Frustration with MLCS Dovetail Jig Defects

[-MIKE-]

Don't you love having to fix something, out of the box, that you bought, new. I bought a dovetail jig from MLCS. I open it up and start to assemble it and there are problems, right off the bat. You can see in the following pictures that half of the six bolts on it are bent.

you can't see is that the template brackets were also bent and the jig body was out of square. (The jig body holds the stock together at

90degrees)

Of course, they offered to replace it, but I have to ship it back to them and wait for them to get it, until they send another one back. So, I have to *pay* to ship something back and wait a couple more weeks.

Not gonna do it. I told MLCS to make a record of our conversation and that I was going to see if I could bend the parts back without them breaking. Those pictures are for the before... for the record.

That's what I did, I bent them back and I'll see what happens tomorrow.

Just venting, I guess. I get frustrated by having to repair or re-engineer things I buy, new, just to get them to operate properly. This seems to happen a lot lately.

[nailshooter41]

I hate fixing anything new, and I don't think I should have to do it. I usually don't.

I had an old dovetail jig years ago, and it had been dropped or mishandled in some other way. It was an old steel setup, and was fairly heavy, and a simple drop would have bent it off true enough for problems.

Take my word on this.... you won't get it right. I goofed with it for a month until I gave up. It got close, but that was it.

I took it back (Woodcraft) and got another one as soon as they go them back in stock.

Robert

[blueman]

If they sent you something that was defective out-of-the-box, you should NOT have to pay for return shipping. I would continue calling & arguing (politely) with them until they consent to cover return shipping. Ideally, they should be willing to ship a new one right away with the option of charging your credit card if you fail to return the original in reasonable time. A good company may even offer to expedite shipping of the replacement and/or not require you to return the old broken one.

On the other hand, If they fail to cover return shipping, I would threaten to cancel the payment with your credit card company. Personally, I have bought tons of stuff online and have NEVER had to pay for return shipping of defective items. YMMV.

[Swingman]

Bingo ... and close doesn't count with dovetail jigs under the best of circumstances.

IME, trying to straighten this thing out is going to be a constant source of future frustration.

[keithw86]

I'm with you. They didn't live up to their end of the contract. If they can't make you whole at the original price (shipping included), tell them that you're canceling the order (you haven't received what you ordered) and issue a charge-back. If your credit card company balks, they're the next to be fired.

[-MIKE-]

They did offer to send one and charge the card..... who wouldn't? That's called "buying" a new one, right? :-)

To me, it was more about the time. I was/am ready to get rocking on this thing.

And if the repairs I did, yesterday, don't cut it today, I'll be having that "return shipping" conversation with them.

I was hoping they were the kind of company (like Lee Valley seems to be and others I've dealt with) who would be shipping out up a new one that day and emailing a return shipping label to me before I hung up the phone.

*Anyone* can get every order right all the time. The test of an exception company is what happens after they screw up.

[-MIKE-]

I suspect you guys may be right. I did the repairs, yesterday. I'm going to test it out, today, and see what's up.

[keithw86]

That's fine. Just get them to refund the price of the damaged one, pending your timely return (on their dime).

Then they'll claim that you damaged it.

I think you mean that the other way 'round (anyone can screw up - no one is perfect...)

Yup. Companies that fix problems with a minimum of fuss get my repeat business.

[Swingman]

Break a leg! I'm hoping we're wrong ... let us know.

[-MIKE-]

Yeah, understood.

Nah, when I talked to the guy on the phone, I told him I was doing that. Only a really terrible company/employee would operate like that. And this would be the litmus test, meaning they would never see another dime from me, nor anyone in this group... or lumberjocks.com, etc., etc.

Nope, that's the way I meant it. With computers and bar codes and all that, any company can do it right. You find out who really has their act together when something goes awry.

There are still plenty of those around, thankfully.

[-MIKE-]

Seems to work properly, after my repairs.

However, there are some simple things they could to this to make to much easier to use.