I just love LV customer service

[Jeff Ranck]

I know that the topic has been addressed so often, however, I believe its important to just give kudos where they are deserved. My sweet wife purchased a set of LV bench chisels in O1 for me for my birthday. However, when they came, I received two 3/8" (one in O1, one in PM-V11) and no 1/2". A very short phone call with a very pleasant person and the 1/2" is on the way to me. The PM-V11 will be on the way back to soon, prepaid shipping of course.

So much easier than trying to get support for other products I've used.

I just love those guys.

Jeff.

[Curtis Niedermier]

I ordered one of the Veritas large shoulder plane "seconds" during the black Friday sale. Somehow, my order got mixed up with another customer's - his was shipped to me by mistake, and I don't know what happened to my order. Once LV figured out the problem, they also realized they were out of the seconds in that plane. They called me, told me what was happening and to expect the other guy's order to show up, and said they'd simply ship me a regular plane - as in, not a blemish model. I used it the other night.

I thought the phone call and the whole situation was pretty cool. It felt like getting a phone call from the local hardware store.

[Hilton Ralphs]

My sweet wife purchased a set of LV bench chisels in O1 for me for my birthday.

Why didn't you order the PM-V11 chisels?

Somehow, my order got mixed up with another customer's - his was shipped to me by mistake, and I don't know what happened to my order. Once LV figured out the problem, they also realized they were out of the seconds in that plane. They called me, told me what was happening and to expect the other guy's order to show up, and said they'd simply ship me a regular plane - as in, not a blemish model.

Not sure I follow this, why didn't you just keep the other guy's plane?

[David Weaver]

LV always gets their returns back on mistakes, maybe it wasn't the same order/item.

[Jeff Ranck]

[QUOTE=Hilton Ralphs;2196227]Why didn't you order the PM-V11 chisels?

I think had I been ordering them, I probably would have (despite the price difference). However, since this was a birthday present from my wife, I was happy to receive the set. I've had my eye on them for quite a while. Since I use oil stones, O1 is a fine choice for me and I don't mind the additional honing as O1 sharpens pretty quickly on my oil stones.

My plane blades for my LV BUJ are all A2 (PM-V11 wasn't an option when I ordered that years ago), and I wish I had just gone with O1 when I had the opportunity. A2 is a pain to sharpen on my oil stones. It works, but it just takes along time. Because it is such a pain, I put off pulling the blade and honing it longer than I should. I'd just replace them, but I have a hard time spending money to replace something that works perfectly well, even if it is a pain.

[David Weaver]

I think you'll be a lot happier with O1 on oilstones than you would've with V11.

I only had V11 stuff briefly before I undloaded all of my BU items, but on the spectrum of steels, V11 sharpened a lot like A2 in terms of time and resistance to being abraded (which is pretty good given its performance so far - but not great if you're using oilstones and sharpening A2 bothers you).

[Chris Griggs]

I think you'll be a lot happier with O1 on oilstones than you would've with V11.

Definitely. V11 can be honed on natural oil stones without a lot of trouble, but the 01 chisel is quicker and easier to get a fine edge off of naturals. My 1" is V11 but my others Veritas chisels are all 01. I have moments where I wish my whole set was V11, but when I'm at the bench doing a bunch of chopping it is really nice to be able to so easily maintain my edge with just a few swipes on my surgical black.

[Curtis Niedermier]

Hilton, the other guy's order wasn't a plane. It was some wooden fill pegs for one of those pocket-hole jigs and some random wires. The point of the story was that they still charged me the discounted rate but sent a non-blem plane.

[Ryan Mooney]

LV always gets their returns back on mistakes, maybe it wasn't the same order/item.

Not always, I got a set of detail rifflers from them and ended up missing one with a dupe on an other and they just sent me the missing one and didn't even ask for the dupe back (granted its a small part and probably just wasn't worth the shipping). I was QUITE happy as the dupe is actually a shape I ended up using a lot so having a spare eventually will be nice.

I really can't imagine better customer service in general though.

[Jim Koepke]

It amazes me in the world of commerce companies like LV set a great example. Their loyalty to the customer makes fiercely loyal customers and most likely creates a positive image to anyone who knows someone who has purchased from them.

When it comes down to the bottom line the cost of doing business this way is likely a very small percentage of total cost of business. Yet it pays off tremendously in good will and promotion beyond what an advertisement budget can provide.

jtk

[Prashun Patel]

I'll second that, Jim. I'm a small business owner and I am trying to learn from their generosity. The other nice thing LV has is good PR. When they are nice to their customers, it tends to get publicized on the internet. That kind of PR is priceless.

[Chris Griggs]

I've lost a couple of plane parts before. A set screw for a shoulder plane..the nicker and it's screw for my skew rabbet. It really is so nice just to be able to send an email and 2 days later the part shows up in my mailbox. I always offer to pay even though I know they'll no...no where other than woodworking have I ever dealt with such fine companies.

[Shawn Russell]

+1 LV service.

I ordered a plane that was totally destroyed in shipping from USPS. I have no idea how they managed to dent the steel, the blade was missing, and USPS included a scrap of the original LV box with a note that says your order came opened and was repackaged. I called LV and they had another plane sent out the next day.

I am still waiting for a brick and mortar LV to open state side.