I may have mentioned that I acquired a pre-owned Woodrat from CL. The previous owner advised that one of the cauls that hold the wood piece in place was defective and when it arrived I discovered that the trip to my shop didn't cure the problem.
I called Woodrat and after a brief chat with Martin, inventor and proprietor, and he quickly offered to send me the replacement part at no charge. Now that's what I call service!
I am now starting to make friends with my new toy. It looks like a fairly steep learning curve, but I have lots of odds and ends from the scrap bucket to practice on.
I had a contractor break a hose reel while working on my windows (new house problems) last summer. Of course they didn't tell me they broke it. I went online to Ames' site and they not only had the plastic part, but it was free, including shipping. Not bad service for a purveyor of a stupid $50 hose reel.
Last week my Panasonic plasma TV crapped out so I text-messaged (their web site) their support group. While going back and forth I found the charge on the Amex site; I bought it two years minus three days before. Unfortunately, it only had a 1 year warranty. The service rep took all my information and I sent them a PDF of that section of the online bill. The next day they called to set up an *in-home* service call. Two days later the repair techs drove 50mi each way to replace the power supply. No charge.
I know how you feel. Yes, I'll certainly buy plastic crap by Ames and Panasonic electronics in the future. I'm always shocked when things work out like this, but it seems to happen more often now than it did just a few years ago. Maybe customer service is making a comeback.
My Westinghouse LCD crapped out last week -- 14 months after I bought it with a one-year warranty. I called the service center and all they could do for me is point me at the local rep, who came over ($50) and diagnosed the problem as a short somewhere internal in the power supply route. He charged me another $25 to give me a full estimate for the repair ($225). This time I went for a Toshiba.
Once had a jinxed Toshiba ... it would only make a "click" and not come on, except from one specific circuit in the house, three rooms away, and ONLY then when using a certain 50' extension cord, attached to an UPS ... and that combination never failed.
You could then switch to the jinxed receptacle, but very quickly, and it would work for that one time ONLY!
Wanted to turn the damn thing on, you better use that extension cord and UPS, fifty feet away and make quick switch, otherwise click city for days.
Occasionally, and suddenly out of the blue, you could walk by and hit the power button and it would come on, but never twice in a row, and then maybe not do it again for months at a time.
There was nothing wrong with the electricity on the closest receptacle, or in the house (checked thoroughly with all sorts of electronic equipment, receptacle replaced, etc.), and, of course, it would NEVER fail to start at any of the myriad of TV repair shops that picked it up to fix the problem.
Many parts were replaced to no avail, and out of self defense, we simply left the damn thing on for the better part of three years ... until even I, who doesn't watch much TV, had "enuff o dat stuff", and got a new one ... which started just fine for the next two years until we moved, and from the very same receptacle.
Oh, and I forgot to add. Said jinxed TV was purchased from Sam's, and it started, without fail, until the 369th day after purchase. 4 days out of their one year replacement warranty at the time.
The original receipt was looked upon with disdain by Sam's and they refused, despite numerous attempts, to honor the warranty saying it was a manufacturer's problem ... CS at Sam's, FAIL.
FWIW, a friend of mine got a first generation 42" 1920x1080 Sceptre from Costco when they first came out--that's a Chinese TV back when the Chinese were the only ones making 1920x1080 LCD panels (they stole a march on the Japanese and Koreans). It's still going strong.
On the other hand, the prices on such things are in rapid decline.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.