Kudos to Lee Valley

[Rob Luter]

I just wanted to say what many already know, the gang at Lee Valley really knows how to treat a customer.

I ordered a Skew Rabbet Plane a couple weeks ago. As is normally the case the transaction was flawless (we've had plenty of practice :D) and the tool arrived in good time. Unfortunately there was some misalignment between the fence and the fence pins, and adjustments were all but impossible. On Sunday 2/5 I reached out to customer service with an inquiry on the best way to facilitate a return and exchange. Emily responded by return email on Tuesday 2/7 with an apology and and notice of their intent to ship me a replacement immediately. On Wednesday 2/8 she called my home to tell me she'd personally inspected the replacement and it would be shipping out for arrival in a few business days (Note to Rob Lee, she was a delight to speak with). UPS must have pulled out all the stops because it showed up yesterday (2/11) and works perfectly. By my count that's four days from their reply to the tool on my doorstep. Wow.

Those of us that enjoy the craft are blessed to have a number of excellent sources for hand tools. Where they really shine is when things don't go according to plan and they step up to make it right. This is one of those occasions and deserves mention.

Thanks again to Lee Valley.

[John Northowl]

I am glad your experience was smooth and expedient. And I do applaud lee valleys customer service ademanently. Yet I think your experience is a little out of the norm. I recently posted about several issues and the response has always been: ship the old one back, once we receive it we will start processing a replacement, and then ship that back to you. So for my most recent issue I am expecting to wait 3 weeks to get a replacement.

The point being, the frequency of problems may want to be addressed by lee valley and co, as good customer service can only do so much.

[Mike Manning]

Rob,
Thanks for sharing your experience with Lee Valley. It's good to know companies who work hard to make mistakes right.

Reading other comments bring to mind lyrics from a favorite John Prine song.
"Have you ever noticed
When you're feeling really good
There's always a pigeon
That'll come shi* on your hood"

[mike stenson]

I got a chip breaker with a nasty chip where it counts. They're shipping me a new one, I'm to return the old one in the box the new one comes in. Although, I did send a pic of the damage.. it was clearly just jostled in handling at some point.

[Charles Guest]

I think companies are required by law to replace or provide a refund for defective merchandise. In that light, I'm not sure that Lee Valley, or any other retailer for that matter, is doing anything heroic. Go to Macy's Herald Square the day after Christmas if you want to see merchandise being returned/exchanged with abandon. It's expected that you're allowed to do so. You wouldn't do business on any other terms. Not sure why we don't have the same expectations of a tool seller.

[Frederick Skelly]

I think companies are required by law to replace or provide a refund for defective merchandise. In that light, I'm not sure that Lee Valley, or any other retailer for that matter, is doing anything heroic. Go to Macy's Herald Square the day after Christmas if you want to see merchandise being returned/exchanged with abandon. It's expected that you're allowed to do so. You wouldn't do business on any other terms. Not sure why we don't have the same expectations of a tool seller.

You're right. I think they are. So most any place will take something back - after you meet 6 conditions and hop up and down on one leg while holding your nose. What has always impressed me about LV is that returns (for me anyway) have always been painless. Just send it back - no arguments, no restock fee and they usually pay the shipping.

Contrast that with a popular vendor who I wont name here. I bought an expensive power tool from them at a show. Within 2 weeks I truly hated that tool and wanted to exercise their "return for any reason" return policy. I had to argue about it. Then I had to pay return shipping ($55, not refunded). Then I had to wait 6 weeks for them to credit my card. Sure, they took it back, and yes I knew their return policy at the time of purchase. But compare this experience with how LV does business. YMMV.

[Charles Guest]

You're right. I think they are. So most any place will take something back - after you meet 6 conditions and hop up and down on one leg while holding your nose. What has always impressed me about LV is that returns (for me anyway) have always been painless. Just send it back - no arguments, no restock fee and they usually pay the shipping.

Contrast that with a popular vendor who I wont name here. I bought an expensive power tool from them at a show. Within 2 weeks I truly hated that tool and wanted to exercise their "return for any reason" return policy. I had to argue about it. Then I had to pay return shipping ($55, not refunded). Then I had to wait 6 weeks for them to credit my card. Sure, they took it back, and yes I knew their return policy at the time of purchase. But compare this experience with how LV does business. YMMV.

I don't return a lot of merchandise, but I've literally never had any trouble at all when I did, or at least any that I can recall at the moment. That L-V, or anybody else, provides prompt resolution to an obviously defective item they sold doesn't surprise me at all. They have to, especially now when internet reviews can make or break a business.

[mike stenson]

My wife's been fighting with a third party amazon seller for four months now. The reviews? I suspect about 2/3rds of them are paid reviews done by marketing companies (this is a real thing) which. means their reviews aggregate out to positive. But the negative ones? All the same problems she had.

[Charles Guest]

My wife's been fighting with a third party amazon seller for four months now. The reviews? I suspect about 2/3rds of them are paid reviews done by marketing companies (this is a real thing) which. means their reviews aggregate out to positive. But the negative ones? All the same problems she had.

Sorry to hear that, but the negative reviews are the ones to read first. Only do fulfillment by Amazon too. I think that might matter in a lot of instances. I believe it means the inventory is under their roof, in one of their warehouses.

[Ron Selzer]

Nice to read about a company that actually cares.
Three experiences of many come to mind, 1st in 1986(yes that far back and that bad) very short version. Bought a new Jet contractors saw even though I wanted a Delta, let a dealer I trusted at the time talk me into something. Unpacked it, listed 18 major defects and dealer refused to replace it, had to deal with Jet who insisted it was fine equipment with no defects. Finally forced the return for full refund, very, very shortened version of what happened. Never dealt with that dealer again and only buy Jet equipment I can see and operate.
#2 was a laminate trimming bit that would cut too deep when pressure was put on it, dealer refused to replace it. 30 years + later walked back into the dealer as plenty of local's brag about how good they are to deal with. Tried to buy a 12" jointer/planer as wife okayed it on the spot. Would not sell it to me as "only person" was not there that day, would not even price it. Needless to say, have not gone back and don't intend to.
#3 Bought a Saw Stop ICS with all options by time I took delivery from National company's local store, neither one of us wanted anything to do with the other. Have gone back in 2 times since, once to buy a 8" jointer, walked out after being in there 1/2 hour and no one would talk to me even though store had one other customer and 4 salespeople. Bought a Shop Fox online and very happy with it. Other time after 10 minutes had to break up a three salesperson gab fest to force them to take my money for a SDD cyclone. Good friend bought over 15k of equipment in one shot a few years back, had a few problems and got no help fixing it. last time he went into the store no one would talk to him.
Have bought numerous from Grizzly, Wood Workers Supply of ???, Trend Lines and other mail order companies and never had problems like locals have pulled.
I now order online all of the time and don't waste an hour to 2 hours drive time to get crap service shopping local.