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Thread: Hammer Purchase Confusion

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    462

    Hammer Purchase Confusion

    Just wondering about anyones recent purchase experience with Hammer? I'm excited about their tools, but they seem to throw up a barrier at every turn.

    The long wait times I understand, it's covid. The lack of delivery service, is a bit troubling, but I'm trying to work with it. The recommendation of a $1000 installation setup fee by their technicians caught me off guard, and feels ominous with them saying the price triples if I try to set it up myself and fail. Today I was ready to pull the trigger, but then they told me they charge a 6% credit card fee and can only charge 20% of the purchase at a time, and would need to run my card 5 times. Apparently this is to protect them from people receiving machines and then disputing the charges on their card???

    Is this normal? I'm just dumbfounded about a major company having so many hiccups to getting the machine paid for, delivered, and running properly...

  2. #2
    When I was shopping for a saw a few years ago, I wanted a Hammer K3 Basic. Even then, there was a long lead time because the saws are made to order. I had to make my own arrangements for shipping, delivery to my shop, setup, and commissioning after I was notified the saw was ready...maybe in 120 days...maybe longer. This was well before COVID, so I can't imagine what the lead time is now. There was no discussion of credit card payments or down payments, since the saw had to be purchased by bank transfer of the full amount. This wasn't a problem, but the other factors were.

    Then I found a distributor for SCM about 25 kilometers from my house who just happened to have a new SC-2 Classic, with the scoring blade option, on the showroom floor ready for delivery. The price, which was a little less than the K3, included delivery, setup, and commissioning. I had to wait a few days for delivery because the SCM tech was on vacation and wouldn't be back until the following Monday. I don't regret my purchase decision.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Waterford, PA
    Posts
    1,225
    My down payment was via Credit Card with no 6% charge. The remaining balance at time of shipping was via ACH Debit with my signed authorization. They arranged for shipping and it was included in my balance payment. They had estimated the shipping charges before I purchased the machine and when it was time to ship the estimate was valid.

    I'm not sure what type of machine you're purchasing, but I didn't need setup, so I can't comment on that part.

    As for needing to run your credit card, many cards now have daily dollar limits for a single charge. They may have to work around that, and thus need to make multiple transactions. In view of the fee and this difficulty, I'd probably just arrange for a different payment method for the final payment.
    Last edited by Lisa Starr; 04-17-2021 at 6:07 AM.

  4. My recent experience was with SCM but wasn't exact;y smooth. Perhaps the same with Hammer I think it might be because the bulk of sales is with much more expensive machines bought by companies paying other ways. There were many people with some role in the order, which didn't help.

    If it is easier you might inquire about a wire if the amount is large- it worked for me.

    If it's a slider or other small piece of equipment you should be able to install yourself if you have a lift or man power to move it.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Lebanon, TN
    Posts
    1,719
    I've bought two Hammer machines, about a year apart, from the east coast sales person.

    My experience was the same as Lisa's, put a deposit down and then paid via ACH.

    My Shaper, which was my second purchase, I delayed delivery by 4 months, after putting my deposit down, because I wsa in the middle of a big project and didn't have room for it.

    Both machines required minimal setup.

    Super happy with both machines.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    11,247
    Both of my Hammer machines were deposit by credit card, remaking balance by cheque.

    No issues at all, including delivery to my garage by Felder truck.

    The third machine I bought used from Felder and paid by cheque, no deposit as it wasn’t ordered.....Regards, Rod

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Bryan Hall View Post
    Just wondering about anyones recent purchase experience with Hammer? I'm excited about their tools, but they seem to throw up a barrier at every turn.

    The long wait times I understand, it's covid. The lack of delivery service, is a bit troubling, but I'm trying to work with it. The recommendation of a $1000 installation setup fee by their technicians caught me off guard, and feels ominous with them saying the price triples if I try to set it up myself and fail. Today I was ready to pull the trigger, but then they told me they charge a 6% credit card fee and can only charge 20% of the purchase at a time, and would need to run my card 5 times. Apparently this is to protect them from people receiving machines and then disputing the charges on their card???

    Is this normal? I'm just dumbfounded about a major company having so many hiccups to getting the machine paid for, delivered, and running properly...
    When I bought my jointer/planer, it was between Felder and Minimax. Although the machines were more or less equal, the games that Felder played in trying to sell the unit turned me completely off and pushed me to buy the Minimax: no regrets.

  8. #8
    As a German/Austrian company, they don't seem to have the "customer is always right" attitude that Americans often expect, which can feel a bit "off putting". Hammer is also the low-cost brand - your expectations may simply be too high if you're expecting white-glove service.

    For large purchases, it's not uncommon for a merchant to limit the amount you can put on a credit card and/or pass on the merchant fee. For instance, you probably can't buy a car on a credit card. Companies that allow you to put a large purchase on a credit card are still paying the merchant fees, so they must have that cost baked in to their prices. On a $10k purchase, most people would be aghast at paying $600 (or even $300) for the privilege of using a credit card, so perhaps this hassle would be easier to swallow if you thought of it as "getting a 6% discount"...

    For commissioning - you only need to look at some of the threads here to see how hapless (and helpless) a small subset of people are with equipment. When you consider the cost of wages, travel, etc, $1k for a technician to come to you is quite reasonable. But I suspect the vast majority of folks are perfectly capable of doing the minimal set up on their own.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Santa Fe, NM
    Posts
    259
    My first Hammer order, the A3-41, I put the deposit on a CC, paid the balance prior to delivery. My second order, the HS950, was via wire transfer for the deposit. The balance was via direct withdrawal from my checking account. Their online form has a blank for entering the date of withdrawal. In my case I entered a date a few days before the machine was due to arrive at the Felder facility. Instead of waiting until the date I had entered, the withdrawal was made immediately once the form reached them - about two weeks early. Fortunately the funds were there, but I was a little miffed that they ignored the date.
    I've been very happy with both machines. I also have two SCM/minimax machines and am equally happy with them.

  10. #10
    I bought a Robland Combi from Martin recently and my experience was nothing like this. I ordered in early December 2020 and paid a rounded 20% by check (or wire if you want), I was told a 10-12 week wait time an estimated $400-600 delivery fee. I emailed at the 11-week mark to get an update and was told it was on a ship expected to dock in a few days. They sent me the remaining balance with the delivery fee, which was right in the middle of their estimate. I got a call 2 days after it docked to set up a delivery time and received it two more days after that. My only real complaint with Martin was I never talked to the same person until I actually ordered the machine, it was back and forth between 3 different people in sales. You would email one person and another would somehow reply to their email or you would call one person and someone else would answer.

  11. #11
    Felder rep here:

    1.) Most folks pay the deposit by CC. You can pay the balance by CC but will be charged a percentage. This is because the CC companies charge us a percentage. This is why the order form already has spaces to pay the balance by e-check. It’s not that we won’t take a CC for the blance. It’s that we try not to encourage it so that we don’t have to charge the customer a percentage.

    2.) The stuff about liftgate service being “discretionary” on the quote docs is some legalese Austria puts in there. Assuming you live in a standard residential neighborhood, I have never had an A3 “not” be able to be delivered by a liftgate truck. If you live up long driveway/gravel road/etc., that is a different conversation.

    3.) Speaking only for myself, I have never had an A3 customer require commissioning. The way I handle it is by leaving it up to the customer. If you’re the type of person that has lots of anxiety about adjusting machinery, then it might be worth paying for. If you are handy (the documentation is readily available) and don’t mind turning a wrench, then maybe you don’t need to spend that money?

    All this being said, I’ve never personally had a customer with an A3 horror story. In fact, my customers usually tell me how awesome it is after they receive it. But, I also tell every customer up front that this is a 700lb.+ industrial machine that is coming via LTL delivery, not some box from Amazon. No matter what any other company says, if you are getting a 700lb.+ machine from them, it will be no different. I hope this all makes sense and best of luck to the OP in his search.

    Erik
    Ex-SCM and Felder rep

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Atlanta
    Posts
    1,592
    Erik - aren’t CC surcharge fees capped at 4% with actual rates being a bit less ?

    I think we all realize there are costs involved , but 6% seems a bit punitive and egregious.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Sabo View Post
    Erik - aren’t CC surcharge fees capped at 4% with actual rates being a bit less ?

    I think we all realize there are costs involved , but 6% seems a bit punitive and egregious.
    Dave, I honestly thought it was 3%. 6% is news to me.

    Erik
    Ex-SCM and Felder rep

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2021
    Location
    Portland, OR
    Posts
    462
    Thanks for the info everyone. Thanks for chiming in Erik. I was working with a Hammer sales rep so I wasn't able to read any of the info you mentioned. I tried one more time to purchase the machines, thinking I would be able to ask questions from this thread to be able to sort things out. Unfortunately I couldn't get through to the rep. Phone was off I expect. Gave up and purchased another brand.

  15. #15
    Bryan, that doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. People can call the toll free Felder phone number literally any time during normal business hours and reach a live human being. Even if your actual rep is not available, you will be routed to someone who can take your call. In fact, I took a sales call for my Dallas rep yesterday because it was urgent and he was in the showroom or something. Trust me: Nobody on our side takes sales calls casually.

    Erik
    Ex-SCM and Felder rep

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