another woodcraft story

[Paul Johnstone]

What I mean by that is when you are qualifying a customer it is better to guide him to the right tool whether it is yours or not so that they have trust in you and come back for the proper items you do sell.

No offense, but if he were to hypothetically point the guy to another store, that customer might never come back if the alternate store made him happy.

There's a store I go to, I'm willing to pay extra to support them. The last few times, they stopped offering to special order something for me (I'm willing to pay them a premium to thank them for the advice that comes along with ordering from them).. The last few times, the guy has just told me to order it off the internet. Now, I'm kind of hestitant to drive out to that store, unless I know it's an item they stock.

[Ron Carlton]

Woodcraft is a franchise so the quality of the stores varies a lot. The people who work in the Woodcraft I go to seem to know their stuff.

Mike

As do those who work in the Addison, TX store. Guess I'm lucky.

[Rick Gooden]

I frequent the store in question (Evansville) regularly and am on a first name basis with most of the employees, whom I find to be quite competent. It is interesting that just the day before the OP I had a discussion with one of the fellows about the Byrd head being only available on the Powermatic, and a derivitive on the Jet. I was informed that the Grizzly was very good and used a different angle cut than the Byrd, but that to his knowledge the others used straight cutters so it seems the information was good and not made up. As to the walnut and teak oil, who knows. I did talk to one of the salesman about it yesterday and was told technically teak oil should only be used on teak but walnut oil was a go for anything. On finishing I do a lot of research, but have never had the occasion to use either of these so I don't know how accurate that information is.

[Don Inghram]

I called my local WC to ask for a sheet of Phenolic ply. The dude on the other end said, "Sorry, we're all out" so...... I drive down to the local store and show him what Phenolic Ply actually is and where their stores supply actually is. He kind of gave me a quizzical look and walked off in the other direction. Your mileage may vary. LOL

[Karl Card]

No offense, but if he were to hypothetically point the guy to another store, that customer might never come back if the alternate store made him happy.

There's a store I go to, I'm willing to pay extra to support them. The last few times, they stopped offering to special order something for me (I'm willing to pay them a premium to thank them for the advice that comes along with ordering from them).. The last few times, the guy has just told me to order it off the internet. Now, I'm kind of hestitant to drive out to that store, unless I know it's an item they stock.

No offense taken. It just depends on the customer. I have done it before and it worked out well. The customer did come back to thank me for being honest but yeah i can see your point also.

[Brian Darold]

Because woodcraft is a franchise I think the quality of service will depend on the store and who's working. I've been to 3 of the stores in FL and each one was a very pleasant experience.

On a visit to one of the stores, the guy helping me couldn't answer one of my questions. Instead of giving me a shrug and walking off, he called one of the other associates who was off, or otherwise out of the store that day, and got an answer for me. I thought that was pretty cool.

[Brian Gumpper]

It's his job to try to sell the customer a machine from his store.

And one that's in stock.

[Jerome Hanby]

I think the comments about all the Woodcrafts being different is spot on. The guys at the one that services Birmingham, AL are great. I don't know if they are the greatest woodworking authorities in the world, face it, how the heck would I know , but I always get great service, most of them know me by name (and believe me, I don't have a lot of money to spend in there, my biggest bill ever was about $400, most are less than $100), and I've been given advise from them that steered me away from items that they sell. Maybe it's inversely proportional to how much business the store does. If you have plenty of customers, then who cares. If customers are scarce, you need every one you can get.

[Karl Card]

I frequent the store in question (Evansville) regularly and am on a first name basis with most of the employees, whom I find to be quite competent. It is interesting that just the day before the OP I had a discussion with one of the fellows about the Byrd head being only available on the Powermatic, and a derivitive on the Jet. I was informed that the Grizzly was very good and used a different angle cut than the Byrd, but that to his knowledge the others used straight cutters so it seems the information was good and not made up. As to the walnut and teak oil, who knows. I did talk to one of the salesman about it yesterday and was told technically teak oil should only be used on teak but walnut oil was a go for anything. On finishing I do a lot of research, but have never had the occasion to use either of these so I don't know how accurate that information is.

Rick, I agree with you that I think most everyone there is competent. There is just this one person there that has issues with personality, knowledge and in the past I have had to talk to the manager because of how he acted in front of my wife. Things calmed down for a little but then this last incident happened so I just decided instead of getting angry I would just have fun with it. As one of the other forum members here stated that he ask a few questions that he knows for sure then decides from there if the guy is knowledgeable. The asst mgr (dont want to use real names) has alwasy been very nice to me and he doesnt seem to mind helping you out and if he doesnt know he has alwasy been upfront with me and said so. The older guys in the store are very personable and pretty much the same way.. anyway time for some good talks about wood and I kinda feel this thread has outlived its life..lol

[Kevin Womer]

I have had mostly positive experiences with the Woodcraft in Columbus, Ohio-most of the people know their stuff. I did have one interesting experience this past summer when I was calling to purchase a cabinet saw. I called and was quoted a price on the saw, then got around to delivery and was quoted a price. A few days later, I called back to tell them I wanted to buy it and talked to a different person, who quoted a higher delivery price. I ended up going with a different store (not Woodcraft) based on a gut feeling from the second phone call. I'm happy, but they lost my business on that sale, I guess I could have talked to the manager about it but did not. Can't say I trust everything that comes out of an associate’s mouth in that store anymore.

[Ed Taylor Greensboro NC]

Hey, Karl, ask him where you're suppose to use TUNG oil!

I put some on my tung and it tasted awful!!! :-)

[Joseph Crivelli]

All,

I would take a Woodcraft or Rockler near me regardless of the staffs knowledge.
On Long Island, we only have the big box stores.

Thank God for the Internet!


Joe

[shaun gardner]

I would like to chime in for my local woodcraft store. They are wonderful their! If one employee doesnt know the answer they go find one that does. Always friendly and like to talk. As a plus the owners are always their and even though they are not a great knowledge base they do whats right for the customers on the bussiness end. I go out of my way to visit their store even if it means a few more pennies out of m pocket. (please not pennies in wood working translates to $100 a penny. Just sounds cheaper the other way)

[David Christopher]

My woodcraft store closed down and the next closest is 6 hours away

alot of great stores in Atlanta but thats 300 miles away

[Jon Lanier]

Okay then.... where do they get Baby Oil?