Great stores/service

[Charles McKinley]

How about stores we have had really positive experiences in.

I just recieved a THANK YOU NOTE from the Woodcraft in Pittsburgh, PA. It was hand written and about a purchase that I should have made at their show last fall (Fein detail sander). I recieved a good deal on the tool, good service and a nice finishing touch!

This wasn't even on a piece of big iron. My bill for the day including Woodburst stains for my kid's puzzles and some other small thing was $304.

I have no relationship with the store or products mentioned other than a very happy customer.



:D

[David Rose]

Lee Valley. I've never gotten anything from them that I didn't find satisfactory. Well, I should say of the quality expected. I had a few rounds of damaged goods and they really bent over backward to get replacements out before I returned damaged goods.

My second favorite is the store where our own Bob Lasley (is a little plug OK?) teaches some router classes. That is the Tulsa OK Woodcraft store. The guys are helpful and know what they have in stock... usually. ;-)

I've had great service from: Routerbits.com, Klingspor and for that matter good old Amazon.

David

[Dennis McDonaugh]

This is a good topic since we usually only remember the bad experiences. Generally, I have positive experiences at most places I shop in person. I got angry in the local home depot one day, but that's another story for another time, and went to the manager and told him what happened. He asked me what would make me happy and the next time I went in the store the problem was fixed. A lowes opened in the neighborhood and I think its improved the service at the home depot. Woodcraft is great (except they seem to have a hard time keeping stock on the shelf), they have a knowledgable, helpful staff. I've had great service at Amazon, Woodworkers supply, Rocklers and Took King over the internet.

[Halsey MCCombs]

I have always had great service with the Woodcraft store in NH,they go out of their way to be helpful. Just a happy customer Halsey

[Jim Baker]

We really like Arthur Distributing, which is in the middle of an Amish and Mennonite community in central Illinois. We get most of our cabinet making supplies (hinges, drawer slides, etc), hardwood plywood, glue, fsteners, abrasives, and power tools there. It seems a little strange buying electric tools at a place that doesn't have electricity, though.

Service, selection, and prices are all excellent. The people there know us by name even though our purchases pale in comparison to what they sell to the many cabinet and furniture shops in their area.

We like to go there early in the morning because there is a small country grocery store just 2 miles away that sells fresh baked cinamon rolls. You have to time it just right because if you go too early, the rolls aren't out of the oven yet, but too late and they are gone.

[George@Colonel's Workshop]

Good Afternoon Charles,

I ordered a Shop Fox mortising machine from ToolCorral.com a couple weeks ago. They are in New York somewhere, and I am in suburban Philly. The tool was sitting in my basement just 50 hours later via UPS. Now, if Harbor Freight could......, well :<)

[John Longwitz]

...Woodpecker's (super fast shipping and great customer service by phone or email plus they have INCRA stuff)

...Woodhaven (pronto on ship)

...Lee Valley

...Amazon/Tool Crib (free shipping and great service)

...Highland Hardware (great ambiance, finishing products, helpful staff, 15 minutes from my house)

...Lowe's (no time to tell my FREE $175.00 Pella ProLine window story)

...Price Pfister (when my Pfabulous Pfaucet started leaking I tried to order a new cartridge from their service center...sent me 2 free in case it ever happened again)

[James O'Mara]

Hi Chuck,

I got my thank you from the Pittsburgh Woodcraft also. Signed by the store owner. Thought it was great. However I think Dan (a clerk) is a total pompass a$$. Have had several bad dealings with him. Now that I know the store owner is concerned about customer satisfaction, I think I am going to mention this to him. Jerry in the Pittsburgh store was wonderful and I plan on having him help me everytime I am in the store.

Jimmy

[Keith Outten]

McFeeley's Square Drive Screws

Simply the best service I have ever experienced. I've been a customer of McFeeley's for a decade I guess and over the last four years I have purchased hundreds of pounds of their screws. Delivery is so fast it is unbelievable, they must ship everything within an hour of my phone calls.

McFeeley's was the very first company to offer their support of SawMill Creeks "Free Stuff" program. They were enthusiastic and very supportive.

[Jim Baker]

We were in the Rockler store in St Louis this morning. Everyone there was wonderful to work with. They answered all of our questions and gave great recommendations. I would recommend them to anyone.

[Dale Thompson]

Hi Folks,
It sure is a pleasure to read all these positive posts about companies which have gone out of their way to help their customers. These companies need MUCH more of this. Congratulations to all!

My story is about a woodworking place down in Green Bay, WI. They are on the net as Woodworker's Depot and have prices comparable to anyone I have seen. I don't know if they sell over the net or not, but that's not my point.

I have bought a lot of stuff from them. Both my PM 66 Saw and my PM 3520 Lathe came from them--along with a lot of other stuff.

Anyway, I bought a top-of-the-line Delta bandsaw from them with the extension kit and all that stuff. The first night I had it, SOME of the smoke leaked out of the motor. Well, since my smoke magnet was in the shop for repairs, I thought that I had a problem--even though the saw seemed to operate OK. I called Delta and kind of got the runaround (Well--if it looses power, give us a call back or send it in, at your expense, and we'll see if you have a problem). How was I to know if it lost power--I had never seen it under FULL power.

I went down to Woodworker's Depot with the motor and the parts guy said he could get me a new motor by "tomorrow morning" - delivered. YEH RIGHT!!

Next morning--9:30 AM--Guess what Jack from Fed Ex handed me through my front door? It had come OVERNIGHT from Tennessee. Great Saw!

Dale T.

[Martin Shupe]

I was on a layover in San Diego this past week. We usually get a couple hours for dinner and a walk or run before going back to work. I always check to see if there are any woodworking related stores nearby.

Well, I found a good one. If you ever are in downtown San Diego, check out San Diego Hardware. I think they are on the net as well. They are like the old, small town hardware stores used to be. Before Ace, True Value, and the borg ruined it all.

They had an entire wall of hinges, door knobs, pulls that you could examine. Then when you figured out what you wanted, there were several clerks happy to dig your selections out from the storage behind the wall.

On 5th avenue, within walking distance of the US Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. No affiliation, but I did find a couple of Brusso hinges I was looking for.:)

[Bill MacLachlan]

Up here in the Great While North, I have dealt with Lee Valley for many years and am always happy. They even sent some money back because something I had recently bought had a price reduction shortly after I purchased it.
Just getting into turning and I have just started dealing with Woodchuckers and Jacques Coloumbe?? and service from both of them has been great as well. Received everything I ordered within 2 days.

[John Wadsworth]

1. Lee Valley. Always my first choice when the local hardware store can't meet my needs. Good prices, great service.

2. McQuade & Bannigan, in Utica, NY. Wonderful store, huge selection of stuff, knowledgeable people. Get all my Jet and PM stuff there, and John Bannigan brings it to my door 75 miles away.

[Chuck Wintle]

Lee Valley gets my vote for customer service. They will bend over backwards to make sure the customer is happy. This has always been my experience with them.

[Simon St.Laurent]

My local Woodworkers' Warehouse (Cortland) took a while to figure out that that I'm not fond of being upsold, but once we got past that they've been very helpful. (I'm still very grateful to the guy there who pointed me to the BT3000.) Their clearance section has tempted me too many times with odd little contraptions, though they're doing less and less of that. Their selection is limited, unfortunately.

About once or twice a year I go to the Rochester, NY Woodcraft, where they've always been helpful. the Hartford, CT store was also nice when I stopped in.

Lee Valley's been extremely helpful at both the Ottawa and Toronto stores. I wish they'd open a retail space at their Ogdensburg warehouse, but yeah, that's pretty isolated. Upstate NY might not be enough to support it. The check they sent me after they lowered the price on some Veritas stuff was also a good way to ensure my continued interest, as was their handling of a broken-on-delivery plumb bob.

I haven't bought anything (yet) from Wilkes Machinery, but they've been great when I've stopped in at their store in York, PA. Knowledgeable, helpful, and happy to leave me alone to browse machines that are way out of my league! (Metal lathes and milling machines are fascinating, though I have no intention of buying one.)

One of my other favorites is Garrett Wade, which is oddly tucked away in an NYC office building. I've been very impressed on them with anything to do with Inca machinery. They're not the friendliest folks around, but I've gotten detailed straight answers to technical questions, which matters a lot more to me.

The local hardware store was pretty unfriendly at first but got friendlier, and now I prefer to shop there whenever possible, which is admittedly limited. The local Sears is a mixed bag, but once I sorted out which employees were into the tools, they've been pretty helpful as well.

I've had good luck with Lee Valley, Rockler, Woodcraft, and Garrett Wade's online ordering. The only rough patch I had was with Jesada, and that got sorted out well enough.

Since we're talking about great stores, I'll leave off the places I haven't liked, but they're vastly outnumbered anyway.

(It's probably obvious that I spend way too much time driving around the northeast, but I'd rather not fly and woodworking stores make a great place to stop for a break.)

[Tom Gattiker]

Heavydutytools.net

My local True Value, in oxford Oh. They're not all great but this one is awesome.

[Ken Garlock]

is the best darn hardware store I have ever seen. They have 3 stores around the greater Dallas area, but the original in near-downtown on Maple Ave. is the best, IMO.

You walk in the door and there is an older gent there to greet you and ask what you need. NOW is this the neat part: you tell him you want a screw or bolt, he will not only tell you which aisle it is on, but how far down the aisle and which shelf! They are large stores too, the size of a regular super market.

The downtown store is the only place I could find 1/8" copper tubing, and copper door screening, not what you would call the average buy :) (I needed it for a ham radio amplifier I was building.)

Last week, after reading the thread about SealCoat over at WC, I stopped in Elliot's in Plano, went over to the paint dept. and asked for SealCoat. The clerk took off in a beeline for it about half way down an aisle on the bottom shelf. I would have spent considerable time looking for it, if I found it at all.

Anyone who has been in Dallas for a while knows about Elliot's.

Check them out on the web:

http://www.elliottshardware.com/

[Herb Blair]

Another vote for Lee Valley. Great service both mail order, and at the Vancouver, BC store. When I visited the store for the first time (after being a mail order customer for several years) I gave them my customer number, from then on I was treated like a VIP. Although they couldn't understand why a guy would come all the way from Texas to visit a woodworking store in BC.
Lennord Lee autographed his sharppening book (mail order) for me several years ago. I highly prize it.
LV's catalogs are the best in the industry. Although I know that they are expensive to produce, they send them out to you for free, just for the asking.
Not many of companies like Lee Valley left in the world.

BTW, next time I plan a vacation to Canada, I will make sure that there is a LV store close by.

Herb
Carrollton, TX

[Daniel Rabinovitz]

Yup!
The Woodcraft Store waaaaaaaaay on the other side of town - out near the Greater Pittsburgh Airport - waaaaaaaay on the other side of town, 60 miles from my place has some of the greatest sales people in the business.
You folks ought to come to Pittsburgh, way out by the airport, to purchase "stuff" from them.
That's where the "mobile" JET Contractors saw and a lot of other "stuff" came from.

ps - IKEA is close by to them too.
:D

[Richard Allen]

WoodCraft has been great.

I ordered a ship auger from someone and it arrived fine and I used it. 1 1/16" cutting 8" into endgrain of exotic wood. Well eventually the bit got dull. So I called Woodcraft and told them I needed something to sharpen my ship auger. The guy on the phone said I would need a ship auger file but that Woodcraft didn't carry them. Then he says, without my asking, I think Lee Valley caries them. Let me look it up for you. There was a pause of a 15 or 20 seconds and the guy says. Here it is, Lee Valley part number 104-23B cost $6.95 you will find it on page 73 of their woodworking catalog. The toll free number is 1-800-473-1023. If they can't help you please call back and ask for me my name is Tod. (of course the numbers a made up). Lee Valley had the ship auger file and were very nice. But Tod (or whatever his name was) at woodcraft went way beyond good service on that one.

Highland Hardware has been great. I needed some accessories for a lathe I had bought from someone else. The accessories were not listed in the catalog but after talking with them for a short while on the phone the accessories were ordered.

Bosch tools had one opportunity to shine. I had bought the big Bosch 4x24 belt sander and sanding frame. I couldn't get the sanding frame to fit. I tried lots of different things and measured stuff with my calipers. I came to the conclusion that the sanding frame couldn't possibly fit unless I modified the belt sander housing. So I e-mailed Bosch about my "issues". I got an e-mail back with a tool free number to call. So I called. I got voice mail and I left a short message. When I got to work the next day I had a voice mail from Bosch asking me to call again. This time I got through and I talked with a guy about my "issues" with the sanding frame. He asked questions and was very concerned that I was having difficulty attaching the sanding frame to the belt sander it was designed for. Turns out that he had a sander and a sanding frame on his desk and was looking at it while we were talking. Also turns out that he was the guy who engineered the sanding frame. Needless to say I had messed up and this guy helped me get it right without making me feel like I was a dolt.

I could easily provide a bunch of other fine examples of stores and companies going out of their way to make my life easier. Sure there are times when the experience has been less than cherished. As time passes the positive encounters tend to stick with me the best.

Thanks

[Nathan Roelofs]

One of my favorite stores is Hardware Sales in Bellingham, WA. I live in Portland, but have family up in Bellingham. This place has more product per square foot than any other store I have seen. The layout is really confusing and can be rather congested.... but this is a blessing in disguise. The management and staff clearly understand this fact and more than compensate with outstanding service. You can't walk more than ten feet without being asked if you need assistance. If you need it, they will lead you to the right area (sometimes up narrow stairs and through little passages) and show you exactly what you are looking for. If you are OK, they leave you alone. They used to have a decent selection of machinery, but it looks like that is fading. They had a few pieces of Powermatic marked way down over the holidays.

The best service I have ever gotten is from Festool. I recently purchased the Rotex sander and the 1000 series router. The sander came (slightly) scratched and scuffed. The response from the company was about $50 in free product (an abrasive Systainer) and a handwritten apology from the CEO and president. They clearly love what they do and do it well.

[Bob Boake]

This is an unusual store. They purchase returns from Menards DIY chain by the truckload and price them at 10 to 50% of retail. Some are damaged and other items are in perfect shape. Obviously the store stock reflects what menards carries so you see mostly home improvement/remodeling items. The staff is friendly but not what you would call skilled, however they do negotiate. They do not give cash refunds but will take returns for store credit. some examples ofpurchases:
Paslode 16 gauge finish nailer-perfect $ 75
Jacuzzi brand tub - crack in apron $ 110
Tool Shop 10" thickness planer used, broken chain $ 40
Tool Shop 18 gauge crown stapler perfect $ 25
Flooring adhesive removers gallon jug $ 3
36" glass shower door $ 30

Since the stock varies from time to time I purchase items to stockpile for future projects.

[robertfsmith]

I do most of my shopping at Woodworkers Warehouse in Lakewood, NY.

They seem very friendly and helpful to me there. I have spent probably $2k their in the last year, so when I come in they joke around and call me their perfered customer.

I got my Jet 1236 their for $350; the last one they had and it was the floor model. They do good by me.