It's been an unfortunate last couple of weeks as I'm now at a crossroads with a second machine that is also damaged and with an ultimatum of sorts from Grizzly. As mentioned originally, I full expected Grizzly to handle the damaged parts without hesitation, which was the case, until the replacement machine arrived in as bad of shape as the original machine.
The first machine arrived with gouges and scratches on the infeed table, outfeed table, and the fence, which comprised the majority of the damage. The dust port and the pedestal switch were both dented. The back of the fence bracket was broken. The pork chop was chipped and dented. Due to the number of damaged items, the resolution was to send a replacement machine. Upon that determination of sending a new machine, on three separate follow up phone calls that I made to customer service, I repeatedly asked that the replacement machine be thoroughly inspected for any damage, which I was assured would be the case.
Fast forward to the delivery of the replacement machine. Upon removing the cosmoline from the tables, I once again found damage to both tables and worse off than the original machine. In this case, there is a significant gouge on the far end of the outfeed table, several small gouges on the infeed table, multiple scratches on both tables, and blotchy staining along the length of the infeed table. As before, these photos were documented through an email to the orders/freight department. In several conversations with customer service, I was assured that the machine went through an inspection process. It's my opinion that an inspection was never performed of the actual machine itself, maybe the exterior of the crate; otherwise, these issues would have been very apparent and flagged.
The final response I received from Grizzly, which was from the freight supervisor, was that the damage would have occurred during normal use and implied that I was possibly the cause for the damage during the unpackaging process. I was shocked by her response and was offended that I was being blamed as the culprit for the damage. I can agree that minor scratches will occur along the lengths of the tables over time from running material over them but to suggest that staining and gouges will also occur is simply not true. Also, it's a joke to qualify the condition of a machine just because that is what will happen over time. A new machine should come in new condition, meaning without defects. Regarding the implication of me possibly causing the damage, Grizzly was just finding every way possible to excuse the damage and put the responsibility on me.
Therefore, her resolution was to either ship back the machine for a full refund with no replacement machine or provide me with a Grizzly credit of 10% of the purchase price, $200. I found neither of these options, which were the only options, acceptable. The options provided leave me in a lose-lose situation. Obviously, I want the machine and never expected a refusal to ship a third machine, which was my original request when I reported the damage on the replacement machine. As far as a Grizzly credit of $200, which is not even a credit back to my original purchase, we all know that the true cost to Grizzly is far less than $200. There's no significant concession with a credit and frankly, I don't have the confidence that similar circumstances won't occur on a future order to utilize the credit.
It appeared to be a story of let's cut our losses and just move forward, not what can be done to rectify this situation and make it right. This is my fifth Grizzly machine and aside from a dented rail on a table saw, which was handled without hesitation, all of the machines prior to this one have been of the quality I've come to expect from Grizzly, along with excellent customer service.
Attached are a couple of photos from the replacement machine...
What are your thoughts? What are your expectations on a reasonable solution under these circumstances?
If it were me, I'd take the $200 credit and order an insert head for the jointer and get to making some shavings
Originally Posted by Jeff Duncan
