Damaged Leigh D4R jigs.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Last week I ordered a Leigh D4R dovetail jig from Woodcraft online. It arrived the next day. Great service. Saturday I got time to open it. I discovered that one of the stops on the top was bent. There was no damage to the box. Although one edge corner was soft from something setting on it.
First thing Monday I called Woodcraft & they said they would send out a replacement. The replacement arrived today. Super service. This box looked a little beatup. I opened it up & found the styrofoam packing was broken. I checked the stops & they were fine. I turned the jig over to check the rest of it & discovered the protruding edges on the front in the areas that the clamp levers mount are beat up. After checking the box again I found an imprint of the front of the jig on the inside of the box & found the the edges of the jig that were beat up had cut through the box. It had to have been dropped from a high distance onto concete to have done the damage that was done on this one.
Should I try for number 3 or giveup?

[Jim Becker]

'How about replacing the mangled part on the first one with the non-mangled identical part from the second and returning the second one...Obviously, John M's avatar is working for the shipping company this holiday season...

[Chris Rosenberger]

The problem is that all of the damage is done to the main one piece aluminum body.
I did straighten the bent stop on the first jig, but it now has a crack in it.

[Jerry Olexa]

Chris, when you spent as much as you have for a D4, you deserve a proper product. Woodcraft owes you a 1st class, unblemished new unit. Over $400 for a DT jig should produce a truly new, undamaged unit IMHO...

[glenn bradley]

I'd try for number 3. Woodcraft should get credit for the shipping from the provider and they should pass that savings on to you (the LOML deals with stuff like this for a living on a grand scale).

[Jim Becker]

Ok...based on that...a call to WC is in order, requesting a replacement via a DIFFERENT shipping company.

[Chris Rosenberger]

The problem has been taken care of. After starting this thread Tuesday evening, I decided to email Leigh about the damage. Because I thought that D4R jigs were not packaged as well as they could be. With that thought in mind I did not think that Woodcraft should foot the cost of another exchange. I did not expect to hear from Leigh, but decided to give them a chance & not contact Woodcraft right away.

Around mid morning Wednesday I got a call from Mathew at Leigh. I explained my problem. He said he had heard of very few damaged D4R jigs let alone 2 to the same person. He said he would next day a replacement jig body to me.

When I got home for lunch, my Wife told me I had an urgent call from Jeanne at Woodcraft about the second damaged jig. I checked my email & also had an email from Jeanne asking me to call right away about the damage. Since I had not contacted Woodcraft about the second damaged jig I thought that Leigh must have called her. I called Jeanne back. She offered to send out another jig so I would have it before Christmas. I explained that Leigh was sending out a replacement part. She was surprised & I was confused. So I asked how she heard the second jig. She told me a Woodcraft employee had seen my post here & called her.

The replacement part arrived Thursday in perfect condition.
It is very refreshing to have companys that still care about customer service & solving problems as quickly as possible.

Thank you to Mathew at Leigh, Jeanne at Woodcraft & the Woodcraft employee that contacted Jeanne.

[Jim Becker]

Ah, a happy ending compliments of two good companies. 'Glad you now can dovetail your holiday away!!

[J D Thomas]

Ah, good, quality customer service is so rare anymore (except for Lee Valley).

Glad you got it worked out favorably. Now, get out there and start cutting some dovetails. You're gonna love it.

[glenn bradley]

That's great! I love it when a company backs up their product or the methods of getting their product to you. Merry Christmas!

[Jerry Olexa]

Great news!! They both backed up their product...That's how it should be.. Enjoy your DT holiday..

[Larry James]

"Woodcraft Issues"

Text of a PM to a helpful fellow Creeker after a shipping problem(s) with Woodcraft.

"Out of 8 orders from Woodcraft this year, I have had 3 problems. Two poor packaging and one because they billed me full price for a sale item. I had to forward them the sale email they sent me to get the sale price - go figure. In the future I'll only order from Woodcraft as a last choice. Shipping and billing seems to be a weak link in their operation."

Contact person that recommend to me was:
Barbara Hendricks
Call Center Manager
1-800-535-4482 ext 2138
Barb Hendricks@Woodcraft.com

The problem was resolved, but there was little improvement in the replacement packaging.

Larry

[Steven J Corpstein]

I saw your post a while back and read with interest since I was getting ready to order one from Woodcraft. Well mine came today and guess what? Same damage to the side stop.

Woodcraft is going to ship another one out, but they're backordered until at least 12/29. She said they haven't gotten confirmation on their shipment from Leigh so she couldn't guarantee a delivery date. Darn and I have a week off for the holiday shutdown and a new Festool OF 1400.

I called Leigh to suggest putting a protective guard under the stops, but the Tech Support guy said they haven't had many reports at all. Seems to me at $500 plus a pop, they wouldn't take the chance on even one more for a $0.50 piece of plastic or wood stuck under the stops.

Oh well, guess I better not buy a lottery ticket tonight :-)