Your purchase, your decision. No need to justify yourself.
Member
Your purchase, your decision. No need to justify yourself.
Where did I put that tape measure...
Contributor
Hi Brett,
Sorry for your frustration, Feels like the first door ding on the '67 'Stang's new paint job. The G0609 is a great machine and the blemishes are minor and will be quickly out of site and mind with a bit of sawdust sprinkled on top. I would ask Pappa Griz if he would consider an exchange for the spiral head! It's a nice upgrade and worth a try.
I tried to send you pics of the mobile bases I made for mine but couldn't make it happen via SMC--PM's. I could try email or text. Let me know. JCB.
Member
If you are unhappy send it back...otherwise you'll be kicking yourself every time you look at it...do what you think is best for YOU!! Easy to say forget about it when it is someone else's money!!
Jim
"Your beliefs don't make you a better person...your behavior does."
Contributor
If they weren't willing to offer anything you have a legitimate beef. I would take the $200 and be tickled to death. If that doesn't work for you then send it back for a refund. Did you run an indicator over the scratch? You can feel a couple thousandths with a finger nail. I don't blame you for wanting perfect, but a $200 discount would make me happier because I would still have a new machine with a warranty. Just my .02.
Contributor
Send it back Brett. The way machines can arrive now, the loss or lack of a local machine supplier is a really big deal.
Member
Brett,
Sorry you're frustrated. I do have to agree with the others though- these are pretty minor aesthetic issues. $200 is a pretty darn generous offer from Grizzly. My jointer/planer machine had blemishes like that within a few months of using it. None of them have any impact whatsoever on performance, and it didn't take me abusing the machine to cause them. End of the day, just remember that this is a tool. A BMW is half tool, half looks. Not a fair comparison. If it's a working tool, doing its job, it will show signs of use.
Here's another thing to consider. The outcome you expect is a third, spotless machine. You've already had two machines show up that didn't meet your expectations. And you also have Grizzly basically telling you that their expectations are not as high as yours. These things should lead you to question whether a third machine will meet your expectations either. And what a hassle it would be to take delivery of and return a third machine. At that point, Grizzly would probably be warranted to ban you from buying anything else from them in the future.
If you look at the blemishes and they drive you nuts, take them up on their offer and return it for a full refund. Buy a machine from somebody else. If you can't buy a similar machine from somebody else at the same price (or at a price that you're willing to accept), then you have your answer: you are buying a bargain machine, so you shouldn't expect perfection.
I can tell you that if I were you, I'd take the $200 and laugh my way to the bank. But as others have said, only you need to be happy with the machine. If you aren't happy with it, send it back for a refund. But it really is unreasonable for you to expect them to send you a third machine and take that big of a loss for something this minor.
Sorry if that sounds harsh.
Member
I would send it back!!
Your not going to be happy.
Just send it back!!
Contributor
I too have several Gizzly tools in the shop. I would not like the marks in the top either. Once on my fairly new Uni I caught my daughter cutting something on it with a razor. By the time I caught her there were about 4 marks. I used a cast top conditiong called I think Dave's Dirty Dozen and to my disbelief the marks were gone. Maybe call Griz and see if they will allow you to condition the top before deciding to return it. BTW - I used this method to treat all of my new Gris cast top tools before I used them.
Mike
Member
I do understand your concerns with a new investment, would like everything to be just right. I think the scratches will not affect the performance of the machine and if you can accept them, take the $200 and buy something....you can get a shelix head for $475.
Contributor
I feel your pain. I mean you drop your hard earned cash on something as expensive as this, you want perfection when it hits your doorstep. I am like a lot of guys here though , I could live with the blemishes on the table but the deep gouge is something totally different. Its bad enough to try to keep the rust off a cast iron table when its perfect, but when there is a gouge cut into the tabletop that is "suppose" to be perfectly smooth rust will find its way into the gouge and IMHO harder to remove. I've been on both sides of the fence. Not long ago I purchased a 200 and something dollar router lift from Amazon.com, when it arrived by UPS the box looked like it had been sent into the war zon in Afganistan before it made it to my doorstep. The lift and been dropped and there was a deep scratch (probably cosmetic) but still I wanted "new". Unlike your dealings with Grizzly's CS dept, mine at Amazon.com were totally different. Amazon tried to make it right the first time, but they were sold out of the lift at that time I called, they offered 20% back to me if I wanted to keep the lift or wait a couple of days since they were getting new stock in soon. I waited about 6 days and noticed on their website they had 6 more in stock, called CS at Amazon they sent me a brand new lift, undamaged in the box and shipped it to me overnight free of charge. Amazon's CS rocks in my opinoin. I also have a planner and jointer, both made by Grizzly they were both shipped very professionally and both machines arrived without a scratch. Like a lot of guys here you have to decide what you can and cannot live with, but remember there are other manufacturers out there that make these machines, not only Grizzly. I hate to say this but a CS dept can make or break a deal for me, I want to feel like my business is important to any company I spend my hard earned money with. JMHO
Contributor
Did either machine have flat tables and fences? While I wouldn't be happy with the scratch, I would not expect perfection from a less expensive 12" jointer either. If you get one where the tables are less than .004 off and the fence is flat in both directions you should keep it. You could get the most beautiful jointer in the world and if the tables aren't ground well- and many aren't- you will fight it forever. Dave
Administrator
Are you really classifying something that is 0.002" deep a gouge?
Less than half the diameter of a human hair on a woodworking machine is non-existant IMO.
Send the machine back, I'm sure you can get a near flawless surface from another company for twice the money
.
Guest
I think the issues here amount to expectations of cosmetics and also hyperbole of observations. When I buy a tool, my concerns are whether the manufacturing of the product was up to high standards of squareness and the quality and squareness of cut that results when using the tool. And comparing woodworking tools to cars is silly, no correlation. No offense to BMW owners, but I'll take a Toyota any day over a BMW! Maybe a Felder is a "BMW design" of a tool, but Grizzly tools are not Felders, Grizzly tools are good bang for buck. I have 3 of their tools. Are they perfect, probably not. Do they give me the result I want, yes!
I find it quite odd just how many threads pop up where people use forums as public outcries of product dissatisfaction. Work it out with the company and be done with it. Use the tool or don't. Both machines received obviously worked to the standard they are intended. The issue is simply wanting a blemish free, very large and heavy tool made of cast and ground iron, shipped from overseas to your doorstep.
The word gouge used here reminds me of how news orgs mis-use the word "skyrocket" in relation to un-newsworthy increases in prices or something else.
Last edited by John Schweikert; 03-26-2013 at 11:03 AM.
[OP]
Member
Yes, Keith, a gouge. It has depth so it's more than just a superficial scratch. I never specified it had a depth of 0.002", I was only trying to give an indication that it can easily be felt by a fingernail. I don't know why we're getting into semantics here and arguing over what qualifies as a scratch, gouge, "smudge", "blemish", etc.Originally Posted by Keith Outten
Are you really classifying something that is 0.002" deep a gouge?
Less than half the diameter of a human hair on a woodworking machine is non-existant IMO.
Send the machine back, I'm sure you can get a near flawless surface from another company for twice the money
.
It's interesting that of the negative responses, the consensus is to qualify the machine with the imperfections because it's par for the course with the price point of a Grizzly machine. Given that the specifications on this machine clearly indicate "precision ground cast iron table", it's not an unreasonable expectation for the tables to be smooth and flat, which what I interpret that to mean by definition.
Contributor
Most of my machines now have more character to them than all of that stuff combined. But I bought them used and what they didn't come with them I've added over the years. So Grizzly just pre-aged your machine for you. But what would really torque me off is the response from CS that suggested you might have damaged the machine. There is no way that would sit well with me, and clearly it has not with you either. The offer to take the machine back for a full refund or give you a $200 credit is fair, IMO, but I'd send it back just because of how CS mistreated you. I'd also send their president an e-mail or call him up to tell him how you were treated.
And to the person who would take a Toyota any day over a BMW, well, I guess you've never driven one. Many people aspire to own a BMW; far fewer a Toyota.
John
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