Crappy Customer Service

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gsnthensome
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:37 pm

Crappy Customer Service

Post by gsnthensome »

I am wondering if this is a common occurrence. First off, Rockler customer service is great! Shipping was fast, my phone calls were always returned immediately. On the other hand...Next Wave Automation...So, I get my brand new Shark HD, we meticulously take it from the box and set it up on our custom built table. Looks great. We were waiting for our tooling to arrive in order to begin testing, another 4 days from setup. Now I have the CNC, tooling, router, table, computer, software, hardwood lumber (about $6000 sitting and waiting). I planned for one week in shipping and one week to get everything sorted out, losing money everyday the machine sat there. I am excited when I finally get to begin testing, only the y-axis will not move. I look underneath and there is a cheap plastic T-nut that is hanging off the screw that moves the y-axis. I called Rockler after hours and the minute the Shark specialist gets in the next morning my phone was ringing. After explaining our situation and the economical importance of this machine for our business, he immediately contacted Next Wave to have them ship me the parts right away and have them contact us to let us know what is going on. I am being patient knowing stuff like this happens. The end of the day rolls around and I still had not heard a word from Next Wave. We call them (thankfully they answered), they said they have our parts and UPS is there picking it up. They assure us that our parts will be here by Thursday or Friday at the latest. They sent us the tracking number only for me to find out they sent it the slowest route and it is estimated to be here in 5 business days. So, I am losing hundreds of dollars a day waiting for a $10 part and Next Wave is too cheap to pay $10 to get it here within a reasonable amount of time. I would have gladly paid the extra freight to have it here immediately. Now that it's in transit I cannot get it here sooner. If you are using your machine for a business I would be prepared for this. I could only imagine if I had to ship the machine back to them to get it repaired under warranty...probably months to get it back. Afterall, the quality of customer service is as important, if not more important, than your product. I risked a large investment to try their product and now I am considering taking the loss on a 15% restocking fee if this is what I should expect from them.

baby15
Posts: 199
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:48 pm
Location: lockport ny

Re: Crappy Customer Service

Post by baby15 »

gsnthensome wrote:I am wondering if this is a common occurrence. First off, Rockler customer service is great! Shipping was fast, my phone calls were always returned immediately. On the other hand...Next Wave Automation...So, I get my brand new Shark HD, we meticulously take it from the box and set it up on our custom built table. Looks great. We were waiting for our tooling to arrive in order to begin testing, another 4 days from setup. Now I have the CNC, tooling, router, table, computer, software, hardwood lumber (about $6000 sitting and waiting). I planned for one week in shipping and one week to get everything sorted out, losing money everyday the machine sat there. I am excited when I finally get to begin testing, only the y-axis will not move. I look underneath and there is a cheap plastic T-nut that is hanging off the screw that moves the y-axis. I called Rockler after hours and the minute the Shark specialist gets in the next morning my phone was ringing. After explaining our situation and the economical importance of this machine for our business, he immediately contacted Next Wave to have them ship me the parts right away and have them contact us to let us know what is going on. I am being patient knowing stuff like this happens. The end of the day rolls around and I still had not heard a word from Next Wave. We call them (thankfully they answered), they said they have our parts and UPS is there picking it up. They assure us that our parts will be here by Thursday or Friday at the latest. They sent us the tracking number only for me to find out they sent it the slowest route and it is estimated to be here in 5 business days. So, I am losing hundreds of dollars a day waiting for a $10 part and Next Wave is too cheap to pay $10 to get it here within a reasonable amount of time. I would have gladly paid the extra freight to have it here immediately. Now that it's in transit I cannot get it here sooner. If you are using your machine for a business I would be prepared for this. I could only imagine if I had to ship the machine back to them to get it repaired under warranty...probably months to get it back. Afterall, the quality of customer service is as important, if not more important, than your product. I risked a large investment to try their product and now I am considering taking the loss on a 15% restocking fee if this is what I should expect from them.
never had a problem I cant fix myself. but of course I bought it for a hobby an not a living. just my 2 cents

milo30
Posts: 553
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:21 pm

Re: Crappy Customer Service

Post by milo30 »

I did have to send back my control box and I had it repaired and back within a week. So they aren't terrible on their turn time but they do use slow shipping. They are a little slow on phone service at times though. I emailed a work request in almost 2 months ago. I know they received it because I got a cc on them forwarding it to Tim but never got any response. My personal opinion is that they are more interested in selling complete new machines than the rest of what you'd expect from a business.

If you are a business and relying on this, I think you chose the wrong machine. I think this is great entry level for the hobbyist but after seeing a shopbot and camaster in person, they make these look like toys. If your business is going to be dependent on the cnc, take the hit on the restocking fee and buy a camaster.
I met the owner for camaster and they were much more open about their machines and coming accessories. For some reason Newwave seems to try and be secretive about too many things. I havent figured that one out yet.

The shark was a good learner for me but when I get more business built up I am going to upgrade to something more heavy duty and able to cut much faster.

Tim Owens
Posts: 361
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:51 pm

Re: Crappy Customer Service

Post by Tim Owens »

Gnsthensome, I am sorry you had an issue with one of our products. Now, as I understand it you contacted Rockler who got you directly in touch with our service techs who arranged to get you a warranty part with no delay. Our standing order is all warranty parts in the continual US should get to the customer in 2 days. If it was sent ground that was a mistake and if they techs were telling you 2 days that sounds like their plan was to get it to you in that time frame. It appears the service tech selected the incorrect shipping method. If anything like that happened which differed from what you were told you could contact us again or even myself and it would have been corrected (we could of changed the shipping method or expressed another part).
Nearly half of our business is to other businesses and we understand down time and the stress and costs that can incur from it. We also have a loaner program for controllers to minimize downtime for businesses. Companies from the mom and pop to Boeing and 3M use our products and we are committed to getting you up and running.
Email us if you have any other questions.

Tim Owens

gsnthensome
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:37 pm

Re: Crappy Customer Service

Post by gsnthensome »

I am not looking for justification as to why a mistake was made, but how I as a customer of a brand new product was taken care of. Quality customer service is where every customer is taken care of regardless of how much business they give. I paid full price and bought your most expensive machine. No one put us in touch with one of your techs. After contacting Rockler twice during the day, once to report the problem and explain the situation and a second time after hearing nothing as to the status of our replacement parts (several hours later) . Both times being told Rockler contacted you and we should expect some kind of contact concerning the issue directly from your company. It wasn't until the end of the day, having heard nothing, that I became concerned. I found your contact information on your website and called you directly... My point of this post is not that you replaced my part under warranty, but to find out if I should expect to lose many dollars over an easily replaceable part that for a few dollars more could be to my doorstep the next day (which I gladly would have paid to uprgrade the shipping). I understand that mistakes are made. I cannot help but think if my name was Boeing or 3M that my parts would have been in my hand within 24 hrs, not to mention direct communication as to the status of the situation would be of great concern. I have many tools under warranty and I buy thousands of dollars in parts and supplies online, I know when I am being jerked around. What is said online in an open forum from a company representative and what actually happens may not be the same. I am not putting down your product or your business. However, I am sharing my experience as an honest, paying customer.

Tim Owens
Posts: 361
Joined: Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:51 pm

Re: Crappy Customer Service

Post by Tim Owens »

Rockler should have directly call us with you on the line or given you our tech number if all lines were busy.
If you were a company 3M you would have been handled the same. We have a standard 2 day policy for warranty parts to reach the destination. Again I appreciate your time in responding to this and providing us this information. I have communicated to our personal this morning to make sure any warranty get to its destination not later the a 2 day ship so a situation like this would not happen again.

Tim Owens

fixtureman
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:46 am

Re: Crappy Customer Service

Post by fixtureman »

For a business machine you should have gotten a more robust machine. Shopbot has some that would fit your needs better. They would be a lot faster so you would be able to push more work out the door in the same time. I was thinking about getting a shark to do small stuff that I don't need my large table but the company that I would be cutting for lost the contract so until they pick it back up I will hold off.

milo30
Posts: 553
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 9:21 pm

Re: Crappy Customer Service

Post by milo30 »

I'm eventually going to get me a more industrial type of CNC. I pretty much know which one I am going with. I will keep the shark though. It is good for what it is, I'd just like to run faster and have a larger table. I figure I could use the new machine for business and use the shark to make some of the personal things that I never seem to get the time to make. Plus the shark would make an inexpensive backup in case one of the machines go down such as yours.

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