Felder

[Christopher Fallago]

I recently bought a KF700 and AD751, now I am trying to order a spindle from Felder. First I wanted to confirm the part#, I was supposed to get an email that night or first thing in the morning. I get sent a quote for an AD741, and no follow up to my inquiry, I call Felder and salesman isnt in, talk to another nice lady and she passes my message on. Salesman gets back to me the next day and I attempt to go ahead with the purchase and send payment and shipping info, before noon and never hear back. That was yesterday, I was told I would have the spindle either this Saturday or Monday. Today I email again first thing in the morning then follow that up with a call. Sales guy doesn't work on Fridays so I talk to the lady again and she is helpful, and informs me that the spindle is not in stock and needs to be ordered from Austria, which will take 3 weeks because thats when their next shipment comes in I guess? Has anyone else had dealings with Felder like this? It really seems like they are not on top of things, and I need to do their jobs for them.

I am really glad I am a hobby user otherwise I would be screwed. I will say that I really like the machines so far, they seem really solid and well thought out, now I wish I had a bigger space to work.

[eugene thomas]

And all have to do to get the parts for my cheap import tools is call the company and few days later shows up.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sorry to hear that you've had bad luck, my experiences with Felder have been exactly the opposite.

Yes stuff does come from Austria, which can take time if you want the standard shipping process.

I'm sure they can air freight it as well if you want to speed things up.

regards, Rod.

[Rich Riddle]

I spoke with the service manager today in Delaware. Perhaps you might call and ask directly for him.

[Ralph Butts]

Chris I am sorry to hear about your experience. I have two Felder/Hammer tools only one was purchased new and my experiences could not be more opposite than yours. They have bent over backwards for me for spare parts for the used machine to the point of calling me unsolicited to inquire if I had any issues installing them. Next time you talk to them I would just politely share your thoughts in a constructive manner I think you will get an empathetic ear.

[Ellen Benkin]

The "nice lady" probably deserves a raise since she seems more concerned and helpful than the "salesman".

[Keith Outten]

Christopher,

Possibly your problems are with the salesman and not the company. My experience with Felder has been a pleasure from the salesman I worked with, the guy who loaded my band saw and their tech support after the sale. I also have had a number of emails and phone calls with a couple Felder managers when they decided to join The Creek as Sponsors, super nice people.

If I can help give me a call.
.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Sorry to hear the troubles, it is aggravating to not get good communication. Like the others said, my experiences have been good with Felder. I did have to wait several weeks for a long 30mm spindle too once though. It just is. I'd be curious to see the plant personally, I doubt Felder is a huge company, and it would be interesting to see where it all starts. Anyone been there?

[Kevin Nathanson]

I'd be curious to see the plant personally, I doubt Felder is a huge company, and it would be interesting to see where it all starts.

Screen Shot 2015-02-21 at 11.51.22 PM.jpg Screen Shot 2015-02-21 at 11.57.31 PM.jpg

It's not tiny...

K

[Christopher Fallago]

So I hate to dig this up, but... I finally received the spindle. It looks great and as I said before, I love the machines, however this sales guy is just killing me. It sounds like this is an isolated incident. If anyone has the contact information for someone at Felder who is not a complete bone head, and can message it to me that would be great.

Here is the quote I was given, and I quote:

"Dear Mr. Fallago,

The spindle for the KF700 from 2002 is $366.94 plus shipping. Depending on your method of shipping, it would cost a little more.

Please let me know if you would like to proceed with the purchase. All I need from you is a credit card.

Thanks. "

So as you can guess I thought I would be paying about $400 with shipping. I repeatedly asked the guy for an invoice, never got one. I kept checking my account to see if it was billed, there was nothing until today...when I saw a charge from felder for $579.00. Now I may be wrong but I think $200 for shipping is kind of ridiculous, on top of the fact that they never gave me an invoice, not even with the spindle. Also the spindle was shipped to my address in Boston, while I had requested it be shipped elsewhere quite clearly. I do not want to sound like I am bashing Felder, but this is really unacceptable. It is ridiculous that I should have to spend this much time following up on things, its less about the money, and more about the aggravation that this has caused me. I am wondering how to proceed, as I do not want to deal with this kind of stuff in the future thats for sure.

[Ben Abate]

Christopher,

I hope you have better luck next time. I have a shop full of Felder machines and it is really a salesman issue you have. I've dealt with them for over a decade now and have met Hans and his family the owners of Felder a few times. My experience is Felder will usually go to lengths to satisfy their customers. Felder is not obscured from getting the reluctant employee like any other company. I've not purchased anything from them for awhile (years) but I they have kept in touch with me over the years and have not forgot about their customer. Recently I posted that I had one of their machines for sale because i was not using it any longer. Geoff reached out to me to ask it he could help me sale it. He contacted a perspective buyer who in turn contacted me. Even thought the fellow was a tire kicker I thought it was great that Felder felt the need to help an old customer sale their machine. I've dealt with Geoff for many years, I think the sale people have geographic areas that they cover but I believe you can ask for whomever you want. I'd contact someone in the company about the $200.00 shipping charge.

[Rod Sheridan]

Sorry to hear of your difficulties.

Is it possible they shipped your spindle by air from Austria rather than waiting for a container shipment?

Regards, Rod.

[Lou Ortiz]

I've had great experience with felder, including with the tooling. They have even driven some things to me as I'm just a couple of hours south of them in Virginia.

It is in a different range of machines tho, so uncommon part or tooling orders can take awhile if it's not on the shelf. Also, the only real issue I've ever encountered was that the sales staff doesn't always have a perfect working knowledge of every implement of every device. So you really have to know the particular setup you're after. Felder has been great at finding solutions for me, even when they're not felder solutions. They are targeting professionals with most of the felder equipment, so you've seen that the manuals, etc are a bit thin. If you're not already, I would also strongly advise getting hooked up with the owners group on yahoo. They can be very helpful.

Talk to the sales manager, he will likely make this right for you, and please let us know what the outcome is. We all have a vested interest in good customer sdevice.

[Christopher Fallago]

Rod, no need to apologize to me. I suppose its possible that it was shipped via air from Austria, but it would have been nice to know what was going on beforehand as I would have waited and saved the $200. It is not as if I did not ask these questions and follow up with it. Maybe its just me, and being in the environment I am in.

[Peter Kelly]

So I hate to dig this up, but... I finally received the spindle. It looks great and as I said before, I love the machines, however this sales guy is just killing me. It sounds like this is an isolated incident. If anyone has the contact information for someone at Felder who is not a complete bone head, and can message it to me that would be great.

Here is the quote I was given, and I quote:

"Dear Mr. Fallago,

The spindle for the KF700 from 2002 is $366.94 plus shipping. Depending on your method of shipping, it would cost a little more.

Please let me know if you would like to proceed with the purchase. All I need from you is a credit card.

Thanks. "

So as you can guess I thought I would be paying about $400 with shipping. I repeatedly asked the guy for an invoice, never got one. I kept checking my account to see if it was billed, there was nothing until today...when I saw a charge from felder for $579.00. Now I may be wrong but I think $200 for shipping is kind of ridiculous, on top of the fact that they never gave me an invoice, not even with the spindle. Also the spindle was shipped to my address in Boston, while I had requested it be shipped elsewhere quite clearly. I do not want to sound like I am bashing Felder, but this is really unacceptable. It is ridiculous that I should have to spend this much time following up on things, its less about the money, and more about the aggravation that this has caused me. I am wondering how to proceed, as I do not want to deal with this kind of stuff in the future thats for sure.

Bit on the high side but $200 including import duties, insurance, handling direct shipment to you via UPS from Austria sounds pretty standard.

Not quoting the full cost up front, just charging your card and not sending an invoice is really unacceptable. If Felder US won't help you, I'd call your bank and have them contest the charge.