Felder listens!!!!

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I’m posting this on both Knots and Sawmill Creek, to make sure that anyone who read my posts on this issue can see it.

Had an interesting phone call first thing this morning. You may have seen my posts in Knots on buying a slot mortiser, in the current MiniMax slot mortiser thread, from a couple months ago or so in a different thread, or on SMC in various places. To sum up, I decided to buy a Laguna slot mortiser, but there where none in the country until February. Plan B, which was four times the price, was to buy a Felder slot mortiser.


There was one on the showroom floor in Chicago, which I agreed to buy. What followed was a mess, caused mostly by a local bank. The Felder rep asked me to pay with a credit card, which would have worked fine, if the morons at my bank could have figured out how to raise the daily spending limits on my debit card. Tried it three times, which was aggravating to say the least. I should have asked for alternate payment options earlier, and Felder should have offered. I was working on a massive business deal at the time, so was preoccupied, but every time I looked it seemed, there was a glitch in the simple deal of paying for a slot mortiser. I lost patience, and I suppose Felder probably assumed I couldn’t pay for the machine, but by the time I had an alternative payment option from them, I was irritated. I decided to hold off on the purchase, and just buy one in person.

Might have had to go to Chicago to do it, but if that’s what it takes…

This morning, the Felder rep called me. He had a copy of the post I made on Knots, expressing my dissatisfaction with the almost transaction. He apologized for making me fell like I was being pressured, and we chatted for a while about various tools, and what I though were the problems with paying for the slot mortiser. I’m impressed. He took the initiative to call and fix a situation that he really didn’t have to deal with. Although the first time around didn’t work out, I will try again. Hats off to Felder and its Chicago rep.

Interesting to note, these forums are the only way that Felder could have gotten my comments. It appears that we might have more of a voice here than I ever thought.

Steve Rozmiarek

[Stan Welborn]

I posted this a few months back.

I truly despise using the phone. Previous line of work turned me against that particular appliance forever. That said, after expressing this to a Felder sales manager, he was very accommodating doing business with me via email. The J/P combo I purchased is an outstanding piece of machinery.

MM on the other hand.... I have a MM20 band saw that cuts beautifully, but has started giving me trouble with the switch. I emailed MM and was told there was a new updated switch available for purchase, but I needed to CALL their tech line. I emailed again explaining my preference for online communication and requesting an email address for their tech department. They replied that I had to CALL and talk with a tech person. Well, I'm down to leaving the cover off the switch and diddling with it every time to get it to start. I suppose I'll get so tired of it eventually that I'll break down and call, but dang I hate the phone.

Anyway, everybody has their preferences, and though that may seem trivial to some, Felder accommodated my request for email communication without hesitation. Wanna guess where my next machine purchase will more than likely come from?

I still haven't called MM. And yes, I still get mad at that switch near every day. What can I say? I REALLY hate the phone and am too hardheaded.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Will a Felder switch fit? Actually talked to a MM salesman for about 20 mins today. Answered my questions, made a few new ones, and was thouroghly entertaining. I'm suprised they won't do business via email. Good luck with the switch fiddling.