My experience with Grizzly & UPS Freight

[Dan Muller]

I have been thinking about posting this for a while now, but Grizzly's customer support has been working hard on resolving my issues, so I didn't have a compelling urge to blow off steam. Until tonight. Now I'm feeling pretty annoyed.

On July 11, I ordered Grizzly's 6" jointer, model G0452 (http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0452). It shipped via UPS freight, and I took a day off from my day job on the 18th to receive it. It came in two loose boxes, one containing the cabinet and motor, the other, heavier box holding the jointer bed and other parts. Both boxes looked pretty beat up, with holes punched in the larger one all the way through the styrofoam packing to the spaces inside. I examined the boxes carefully on the truck, and it didn't look like the machinery inside had actually been impacted. I made a grave mistake at this point; I accepted the delivery and forgot to note the damage. Write it off to excitement at receiving my first jointer, a reckless assumption that Murphy actually doesn't live anywhere near my neighborhood, and inexperience with the hazards of shipping heavy machinery.

I didn't get too far into assembling it before noticing that the cutter shaft was actually quite bent. On close inspection, it became obvious that the outfeed table had been whacked somehow too; it was shoved up so far that it touched the cutter shaft cylinder, and the mounting bracket that connects the outfeed table to the base via the handwheel's screw had been so badly bent that the two tabs bolted to the base had nearly shorn off. Also, one of the motor mounts had been badly bent, indicating that the lighter box had also been severely mishandled.

It took six days of telephone ping-pong with Grizzly support techs, and two verbal descriptions of the damage, before they scheduled a return shipment. They would send a new machine as soon as they had the tracking number for the return shipment from me. I had no complaints with this arrangement; I was just very grateful that my terrible gaffe with signing off on the delivery, which I made sure to explain to them, was glossed over by Grizzly quite readily.

Then it took three days, which included another call to Grizzly, to get UPS Freight to actually call me and schedule the pickup. This rendezvous finally occurred on the July 31. I took a half-day off from work to wait for them and eventually hoisted the damaged goods onto their truck with our tractor.

True to their word, Grizzly sent the new unit promptly. August 10, another half day taken off of work to receive it. This time the boxes arrived strapped to a pallet, but alas, to no avail. The larger box had two holes punched in it again. Having learned my lesson, I open both boxes on the truck for inspection -- no complaint from the driver. (This is a different driver than last time; I have now met the entire delivery crew servicing my area. Both very nice guys, actually.) There was no obvious damage to the jointer bed, but the impact was very close to it. Both motor mount brackets were slightly bent. Having learned my lesson, and being quite leery about hidden damage to the heavy parts, I refused the shipment and immediately emailed Grizzly.

This was late on a Friday, and I got an email reply within half an hour with a promise that someone would call within one business day. Well, it took a little longer than that, but not much. They got in touch with me on the following Tuesday, August 14, and a new machine shipped the following day.

This time I had some conflicts with scheduling time off, so it wasn't until the 21st that I could take a day off for yet another tete-a-tete with the happy-go-lucky demolition experts at UPS Freight. The boxes arrived
strapped to a pallet again, this time with only one minor bump evident on the box with the cabinet & motor. Everything looked just fine inside.

Happy end to story, finally. Almost.

I put the jointer together a little at a time, since I've been very busy at work and getting home late, and I was taking it real slow, cleaning off the shipping grease thoroughly, etc. I thought I'd finish up tonight. I almost did.

Got to one of the final steps, bolting the power switch and support arm onto the back of the jointer bed base (or whatever you call the center section that supports the in- and outfeed tables). The mounting holes on the support arm are 2-7/8" apart center-to-center. The holes on the base are 2-1/8" apart, and are much too large for the M8 metric cap screws that are the only remaining bolts in my inventory.

Sigh.

So I just sent another email to Grizzly, and as a form of therapeutic venting, I offer you this sad tale. I hope that I'll be happy with the jointer when I finally get to try it out. But that won't be this weekend, apparently.

[Matt Campbell]

Dan,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I can honestly say this is the first "negative" Grizzly experience that I've heard of.

[Steve Milito]

Dan,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I can honestly say this is the first "negative" Grizzly experience that I've heard of.

Seems to me that Griz has been doing the right thing. They have made good despite bad shipping and errors on the receiving end.

[Sean Troy]

It's the first time I heard of a problem like that also, but it sounds like UPS, not Grizzly to me. I had a good experience with them and my TS. I hope it all works out well for you and you get to enjoy your new tool.

[john white]

dan, its has to be ups beating the crap out of your jointer. grizzly dosen't ship out damaged machines from their warehouse. grizzly has shipped me a 1023slx tablesaw and their 0586 8in. jointer in the past 2-3 weeks on two seperate deliveries, both by ups freight. the first one (saw) between 8am-12noon i was told, it got here at 530that night. so i blew a whole day at work waiting. the driver wheeled the saw up my driveway into my shop for me since he was so late.not his fault, he said he had been moving it all day to unload other stuff. i gave him 10 bucks and a soda.i had my neighbor recieve the jointer so i didn't have to take a day off and he was on time ,(almost) same driver,wheeled into the shop for me again. left him a 20 this time. i guess i was fortunate with no damage to either machine. i can see how somethig that heavy can get damaged when one man lifting it on a hand truck and setting it down by himself the way this driver did. there's been quite a few people on smc lately that have recieved freight from grizz without any problems.i sure hope you get this worked out and get back to woodworking.grizzly will stand by you,they're very good about things like this from what i've read here. good luck and please keep us posted. john

[Gene DiNardo]

I have purchased several pieces of equipment from Grizzly.
ALL have had some shipping damage,nothing I couldn't live with,
a dent,broken ball on a lever etc.
I have had severely damaged equipment from AMAZON and Woodcraft.
In each instance the companies and the carriers were great to deal with.Equipment replaced no dispute.
One time, a driver even waited till I partially assembled a mortiser to determine if the extent of the damage impaired the function of the machine.
It did, and he waited till I took it apart then helped me load it back up.!

While parcels are obviously being mishandled at the terminals I am amazed at the relatively flimzy packaging and crating of equipment these days.
I am sure when Griz gets these machines from overseas they do not come in styrofoam and cardboard. They are bolted to skids,stacked and strapped in shipping containers. Why do they think we expect anything less ?
Would sturdier packaging really prevent them from being competitive in price?
Perhaps offer it as a shipping option. I for one would be willing to pay a few
extra bucks to protect my investment.

[Don Bullock]

Dan, I'm sorry to hear aout your problems. It sounds like somehwere along the line that UPS Freight is messing up your shipments and grizzly is doing their best to "fix" the problem. On my recent shipment from Grizzly, my G0490 8" jointer came in great condition. The FedEx Freight driver deposited the crate and box in my garage right where I asked him to. He then waited for me to fully inspect them before he asked me to sign for them. I couldn't have asked for better service. I sure hope that everything gets resolved and your jointer us working soon.

[Carl Oresick]

Had a similar experience (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=58857&highlight=g0490+damage), eventually worked it all out. I can understand the burned time issue is not pleasant. I had my g0490 completely reshipped and then had the base shipped again as a carcase as I thought it would have a better chance at suvival - had to assemble all the parts back on. On the plus side for my trouble i got to keep the old carcase stand which I can use as a cart/stand for benchtop machines.

Mine was also via UPS, formally Overnight Freight, and I think I would request FedEx as a shipper next time, if they would do that.

[Dave Lehnert]

I work two days on the receiving dock at work. UPS truck comes in and that thing is just packed with boxes that look like they are just tossed in. I will receive around 40-50 boxes each day and the driver will have to sort all through the truck to find my boxes. The Fed Ex truck comes in and his truck is all sorted with boxes on the shelves. Most often nothing but the very large boxes in the aisle way. He drops off my packages without hunting for a thing.

I have wanted to pull the trigger on some Grizzly stuff but the shipping just keeps me from doing it. I own a Grizzly buffer and Mortiser but they were sent Regular UPS or Fed Ex without a problem. I guess I just see what happens to things on trucks so it makes me think twice.

I have a friend who has a shop full of Grizzly tools and never a problem. So who knows?

[Dave MacArthur]

Hmm, sounds to me from reading your post that Grizzly has been very prompt at replacing the units damaged in shipping, I am actually impressed with their cust. service from your report. The mismatched holes does sound odd, I hope you post what that was all about.

[Nathan Conner]

I had Joe from Joewoodworker send me some parts recently - one of the vacuum kits. It arrived in 3 different boxes from...you guessed it...UPS.

So, everything was supposed to be here on the 14th. On the 13th, they show up, I go out there, he's sifting through piles of boxes, each more beat up than the last, and finally pulls out one ragged looking box and hands it to me. I say, "Where's the rest?" I point to the label: 2 of 3. "Oh...it'll be here tomorrow. Sorry." So, we live way outside of town. Stupid? No biggie.

Got it unpacked, just the bag. Looks great.

The next day, the other two boxes were left on the porch. One's a beat-to-crap box with several holes in it and the other is a tube (the closure for the vacuum bag).

After sifting through the box, I'm missing a piece of tubing - some specialty stuff that took me four hours to replace. No huge loss - it was plenty small enough to have fallen through the hole.

But the tube? It's empty. One side has a well-taped-on cap, the other is...missing. So, they've delivered an empty tube. Ok, well, that happens.

Joe was cool about it, sent another out immediately, said he'd take care of UPS, gave me a new tracking number. I watched over the next week as it got closer and closer, then, the morning of delivery, suddenly the status changed. It now read, "MERCHANDISE IS MISSING. UPS WILL NOTIFY
THE SENDER WITH ADDITIONAL DETAILS. / ALL MERCHANDISE MISSING, EMPTY CARTON WAS DISCARDED. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE"

What?!? TWICE in a row? Ok, fine. I emailed Joe some laughs, again, he was very cool and very apologetic. He sent the THIRD one out two-day and said he'd whip his UPS rep for awhile. The third one should be here soon.

I don't think I'm ever going to use UPS again. FedEx is good for me.

[Lee Hingle]

Dan,
Your experience is not uncommon. My brother ordered a 15" planer and it was dumped over in the truck on the way to be delivered (by UPS Freight).
So were the next 2 shipped to him to replace the first one. That's right - 3 - 750# planers all tipped over laying on their side when the driver opened the back door. You would think someone would be smart enough to strap that bad boy down? Nope! They did tell my brother he had the option of requesting a different freight company since he had so many problems with UPS.
Fact of the matter is, it is really not Grizzly's fault - as long as they make things right afterwards - and sounds like they did (well, except for the misaligned bolt holes)
Good luck with the jointer - I just got my Grizzly 20" planer last week (no damage thanks to SAIA motor freight) and will be running the electrical soon.
Lee

[Michael Schwartz]

We had Fedex loose a Christmas tree we ordered from LL Bean. It took them 3 weeks to admit that they lost it too. 6 months later we had a box with a dead tree in it show up at the door.

A few months ago I was taking delivery of an order consisting of 2 boxes of tools from UPS. Well the guy shows up at the door, gives me the first box, and says very rudly that he had the second but he wouldn't deliver it, because he couldn't scan the lable, that UPS obviously mangled. I explained to him, that I was heading out of town the next day, and needed the equipment in the package for my job.

He turned arround and left only saying he would deliver it tommorow. Not giving any more details, or anumber to call or anything.

I was pretty ticked off at this point. Very clealy the stuff was mine, and I could have easily proven it. The shipping address lable was intact. He just couldn't scan the tracking number with the scanner.

I chased him up the street to his next stop, and he asked if I had the tracking number, so I convinced him to come back, and I gave him the number, and he entered it into the scanner manually. I got my stuff.

Other than these two experiences I have had good experiences with both UPS and Fedex. In the town I am in now I know all the local drivers from all of the carriers.

Bottom line, all the carriers are going to screw you over every now and then. Can't gain much from going back and forth every time you have a bad experience.

[Cody Colston]

My 1023slx table saw and go586 jointer were both shipped SAIA motor freight. I picked the tools up at their local freight terminal. They load them on my trailer with a fork lift and I can back the trailer into the overhead door of my shop. No sweat.

The only tool I've had damaged in shipment was the go513 band saw. I was at work when it arrived and loml didn't notice the damage...the upper door was bent too badly to fix.

I e-mailed Grizzly CS and they sent me a replacement door right away.

[James Suzda]

I’m not trying to defend any of the shippers or LTL carriers on damaged shipments, but if you would ever see what happens on the “docks” while you are sleeping you’d be amazed that any shipments ever get through undamaged at all.
Whenever something is shipped that is less than a trailer load, (LTL), the item could be unloaded and re-loaded onto different trailers up to 8 times at different “hubs”. When the dock crew is handling these items they have to load as many trailers as fast and as full as possible and it’s un-organized chaos at 2:00 a.m.! (The LTL hub that I visited was relatively small with only 72 docks and they handled thousands pieces of freight every night.)
But, one thing I did notice was that the better the item was crated the better it was treated. There was a piece of electronic gear that was probably worth about 20K that looked like it had a house built around it and the workers really “respected” that item. So, if the shippers would pack the stuff better things would arrive better. But, of course we would have to pay more for the product in the end.
Jim

[Steve Rybicki]

I received a Grizzly table saw this week by UPS Freight. Grizzly did well. It was packed in a wood box (well, not quite wood - particle board). My problem was with UPS freight. I only live 150 miles from the Muncy store. UPS took a week to get it to me! I could have walked their and back in that amount of time. They also didn't deliver to the address I requested (I requested a change after I found out their truck wouldn't come up my road). They didn't call before delivery (like they said they would). Now for the real problem. The box had a corner broken off. I told the driver that I wanted it noted on the paper work. He said he wasn't allowed to put it down. I told him that Grizzly instructed me to make sure any damage to the packaging was noted, and I would refuse delivery if he didn't. He continued to argue that he couldn't because there probably wasn't any damage to the equipemnt. I said if he wanted to wait for me to uncrate it, put it together and check, he was welcome, otherwise take it with him. Finally, he consented to note the damage.

Everyone should be aware. UPS Freight obviously does not want you to note any damage to packaging. I also took a photo of the crate before unloading, just to make sure. In fact, it was probably the camera that got the driver to consent. Photographic evidence was probably more than he wanted to argue against. I also made sure the photo was taken while the crate was still on his truck. I highly advise that anyone receiving freight, do the same.

All turned out well, the saw was perfect, went together quickly and runs fantastic. I've had similar problems with UPS freight in the past (with my business), so I was prepared. Everyone should be very careful when receiving items from them (or any freight company for that matter). After this experience, I will pick up any future orders from Grizzly. No sense paying for the hassle of UPS Freight.

[Don Bullock]

.... I also took a photo of the crate before unloading, just to make sure. In fact, it was probably the camera that got the driver to consent. Photographic evidence was probably more than he wanted to argue against. I also made sure the photo was taken while the crate was still on his truck. I highly advise that anyone receiving freight, do the same. ...

I fully agree with that advice. Before I let the FedEx driver take my Grizzly jointer off the liftgate I tooka picture of the ctare and box. The driver was glad to let me take the picture. Fortunately for me everything was fine.

[Terry Bigelow]

Just to chime in...I have had nothing but good experience with Grizz. I bought both my TS and BS from them. I did however, have an issue with the BS. Upon recieving it I noticed the crate was damaged and could clearly see some minimal damage to the table. Despite my excitement and desire to rip it open and start putting it together, I told the driver to load 'er up. I called Grizz that day and only a few days later a nice new one arrived in good shape. Great customer service, period. Love both my tools too. Been two years and both run like new(BS gets HEAVY use too).

[Dan Muller]

Thanks for all the replies.

To clarify, I'm very pleased with Grizzly's support, although I'm frustrated with the overall situation. Obviously most of the blame for this lies with UPS Freight. (Formerly Overnite Freight, as Carl mentioned.) I've never had any serious problems with UPS' parcel deliveries. This is my first order with Grizzly, and I was looking forward to doing business with them because of their excellent reputation, which was reflected in a lot of your replies in this thread. They were prompt about getting back to me in each instance. I'm not always easy to get hold of by phone, and they sometimes made repeated calls to contact me. Very impressive.

I do wonder a bit about the wisdom of their choice of shipping company, and a few of your replies support this concern. If this abuse in shipping really is common, then this particular piece of equipment could benefit from tougher packaging. On the other hand, that would certainly add to the cost, and value-for-money was a big factor in my choice. I'm sure it's a delicate balancing act, especially for a lower-end machine like this.

After the first botched shipment, my wife and I contemplated picking the machine up ourselves at Grizzly, making a brief sightseeing trip out of it. Our Saturn Vue could comfortably handle the 270 pounds and the box dimensions. If Grizzly's Pennsylvania location hadn't been in the far eastern part of the state, we probably would have gone ahead with this plan! (We're in southeastern Michigan.)

While I was writing the story, I got a reply to my email, basically just a note saying that Grizzly's Tech Support would contact me soon. I am curious about the part mismatch, too, and will update this thread when I find out more. My first thought is that the support arm is for a different machine, but that alone wouldn't explain the incorrect size of the threaded holes in the jointer bed. The manual is clear that the arm is supposed to be attached with M8 cap screws, and that's what came with the machine. But the tapped holes are sized, at a guess, for M10 screws. Very odd.

Again, thanks for all the support, opinions, and stories.

[Dan Muller]

They didn't call before delivery (like they said they would).

In this respect, I had little trouble with UPS Freight. Each time they called a day or two in advance, and gave me a four-hour window for delivery. On the last delivery, I had a little bit of trouble arranging the delivery because the person who coordinates this was out for a day when I tried to get back to them, and it took a while to get hold of the person filling in for them.



Now for the real problem. The box had a corner broken off. I told the driver that I wanted it noted on the paper work. He said he wasn't allowed to put it down. I told him that Grizzly instructed me to make sure any damage to the packaging was noted, and I would refuse delivery if he didn't. He continued to argue that he couldn't because there probably wasn't any damage to the equipemnt. I said if he wanted to wait for me to uncrate it, put it together and check, he was welcome, otherwise take it with him. Finally, he consented to note the damage.

Everyone should be aware. UPS Freight obviously does not want you to note any damage to packaging. ...

That's really awful. The two delivery guys I dealt with at UPS Freight were very friendly and helpful, although I thought that on the first delivery, the driver should have suggested himself that the very obvious damage should be noted in writing. That a driver would actively argue against this is really terrible. The driver who brought me the second machine didn't seem to have a problem at all with my delivery refusal.


I also took a photo of the crate before unloading, just to make sure. In fact, it was probably the camera that got the driver to consent. Photographic evidence was probably more than he wanted to argue against. I also made sure the photo was taken while the crate was still on his truck. I highly advise that anyone receiving freight, do the same.


That's a good thought, and I was prepared to take photographs at the third delivery if there had been any significant damage.

[Sean Troy]

When I ship things through UPS , USPS or Fed Ex, I use stickers on the outside of the box that says HIGH CLAIM VALUE, and they are infact insured. Never had a problem one time. What I was told, if the package is marked that way and there is damage, the last person handeling that package is responsable and the next driver or dockman will not accept it because they don't want to be responsable. Needless to say, those packages are pretty well taken care of. You can get those stickers through most shipping supply stores.

[Jim Hill]

I had the same issue as Steve, above. The end of the crate to the beds of my 586 jointer was broken open. There didn't appear to be any damage, but the driver (Overnite at the time) would not allow me to notate the crate damage on the bill of lading-very insistent that he would not allow it. I called Grizzly with the driver still there. I explained to the Grizzly rep the damage to the crate and was told that if I felt it mostly likely was ok, to go ahead and sign for it-if I later found a problem when uncrating, Grizzly would take care of it. She also said the issue with the Overnite driver would be passed on to the appropriate person at Grizzly. Fortunately, I had no problem with the jointer-love it in fact.

Jim

[Paul Hendrickson]

Thanks for all the replies.

I do wonder a bit about the wisdom of their choice of shipping company, and a few of your replies support this concern. If this abuse in shipping really is common, then this particular piece of equipment could benefit from tougher packaging. On the other hand, that would certainly add to the cost, and value-for-money was a big factor in my choice. I'm sure it's a delicate balancing act, especially for a lower-end machine like this.


At what point would a little "tougher packaging" actually save money. They threw away two jointers to get one working jointer to you. I have had great experiences with Griz, and I will definetely keep buying from them. I just wonder how much is really saved in the go cheapest and throw away whatever gets hosed system.

One thing I have relearned from this thread is that Grizzly customer service is awesome and I will for sure keep buying from them.

[Steve Rybicki]

That's really awful. The two delivery guys I dealt with at UPS Freight were very friendly and helpful, although I thought that on the first delivery, the driver should have suggested himself that the very obvious damage should be noted in writing.

Actually, the driver was very friendly and helpful too. In fact, my helper couldn't make it, and the driver helped me get the saw off his truck. He simply didn't want to note the container damage on the paper work, and appeared to be simply following orders.

[John Shuk]

Dan,
This sort of illustrates my fear of buying stationary power tools and having them shipped. I bought a Laguna bandsaw that had some some problems and it just never got resolved completely.
I understand your frustration here but with Grizzly doing right by you it should all work out.
That said I try to by something I can walk into the store with and solve my problems without a shipping company involved. I just haven't got the time for that.
Best of luck.

[Wayne Ashing]

Sorry to hear of your problems with UPS. I recently received a five piece delivery from Grizzley via Saia, a490 8" jointer, 15" planer, 17" band saw, 11/2 hp shaper, and a 2hp cyclone. Order in on Mon. am in Tulsa that night! Saia's dispatcher was not the most helpful but the driver Mike was great. backed up my 250'+ drive through an 8' gate and dropped all #2600+ right in my shop! Oh , ya heat index was 105 that day, wouldn't even take a tip or even a glass of tea? Just part of the service!! Best $30 for lift gate I ever spent. Thought I was going to have to rent a fork lift.
Had one ding in the cyclone and the base of the band saw. The spindel for ajusting the blade tension on the band saw was down in the bottom of the crate but all of the other parts were still up in the top of the saw.

It must be a regional thing with the freight companies, I have also received some large equipment from Amazon via Roadway and Eagle with no problems either?

If you have any more problems pm Sharaz (Papa Grizzley) and he will respond quickley. I sent him a note asking a question and he responded the next day and refered me to Kathy, a fantastic lady to work with, good luck with your new toy! Ive had nothing but praise for the units I have finished assembling.

[James Biddle]

At what point would a little "tougher packaging" actually save money. They threw away two jointers to get one working jointer to you. I have had great experiences with Griz, and I will definetely keep buying from them. I just wonder how much is really saved in the go cheapest and throw away whatever gets hosed system.

One thing I have relearned from this thread is that Grizzly customer service is awesome and I will for sure keep buying from them.

Not to mention that every time a company makes multiple shipments or pays a claim against a shipment, those additional costs will be passed along in the form of higher priced tools, higher priced shipping, etc. There isn't a company out there that doesn't take into account the total cost of doing business with us when pricing the tools they sell. I wonder how much cheaper we could buy these tools for if they could be consistently delivered without damage?

[Chuck Lenz]

Dan,
This sort of illustrates my fear of buying stationary power tools and having them shipped. I bought a Laguna bandsaw that had some some problems and it just never got resolved completely.
I understand your frustration here but with Grizzly doing right by you it should all work out.
That said I try to by something I can walk into the store with and solve my problems without a shipping company involved. I just haven't got the time for that.
Best of luck. I'm with John on this one. All my stationary power tools I've bought locally. I do have some Grizzly equipment, but I bought those items used and locally also, it's alot less hassle that way if something isn't right in the box, plus I'm in the middle of nowhere, so by the time I pay shiping on a tool that big for the same price or just a few bucks extra I can buy a Delta or a JET locally.

[Ken Glass]

Dan,
I can say, I have never had you experience with a shipped Grizzly tool before and have had 8-9 delivered to my door. Grizzly did, however, use a small trucking company from St. Louis and not UPS. Normally UPS does a great job with small items, but I have heard they can be a little careless with the big heavy ones. I hope your expereince will not keep you from buying Griz again as they have both great prices and great tech services in my opinion.

Regards, Ken:)

[Dan Muller]

Update: Just got a call from Cliff at Grizzly. Apparently, there was an engineering change to go to M10 cap screws at the closer spacing, and I got a mixed shipment -- new bed, old support arm and bolts. (And old manual? Don't know if they've revised that, forgot to ask.)

They're shipping me a new arm and bolts by UPS parcel service, and it should arrive in a few days. I'll pack the old arm into the box and call Grizzly, they'll arrange to have it picked up for return. An unfortunate mix-up, but it's being taken care of promptly.

[Don Bullock]

Great news Dan. Your machine should be running soon.

[Dan Muller]

No good news, I'm afraid. My last update here was Monday 8/27, when I got a promise by phone that the new support arm/power switch would be shipped immediately. On Thursday 9/6 I sent them another email, as it still hadn't arrived. I got a prompt reply, but all it said (again) was that they would ship it immediately and it should arrive within five business days.

As of tomorrow, it will be 2 months since I ordered the jointer.