A concerning order with Grizzly.

[dbhost]

As you know I have in September purchased a Grizzly 18" open end sander, Bear Crawl mobile base, and extension bars for the Bear Crawl mobile base. When I ordere the mobile base and bars, the bars were on back order until October 16. I thought, okay 3 weeks no problem gives me some time to clean a space...

3 weeks came and went, and an email from Grizzly promising shipment by November 6. And looking at the order status page, they have delayed yet again until November 27th I think it was.

I have contacted Grizzly as I am no longer confident they are capable of fulfilling my order completely and the Bear Crawl mobile base is useless with this sander without those extension bars.

I am asking that they pay to take the Bear Crawl back as a return with full credit and allow me to order the in stock heavy duty mobile base which is massive overkill for just this sander, that is more along the lines of a base for a cabinet saw...

Well the response I get from Grizzly CS is, well song and dance about how they do their best to clear back orders and are only estimates on shipping days etc... Carefully worded word salad to avoid committing to taking the Bear Crawl back and actually making the issue right.

I hadn't heard of customer service issues with Grizzly before as they have enjoyed actually a pretty good reputation over the years, but I looked at their BBB records and, well kind of a gut dropper. They are A+ rated by the BBB but have a customer rating of one star.

So what is going on with Grizzly lately? Seems at least if this is to be believed, they pretty much are giving up on customer service? That just doesn't seem like the Grizzly I had done business with in the past.... Are people getting snottier or maybe did Grizzly go through an ownership / management change?

[leehljp]

It sure helps to talk with people in the office. My daughter lives in the immediate Springfield MO area and I go into grizzly a couple of times a year. Talking to the people in the office, or on the floor, or those bringing my parts order to the front, the personal interaction, even by phone is head and shoulders above "email". Email is generic and word salad - as you said, but live talk has been much more specific and customer oriented. Once, when I had a problem with an order, they went through all the options and changes that could be made while talking with them. Everything on the floor has been top notch interaction for years for me.
Face to face or in your case - live phone call with customer service can possibly make a difference.

[capncarl]

db, could the person you are talking with is remote working and doesn’t much care what happens to your sander?

[dbhost]

I am sure they are following the company script. "We are very sorry for any inconvience this may have caused you" but real apology comes with corrective action... Not bureaucratic doubletalk...

[woodturner]

I've always heard that Grizzly had good prices, OK equipment, and terrible customer service and parts support. I did not find their stores a lot better, at least when I last visited 25 or so years ago.

[dbhost]

Well, my experience with Grizzly so far has been...
A Grizzly drill press table bought actually used from LCHIEN, it didn't last too long as the MDF top didn't like my coastal environment. Was disappointed but not too much so. MDF is far too common. I built my new table off of that hardware I recycled from the Grizzly table.
The parts for the GO555 tension release mod for my Harbor Freight Bandsaw. The CS was very helpful at getting my order processed quickly and easily.
My GO572 Hanging air filter. No issues at all. Pretty good machine.
My Forstner bit sets. Including my small bit set that had a box that they forgot to glue together. Grizzly shipped out a replacement box and had it to me in a few days no problem.
My Sander. No issues getting it to me.
Here is where I run into a problem. The mobile base and extension rails. Mobile base was ordered at the same time and obvious it was meant to be used with the extension rails. Back order, and doublespeak / poor customer service helping straighten this issue out. I simply want them to take back what I cannot use due to their inability to ship at their cost since it wasn't my fault, and send me the stuff that will work so I can get my setup done and be productive before the holiday season thank you very much.

[LCHIEN]

Actually it was MLCS for that drill press table But they looked exactly the same, probably some offshoring supplier provided both and others with that model.

[dbhost]

LCHIEN My memory might be fuzzy, I mean it has been a bunch of year snow... but I thought you included the box and pretty sure it was Grizzly... https://www.grizzly.com/products/gri...-3-fence/h7827
I have every ability to be incorrect though...

[LCHIEN]

Its possible I am wrong. I have only ever ordered two things from grizzly that I can recall... a dust collector canister and a crank handle. But I ordered a lot from MLCS

However they did sell the same drill table. It was a really long time ago.. I got the drill press in 2006 and that drill table soon after. The fence was too high and hit my elevation handles all the time. I ended up getting the low profile fence from woodpeckers.

[dbhost]

So just an FYI, just short of 2.5 months after the order was made, Grizzly has finally shipped the extension bars for my Bear Crawl mobile base. Sometimes their user / customer support is awesome, sometimes not so much. This is one of those latter times...

[LCHIEN]

Well customer support can't be responsible for adequate stocking... that depends on the marketing forecasts, finance and purchasing guys to predict and keep up with demand.
The best customer service can do it keep you appraised and refund your money if you don't want to wait.
Not say no one is responsible for your long wait, but its probably not customer support's fault.

[dbhost]

Well you are right Loring, but they CAN approve returns without hitting the customer with restocking fees. I could have gone with the other compatible model that they had in stock and be well under way with my projects by now... My complaint is they were being absolutely inflexible with their return policies even though the reason I wanted to return was due to their stock issue and missed promised delivery date.... Honestly it isn't the customer support agents fault either, they can only do what their company policies allow them to do. The issue is inflexibility with policies...

[Black walnut]

Sadly another possible reason for these delays is the status of international shipping. I have seen customers have containers rolled from vessel to vessel for months before they are placed on a ship to offload in Seattle. I have another customer that uses polystyrene pellets and only has so much room for storage. They order with the shipper with a stagger so as to not overwhelm their storage and the steamship lines, MSC in this case, has stockpiled multiple bookings in the far east and placed them all on one ship. The shiplines have set free time allowances for terminal storage at port of lading, terminal storage at port of discharge, and then also free time off dock for loading, unloading and transport inland. That said when they delay your shipment in transit they don't charge you, shipper or receiver. Hope it's not a critical shipment to your business.

These delays in commerce are because of a number of reasons. The world's governments response to covid being one factor. Perceived efficiency of mega carriers with no cares about final customer service another. Pre-covid it was a trade war. International shipping has not been the same since.

For what it is worth, I waited 10 months for some metric metal screws from Grizzly on a warranty claim with the endless shipping delay emails.

[dbhost]

In all fairness, this is my first poor experience with Grizzly. I haven't done a LOT of business with them, but I have dropped enough to have experience with them. The parts order for my GO555 tension assembly for the bandsaw, The GO572 air cleaner, Large and small forstner bit sets, which the box for hte large set came without any glue, they shipped me out a proper box the next day. lots of misc dust collectionm bits and bobs... and now the sander. I am not sure I would buy another large item from them unless I KNEW they had it on hand and were ready to ship TODAY. And they are not the only company I have had back orders / shipping delays with, they are however the only company that was not willing to waive return policies on an item because the mating item was delayed. For example MLCS, and Rockler, no problem. But Grizzly, you want to send it back? Restocking fee! It is the inflexibility that bothers me the most...