Wurth Wood Group to sharpen Freud blades?

[M Toupin]

Has anyone used Wurth Wood Group in Charlotte, NC to sharpen Freud blades? They're listed on Freud's website as an authorized sharpening center so I assumed they were a professional operation. I should have known when I first called them to ask about sharpening, something just didn't seem right. I sent them a LU80R010 and a Freud 8" Super Dado set two weeks ago. I've called 4 times now and got nothing but run around and voice mail...

Does anyone do business with them and have a contact who's actually helpful? I'm getting concerned that I might never see my $400 worth of blades again...

Mike

[Tom Walz]

Wurth Wood Group

Charlotte, NC 28208
http://www.carolinaswoodexpo.com/gso/images/clear.gif



Description
Hardwood lumber, plywood, veneer, laminate, solid surface, engineered stone, edge banding, decorative and functional hardware, finishing supplies, adhesives, abrasives, fasteners, bits and blades, and various other woodworking production supplies.

Product Classifications
Hardware Fasteners, Lumber Hardwoods Raw Materials,

[Michael McCoy]

I can't help with your blades and didn't know that was one of their services. I buy a good portion of my lumber from them here in Charleston and they are a pleasure to do business with. Not to mention the best prices in the area.

[M Toupin]

I buy sheet goods from the Norfolk location, but that's no help with the Charlotte location...

I finally got a call back today and they're "looking for" my blades. First the claim was they never received them, now the excuse is they came in on July 2nd and with the holiday the blades got misplaced.

Stuff happens, I'll be the first to understand that. We'll see what happens from here.

Mike

[Tom Walz]

The industry sees this sort of thing every 7 to 10 years. Somebody is going to put together a national chain of sharpening shops. (I think IKS was the last one in 2000 / 2001.) They put a bunch of money into it and found it was a lot harder than it looks.

Imagine someone going out and establishing a national chain of custom woodworking shops.

Wurth has a great reputation for sales of plywood, hardware etc. The story in the industry is that they have announced that they will put a sharpening operation in every major US city. There is the possibility that Wurth may also find that running a national chain of sharpening operations may be much harder than it looks.

tom

[glenn bradley]

Maybe you could call one of the other locations and ask for help?

[M Toupin]

About an hour after I posted, I got a call on my way home. Seems they found my blades and said they would send them out today. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time, but it sure was aggravating. If they really intend to open more sharpening centers then they need to work hard to fix the tracking problems and customer service if they intend to have any repeat customers.

Mike