your friend's name?

You are missing the point - they should respond to every customer.

[John Lanciani]

You are missing the point - they should respond to every customer.

Maybe they did. Since there are multiple computers and multiple e-mail accounts in play here it is very possible that the error is not on Jessem's end. Under the circumstances I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

[Eoin Ryans]

Jessem not responding to an E-Mail they may or may not have received (that was sent from your friend's account because you couldn't even remember your own password) just isn't enough to drag a good company's name through the mud like this.

To now claim that Jessem is only responding because the matter became public is completely unfair.

Jessem may have been lucky not to do business with you, I can only imagine your reaction if you had received a unit with shipping damage, or otherwise experienced a problem.

I am not draggin their name through the mud - if that is your interpretation, then that is fine. I am just stating the facts of my experience.

I am not that upset,believe me. (Written expression is often a poor method of communication as the tone of the message is often mis-interpretated). To re-iterate,
I am just stating the facts of my experience with the company.
I am not adding to, or taking away from the story.
It is not as big an issue to me as some may think.
For the amount of online purchases I have made over the past ten years I have had never had such a poor service from a company. (Again, please take this for what it is)
Make up your own mind on JessEm - this is just one person's opinion.

[ken masoumi]

I am not draggin their name through the mud ..
It sure sounds like it.


(Again, please take this for what it is)
- .
We have,please read the replies again.


Eoin,what's wrong with admitting that may be you jumped the gun a little too fast with your complain?
You sound like a logical and level headed man who would like to have the last word,well I for one would respect you even more for at least admitting you were partially to blame.
Regards.
Ken.

[Trevor Roeder]

I ordered a fence piece from them. It came 7 months later. A few weeks would have been like lightening fast. I am in IL USA. They are nice folks but not in it to win it for sure.

WOW, that is some patience. I personally would have cancelled after 3-4 weeks. If a company can not get you a product in that time frame or less then that is poor customer service to me and it says they don't care about the customer; and as you said they are "not in it to win it"

[Homer Faucett]

WOW, that is some patience. I personally would have cancelled after 3-4 weeks. If a company can not get you a product in that time frame or less then that is poor customer service to me and it says they don't care about the customer; and as you said they are "not in it to win it"

Heh. Try ordering a necessary part for your lathe from Teknatool.

[Eoin Ryans]

It sure sounds like it.

We have,please read the replies again.


Eoin,what's wrong with admitting that may be you jumped the gun a little too fast with your complain?
You sound like a logical and level headed man who would like to have the last word,well I for one would respect you even more for at least admitting you were partially to blame.
Regards.
Ken.

Fair enough Ken, I may have jumped the gun a bit. I think this is due to the fact that the Dowelmax arrived and that prompted me to post here.
I wouldn't consider myself a person who would have over-reactions to things like this. After all, I am happy, I have my Dowelmax!
Of course if I didnt order the Dowelmax for whatever reason, I would have probably contacted JessEm once again with a reminder.

I'm not sure that saying that I am partially to blame is the correct way of describing it. JessEm certainly don't seem to have the highest level of customer standards going on some comments from other members here.

Anyway, I think I'm done with posting on this subject - it's gotten more attention than it deserves!

Thanks guys, and no hard feelings JessEm, but for Petes sake, up your game and respond to your customers emails!!!

God Bless
Eoin