Grizzly Table Saw Update

[Chris Sonego]

I’m soooo bummed AGAIN. As I said in a previous post I ordered a Grizzly G0899 table saw over a month ago. I think it’s the best saw out there for that price point.

It took a while to arrive and the boxes were damaged. I accepted it but noted damage and took pics while still on the truck. Long story short, I went to assemble and the cabinet was dented and the tilt shaft was bent and broken. Grizzly instructed me to send it back. The carrier came back and got it almost 2 weeks later. By the time I found the damage, I had already got it off the pallet and onto the mobile base I bought. It was not fun getting it back on the pallet. It took days to get a tracking number in order for me to get a refund so that I could reorder.

Fast forward to now, over a month later. Since reordering, today I received a call from the local transport company telling me that once again, they received my packages damaged. They sent me pics that showed the two boxes looking like they went through a demolition derby. This time I refused the shipment before receiving at my house. So here I am over a month later. It will take another week to get refunded so that I can roll the dice again or find another saw.

Ironically, the new Grizzly catalog came as I was talking to the customer service lady. I told her as much as I like the saw, and Grizzly, they are no longer an option for me.

For the life of me I don’t know why they don’t crate their heavy machines like Laguna does. So now I have to find another saw that I can afford. Meanwhile, my WW projects slip further away.

[Mitch schiffer]

Sorry to hear that. I work part time at a trucking company and we have been getting more and more damaged freight as the trucking shortages get harder to deal with. We ship mostly local (within 300 miles or so). when we get freight from other companies from around the country
or even from other countries they have been loaded and unloaded several times. some are bound to get damaged. Hopefully you can find something that works for you. I would maybe suggest going though a local dealer. Sometimes they will get there freight linehaul depending on how much they typically order. This freight is much less likely to be damaged and your dealer will likely help you out if it does active damaged.

[Rod Wolfy]

I live in WA and about a little over an hour from Grizzly in. Bellingham. We were told a month ago that lots of container ships were stuck out in the ocean off the coast of the Straights of Juan de Fuca, due to COVID restrictions in the ports of Puget Sound. Heavy seas actually tossed some of the container ships & the cargo containers were thrown into the ocean. They had helicopter shots of dozens of containers floating & there was a mad scramble to pull them out of the salt water before they were sunk.

Bet you wouldn't want a saw from one of them!

[Ronald Blue]

Sorry for your problems getting a saw. You blame Grizzly but it's not their fault. It's easy to say they need to build a box that will withstand repeated attacks of incompetent fork lift drivers and sometimes drivers. And they could but it would add to the cost significantly. That said you don't have to look to hard to find others who are dealing with the same issues in other machine brands. Even Erik Loza said that they have experienced a significant uptick it damaged goods from shipping woes at Felder. This is happening with all freight and not just machinery. Fork lift forks puncturing boxes secured on pallets and similar damages. It's pretty safe to say the saw wasn't a mess when they handed it off to the freight line. As has been mentioned it's likely passes through numerous terminals by the time it's reached you and your local terminal. Even when things weren't in this state of affairs freight was getting damaged and it's became much more of an issue now. I don't know what the solution is for you unless it's a road trip to Springfield Missouri so you can take personal control of the cargo. Branson is close by and a great place to visit but it's a ghost town until mid March. Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Curt Harms]

Sorry for your problems getting a saw. You blame Grizzly but it's not their fault. It's easy to say they need to build a box that will withstand repeated attacks of incompetent fork lift drivers and sometimes drivers. And they could but it would add to the cost significantly. That said you don't have to look to hard to find others who are dealing with the same issues in other machine brands. Even Erik Loza said that they have experienced a significant uptick it damaged goods from shipping woes at Felder. This is happening with all freight and not just machinery. Fork lift forks puncturing boxes secured on pallets and similar damages. It's pretty safe to say the saw wasn't a mess when they handed it off to the freight line. As has been mentioned it's likely passes through numerous terminals by the time it's reached you and your local terminal. Even when things weren't in this state of affairs freight was getting damaged and it's became much more of an issue now. I don't know what the solution is for you unless it's a road trip to Springfield Missouri so you can take personal control of the cargo. Branson is close by and a great place to visit but it's a ghost town until mid March. Good luck in whatever you decide.

The maybe silver lining is that the tent sales could be gold mines. Too bad that there is no longer a tent sale east of the Mississippi.

[Erik Loza]

No opinion here (except to say that this is such a bummer for the OP) and add to anyone else: If at all possible, arrange to pick up your crate at the LOCAL FREIGHT TERMINAL. Our experience has been that the damage is occurring in the leg between the local freight terminal and the customer's address. It will cost you a bit more and require more planning to pick up a machine at your local dock but almost totally mitigates the freight damage issue.

This being said, I have not seen as much freight damage lately as say, 6-8 months ago. Maybe this is only the carriers serving my territory here in TX. Or perhaps the carriers finally have some solid drivers back on their rosters. Not sure. Good luck to the OP.

Erik

[derek labian]

For the life of me I don’t know why they don’t crate their heavy machines like Laguna does. So now I have to find another saw that I can afford. Meanwhile, my WW projects slip further away.

Sorry for your continued shipping problems :( I don't know how much it costs to crate the unit over boxing it, but I'm sure cost is the factor. Grizzly is competing on cost so those add up. I suspect it doesn't cost Grizzly anything when there is shipping damage as I'm sure the shipper pays. Overall, if it was a net loss, I'm sure they would change it. For what its worth, all of my Grizzly tools always arrived in pristine condition. That said, they were both crated, go figure.

[Chris Sonego]

No opinion here (except to say that this is such a bummer for the OP) and add to anyone else: If at all possible, arrange to pick up your crate at the LOCAL FREIGHT TERMINAL. Our experience has been that the damage is occurring in the leg between the local freight terminal and the customer's address. It will cost you a bit more and require more planning to pick up a machine at your local dock but almost totally mitigates the freight damage issue.

This being said, I have not seen as much freight damage lately as say, 6-8 months ago. Maybe this is only the carriers serving my territory here in TX. Or perhaps the carriers finally have some solid drivers back on their rosters. Not sure. Good luck to the OP.

Erik

It was the local freight that called me to let me know it was damaged upon arrival. They sent me pics of the damage. They suggested I refuse the shipment. I did.

[Jim Becker]

A lot of very experienced workers retired early in the last two years and it's showing in the shipping industry big-time. Material handling is a particular skill and when the most experienced folks are no longer available, there's a lot of "learning on the job". That combined with increased work loads makes for a bigger risk of damage. 'Sad you had two machines come though buggered but glad that the second could go back before you even received it. I hope you can find a saw that meets your needs!

[Chris Sonego]

Sorry for your problems getting a saw. You blame Grizzly but it's not their fault. It's easy to say they need to build a box that will withstand repeated attacks of incompetent fork lift drivers and sometimes drivers. And they could but it would add to the cost significantly. That said you don't have to look to hard to find others who are dealing with the same issues in other machine brands. Even Erik Loza said that they have experienced a significant uptick it damaged goods from shipping woes at Felder. This is happening with all freight and not just machinery. Fork lift forks puncturing boxes secured on pallets and similar damages. It's pretty safe to say the saw wasn't a mess when they handed it off to the freight line. As has been mentioned it's likely passes through numerous terminals by the time it's reached you and your local terminal. Even when things weren't in this state of affairs freight was getting damaged and it's became much more of an issue now. I don't know what the solution is for you unless it's a road trip to Springfield Missouri so you can take personal control of the cargo. Branson is close by and a great place to visit but it's a ghost town until mid March. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I never said it was Grizzly's fault. I like them and their products. I just can't seem to get them here safely.

[Chris Sonego]

A lot of very experienced workers retired early in the last two years and it's showing in the shipping industry big-time. Material handling is a particular skill and when the most experienced folks are no longer available, there's a lot of "learning on the job". That combined with increased work loads makes for a bigger risk of damage. 'Sad you had two machines come though buggered but glad that the second could go back before you even received it. I hope you can find a saw that meets your needs!

Funny part is the CS lady tried to tell me that they have a "very low damage rate". Of course I replied "from here, it looks like a 100% damage rate".

[Ronald Blue]

(Grizzly's packaging is shoddy, and they use UPS freight, who are notorious for damaging goods.)

I have received two table saws from Harvey, and even though they were packaged in cardboard, they both arrived without damage.

Interesting because my experience has been that UPS freight isn't any worse than any other freight company. We received a lot of freight at my old job and while we didn't ship a lot of fragile items they were no worse than anyone else. Sounds like it was more luck than anything else that the Harvey saws. It's not just Grizzly either. There is a post about either a Powermatic or Jet bandsaw I forget which now arriving damaged in the last few weeks. They all use minimal crating and it wasn't a huge problem until recently. My boss always said when we were talking about "idiot" proofing machines they will just make better idiots. Maybe it's making more incompetent fork truck and truck drivers now...

[Chris Sonego]

UPDATE>>>

I've given up on Grizzly. I really like the saw I ordered. I had a chance to really look at the first one that was in my garage for weeks. It was, heavy, beefy, well made, and would have fit my needs.

I spent last night trying to find a comparable saw at that price point. The only thing I could come up with is the Harvey Alpha series. It was within $100 of what I spent. Unfortunately, I put it in my cart last night but had questions. This morning I received an auto-email from Harvey telling me to finish my purchase. BUT the price went up since last night! It just never ends for me.

I think I'm just going to order it before it goes on backorder and HOPE the will honor their price on Monday.

[Jim Becker]

Some folks have had good luck actually calling Harvey relative to pricing...it would be worth a try I think!

[Ronald Blue]

I know it's a higher price point so that may be a deal killer but if I'm seeing your location correctly there are numerous dealers for Shop Fox in your area. The 1888 is the same model in Shop Fox. Home Depot is also one. When it popped up on my feed when I did a search it said they had up to "54" available to ship to store. Just a different line of thinking. Hope you get something soon.

[Brian Runau]

Still believe it goes back to the packing specifications supplied to the factory as part of the contract and holding them to it. It was a constant battle for me inspecting incoming shipments when they came off the container to make sure they hadn't back slid. I did a lot of private branded stuff made by name brand mfg's in China and my general experience is you need to stay on top of it. I had a private brand of motors I set up with specifications and they started deviating on the packing and wanted to sell their name brand so in the beginning they would put their manuals inside the boxes or crates; so we inspected a certain percent of incoming shipments to verify and establish we were not going to let them get away with it. It wouldn't eliminate all damage, but a little more on the front end would certainly eliminate a lot of this and not just for Grizzly. Just my two cents. Brian

[lou Brava]

UPDATE>>>

I've given up on Grizzly. I really like the saw I ordered. I had a chance to really look at the first one that was in my garage for weeks. It was, heavy, beefy, well made, and would have fit my needs.

I spent last night trying to find a comparable saw at that price point. The only thing I could come up with is the Harvey Alpha series. It was within $100 of what I spent. Unfortunately, I put it in my cart last night but had questions. This morning I received an auto-email from Harvey telling me to finish my purchase. BUT the price went up since last night! It just never ends for me.

I think I'm just going to order it before it goes on backorder and HOPE the will honor their price on Monday.


That's a good deal when i was looking the Harvey was about 200 more and the shipping was double what Grizz was charging at the time (last August) which would have made the total cost 500 more than the Grizz.
I called Harvey to see if they would work with me on shipping but they wouldn't budge. So I ended up with G0899 like you said best bang for the buck. No damage but lost box I received saw but no fence. Took another 10 days before I received the fence Grizz CS did there best. You will be very happy with Harvey there really nice saws.

[Robert London]

Grizzly does have some of the lowest prices on shipping heavy machinery. Some manufactures absorb a portion of the cost of shipping, and make it up on volume.

I just got a 12" jointer planer combo from Grizzly over the holidays, and it came mostly unscathed. Just a minor dent on the bottom where they had it fastened to the crate and one bent part that locked the fence in. I didn't get in too much of a twist over that. Grizzly just raised the price $700 a few weeks after I bought it.

My Saw Stop came with no damage and the same on my Supermax 25x2.

[glenn bradley]

A lot of very experienced workers retired early in the last two years and it's showing in the shipping industry big-time.

At the risk of sounding like I'm ringing the "back in my day" bell I will agree with this in so many areas. There are too many reports of repeated failures on the part of delivery folks. You don't have to watch much You Tube to see this in action. If you guys really hate your job, go do something else ;-)

Last mile (whatever version that takes on) delivery problems are the shipper's issue. I have a a very unscientific opinion that this is regional. My shipping damage stories are minor, few, and far between. I only live a few hours from where the stuff hits the dock or where it comes from originally so this may be unfair. If three parties have to be involved (or multiple vehicle changes) your chances of a mishap jump way up. Given your experience so far I would pick it up at the terminal or refuse it there as opposed to in my driveway . .. again.

[lou Brava]

At the risk of sounding like I'm ringing the "back in my day" bell I will agree with this in so many areas. There are too many reports of repeated failures on the part of delivery folks. You don't have to watch much You Tube to see this in action. If you guys really hate your job, go do something else ;-)

Last mile (whatever version that takes on) delivery problems are the shipper's issue. I have a a very unscientific opinion that this is regional. My shipping damage stories are minor, few, and far between. I only live a few hours from where the stuff hits the dock or where it comes from originally so this may be unfair. If three parties have to be involved (or multiple vehicle changes) your chances of a mishap jump way up. Given your experience so far I would pick it up at the terminal or refuse it there as opposed to in my driveway . .. again.

Ring that bell ! IMO there needs to 2 of em 1-"back in the day" & 2- pre-covid. In the last 2 years I cant count how many times I've come across shipping, customer service BS, travel frustrations that 2 years ago were unheard of. I hope the new "normal" dies a quick death.

[Dave Roock]

The crate the Grizzly saw came on was most likely the wood crate attached to machine in China or Taiwan - Grizzly saves much money by not having to re-crate/re-package. The shaper I got from Grizzly most certainly came that way.

[Charles Coolidge]

I'm in WA state about 200 miles from Grizzly, never had any freight damage given the close proximity. But when the WA warehouse is out of stock Grizzly won't ship machines to me from their MO warehouse because of freight damage issues.

Wow the Grizzly table saw prices are pretty high. I purchased the 12 inch BEAST G0696X (a monster saw) 8 years ago for $2,195, now it's $3,705 dang! No matter Sawstop is only 30 miles from my house so I purchased the 5hp ICS this go around. Loving it!