penn state ind,,bad experience

[jeff oldham]

about 2 yrs ago I purchased a barracuda chuck from amazon,, I noticed penn state had a few things on sale which was some jaws for this chuck,,,i ordered them and today I got a email from them saying I had to prove I actually had a barracuda chuck by sending them a picture of the chuck,,that I couldn't believe,,,so I called and told the woman the model number of the chuck and told her I bought it at amazon,,she said very rudely,,that I still had to prove that it was a barracuda chuck,,im not a child and I do know the difference between one brand of chuck and the other,,,and I personally don't like the fact that I was being called a lier,,I cant speak for everyone else on here,,and im sure others will disagree on what im saying,,,but unless amazon sells it,,i will not buy it,,,at penn state you not only have to pay the shipping charges to get it to you but if something is wrong with it or you don't want it you have to pay the return shipping,,,,plus the fact of the wait time in which you receive it,,i have had to wait 2 weeks or more to get a item,,amazon ships most things free of charge and for any reason you don't like it,,they will send you a return label(free) to send it back which is free,,and you will receive your item from amazon in 2 days,,like I said said,,I cant speak for everyone else on here but being polite and taking care of the customer is first,,,i had rather pay more for a product than be insulted,,,im not trying to discourage anyone from buying from them,,,im sure some will disagree on this and that's ok,,thank you,,,lol,,just a bad day,,lol

[Mel Fulks]

I think part of is they get a lot of calls. I called once about a defect ,they said "we will send another one " and slammed down the phone. Have no idea about why they were asking for "proof".

[Frederick Skelly]

This sounds a little odd. But sometimes people do weird stuff.
* What reason did she give you for having to prove you own one?
* Is there something unique about your model that would make them want to monitor who buys parts? (A copy cat or counterfitter could send them a pic and get the part, regardless, so it's not that.)

Anyone else seen this behavior with PSI?

[jeff oldham]

I don't know this for a fact,,but I believe it is because I didn't buy the chuck from them to start with,,but as I said,,when I bought it from amazon,,,no shipping charges,,and I received it in 2 days,,,plus it was the same price as penn state,,

[jeff oldham]

because she could not find it in her records where I purchased it from them,,but I told her from the start I ordered it from amazon

[Robert Willing]

I know there service is really bad so I stay away from their site, it takes forever to get anything. I called in to get a replacement and never got the item. Just stay away.

[Roger Chandler]

Weird for sure. I have purchased things from Penn State Industries since 1985, even when they were still carrying regular woodworking equipment. I got a scroll saw and a drill press from them in 1985, but have upgraded since. I have gotten good service from them, but have a friend who got a dust collector for one of our turning clubs. It had missing parts, but they sent the parts to make everything ok.
I suppose they are trying to eliminate folks getting jaws that won't fit chucks not of their manufacture, and eliminate the associated shipping/handling costs, which can add up.

[William C Rogers]

I can't figure out why they even care. So if you don't own a barracuda chuck you can't buy Barracuda jaws? Not that I need any jaws, but I bought mine about 10 years ago and doubt they have records. I bet I can buy any other chuck manufactures jaws from them without question. Crazy to me. I've mostly switched to Nova chucks and the Barracudas usually only see Cole jaws and not that often since I now have a vacuum chuck.

edit: I must say that I have never had any problem with Penn State and have bought many things from them over the years.

What jaws were were you trying to buy?

[jeff oldham]

I agree with you,,,reguardless of what I was going to do with them,,it should not be of no concern to them,,i would have not only payed for the jaws but the shipping as well,,

[Bob Bouis]

I bought some peppermill kits from them a while back and realized they'd shorted me one several months after the fact. I just let it go, but I kind of wish I'd called them about it now just to see what they'd say.

[Harold Balzonia]

PSI is very hit and miss when it comes to customer service. There is one lady who answers the phone who is astronomically rude. She has refused to send me parts because "they were at the other end of the warehouse." I kid you not. She's also been known to just hang up the phone when asked a question she cannot answer. She's probably the one the OP got.

More than once I've called back immediately and got a different lady on the phone and had my issue resolved perfectly and with politeness.

YMMV

As I've become a better turner (my own objective assessment :rolleyes:) I've stayed far away from PSI. They just don't seem to carry anything I'd want to use anymore. But when I was starting out (and didn't know any better) I did spend quite a bit of money with them. The only thing I still use from PSI is a cone center I got years ago. I have 2-3 barracuda chucks gathering dust.

My buddy is an elite level pen turner who started with PSI kits (as everyone does) and 3-4 years ago, disavowed them completely. I wish he was a member here so he could write his stories.... good for a laugh and a cry - all at the same time!

[Marvin Hasenak]

PSI is a hit and a miss, if I get what I wanted on the first call I am happy, if I don't, I wait awhile and call back. Eventually I will talk to someone that is helpful and courteous. They are not fast on shipping either, but I know that when I order, so I accept it. For most of their stuff I use one of their resellers, same price and good service, but on somethings the resellers do not offer them.

[Tony Rozendaal]

I read recently on another forum where someone ordered a Barracuda chuck body to use with the jaws received with a chuck that was a few years old. Simply put, the new chuck body and the older jaws were not compatible. Perhaps PSI is trying to establish whether the jaws are compatible with the chuck body.

[Bruce Jones]

I bought there 6 pc. hollowing tool just a week ago and it was defective when I called the guy said you didn't buy it from Amazon did you; I said NO they don't carry this tool. They sent me a NEW one w/ out the cutters and that was okay because it was the tool handle that bent; but service was fast. I then ordered a chuck about a week later it came as if I ordered it PRIME from amazon very fast. I think there having trouble w/ people getting things from amazon then returning them to them. I've never had any troubles with there service.

Bruce

[William C Rogers]

I read recently on another forum where someone ordered a Barracuda chuck body to use with the jaws received with a chuck that was a few years old. Simply put, the new chuck body and the older jaws were not compatible. Perhaps PSI is trying to establish whether the jaws are compatible with the chuck body.

PSI did makes some changes to the chuck design about 5 years ago. They still look the same, but the new jaws are not compatible with the older chucks. I don't think they care who the chuck was bought from as they have many resellers that buy from PSI for that purpose. I have bought several spindle adapters from them that were right on. My drill chuck from PSI is about 10 years old and still working well. I also have several rotating centers that are fine. I don't use my Barracuda chucks much any more, not because of quality, but design. I don't like the key system for the Barracuda 4 because it tends to ride up and disengage when tightening. The older Barracuda 2 I have has a square drive, but limited to a 1" 8 tpi thread, so I need a spindle adapter. Not everything I've gotten from them has been a good value. I bought the indexing system for my midi lathe and it is a worthless purchase.

[terry mccammon]

Under the heading of for what it is worth. Our Scout Troop decided to give the new Eagle Scouts a pen (made by me) out of a kit that someone found on PSI that features an Eagle motif. Fine, so they bought five kits and I drilled blanks, glued in five tubes and milled them to length. That was when I noticed that the tubes were of different lengths, one was 1/4" longer than the others, the other four were slightly different. The kit was such that the long length made the mechanism not work right. I glued a bit of wood to the inside of the kit and all was well. But really, how does this happen? I personally had not purchased any kits from these folks and that will be that for the future.

[David C. Roseman]

From the comments, it sounds like the OP's experience struck several of us as odd. Who knows what PSI (or at least the person who wrote the email) was really trying to get at with the request for a photo of Jeff's chuck. :confused: The lady on the phone could have handled it differently, including bumping the call to someone more senior when Jeff pushed back for a better explanation. But unless the vendor comments in this thread, or we hear from someone with a similar experience trying to order chuck jaws who took it further, we're left to conjecture.

Over the last few years I've placed quite a few orders with PSI and never had a bad experience with either their customer service or their products. That's anecdotal, to be sure. But PSI occupies a niche market for the woodturning world, and I know a number of excellent turners who consider them a good resource.

[Bill Splaine]

I've had nothing but excellent service from them. In fact, I bought a couple of items from them back in '03 that I never used. One I just didn't know what it was and the other I knew what it was.. but it is so different from what they and other vendors sell today I was confused.

My initial contact was a lady, I believe named Kim. She was awesome, polite and couldn't answer my questions. She bumped me to Jerry as I remember. Both took the time to politely help me with no frustration on their part. Mind you, neither of these were in their catalog any more.. times and tools have changed.

Back to the OP. I wasn't there.. but, I can almost see the frustration in the OP's wording (?). If there was raised hackles.. that may have precipitated the problem.. I don't know. I'd hate to be a customer service person due to the myriad of people problems they face every day. I'd guess that they were trying to verify just what Barracuda chuck you have.. assuming they, like my two parts, have possibly changed in some small way that would preclude using the parts that were to be ordered.

[John Sincerbeaux]

about 2 yrs ago I purchased a barracuda chuck from amazon,, I noticed penn state had a few things on sale which was some jaws for this chuck,,,i ordered them and today I got a email from them saying I had to prove I actually had a barracuda chuck by sending them a picture of the chuck,,that I couldn't believe,,,so I called and told the woman the model number of the chuck and told her I bought it at amazon,,she said very rudely,,that I still had to prove that it was a barracuda chuck,,im not a child and I do know the difference between one brand of chuck and the other,,,and I personally don't like the fact that I was being called a lier,,I cant speak for everyone else on here,,and im sure others will disagree on what im saying,,,but unless amazon sells it,,i will not buy it,,,at penn state you not only have to pay the shipping charges to get it to you but if something is wrong with it or you don't want it you have to pay the return shipping,,,,plus the fact of the wait time in which you receive it,,i have had to wait 2 weeks or more to get a item,,amazon ships most things free of charge and for any reason you don't like it,,they will send you a return label(free) to send it back which is free,,and you will receive your item from amazon in 2 days,,like I said said,,I cant speak for everyone else on here but being polite and taking care of the customer is first,,,i had rather pay more for a product than be insulted,,,im not trying to discourage anyone from buying from them,,,im sure some will disagree on this and that's ok,,thank you,,,lol,,just a bad day,,lol

"unless Amazon sells it,,I will not buy it"
And we get sad when all the brick and mortar stores close��

[Dave Lehnert]

Years ago I purchased a slow speed grinder from them. The tool jig was missed drilled where one of the three holes did not line up.
I called and their response was something like "Two holes line up, whats the problem? "