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FRITZ STOOP
03-19-2008, 5:57 PM
I have finally got around to DC.
I was pointed toward Oneida by well meaning woodfolk.
They charged me $200 to do a layout.
The first attempt didn't even have the room dimensions correct (missed by 400 sf on an 800sf shop!) even though the room and equipment were clearly described in a layout and a 3D Sketchup drawing.
There were several iterations sent back and forth including more drawings by me. Very good drawings IIMSS.
Then I explained that my shop was in a large building that contained several businesses and they would have to contact me asap so I could time the delivery with the carrier. I am not always there, no doorbells, so it needs coordination.
They say, "No problem, We email you when the material ships." (right!)
No word for a week so I email them. Get one back the next day that tells me the shipment is due tomorrow.
Of course I haven't planned for it.
There a lots of details about how Oneida has messed up this process beyond the fact that they are not cheap.
Not to mention the fact that I did all the work (they haven't offered my $200 back).
This is all Oneida does, dust collection equipment.
Anyone else have this kind of naughty behavior from them, or is it just me?

BTW There's a DC discussion going on over at the YahooMM forum and there's one guy who makes a solid case for having moderators.

We should be grateful to the organization behind the scene here at SMC! A class act!
Not to mention the great software!

There, I feel better now!
Cheers,
Soon to be dust free (nearly).

Steven J Corpstein
03-19-2008, 6:31 PM
I had nothing but positive results when I purchased my Oneida. Sorry yours wasn't the same. I'd give them a call and let them try to make it right.

Shawn Honeychurch
03-19-2008, 6:52 PM
Nice signature Fritz, :p

Andy Pratt
03-19-2008, 7:02 PM
When I ordered my DC from them I probably had really high expectations based on all of the extremely favorable reviews I had heard. When it arrived it was missing the manual, decals and a significant portion (probably 1/4) of the necessary hardware to complete installation. None of the bags were ripped or anything, so there was some sort of control issue with inventory I would imagine. In the excitement of wanting to set up my new toy, I was pretty disappointed, figuring that a company like this should probably send you a few extra nuts and bolts in case you lost one. In their defense they quickly fixed the problem, expediting shipment of an entire replacement hardware packet/documentation, and the machine has functioned flawlessly and above expectations in the (almost) year I've used it regularly.

All in all, I would probably put them in the realm of a really solid company with great customer service, that occasionally makes a mistake that's a little larger than we're willing to accept in the moment, but is always willing to make it right. I'll bet if you called back and spoke with a manager about your concerns they may make it right with you.

Just my two cents,
Andy

tim mathis
03-19-2008, 7:07 PM
when i ordered my cyclone everything went very well.
i liked it so much, my work place had me place an order for a cyclone for them ( to replace a very old one ).
both purchases went well.
sorry to hear you are having a bad experience.

Rob Wright
03-19-2008, 7:25 PM
Sorry to hear that you had a sour experience. I hope that they can make it right ...

My order and correspondence with OAS was a great experience. Email and phone conversations with them went well and were pleasant. I am surprised that you had to pay for your piping layout. Mine was included if I bought the system. I would ask for a refund on the $200 design fee if I were you.

- R

Bob Vallaster
03-19-2008, 7:31 PM
2-3 years ago I ordered a 2hp Gorilla and various bits (flex hose, wyes, step-downs). Sales and technical personnel handled my questions quickly and clearly.
Materials arrived in good time; the boxes' contents were very well-packed and suffered no damage in transit. I did not put conditions on the delivery, but did get notice of its scheduled arrival and met it here (marital bliss suffers if bride has to do heavy lifting).
A layout plan for my shop (2-car garage) was free with the purchase; it was a workable plan, and I have departed from it only slightly.
Mine was a positive experience. I would do it again and have recommended them to others.

Did you approach them for the layout service before placing the order? Is layout now a separately billed service?

Bob V.

Mike Gabbay
03-19-2008, 7:48 PM
I have to say that when I ordered my 3hp Gorilla they were EXTREMELY helpful. I spoke with the engineers directly to come to a final decision on size etc. Sales was great (Heather at the time). Shipping was right on the money as well, all the parts and no damage.

Sorry to hear you are having issues. I would give them a call to resolve any of the missing parts issues.

Richard Kee
03-19-2008, 8:07 PM
I waited for nearly a year before ordering my 2.5 hp Gorilla - got one with free shipping. Everything went well with shipment, packing, etc. I started installation a couple of days ago and had to have outside help getting it wall mounted.

My beef is with their measurements - they said that it would fit into a 49" space with the caveat that manufacturing methods might change the measurement, so I allowed 2 extra inches in width (51" vs 49"), but it's still too small. I now have to take the unit off the wall and relocate the mounting studs, or have the filter sit back in the corner. What a pain. I complained, but have had no response from them

Jim Becker
03-19-2008, 8:10 PM
All my interactions with Oneida have always been extremely positive. But if you are truly unhappy, contact Robert...the boss. It does sound like you have multiple issues with this one set of transactions, especially with the design since it was a fee for service situation. For the delivery, Oneida has less control over that, although a request to the carrier (assuming it's a freight carrier and not FedEX/UPS) to confirm delivery is a reasonable request.

Bob V, Oneida does charge for design services at this point.

Ken Fitzgerald
03-19-2008, 8:28 PM
I had a good experience with my Oneida purchase. Yes...I had to pay for the design work but in truth..I know who to contact if it doesnt' work correctly.

FRITZ STOOP
03-19-2008, 9:46 PM
2-3 years ago I ordered a 2hp Gorilla and various bits (flex hose, wyes, step-downs). Sales and technical personnel handled my questions quickly and clearly.
Materials arrived in good time; the boxes' contents were very well-packed and suffered no damage in transit. I did not put conditions on the delivery, but did get notice of its scheduled arrival and met it here (marital bliss suffers if bride has to do heavy lifting).
A layout plan for my shop (2-car garage) was free with the purchase; it was a workable plan, and I have departed from it only slightly.
Mine was a positive experience. I would do it again and have recommended them to others.

Did you approach them for the layout service before placing the order?
Is layout now a separately billed service?

Bob V.

Did you approach them for the layout service before placing the order?

My wife got me a 2hp JDS cyclone as a "he's giving me my garage back" present when I rented a shop space. I just got the duct and fittings from "O". They offered the layout service when I called to figure out my order.
When they "send it over to our CAD dept" I was impressed until I saw the results of a simple drag and drop drawing program that my granddaughter could use as well as they.

Is layout now a separately billed service?

Yes, Minimum $200 and the sky's the limit. It is free if you buy the Dust Collector unit from them, I think.

Joe Chritz
03-19-2008, 10:33 PM
I assume you didn't buy the unit from them from the last post.

If I may ask how much stuff did you purchase from them? It may lend me to a better opinion if you got a bad deal or not.

When my system was set up (2HP super Gorilla) I got the cyclone and almost all the duct and fittings. Layout was good, including a change and there wasn't any problems. Layout was simple but easy to follow and was free. The system moves so much air I am surprised they didn't just say "run all 6" and do drops of 5 or 4 inch" but it works very well.

The only thing I didn't care for was the wall mount. It seemed to have to much flex which I fixed with a single piece of 1/8 thick steel and drilling one hole in the mount. Hardly worthy of a negative report.

Joe

Nancy Laird
03-19-2008, 10:48 PM
Fritz, I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with Oneida; I feel very sure that this was/is a one-time glitch and that they will make it right immediately. We've purchased two systems from Oneida, and have had absolutely nothing but top-notch and first-class service from them. When we bought the first unit in about 1994/5, they didn't charge us to do a layout or, if they did, it was part of the total price we paid. When we replaced the 1.5HP unit a couple of months ago with a 2.5 unit, we had absolutely no problems; LOML called the company, ordered what he wanted, and it was here within a week--complete, no damage, no missing items, just the DC that we wanted/needed. The only glitch was that David miscounted on gates and had to order another one; when he called and told them the problem, they just added the gate to the original order, shipped it UPS 2nd day air, and didn't charge us for the shipping of a "new" order.

I can't say enough nice things about Oneida and their service -- AND their products.

Nancy

FRITZ STOOP
03-19-2008, 11:34 PM
I assume you didn't buy the unit from them from the last post.

If I may ask how much stuff did you purchase from them? It may lend me to a better opinion if you got a bad deal or not.

When my system was set up (2HP super Gorilla) I got the cyclone and almost all the duct and fittings. Layout was good, including a change and there wasn't any problems. Layout was simple but easy to follow and was free. The system moves so much air I am surprised they didn't just say "run all 6" and do drops of 5 or 4 inch" but it works very well.

The only thing I didn't care for was the wall mount. It seemed to have to much flex which I fixed with a single piece of 1/8 thick steel and drilling one hole in the mount. Hardly worthy of a negative report.

Joe

Not sure how to describe "how much stuff" i got (if it shows up tomorrow). It's enough for an 800 sf shop with the normal stuff for cabinet/furniture making plus a MM CU300Smart. All they say I need for $2.1K.

Mainly what got to me was revision after revision that did not reflect the conversations we had, no promised call backs, not doing what they offered to do, etc. Kind of a nonchalance.

Oh well, from the overwhelming support SMC folk have given the big "O", it must be an anomaly.

Let's see how it all fits together and I will report back.
Cheers!:o

Steve Rozmiarek
03-19-2008, 11:38 PM
Fritz, I just bought and installed the 3hp Dust Gorilla. It works fantastically, but....

After all the good I'd heard about the company, I called to get more information. I talked to competent sales rep, don't remember his name, who checked in from time to time, until I was ready to order. I was then passed of to another rep, who apparently was under a bunch of work load.

Maybe I was expecting too much. I ordered the cyclone first, to make sure the ducting came out right. At the ordering ducting stage, I got as close to zero help as you can get. I even had to remind him to send me information on how to do it myself! Then I got information for a 2hp system, rather then the 3hp. I emailed again, and he said to just scale everything up. Very helpful, especially when I really wanted pay them to do it for me!!!!

It's an expensive system, and I really was not satisfied with the customer service I got, however, I suspect that this was an isolated incident. I'm also a little miffed when I hear of the free upgrades or shipping that apparently everyone but me gets.

In the end, I'm very happy with the system, but I would avoid the salesman I had. Oh, I whined about Felder on this forum a while back, and they called me to straighten things out. Don't be suprised if you get a phone call from Onieda.

Paul Greathouse
03-20-2008, 9:58 AM
I am about to make, what will be for me, a large order from Oneida. I want to have the positive experience that most of you have had.

I will need design help because this will be my first DC system, so I am not familiar with proper sizing. Also I will need to consider future machine additions to the shop in the design. I have a 30x50 shop but at first will probably only need to duct about a 30x30 area (spent too much $$ building the shop, am just now freeing up a little cash for machines).

I saw that Jim offered the bosses name as someone to speak to but do any of you remember other names of people that you had positive experiences with at Oneida. In particularly in the design deptartment. I've found that many times you can talk to who want to, if you ask in an assertive way.

In Oneida's defense, I know that good companies sometimes inadvertantly hire bad people (some people are just great at selling themselves during a job interview). I have seen it happen where I work.

Bob Vallaster
03-20-2008, 1:53 PM
Fritz,
I would be unhappy as well if (1) I paid a premium for the design service to (2) satisfy the requirements for a commercial shop (CalOsh, OSHA, landlord, neighbors, paying public). The dropped ball on shipment cannot have improved things.
For me the layout was a bonus but not a necessity. Mine is a hobby shop which needs to conform to only my standards and the local electrical code.
Seems the company ought to make it right for you. I'd talk to someone higher in the food chain.

Bob V.

Chris McKimson
03-20-2008, 4:12 PM
Fritz,

I had a similar experience to yours a couple of years ago when purchasing my 3HP Gorilla. There were several things that my original salesperson dropped the ball on (including requested changes to the design that never happened), a major screw up in the delivery, something with the cyclone itself I've just chosen to live with and a botched billing error all conspired to make my CS experience less stellar. I ended up emailing Jeff, who from the moment I made contact with him was great. My original salesperson "not great".

In the end I'm happy with the cyclone and would probably give Oneida another chance were I to buy again.

Chris

Paul Johnstone
03-20-2008, 4:20 PM
I am about to make, what will be for me, a large order from Oneida. I want to have the positive experience that most of you have had.
.

I don't mean to be cavalier, but just using 6" duct work as much as possible really worked well for my cyclone layout. I guess I don't understand the need to have a complex design service. Keep it at 6" as close as you can to the machine, and then split into a 5" and a 4" (or two 4" drops) if the machine has two ports. Bill Pentz's site has more information than you'll ever need. Read it and then kick him a donation to support this great resource.