A few weeks ago I got my G0586 jointer. It was crated quite nicely, but when I pried the lid off the coffin, I found that the plastic bag the jointer was sealed in had a tear in it. There was moisture in the bag and I saw rust under the plastic in a spot on the infeed table and also the right end of the fence. The crate had no puncture damage, so the bag was not damaged during shipment.
I immediately went and got my digital camera. I took a picture of the plastic and rusty areas through the bag. Then, I unwrapped the plastic and took several more photos. I then wiped the protective grease off, taking more photos as I went.
When I got through cleaning, I found that the rust was contained in the grease on the infeed table. Only a couple of spots of discoloration remained. The fence did have some very minor pitting in the upper right corner. I took a couple of final shots after cleaning the areas as best I could.
Then, I sent an email to customer service, explaining what had happened and attached several representative photos. I also told them I wasn't interested in sending the whole unit back and asked for suggestions on what to do about the pitting. I didn't what to proceed on my own and then have no further recourse.
They phoned me the next day and said they were working on the issue and gave me a phone number and ticket #.
Well, 3 days later a new fence showed up via UPS.
BTW, the old fence works great as a knife setting jig. It's heavy and flat and does a great job of holding the knife even with the outfeed table while you tighten it up :)
-jj