Outstanding Service

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Excellent customer service & product from Direct Drives. Emailed a technical query at 9.15 pm last night and it was answered within 15 minutes!

Tony

[dcostaParticipant @dcosta]

Hello all,

A few months ago I ordered from the firm Pro Machine Tools a chuck and its backplate to my EMCO Compact 8. Some time have passed and I was informed that the manufacturer of chucks TOS had delayed the deliver and was asked if I would rather get my money back. I said no and would rather wait a few more weeks.
Today I received a Bison chuck replacing the bushing TOS in perfect conditions.

I have no connection to the company other than as a satisfied customer.

Best regards
Dias Costa

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Hi

I recently bought an item from WARCO but on getting it home I found that there was a part missing, packaging was sealed by the manufacturer. An email to WARCO politely explaining the problem resulted in a new item being delivered within a couple of days, by courier, and the original being taken back. It doesn't get much better than that.

Usual disclaimers re vested interests etc.

Martin

[WindyParticipant @windy30762]

I have found the shopping partners on this website are first class any order that is not correct has been sorted immediately.

Paul

[Mr MooParticipant @mrmoo]

Ive had first class service from nearly all of the ME suppliers, CuP Alloys being one at the top of the list. However a materials supplier, who I wont mention, was a great disappointment, especially as they had been recommenended! Didn't really feel like they wanted to take my order, a not inconsiderable sum – not huge but not a pittance either!

Although delivery was when they said it would be, I had to phone 3 times to find out when they were taking payment and when I could expect delivery, which incidentaly was a week after I placed the order. Needless to say my business will go elsewhere from now on.

ATB,

Ben

[michael mParticipant @michaelm]

I would fully agree with much of the above, I've also received first class service from those of the afore mentioned companies I've dealt with but would also like to recommend some other candidates. In no particulr order, but starting with MSC. I recently dealt with these for the first time and was most impressed. My initial call was received in a friendly manner and though the lady concerned could not help with a technical enquiry she promptly put me through to the appropriate department where the gentleman concerned quickly dealt with my query, again in a friendly and efficient fashion, then connected me back to the original lady. She took my order and assured me of next day delivery. I was subsequently e-mailed with a 1 hour time slot and was not disappointed. MSC are really a large scale mainstream engineering tools supply company and though it's been my experience that some such can be a bit sniffy when dealing with amateurs It was not so in their case. May be worth considering as a change from the usual culprits.

My second candidate is Tony Griffiths of the famous "Lathes" website. I e-mailed him with a query for a machine part and had a quick response, indicating that I could phone to place an order, even late in the evening. This I did, (late on a Thursday evening), and my part arrived early on Saturday morning. He's very helpful and has a great wealth of knowledge on machine tools.

And last but not least must be College Engineering. They've served the amateur market very well for many years and have a large range of materials and castings. I've always found them to be friendly and helpful to deal with, and they will cut to your required size. They're one of the small number of material dealers that support the exhibitions, an additional factor I believe that makes them worthy of our support.

[HasBeanParticipant @hasbean]

I placed an order with ARC early one morning which, due to my location, came up with a POA on the postage. Lunchtime that day I had a call from Ian with the price of the postage which I thought was perfectly acceptable and agreed the order.

The following day I had an email from Parcelforce with a tracking number and just a couple of days later my new 4 jaw s/c chuck with soft jaws and backplate arrived just in time for my wife to give me for my birthday (I wonder how she knew?)

A usual no connections, just a very satisfied customer.

Paul

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

As a first time purchaser from Amadeal Ltd , I ordered a set of change wheels for an imperial spec Mini-Lathe.

I received the package within 24 hours, but, at the time of order, their website indicated two 45 tooth wheels were to be included in the kit, so because only one was sent, I phoned to query the correct number.

I spoke with Hugh and he thought only the one was needed, but willingly offered to send another, that day and free of charge.

However, I realised after my initial order that I needed a couple of other wheels too and suggested to Hugh that I would buy these now and pay the usual P+P and that he could then pop the 'missing' gear in with my second order.

To my great surprise Hugh was having non of that and insisted on supplying everything free of charge!

Again everything came within 24 hours.

Service doesn't come any better than this and deserves to be broadcast for the benefit of us all.

Thank you, Hugh and all the best for you and your business.

Martin.

[Steamer1915Participant @steamer1915]

Plus one for Arc Eurotrade. Ordered at Midday yesterday. Arrived today. Free postage as well.

8 items in all.

Usual disclaimer.

Steve

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Another gold star for Arc Eurotrade. Yesterday at about 12:10 I ordered a stepper motor to fit to my rotary table plus a few other bits. They arrived in less than 24 hours at about 11:30 this morning.

Les.

[Martin Walsh 1Participant @martinwalsh1]

I ordered some taps and dies from Tracy tools

unfortunately they got lost in the post

they sent me another lot straight away

great service from a excellent company

Best Wishes Martin

[FMESParticipant @fmes]

While it is great to see the accolades passed to the various companies for their timely posting of various items,it would also be good to know which companies had been used to actually carry out the delivery task.

For instance I posted an ordinary letter via Royal Mail which was delivered the following day about 200 miles away,however, a consignment with Yodel, although received and logged by them on the day of posting was not delived for another five days.

All the best

[Ketan SwaliParticipant @ketanswali79440]

Posted by Lofty76 on 27/06/2014 07:18:45:

While it is great to see the accolades passed to the various companies for their timely posting of various items,it would also be good to know which companies had been used to actually carry out the delivery task.

For instance I posted an ordinary letter via Royal Mail which was delivered the following day about 200 miles away,however, a consignment with Yodel, although received and logged by them on the day of posting was not delived for another five days.

All the best

That is a good point Lofty76. The delivery being referred to in the case of ARC is probably the courier service.

For average weight up to 1.5kg combined with order value up to £25.00, generally we send by 2nd class post. For order weights above 1.5kg, and up to 2kg, we generally use 1st class post, and there after, we use DPD courier or Parcel Force for U.K. deliveries of accessories, and TNT for certain machines, and finally pallet carriers for larger machines. This is not a fixed rule, but a general guideline of who we use for shipping at present.

We did use Yodel too for a while. We really liked the idea – when it worked, because their system uses 'home based part time works' mainly for residential deliveries. These are usually housewives/people wanting part time work to supplement their income from their day job. Also, many of them delivered in the evenings. Most of the time it works, because usually many of these home based workers live near to the delivery address, and if the recipient was 'carded', it would normally have a mobile number for the person delivering, so in many cases, we found that the delivery was prompt. However, when the Yodel 'system' goes wrong, it goes wrong badly… in our experience. This normally happened at local franchisee 'hubs'. This even happened regularly at our local hub, so finally we moved away from Yodel, even though we really liked the 'home based' workers idea.

Ketan at ARC.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I sent a letter to Sweden.

it arrived two moths latter, postmarked two days before it arrived.

i got my reply two days after the first letter was delivered.

Neil

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Transcript of an on line text conversation with Yodel earlier this year.

***********

You are now connected with Philip

John Stevenson: P2G17604877 has not been collected and has passed the cut off time

Philip: Hi John

John Stevenson: P2G17604877 has not been collected and has passed the cut off time

Philip: I am very sorry about this John, I am just looking into this now

Philip: I'm sorry it hasn't been collected, I can offer to rebook this for tomorrow if you would like?

John Stevenson: It was booked 24 hours can you guarantee Saturday delivery ?

Philip: I am afraid Yodel do not operate Saturdays John, and I cannot switch this to a service that does

John Stevenson: In that case I want a refund

Philip: Are you sure John? I can rebook this with another courier to deliver on Monday (next working day) if this helps?

John Stevenson: No because last time it took 3 days before the parcel was collected.

John Stevenson: this parcel is to replace some broken parts that Yodel damaged when they delivered last week

Philip: I am very sorry about this John. I can switch you to a drop off service if this is easier?

John Stevenson: Does the drop off service deliver at the other end?

Philip: They do yes. They would deliver Monday though John

John Stevenson: No issue a refund I'll rebook with a different company direct.

Philip: Are you sure John?

John Stevenson: I don't have time to do a drop off that's why I think I'm paying professionals

Philip: I am very sorry about this. I shall cancel and refund this now

John Stevenson: OK thanks and tell Yodel thanks for nothing, so far they have cost me the best part of £100 because I can't claim as the company refuse to spend their time taking photo's for proof for something that isn't their fault.

Philip: I am very sorry about this John

Philip: I have now cancelled this on our system for you. Whilst I have also requested a cancellation with the courier, I must advise that there is a possibility that the collection may still be attempted by the driver should the courier not receive the request in time. Should this be the case, you must refuse collection in order to avoid having your refund rejected.

John Stevenson: Just make sure there are no problems with the refund.

Philip: There are two ways we can refund your order for you. Either we can pay the amount of £8.10 back to the original source of payment, or alternatively we can offer you an enhanced amount of £12.00 which we can add to your prepay account for use on future parcel deliveries.

Philip: I will, can you answer the above question and I shall process this

John Stevenson: Pay the £8.10 back to the original source at the moment I'm that mad that I may not use you again

Philip: Thank you, I am very sorry about this John

Philip: I have done this now

Philip: Is there anything else I can help you with?

John Stevenson: Everyone can make an odd mistake we are all human but to take 3 days to collect a 24 hour parcel, then trash a £80 electric motor which I'd be struggling to break with a hammer and then fail to collect the replacement parts isn't an odd mistake, its incompetence on Yodels behalf

[John CParticipant @johnc47954]

Another one for Simply Bearings. Ordered Wed, arrived Thur. This was using the free delivery option that 'may' take up to 7 days – fair enough, but when it arrives the next day that is a bonus!

John

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

+1 for Arc, I ordered an SX1L and it arrived damaged (TNT rolled it) all damaged parts were replaced, I'm sure they would have replaced the whole machine as it meant a bit of running about on my half (testing and inspecting) but we were in it together and I'm willing to help them if they're helping me – had it being a more refined or expensive machine I might have been a little pickier. – (Edit, Just to be clear, I offered to check what/if was damage – I didn't ask for a replacement).

+1 for Chronos too, I bought a Soba Live centre, and while the point spun with little runout its axis was well off that of the shank – they have dispatched a replacement today – they also tested the centre for me prior to shipping and have refunded me the return postage amount already as well as confirming the fault on the old one.

Edited By Russ B on 27/06/2014 18:54:59

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Posted by John Stevenson on 27/06/2014 18:16:51:

Transcript of an on line text conversation with Yodel earlier this year.

***********

John Stevenson: Everyone can make an odd mistake we are all human but to take 3 days to collect a 24 hour parcel, then trash a £80 electric motor which I'd be struggling to break with a hammer and then fail to collect the replacement parts isn't an odd mistake, its incompetence on Yodels behalf

There is not enough space in (in?) the tinternet to describe the fiasco I had with Yodel earlier this year. It was the company I purchased from used them (I won't – for any reason). I asked the company to refund me, because the spares had not arrived – after a week – and they wouldn't (at first) because they said the goods "have to be returned before we can process a refund". It was like the worst comic opera you could imagine.

I pointed out that for me to return the goods – they had to first deliver them. That strained everyone's grey matter. I do think Yodel were shouted at, more than once. THEN they appeared with "the order" – you should have seen the guy's face when I asked "where's the rest of it?". I do believe I ended the conversation with that Russian word finishing with …off!

graham.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

On the subject of Courier Services

To date: I have been most impressed by service and pricing offered by myHermes.

MichaelG.

.

… Oh well, that's probably jinxed it. …

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 28/06/2014 09:04:08:

On the subject of Courier Services

To date: I have been most impressed by service and pricing offered by myHermes.

MichaelG.

.

… Oh well, that's probably jinxed it. …

In fairness, they have got their act together. In the beginning they really were bad actually (plenty of experience) but now I find them quite good.

graham.

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Another thumbs up for Tracytools, ordered some taps yesterday afternoon, arrived with this mornings post, on their standard delivery – now why can't all suppliers be this efficient

Graeme

[John BaguleyParticipant @johnbaguley78655]

Ordered some paint and thinners from Craftmaster Paints yesterday and they arrived this morning

John

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Last Wednesday I asked work colleague A who is based 200 miles away up north to give an urgent parcel to colleague B (his manager) who was visiting him as it would be more reliable than courier. Neither twit bothered to register that B was going on a long weekend. Got the parcel today from B, the day after A who had the thing in the first place came down to this office. (We don't seem to have one of those head banging smileys that some sites do.)

This will allow the manufacturer to pick up the items and deliver them to our warehouse (up north) where they should have gone in the first place so their barcodes can be scanned and……………..sent back to me (down south)…… to send back up north to A. Must follow process as the computer can't cope with deviations.

Edited By Bazyle on 05/08/2014 13:28:27

[Martin Walsh 1Participant @martinwalsh1]

Posted by CoalBurner on 05/08/2014 12:17:37:

Another thumbs up for Tracytools, ordered some taps yesterday afternoon, arrived with this mornings post, on their standard delivery – now why can't all suppliers be this efficient

Graeme

I second that tracy tools are a excellent company to deal with

I ordered some taps from them. The parcel got lost in the post

when I phoned them to say that it didn't arrive they sent another one straight away

Excellent service

Best Wishes Martin

[Ron ValeParticipant @ronvale24328]

Agree with Tracy Tools,ARC, M-Metals, Chronos, and wish to add to the list Warco, Purchased a WM16 recently and the spindle display, was very erractic in that it just blanked out at various times.

Got in contact and a replacement LCD unti sent out by return.

Problem solved

As already said, it seems ME suppliers are 'customer friendly

[Author]

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