Grizzly G0490XW experience

[Ric Altman]

Here’s my experience since I gave the above glowing report on my new Grizzly G0490XW. When I initially assembled the machine, I put my square on the outfeed table and adjusted the fence to square. I did not check the other end of the fence since the tables were perfectly parallel. After a few boards, I noticed a little problem joining boards. I went back and checked the fence again but this time moved the square the entire length of the fence. The fence seemed twisted. I removed the fence and placed it on the infeed table face down. The fence rocked corner to corner .022. In other words, had a twist to it. I called Grizzly tech support and they were great until yesterday, which I’ll go into later. The sent me a new fence. This one was out .044 and had a .020 bow in it also. I called tech support again and was sent another fence. This one had a bow of .070 in it so bad that you could see it with the naked eye. This one was supposed to be double checked by Grizzly before shipping. I was told by Craig, a tech supervisor, that he would personally check the third fence before it left Grizzly. When this fence arrived, it was the wrong fence. Sent that one back and when the fourth fence arrived, low and behold, it was straight. I installed it and ran the square from end to end and there was a .016 difference from left to right (lower). Now, I “upgraded” from a 6” Rigid that had a fence that was perfectly square, so I would assume Grizzly had at least similar tolerances. There is an adjustment to get the fence parallel with the table but none if it is not square. I called tech support and spoke with someone who suggested I run some more boards through and see how they looked. He said if I was not happy with the results they would take the machine back. Since I no longer had any of the packing, that would be a rough job. The next day I got a call from Rich (Richard) who this time was decidedly argumentative and accusatory. Rich wanted to know if I was going to keep the machine. I told him that another tech support gentleman the day before had suggested running some boards through the machine to see if the result would please me. I told him I had not had the time to do so. He told me if I ran some boards through it, that I would have to get “additional approval” before sending the machine back. He also said that Grizzly would not replace the machine, only refund, basically telling me they no longer wanted my business. The tone of voice for all this was decidedly confrontational. I had told several at tech support that my background is building racing engines and that I was used to expensive machines having very close tolerances. Rich said I was not being realistic comparing metal with woodworking machines. He said Grizzly tolerances were .002 per foot. I explained I could understand that possibly but that my 3 foot fence had a .016 difference which is more than .005 per foot. I stated that twice during the conversation and got no response. Those facts seemed not to register. It seems Grizzly got to the point where they no longer had a use for me and wanted me out of their hair, facts be damned. Warped fences and incorrect fences are no fault of mine. I did finally get a good one, so they can make them. Getting a good one to the end user is an issue. Pics attached.

I've run some boards through the machine and the out of square situation seems not to affect the results. So. I'm probably keeping the machine but no more Grizzly products, mostly because of the conversations I had with Rich.


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=347296&d=1478873522&thumb=1 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=347296&d=1478873522)http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=347297&d=1478873597&thumb=1 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=347297&d=1478873597)

[rudy de haas]

I think you have a baby and bath water problem here. I had a similar experience with a grizzly employee when I was trying to get their products shipped to sunny Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada). That woman is never going to make my Christmas list, and her boss should be fired for letting her get away with it. However.. all larger (and/or older) organizations have some below par staff and you have to look at the bigger picture. Overall, grizzly offers decent products at a decent price and most of their service/support personnel seem clue-full; so it seems reasonable to me to dislike the staffer while liking the company.

P.S. I have a 490 (sold as craftex in Canada) - it's a much better machine than I know how to use.

[Ric Altman]

Rich called me today to see if I wanted to return the machine. He was sweet as pie today. All of my contact with staff except for that one conversation was excellent. I have a 15 inch helical planer from them and it's great. Although I'm not totally happy with the 490, overall the effort to correct was good. I'm still thinking of the edge sander from them.

[glenn bradley]

It is so easy to lose a customer to a bad experience. Even though the balance of your interactions were fine, that one conversation could have lost you as a customer forever. I try to keep this in mind when dealing with others. I may hear similar stories several times a day but, to the person I am talking to now, it is the most important story ;-) I had a wonky fence on my G0490X. They sent me a replacement and I used that packing to return mine; easy peasy. Sorry you ran into "Rich".