Oneida Experiences

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Fritz, I just bought and installed the 3hp Dust Gorilla. It works fantastically, but....

After all the good I'd heard about the company, I called to get more information. I talked to competent sales rep, don't remember his name, who checked in from time to time, until I was ready to order. I was then passed of to another rep, who apparently was under a bunch of work load.

Maybe I was expecting too much. I ordered the cyclone first, to make sure the ducting came out right. At the ordering ducting stage, I got as close to zero help as you can get. I even had to remind him to send me information on how to do it myself! Then I got information for a 2hp system, rather then the 3hp. I emailed again, and he said to just scale everything up. Very helpful, especially when I really wanted pay them to do it for me!!!!

It's an expensive system, and I really was not satisfied with the customer service I got, however, I suspect that this was an isolated incident. I'm also a little miffed when I hear of the free upgrades or shipping that apparently everyone but me gets.

In the end, I'm very happy with the system, but I would avoid the salesman I had. Oh, I whined about Felder on this forum a while back, and they called me to straighten things out. Don't be suprised if you get a phone call from Onieda.

[Paul Greathouse]

I am about to make, what will be for me, a large order from Oneida. I want to have the positive experience that most of you have had.

I will need design help because this will be my first DC system, so I am not familiar with proper sizing. Also I will need to consider future machine additions to the shop in the design. I have a 30x50 shop but at first will probably only need to duct about a 30x30 area (spent too much $$ building the shop, am just now freeing up a little cash for machines).

I saw that Jim offered the bosses name as someone to speak to but do any of you remember other names of people that you had positive experiences with at Oneida. In particularly in the design deptartment. I've found that many times you can talk to who want to, if you ask in an assertive way.

In Oneida's defense, I know that good companies sometimes inadvertantly hire bad people (some people are just great at selling themselves during a job interview). I have seen it happen where I work.

[Bob Vallaster]

Fritz,
I would be unhappy as well if (1) I paid a premium for the design service to (2) satisfy the requirements for a commercial shop (CalOsh, OSHA, landlord, neighbors, paying public). The dropped ball on shipment cannot have improved things.
For me the layout was a bonus but not a necessity. Mine is a hobby shop which needs to conform to only my standards and the local electrical code.
Seems the company ought to make it right for you. I'd talk to someone higher in the food chain.

Bob V.

[Chris McKimson]

Fritz,

I had a similar experience to yours a couple of years ago when purchasing my 3HP Gorilla. There were several things that my original salesperson dropped the ball on (including requested changes to the design that never happened), a major screw up in the delivery, something with the cyclone itself I've just chosen to live with and a botched billing error all conspired to make my CS experience less stellar. I ended up emailing Jeff, who from the moment I made contact with him was great. My original salesperson "not great".

In the end I'm happy with the cyclone and would probably give Oneida another chance were I to buy again.

Chris

[Paul Johnstone]

I am about to make, what will be for me, a large order from Oneida. I want to have the positive experience that most of you have had.
.

I don't mean to be cavalier, but just using 6" duct work as much as possible really worked well for my cyclone layout. I guess I don't understand the need to have a complex design service. Keep it at 6" as close as you can to the machine, and then split into a 5" and a 4" (or two 4" drops) if the machine has two ports. Bill Pentz's site has more information than you'll ever need. Read it and then kick him a donation to support this great resource.