Jet Mini Parts?

I was odd.

Maybe I'll call again in hopes that i got the "new guy" (sounded like that may be true).

He said i could buy from a local service company or dealer, but all the ones I have are Rockelrs or the like, who carry the Lathe, but not the parts, or other industrial supplies that carry air guns and other equipment.

I'm imagining the call center guy has a computer screen telling him the price of shipping a box. He's stuck thinking inside of said box, and never (needs to / can) think "hey, we could put this thing in an envelope"...

-- TC

Owen Lowe wrote:

_IT_ was odd.... IT...

_I_ just can't type. No reason to call me names... ; )

That's ridiculous! Those dips could mail it back to you in a #10 business envelope. That's thievery! Better try that hardware store.

Barry

In their defense...

They probably figure that just the paper-work to process an order costs them 15 bucks. If they consider their parts sales a profit center, you are probably lucky that they would even answer the phone. On the other hand, some companies know that providing replacement parts (or helping you find a local source for those parts) is a cost of doing business.

Bill

Barry N. Turner wrote:

So you condemn them for knowing what their cost of doing business is at the same time you praise companies for knowing what their cost of doing business is?

Ah, I get it... you condemn them for trying to recover those costs, and have a sales department actually be a profit center.

Um.... I haven't condemned them at all. Or, at least, that was not my intent. I'm merely trying to explain how sending out a $0.99 part can cost a company lots of money. Whether the company makes the decision to eat that cost or recover it -- that is up to management. On the other hand, in the long run, customers usually have the last say in these sorts of things...

Bill

Dave Balderst> >

Customers also pay the costs either way, if the business continues.

It's the old question of whether to tax or charge. Should everybody pay for the park, garbage pickup, marriage license, .... or those that use it be charged a fee?

OH, PLIERS ! ! ! Whew! For a minute there, I thought you meant a set of 3 clips! That's more like it!

Barry

I think you may have gotten the janitor.........was it after normal business hours......by any chance ? ? ?

Barry

Uhhhhh........some companies are out sourcing customer service and stuff to India and other countries. Did the guy you spoke with have an accent?

Barry

PS Our state health department is out sourcing phone answering to our department of corrections.........needless to say..........reviews have been mixed!

I think I may have been the person who "condemned" Jet's small-thinking employee. Charging a customer $19.95 to ship a part that costs $1.07 is still ridiculous. Especially when the part could be stuffed into a #10 envelope and shipped for 37 cents. This is not good customer service, no matter how you look at it. This sort of thing is what makes customers switch brands. When companies do this sort of thing brand loyalty goes out the window.........as it should.

Follow along with me for a moment and look at these three scenarios.

1. Jet employee ships .07 item Fed Ex for .95. Customer is incensed and buys Delta next time.

1. Jet employee ships .00 item in 37 cent envelope..........customer is just satisfied........

2. Jet employee ships .00 item in 37 cent envelope........at no charge at all. Customer is extremely happy..............tells all his friends what good service he got...........and upgrades next year from his 9 Jet Mini to an 99 Jet 1642.

Which decision is wiser for the company? I think a paltry expense of $1.37 will buy an awful lot of good will. When you consider what a lot of companies spend on advertising every year, it's peanuts. Good companies realize that and are happy to spend pennies for a return that may net hundreds of dollars. It's just good business.

Barry

Suggestive, perhaps, but certainly nothing more.

Most of the scientific, technical, and medical fields are full of accents.

Come to think, there's a big bunch of folks out there who speak with the most incredible accents. They say y'all and suchlike....

While it's true that it could be stuffed in an envelope, the customer service rep may not have access to the part--these days customer service may not even be in the same country as the parts warehouse--he or she might have no option but to enter the order into a computer for somebody else to process.

What they should do is figure out their cost of support and build some of that into the cost of the product so they don't have to charge outrageous handling fees for tiny inexpensive parts.

======================== And the rest of y'all have those weird accents..... {:-))

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

A final report:

I got a "variety pack" of circlips from an auto parts store nearby (they didn't have a single of the right size). I also got the 4pack of clip pliers, because the 4pack of cheapo ones was 1/2 the price of the single pair of real ones. Being that I plan to only replace 1 or 2 circlips on my life, I opted for cheap... Total damage: $11, and if anybody needs a cheap pair of circlip pliers... you know who to ask...

Problem is, after all the warnings of the clips flying away, the pack only included 1 or the correct size! I figured this alone doomed me to hours of crawling around on my garage floor behind the shovels, hoping to find the garage-floor-colored, 1/32" thick tiny ring - o - metal when it shot away and near the speed of light...

I am happy to announce that my prayers and the chicken I sacrificed warded off the demons and the clip is now sitting right on the tailstock handle, where it belongs.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and tips.

For my own part, I think the person I spoke to on the phone did what they could - I'm sure they were in front of a computer screen with two shipment options - $19.95 envelope or $500 ground freight. Probably weren't even in the same county as the parts I was looking for (no accent, tho, FYI).

I think the system they work on and the responsibilities given to their employees could change a little, as is the case with so many companies out there nowadays. I agree - a $5 charge would have made me a more satisfied customer, but it isn't enough to push me to Delta. OneWay, maybe, but thats more economics holding me back... ; )

I would still recommend my lathe and other Jet tools to a friend, but I'd have a little bit of reality in the recommendation.

-- TC

Keep a chicken on hand, just in case having the right tool doesn't work.

Lemme see ... where's that basin wrench again......