That's Warranty Service!

[Pappy]

In the World's Ugliest Chair thread I said the casters that were on the chair had a story of their own.

When I cleaned up for the night I picked the damaged casters up, intending to drop them in the trash on the way to the house, when I saw the name "Darnell" embossed on one of the wheels. Having used Darnell-Rose casters on several of my heavier shop projects, I sent the following e-mail to my contact at the company. The subject line read, Are These Under Warranty?, and was intended as more of a joke than anything else.

Joe,

Thought you would get a kick out of this.

I found what has to be the world's ugliest chair on the side of the road. I threw it in the truck and scraped some of the silver spray paint off to reveal some nice QS White Oak.



I decided to keep the legs, seat, and arm supports. The arms and back all have some damage and will be replaced, with some design modifications.

To get to the point, the weather was too bad to do much today so I spent some time taking the thing apart for closer inspection. The casters are obviously not original on the chair and will be replaced with stem mounts. I was closing up and picked up the casters to toss them when this caught my eye.



From the looks of them, they have been in a less than idea environment for a while. Except for the broken wheel, they still roll and swivel smoothly!



Any guess as to the age? The wheels are marked 'DARNELL' on both sides with 'USA' and 'U-50' on opposite sides.

Pappy

The next day I got this reply from Joe:

Pappy,

Thanks for sharing this with me, yes these caster did have a life time Warranty back when Mr. Darnell was alive, now that the company is on its 3rd ownership we only offer a 3 year Warranty.

These bad boys look to be no less than 35 years old, **** I could have assembled them myself back then come to think of it.

If you want, send them back to me, I will install new wheels for you and see what can be done to clean them up a little.

Joe

Now that's what I call great warranty/customer service! When the new 'Playhouse' goes up, these casters will find a purpose to new life under a rolling clamp rack.

[gad5264]

Sometimes you just never know what will be coverd until you ask. Way to go Pappy.

[bigstick509]

Nice To Hear

Its great to hear of a company that actually cares about customer service, let alone replying promptly to a e-mail.

[Ed62]

Unfortunately, that's not what we expect from a company any longer. Places like that get my business, even if I have to pay a little more.

Ed

[Tom Slick]

That's awesome!

I have had a similar experience with Bio-Fit chairs. they honor their 10 year warranty for the full ten years and will even let it slide if it is 11-12 years old.

[final_t]

What I like is that they work still after all that time, and I wonder if the current models they offer are of the same quality.

[Pappy]

What I like is that they work still after all that time, and I wonder if the current models they offer are of the same quality.

Yes, the company still makes casters with the same level of quality. Like Joe said, the warranty now is "only" 3 years.

Need a bigger or smaller mount plate? Want a wheel with more contact surface? They will custom make them for you. Actually, they stock the parts and assemble the casters to order specs so you get what you need, not what the company imported.

The cost, with shipping is about the same as you are going to pay in Woodcraft for good casters. A lot cheaper than buying Faultless casters.

[mater]

Another treasure uncovered by Pappy.