RESOLVED: I was trying to avoid posting this - General jointer damaged by ???

[John Schreiber]

It appears someone no longer offers General Jointers...
http://www.redmondmachinery.com/browse.cfm/2,22.html

No General table saws or planers either. Wow.

Hope this turns out well for you Gary. Let us know if you want some help setting it up. We've all been following this so close, a six hour drive is nothing.

[Nancy Laird]

I find it very interesting that the bed is being shipped right-side up. When we got our Steel City 6", the bed was laid upside-down and flat on a pallet and heavy cardboard reinforced with lots of styrofoam. The fence had to be installed and squared, but that was a 10-minute job, and the thing was up and running.

Of course, when it gets to the end user, that end user has the "pleasure" of turning the bed over to put it on the stand, but two hefty men could probably handle it; LOML and I did ours.

It would seem to make a lot more sense to ship the bed as flat as it could be. I just don't understand.....

Nancy

[Robert Mayer]

Gary if it doesnt make it in one piece this time ill send you a block plane.

[Chuck Wintle]

Yes The way they crated it makes me think the center of gravity is too high and thus prone to tipping over easily. If it does tip over it could break out of the crate and sustain damage. I am not trying to be negative but the crate is pretty flimsy. Here's hoping it has a trouble free trip!

[TYLER WOOD]

I read the entire post just now. I think GIANT kudos go to General. I own a lathe of theirs, and now would buy any of their tools after seeing the lengths they have gone through to get this resolved. As for posting a positive for either one? General....no need we see the works in the post! GREAT JOB GENERAL. Redomnd.... NO WAY! I would not post a positive comment when they probably were forced to do the right thing. If anything positive was posted I would do it in a way like this.

Redmond, after several weeks of fruitless persoanl negotiations, sent a new jointer from General's showroom, at Generals request (and half the cost) to make things square. I don't know if General forced their hand at it, but seeing they no longer are carring General tools, I think it may be the case. I commend General on great customer service, and hope that Redmond learned a lesson from them. I also commend General from not allowing them to carry their fine product and ruin their name in the process, if that is the case for them nolonger carring General products. In the future I will not be ordering from them as they no longer carry General products for which I am fond of for due reasons.

Thanks to all who read!!!

[Bart Leetch]

Well I hope this turns out ok for you Gary.

Just for the record I brought all my Dad's tools home about 200 miles from his place to mine. To include a 10" table-saw, 6" Jointer, 12" Bellsaw planer, 10" RAS, compressor & 2 shapers with no crates just strapped down & haulin butt down the road with out any breakage & nary a scratch.

[Joe Mioux]

You know....

Redmond was kind of the pig to get poked here.

From what I can see, it is the shipping company that caused the problems. Yea, i know about the crating issues, but

Yes, Redmond should have been more of a stand up company and fixed Gary's problem - their customer!

And then dealt with General and the shipping company on their end, behnd the scenes. Believe it or not, I get stuff shipped in all the time by tractor trailer and .... well..... "stuff happens".

General did well, Redmond ?, Shippers? maybe not so well!

anyway, We all know General (esp CA) makes some high quality products.

Gary, hope all is going well with this third shipment.

[Bruce Benjamin]

My Sunhill 8" jointer came in a crate and a box. The stand was in the cardboard box and the top came in a fully enclosed, coffin-like plywood crate and was completely surrounded with styrofoam. I just assumed that all jointers were shipped this way. They should be. From the way that General is crated I wouldn't want to subject it to too much rough handling. I really hope it arrives in good shape. You deserve it after all you've been through to get it.

Bruce

[Randall Trent]

Good Rant! I second.

[Randall Trent]

Chris Barton is right. Call your card supplier. There is a time limit I'm sure.

[Randall Trent]

If this is true, it shows a very interesting difference between English law and US law.

Over here, your contract is with the retailer alone. No matter that damage may have occured at the factory before packaging, it is the retailer who must sort it out or risk being sued by the customer.

If the shipping is arranged by the retailer, any claim you may have for damage in transit is against the retailer. It is his responsibility to claim from the shipper, with whom he has the contract.

I suspect that this is actually also the case in the US

Cheers
Brad

If it isn't...it should be.

[Randall Trent]

Personally. I believe that Redmond should be sending you a replacement bed. If the broken piece wasn't in the crate,and it was sold as new by Redmond. Redmond should make good on it.

I've always been leery of the shipping aspect of the sale. You're right about the inspection, and just how much time is the shipper willing to expend while the customer is dismantling the crate and inspecting everything, all the while the driver is cooling his heals and getting behind schedule. What happens if it is damaged? Who recrates it? you or the driver?. The last crate I had to dismantle wasn't going back together.

I hope everything works out. It bites when you finally get something you've been waiting for, and it's broken.

Good Luck.

I've noted on the invoice that the crate was badly damaged (Grizzly tablesaw), and had the driver initial that. What choice did he have? Turned out...all was well,and we became casual friends as I have since then ordered several other machines.

[Tom Veatch]

Hey, Randall,

Welcome aboard!

Semper Fi!

(1st and 3rd Divisions, '60-'64, California and points west - waaay west!)

[Garth Hulley]

I agree with those who are commending General International for the way they have handled the jointer problem. I have always had superb service from General International customer support. Over the years I have purchased a number of General International tools some of which required initial servicing.
Several years ago I picked up a 5 HP dust collector at the retailer. The wooden crate covered in cardboard was intact and showed no damage, however the dust collector was dented and the magnetic switch was broken. The next day I had a new one.
My 24 inch double drum sander had defective rollers. Service call; technician removed the roller head, and returned the next day with a new one. Problem solved.
My General International mortiser had a quill that was not centric. I took it in for service and it was repaired while I waited.
Perhaps I have an advantage over others in having problems solved because I live within an hours drive from the General International head office and main warehouse.
I think I was just unlucky with these tools because others I know who have General International tools have never had a problem. Since the initial tweakings, these tools and my other General International tools have performed flawlessly.
For durability and reliability, my General lathe, bandsaw, planer, and jointer have never required any servicing or repairs and they are all over 25 years old. These made in Drummondville, Quebec tools seem to be indestructible. If I could afford it, all my tools would be General green.

[Bruce Benjamin]

The on GI tool I have is their 50-185 table saw and it's been a great saw. But Garth, while it sounds like their customer service is excellent, I'd have trouble buying anything else from them if I had 3 tools go bad like that from the same company. It's good that at least they're working well now. But it sounds like they have some serious quality control problems if your experience is an indicator.

Bruce