Woodmaster Tools customer service

[George Lesniak]

It's not often that we hear about good customer service, so I wanted to take just a minute to report on my personal experience with Woodmaster Tools. About a month ago I took delivery of a Woodmaster 725 planer/molder/sander Pro Pack. For me, the decision to purchase a high dollar piece of equipment does not come easily. I usually spend many weeks or months researching the product, and even longer acquiring the funds. I finally ordered the unit on October 9th and it arrived Fed Ex freight 3 days later. (7 days sooner than expected) I got the machine set-up and it works beautifully. As is usually the case with anything I purchase, 31 days later I receive a flier in the mail from Woodmaster "Order a Woodmaster today and receive free shipping" It may not seem like much but this 800lb beast cost nearly $400 to ship and $400 could pay for a big chunk of another piece of equipment. I contacted Woodmaster the next day, spoke to the same salesman who sold me my machine and had a credit applied to my credit card the next day. No questions asked. This customer-centric attitude will make it much easier to do business with Woodmaster in the future.

George

[Bruce Page]

George, I have their 2675 drum sander. They are an old fashioned quality company – (in a good way).

[Jim Hager]

It's not often that we hear about good customer service, so I wanted to take just a minute to report on my personal experience with Woodmaster Tools. About a month ago I took delivery of a Woodmaster 725 planer/molder/sander Pro Pack. For me, the decision to purchase a high dollar piece of equipment does not come easily. I usually spend many weeks or months researching the product, and even longer acquiring the funds. I finally ordered the unit on October 9th and it arrived Fed Ex freight 3 days later. (7 days sooner than expected) I got the machine set-up and it works beautifully. As is usually the case with anything I purchase, 31 days later I receive a flier in the mail from Woodmaster "Order a Woodmaster today and receive free shipping" It may not seem like much but this 800lb beast cost nearly $400 to ship and $400 could pay for a big chunk of another piece of equipment. I contacted Woodmaster the next day, spoke to the same salesman who sold me my machine and had a credit applied to my credit card the next day. No questions asked. This customer-centric attitude will make it much easier to do business with Woodmaster in the future.

George

Must have been a different guy than I dealt with last time I tried to do business with them over 10 years ago. They lost my business then and I still haven't gone back. He was a real turkey. I had to go through the owner of the company to get satisfaction. I'm glad you are happy with your purchase and service though.

[Brandon Shew]

I didn't get the warm feeling from them recently either. I acquired a 612 planer used and I wrote to them to see if I could get a manual for it. They had an attitude like I was a stepchild or something. The guy in cust Svc told me that the 612 was "obsolete" and that I could only get blades (and maybe a cutterhead) for it.

"Obsolete"? - still cuts like a champ and the 5 HP Leeson is running strong. When I read on their website all of their talk about AMerican Made, family values, etc... and that they wanted to hear from their customers how they are still using their dad's old planer, I thought that they would at least be able to produce a manual. I guess it was just a bunch of fluff.

The company that I work for still has a library of old manuals for telecom gear that we sold over 20 years ago. While most of it isn't still in use, it's nice to know that we can still support it, and it's users.

They did send me a manual (and other propaganda) for the 712, but the design has changed enough so that it's only so helpful.

[Bob Wingard]

I have a hard time feeling for you on this issue .. .. .. the 712 has been "current" for at least 20 years, making the 612 somewhat obsolete as you were told. They DID send you a manual for a 712 or did you think they were just doing that and witholding one for the 612 to be rude ?? People buy up old Walker-Turner, Rockwell, DeWalt stuff and go on a hunt to find parts/accessories for them. You bought this 612 and imply that because the company has had the good fortune to still be in business that they owe it to you to have these things readily available just in case someone has need of them. The fact that it still runs, and runs well by your own admission is a testament to their reliability .. .. .. my old '84 CJ-7 runs like a top, but it IS OBSOLETE and I have no hard feelings with AMC for that .. .. .. it just makes it more fun.

[Stephen Pereira]

"You bought this 612 and imply that because the company has had the good fortune to still be in business that they owe it to you to have these things readily available just in case someone has need of them. "

I believe companies that build tools.. especially tools that are designed to last DO owe it to their customers to provide parts and manuals for their "obsolete" products. That kind of service builds customer brand loyalty and is one of the things I look for when I make a major purchase.

[Brandon Shew]

I have a hard time feeling for you on this issue .. .. .. the 712 has been "current" for at least 20 years, making the 612 somewhat obsolete as you were told. They DID send you a manual for a 712 or did you think they were just doing that and witholding one for the 612 to be rude ?? People buy up old Walker-Turner, Rockwell, DeWalt stuff and go on a hunt to find parts/accessories for them. You bought this 612 and imply that because the company has had the good fortune to still be in business that they owe it to you to have these things readily available just in case someone has need of them. The fact that it still runs, and runs well by your own admission is a testament to their reliability .. .. .. my old '84 CJ-7 runs like a top, but it IS OBSOLETE and I have no hard feelings with AMC for that .. .. .. it just makes it more fun.

Bob - I'm not sure where you picked up on the notion that I feel that Woodmaster "owes" me anything. All I was saying was that I thought that the guy was a little rude. I don't have his original reply to my message to post here, but if you'll allow me to quote John Miller (Woodmaster's CEO) from Woodmaster's website:

“It’s such a great heritage,” Miller says. “Every week we get a call from someone who’s still using a Belsaw planer he got from his dad or granddad. I want my grand-children to get those calls from my customers’ grand-children, saying their fifty-year-old Woodmaster is still going strong.”

If that is their philosophy, you would think that their response would have been a little different. More like: "it's good to hear that your old planer is still running strong, but unfortunately it's been out of production so long we can't get you anything for it." Not that "the 612 is obsolete." I think that Stephen hit the nail on the head.

I don't expect them to have parts available (I wasn't even asking for parts), but you would think that a small family owned manufacturing company would be proud of it's heritage and keep some documentation of its past. Someone somewhere might have an old manual tucked away in a drawer that they could photocopy.

Maybe I just ask for too much since that's the way that the small family owned company where I work thinks.

[Willob Johnson]

While I agree that our person had a poor choice of words in saying the machine was "obsolete" I don't know that it's fair to write us off as a company because of that!

We stopped making the 612 in 1983. So as some of the other posters have mentioned, the fact it's still going is, to my mind, a testament to the quality of the stuff we make. The fact that it's still going strong also confirms your point that it is not, in fact, obsolete.

It is 26 years old, means, as some other posters have pointed out, that like almost anything 26 years old parts availbility and manual availability is tough.

Certainly if you or any other folks ever feel like you're not getting good service feel free to call and ask for me personally!

Will Johnson, President
Woodmaster Tools

[Bob Borzelleri]

I have mixed feelings on this one. To the question of the service rep being rude, it that was the case, then that would be a point against the company. After all, if the only contact you have with a company is anything but reasonable and courteous, then that's who the company is in your eyes.

On the other hand, It's no small thing for the 612 to be running since 1983. I know people who started out in 1983 who are anything but running strong today.

But, in my view, the manual thing deserves a third hand. I have every manual for every tool I have ever bought. I even have manuals for computer hardware that no longer works, not to mention manuals for acoustic instruments that say essentially nothing. It doesn't take much for me to set up a file and let it sit there until I need to read up on something. In my mind, manufacturers have an obligation to do the same for the machines they make.

To no longer have a manual available usually means that someone at the company made a decision to either clear out old manuals or to not go to the effort to make copies of what was left when they were getting low.

Maybe it seemed like no big thing at the time, but being the only repository for documentation for machines that you manufacture puts a company in a pretty exclusive position and if you take pride in hearing that your machines are still running a generation later, it seems a small step to ensure that the documentation that would help keep them humming for longer is kept on site and available for reproduction.

The difference between companies who keep documentation and those who don't is almost palpable. It usually takes no time at all to wander around a website and discern who retains documentation as a matter of policy and who doesn't.

And then there's Delta who keeps documentation but who discontinues the 4" dust port for their (my) 14" band saw. Now that's an example of planned obsolescence that works. I will replace the machine with the disgustingly small dust port, but while I have no other issues with the saw, I will no longer buy a Delta because I care about my lungs and they apparently don't. But, I digress...