Rockler Branding Iron

[Jim Gallo]

I received a wonderful Christmas gift from my son and his wife. Totally unexpected and an awesome surprise, I opened up a box containing a custom branding iron from Rockler. I was so excited, I still haven't stopped thanking them. I carefully filled out the form for the custom name of my woodworking business. It was a coincidence that the limited 20 characters was exactly the amount of letters and spaces in my business name. I received the custom head about 2 weeks later, and to my dismay, the lettering was wrong. Plus, they only gave me 19 characters instead of the 20. I immediately emailed them, informing them of the mistake. The CS rep was not helpful at all, telling me that I was the one that made a mistake and they are not responsible. No questions about what I requested nor any effort to rectify the issue. All that was said was "No Refunds/No Returns". I begged them to at least look into my issue, but they were right and the customer is wrong. I then contacted Rockler , and told them that the company that they source their heads from "orderbrandingiron.com, were not customer friendly. In fact, the rep had a nonchalant attitude without actually saying "Tuff Luck Sucker". Rockler stood behind their source for the branding iron head, saying they rarely make mistakes! I average between $1500-$2000 a year in purchases from Rockler, and since I can't find any resolution to my issue, I will never spend another penny there. Woodcraft just opened a store in my area. Rockler is one hour drive for me. The new Woodcraft is 1.5 hour drive, but I will make the sacrifice. I'm sure some of you have had good experiences with Rockler branding irons, and Rockler in general, but I just thought I would inform you all of my experience. Jim

[Mike Henderson]

I understand your feelings. I got the same branding iron for my birthday and the lettering was okay.

While you may not feel willing to do this, I'd suck it up and pay to have a new head made. The iron is a good tool and you'll like it after you get the proper lettering.

Then go to Woodcraft from now on:)

Mike

[I'm surprised that Rockler didn't make any attempt to work with you. A compromise could be that you each eat half the cost because it's impossible to prove where the mistake happened.]

[Myk Rian]

What's the CS reps email address? I'll bet a few thousand emails from members here would change his mind.

[Bryan Lisowski]

I know it's a bit late, but you probably should have made a copy of the form you filled out, then you have a leg to stand on. My experience with Rockler has been positive, go higher up and not deal with customer service.

[Dave Stuve]

I'm surprised Rockler doesn't have a 'no fault' replacement policy - since either the supplier or customer could have made a mistake, the customer gets a new head at cost. The customer has to pay some small fee to keep them from abusing the system, and Rockler is more likely to keep happy customers.

[William C Rogers]

I can tell you that Woodcraft CS is excellent. I had a minor shipping issue and they took care of it promptly.

[Jebediah Eckert]

There is plenty of good CS stories with Rockler. I was just researching something and pulled up an old thread praising them. You can't publicly pile it on because of one bad experience. You must have had plenty of good transactions if you spend $2k a year with them? I have never bought anything from them so I don't have any either way.

It should be an easy one to resolve. It clearly says not responsible for customer error when filling out the request for the brand, pretty standard for custom items. You should have a copy of it. It's either your mistake or theirs, shouldn't be a grey area on this one. These days with cell phone cameras it is so easy to snap a pic of something like that?

If you posted the form and the brand and it is indeed their error then pile it on. If not...........

sorry it happened to you and it can be maddening, but threads like these are potentially pretty damning to people trying to run a business and feel maybe, just maybe it was your mistake?

[Neil Gaskin]

If they paid by credit card you might still have recourse. I'd ask the to call the credit card company.

Ive had good luck with. http://www.brandingirons.com/

[Jim Gallo]

Jebidiah is probably right. I shouldn't have bashed Rockler for one mistake. I didn't post this to bad mouth Rockler, as much as I did just to warn others to be aware when ordering a branding iron from them

[Eric D Matson]

I had the exact same experience with Rockler and their branding iron. I feel your pain Jim.

[Jim Gallo]

I forgot to mention that their resolution was for me to purchase a new head, saving me the cost of buying the whole setup. But it was a gift, and a gift isn't supposed to cost you money. I didnt make a copy of my order, but I do know the name of my business, and made sure the name contain the correct amount of characters including spaces. I suppose I could have made a mistake, but I triple checked. I really gave up on getting this tesolved and don't want to cause my son and his wife the credit card hassle, so I'll just eat it. I even told Rockler that I was going to post on the forums, but no response!

[Alex Snyder]

Glad I stumbled upon this thread because I was just about to pull the trigger on one of their irons. I haven't yet because of that "no refunds/returns" policy. It is precisely mistakes like these, along with that policy, that has made me hesitant. And now I'll find another place. Thanks for posting!

[Ben Zara]

Do they have a copy of the order?

[Marc Burt]

I would keep going up the chain. Tell them you want proof it was your mistake, see a copy of your order form.

[Lee Schierer]

Glad I stumbled upon this thread because I was just about to pull the trigger on one of their irons. I haven't yet because of that "no refunds/returns" policy. It is precisely mistakes like these, along with that policy, that has made me hesitant. And now I'll find another place. Thanks for posting!

I have a Rockler branding iron and it works great. I had no problems. I would advise making a copy of your order before final submission using Snip or screen capture to safe guard what you submitted.

[Jebediah Eckert]

I would keep going up the chain. Tell them you want proof it was your mistake, see a copy of your order form.

That makes the most sense for sure. If it is your fault it makes it easier to justify buying the new head, if it is their fault you don't have to feel bad about being angry.

Good Luck!

[Scott Kuykendall]

I would just give them a call and ask for a copy of your order form. If they won't give you a copy then ask to talk to a supervisor, if that doesn't help file a complaint with your credit card company if you paid with one and also with the local BBB. You can only do so much since you didn't keep a copy of your order.

[Nick Decker]

Rockler should step in here on your behalf, if they're interested in good customer service. They can easily require the company to provide a copy of the original order, which will resolve who is at fault. I don't keep a copy of everything that I order online, and I shouldn't have to.

As for Rockler not caring if you post about the problem on a forum, woe be to them.

[Mike Henderson]

Just some added information: When you order the head (with the lettering) you do it on the web. You don't submit paper by mail. As Lee suggested above, you can do a screen capture to save a copy of what you submitted.

It would be easy for the company to "adjust" what they send you as "proof" of what you filled out if you don't have a copy.

Mike

[If anyone would like to send a link of this thread to Rockler, the email is customercare@rockler.com. Give them a chance to reply.]

[Yonak Hawkins]

Rockler should step in here on your behalf....

I agree. I wouldn't give up. This is Rockler's responsibility since the purchase was made with them. If dealing with customer service representatives and supervisors doesn't do the trick, write a letter to the president of Rockler, mentioning that the several woodworking websites you had posted to regarding this issue, in consensus, recommended working it out with Rockler.

[Ellen Benkin]

Write directly to Ann Rockler. I've had good luck getting a response -- but that was several years ago.

[Wade Lippman]

I had the same experience with Rockler 2 years ago. They acknowledged they misrepresented their product (claimed the saw blade was 10" when it was only 250mm) but said it was my tough luck. I haven't bought from them since. There are plenty of other companies who don't mislead their customers.

[Yonak Hawkins]

When I bought a branding iron from Brand New, Ind. last year they sent me proofs and required confirmations all along the way to head off just such a situation.

[Joseph Montroy]

I had the same experience as Yonak when I ordered my branding iron. They sent me proofs before it was made. But, I agree that they should be responsible enough to show you the form. I've had good luck with the brick and mortar Rockler stores,but not such great luck with their online stuff. Good luck with getting a resolution you can live with.

[Mike Henderson]

I sent a note to Rockler giving them a pointer to this thread. Here's their reply:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for reaching out to us regarding this issue. We have been in contact with this customer and provided proof and documentation of the order confirmation, which he entered directly to our manufacturer. This is a custom order and is non-returnable. The customer did receive the branding iron exactly how he customized it. We would stand behind and fix the mistake if this was an error on our end, however in this case Rockler is not at fault. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Danea
Rockler Customer Care Team
customercare@rockler.com (orders@rockler.com)
(800-376-7856)

[Bill Sutherland]

It always amazes me the ignorance of some companies decisions regarding customer complaints. When you consider the cost in advertising dollars to acquire just one customer it seems to me a pretty simple decision. TAKE CARE OF THE CUSTOMER, they are always right (at least in their minds). They just did the unpardonable sin in business, they accommodated themselves and not the customer.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Bill, in the case of a branding iron, one may think it's an only purchase as, who needs more than one ? Therefore, why should they need to bend over backwards to please someone who will not be buying from them again anyway ? However, I had occasion to buy a second branding iron from a company with the prospect of more. After getting good service and a good price on the first one, they nearly doubled the price on the second one, which was even smaller, nixing my decision to buy that one and any more. I've given up trying to figure how some businesses do business.

[Mark Carlson]

I ordered a branding iron from an etsy shop called beamerweb. I wanted a logo with my initials so I described what I wanted and he created a model that I had to approve. I could have also created my design and sent it to him. No chance for a mistake because his process takes the model and creates the stamp in brass. Very good experience.