My turning AIN'T!!!

[BerniePA]

An update on my intro into the wonderful world of turning. You may remember that I had decided at the begining of March to take the plunge and decided on a Grizzly lathe. After waiting a few days and hearing nothing, I called to check on things and found that they claimed to have sent an email saying it was on back-order til Mid-April. I OK'd that. Yesterday, I called to check and make sure it was still in the system and to see if I could add something to the order and I found that without notifying me, the date was now MAY 22nd. So I canceled the order, reordered some tools, chucks, etc, and then got an email that some of that order would not be avail until MAY 22 so I cancelled that part of the order, left what they had coming, ordered what I had to cancel from Woodcraft, and bit the bullet this morning and went to Pittsburgh to Rockler and bought the Jet JWL-1220.

It now sits on my workbench all shiny and new awaiting some tools to be able to put it to use. Tools should be here Friday at the latest, but I am finding Grizzly is very lacking lately in their communication with their customers about what is happening with the orders. I have wasted a lot of time due to lack of communication.

[Hellrazor]

Places aren't keeping anything in stock because of the economy. I have a simple "squirrel cage" protector for a thermostat in a gym on backorder since Feb 10th. I could have made my own by now...

[Ed62]

Places aren't keeping anything in stock because of the economy.

And if they don't inform the customers about their orders, they won't stock anything because of lack of customers. Hate to see something like that happen to a place like Grizz.

Ed

[BerniePA]

And if they don't inform the customers about their orders, they won't stock anything because of lack of customers. Hate to see something like that happen to a place like Grizz.

Ed

That's what has me upset -- the fact I did not know what was happening and was not able to make a decision because I was kept in the dark. I agreed to wait until Mid April (45 days), but whenever the date was stretched another 40 beyond that, I was not informed until I happened to call to try and add to the order. They were very aggreeable about cancelling the order though, no problem there.

I did not notice this lack of communication when I ordered my table saw and on smaller orders since -- this seems to be a recent development.

[Uncle Cracker]

They should explain to you how, in today's economy, they could possibly be too busy to maintain communication with what few customers they do have...

[BerniePA]

I'm really doing my part to stimulate the economy!! Grizzly got some of it, Rockler got a great part and Woodcraft even got a share in it!!! With any luck, by this weekend, I might actually get a chance to turn something!!!

[drumpriest]

Well, I'm jealous, I ordered the Jet 1220VS from Rockler and I have not received it. It is supposed to be here in about 2 weeks, which makes it 2 months since I ordered it. Same store. So enjoy your 1220 while I sit here and wait for mine.

[BerniePA]

Well, I'm jealous, I ordered the Jet 1220VS from Rockler and I have not received it. It is supposed to be here in about 2 weeks, which makes it 2 months since I ordered it. Same store. So enjoy your 1220 while I sit here and wait for mine.

Yeah, but I don't get to twist a dial to change speeds either -- they still got one like I picked up in the back room if you want to change your mind.

[jking]

They should explain to you how, in today's economy, they could possibly be too busy to maintain communication with what few customers they do have...

What's happened to quite a few companies is they had to lay off enough people that the ones left have a hard time keeping up with what little work does exist.

[Uncle Cracker]

What's happened to quite a few companies is they had to lay off enough people that the ones left have a hard time keeping up with what little work does exist.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Business itself is an investment in the future. If you run off your customers and ruin your reputation trying to cut costs in the here and now, you have no future...

[jking]

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Business itself is an investment in the future. If you run off your customers and ruin your reputation trying to cut costs in the here and now, you have no future...

Perhaps rather than saying "they had to lay off", I should have said "they chose to lay off". I was just trying to state the current situation. When times are tough, companies tend to lean toward understaffing because payroll is usually the biggest expense item. This usually leads to employees being pushed to work harder & get more done without working longer hours (or getting paid for the longer hours). Delivery of product generally suffers too because the remaining staff may not be able to keep up with what business exists.

You are right, the cycle is self feeding & tends to repeat itself.

[Uncle Cracker]

Fact is, if you can't get product out, and orders are canceled or undeliverable, you may as well lay everybody off...

[BerniePA]

UPS Showed up this morning with the part of the Grizzly order that I did NOT cancel because it was backordered. An hour and a half later, I got an email from Grizzly telling me my order was shipped!!

Then FedEx showed up with the WoodCraft stuff, so I now have everything. Only problem is, I have really started feeling lously the past 24 hours or so with a good cold or flu or somethiing that I wish I didn't have!!!

I did get into the shop and try some practice turning. I had made up some 3/4 x 3/4 x pen length peices of scrap oak and drilled a 7mm hole in them. I did not put a tube in them, just thought I would use them on a mandrel for practice. They worked out well, but something didn't seem right so I sharpened and honed the brand new chisels and put on a new set of practice blanks and things went much more like I thought they should. Sharp tools make a difference, DUH!!!

I haven't made a real pen yet and won't be until I get a little more practice and get feeling better and then I will be posting my first pictures -- finally!!

[Uncle Cracker]

Sharp tools make a difference, DUH!!!

So will putting a tube in the 7mm hole... That much slop between the mandrel rod and the work will make it tough to get a round turning.

[drillman88]

I read a post at another forum a month or so ago where a customer sent back 3 jointers that were rusted, the third after he had been assured that it wouldn't happen again after the second. Grizzly must really be struggling with all aspects of their business.