A couple of weeks ago I was browsing Woodhaven's online catalogue and came across a circle cutting jig kit for a router ($75 plus $20 shipping) which appeared to overcome the two short comings of my homemade $2 nail and hardboard set up. Another $23 (CDN this time) and I had it out of customs and assembled even though it arrived with a few stripped threads. The first thing I noticed was that I needed to use a straight cutting bit that was about 1 1/8" longer than the ones I normally used. No problem. But how do you start the cut. With my hardboard set up I lifted the router a bit while flexing the hardboard to start the router and then lowered it to start the cut. The arm on the Woodhaven unit allowed for no flex. Checked the picture in the catalogue again and yes they were using a fixed base router very similar to mine. So I emailed them. It bounced back as my sender was in their "bad mail file", whatever that means. So I called them on my nickel again as their 1-800 number does not work in Canada. A couple on calls later I got their "technical" guy. His reply was that I needed to buy a plunge router. His other suggestion was to start the router and lower it into the base while RUNNING. I called back and spoke to a very nice lady at the sales desk who said she would check to see if they would pay the postage if I returned the unit. When she called back a couple of hours later to say they would pay the postage both ways I asked about the customs fees. We talked for a minute or so and it became obvious that this was a lose-lose situation. If they paid the shipping and customs it would cost them about $56 to retrieve an item they retail for $75. It would have been cheaper for them to make another one, I think. On my part I would be out about 6 or 7 long distance calls plus packaging costs, travel into town, ect. I asked that before she got back to me about the customs cost they consider another possible solution. Simply put, I would pay the original shipping costs plus the customs fee and they would credit my account with the purchase price. They reduce their loss and I get $75 back to be used toward the purchase of a plunge router. They responded yesterday, No, send it back with no mention of the customs cost. They are the ones who misrepresented their product and are now failing to make it right. Not exactly the Lee Valley experience. Rant off, JG
- posted
20 years ago