Carbatec need to really rethink their customer service

[Evanism]

Ill just stick to the facts.

There is a thread I started earlier on the unsurpassed AWESOMENESS of Kregs service. In short, I had a bent router plate. I wrote Sunday night, by Monday morning 9.10am...yes AU time, another was posted. I RECEIVED it Thursday... from the US.

AWESOME.

Now, let me show you UN-AWESOME:

Friday 27 June 10.55am, contacted Carbatec (with their OWN ONLINE FORM!!!) to see if I ordered 3 items whether they would ship that day (Veritas Frame clamp, Veritas plug cutter and countersink set, I specified the items)..... waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.... bugger it, ordered it from the US Sunday*.

Friday 4 July 12.55am... a FULL WEEK... 7 DAYS LATER...Carbatec writes: "the quickest way to get an order processed and dispatched is to phone it through with the product codes cheers"

That was it. One line.

WWWHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????

I must be stupid. Here is a website with stock. I want to buy. I use the website THEY provide and use the contact mechanisms THEY stipulate and this is the brushoff I get?

Is this company for real? Is this all some sort of elaborate joke? Is this the way Mr Carbatec CEO wants his business protrayed?

Well. It goes right to the soul of the whole "Australia Tax" problem. Pure arrogance. If it isn't arrogance, its incompetence, but it can't be, for this MUST be a deliberately designed system. A manager has approved this process. The CEO must be aware of it. It is designed to frustrate me into buying overseas! That must be it! I'm yet to see how this benefits a local business by ignoring customers, but since this is the design - it MUST be true.

It worked! I was ignored enough to take my order OS, received fantastic service and I saved a ton of money.

My lesson is learned.

* I suspect the items will be here this arvo.

[artme]

I shake my head in despair at the lackadaisical attitude so often displayed by Carbatec.

I wanted two items from them at the wood show in Bris. They had neither there in stock but were good enough tto take one off the display board, a set of 75mm spigot jaws for a Teknatool chuck. Great, I thought!

I also wanted a set of power grip jaws for the same chuck. Not in stock. That's OK,. Can I order them here? No, just ring us u[ when you get back home!!!

Well, bugger!! I have figured I can do without the jaws! Had they been more amenable I would have spent somewhere near the $100 mark.

Now they have missed a sale and I am $100 better off.

Another time I was in the store in Bris and some mates were going through the ceramic tiles for making pot stands. They were told by one of the staff not to pick and choose as others also bought these!!:oo::oo:
I was flabbergasted and simply left without buying what I had intended to.

[kyaden]

I had the same experience, I emailed about some vertical clamps I needed for some jigs. No reply, I ended up ordering the same size for $12 ea cheaper from Hong Kong which arrived in only ten days. Oh well, their loss, my gain. I tried to buy Australian first!

[Morbius]

I've just had two disappointing experiences on my two most recent attempts to purchase gear here in Australia.

My first was with Carba-Tec. I phoned to check on an order that I had been waiting for a couple of weeks for. I got the auto response, after selecting which area I wanted to go to, got put on hold and waited. Ten minutes later it just hung up on me.
That was Sydney. I tried Brisbane, I figured I might have better luck. Same again. I was pretty cheesed off, so I tried Adelaide. And again, after the ten minute wait, they hung up. I didn't bother about Perth.

All during working hours on a week day. Not a public holiday in each of these states at the same time.

I suggested to Carba-Tec that they at least change their message if the stores are shut so that they don't waste their potential customer's money:


Hi Craig,


We apologise for any inconvenience which we may have caused you.
Your order is still on backorder. Hopefully, it will be in stock by end of July, but it hasn't been confirmed yet from our supplier.


Your patience would be greatly appreciated on this matter.

No explanation, or promise to fix the problem that is wasting customer's money.

Still,

Not as bad as another recent effort by another Australian dealer (who I won't name). I was looking for the Robert Sorby Deluxe Universal Sharpening System. It retails in the US for $140 US and in the UK for about 89 pounds. I expected to see a price of approx $200. At first the dealer told me:


we don't have those in stock .
We can get for you .

We have a local version made by Vicmarc

That seemed to be at odds with the literature on the dealer's very own website for the Vicmarc gear, which stated that Vicmarc had a unique design. So, I tried to clarify again and get a price.

The response I got was:


The Robert Sorby unit only does the fingernail style grind. $397.71

The Vicmarc allows you to do all your chisels and is easy to set up and use

Yet the Sorby web site claims:


The Universal Sharpening System allows the woodworker to sharpen a host of regular shaped tools - like parting tools, scrapers, tips, plane irons, bench chisels. It construction means that its is adjustable for height so it may be used in conjunction with 6" or 8" bench grinders with equal ease.

I should point out that the Deluxe model, which I made very clear was what I was after and even provided a stock number for, also includes the fingernail jig.

Even if I give the dealer the benefit of the doubt here, the fingernail jig, by itself retails for about 67 pounds or US$114 which makes the price disparity even larger. I can only assume this was a tactic to persuade me to buy the Vicmarc instead.

Allowing $50 for postage from the US, with every accessory available for the universal jig I could still purchase it cheaper from overseas.

I was after a jig, but instead nearly got a gouge, and not the kind I could use in my shed.

I deliberately went for an Aussie dealer for the Sorby gear because if I wasn't buying Australian made, then I could at least support an Australian business. I may buy other gear from that dealer in future, but it won't be before I really do my homework and if it is worth my while financially to buy from him rather than from elsewhere, including overseas. Given the apparent markup, and the misinformation, I don't like his odds of seeing my cash.

Australian businesses need to do business smarter and respond better to customers. It's not the 70's anymore and we can shop around on the internet, and shipping from the US by freight companies is a lot cheaper than postage.

Word also gets around thanks to forums like these.

Craig

[Tonyz]

Not putting anyone down here but we can gripe and moan all we like but I'd guarrantee the owners of Carba-tec MIGHT start taking action or doing something if we channelled our complaints their way.
Mind you have just done a ABN search and theres 16 hits for Carbatec

So can some learned fellow kindly provide a email or snail mail contact to the CEO of their head office, that way he may wake up to the purile service they are providing.

Yes yes I know most are franchised out but someone surely must care,

or do they (Carbatec) think themselves so high and mighty that the customer can get ............... jumped on.

Stop belly aching here go to the source.

[FenceFurniture]

Yes yes I know most are franchised out but someone surely must care, Good luck....

[specialist]

:whs: I agree, after a month of trying to talk to someone on the front counter by phone and failing every time. They did return one call which I missed, they never bothered to try again, even saying in an email that I needed to provide a better phone number. I just happened to be out of phone coverage at the time, I am sure that everyone has missed a call in those circumstances.... I found the email to be abrupt and bordering on rude. I did wonder if they do indeed want to sell anything by mail order at all.

I get to brisbane quite often, but find that getting out to wakerly is a chore as it is so far out of my way, so mail order is the preferred way to trade for me.

Rob

[chook]

I suppose everybody who has ever bought many tools has a Carbatec story. I have had a few incidences of appalling service myself, things which made me wonder why I went there at all. But I live in Brisbane and I want Carbatec to prosper and succeed. It suits me to be able to get into my car and buy good quality tools and I would not be pleased if they were not there. I have come to terms with the internet and shop online when it suits me but there are many times when a trip to the local shop,is the best option.

There is a chap who works for them who is one of the best salesman I have ever meet, an older man and he is brilliant. And there are others too who have gone out of their way to help me. I do not say that this excuses some of the things that happen but for every bad experience I have had I have had many good ones.

[cava]

Unfortunately, my bad experiences outweigh my good experiences with them.

[specialist]

I suppose everybody who has ever bought many tools has a Carbatec story. I have had a few incidences of appalling service myself, things which made me wonder why I went there at all. But I live in Brisbane and I want Carbatec to prosper and succeed. It suits me to be able to get into my car and buy good quality tools and I would not be pleased if they were not there. I have come to terms with the internet and shop online when it suits me but there are many times when a trip to the local shop,is the best option.

There is a chap who works for them who is one of the best salesman I have ever meet, an older man and he is brilliant. And there are others too who have gone out of their way to help me. I do not say that this excuses some of the things that happen but for every bad experience I have had I have had many good ones.


I absolutely agree with your sentiments, I too like the idea of having a place where one can buy good quality tools, however, should they rely on the fact that they have a shop full of quality gear to make up for the appalling service that is provided on the whole. I too have had some good experiences with them, but that was years ago, it has progressively gotten worse over time. There are some good people there, but it seems that the culture of bad service has been allowed to flourish, and I guess that stems from management, not the people on the floor who obviously try to help as best they can.

Rob

[Big Shed]

Unfortunately, my bad experiences outweigh my good experiences with them.

Yes, that goes for me too, BUT, the one really good experience I have had with Carbatec goes some way to making up for the many bad experiences.

When I was in the market for a tablesaw a local forum member alerted me to a special that Carbatec had going on the TL10S, a brilliant tablesaw.

As soon as I heard about this special I rang Carbatec in Melbourne only to be told they were all sold and no more were in Oz and no more would be imported.

As I had experienced the assembled Melbourne knowledge before I decided to ring Brisbane and got on to a chap who was extremely helpful (I am sorry to say I have forgotten his name).
He told me that there was one left and I ordered it there and then, he then offered to freight it to my place in Bendigo free of charge. As I didn't have any facility to get it off the truck I asked him to send it to Melbourne instead and I would pick it up from there.

This he duly did and I was stoked.

I won't relate the rest of the story of how this was then handled in Melbourne, suffice to say that experience matches virtually every experience I have had with Carbatec Melbourne.:~

[_fly_]

Yes, that goes for me too, BUT, the one really good experience I have had with Carbatec goes some way to making up for the many bad experiences.

When I was in the market for a tablesaw a local forum member alerted me to a special that Carbatec had going on the TL10S, a brilliant tablesaw.

As soon as I heard about this special I rang Carbatec in Melbourne only to be told they were all sold and no more were in Oz and no more would be imported.

As I had experienced the assembled Melbourne knowledge before I decided to ring Brisbane and got on to a chap who was extremely helpful (I am sorry to say I have forgotten his name).
He told me that there was one left and I ordered it there and then, he then offered to freight it to my place in Bendigo free of charge. As I didn't have any facility to get it off the truck I asked him to send it to Melbourne instead and I would pick it up from there.

This he duly did and I was stoked.

I won't relate the rest of the story of how this was then handled in Melbourne, suffice to say that experience matches virtually every experience I have had with Carbatec Melbourne.:~

Your probably lucky they didn't sell it to someone else here in Melbourne when it arrived. more than likely would have told you they needed it to swap under a warranty.

[delbs]

We had a huge thread regarding this topic a while back which neil shutdown because it was turning into a winge and moan thread instead of something constructive. Not wanting or trying to offend people but if carbatech didnt listen 6 months ago with the last thread I dont think they're going to now.. :) id just go shopping where you know will treat you well and prices are good etc. I wouldnt bother trying to flog a dead horse.

[_fly_]

id just go shopping where you know will treat you well and prices are good etc.

SO, do you know somewhere then?
Are you keeping secrets?

[delbs]

Not keeping any secrets. Depends what your after obviously but I shop all over the place. Not really loyal to just one large store like carbatech. Not going to post my whole favourites list on here of what sites I visit I just mean that we all know carabatechs website/ inventory system is rubbish along with customer service so why not just shop elsewhere instead of going back when its still the same.

On 2nd thought lll post a few that i visit pretty frequently and have been very happy with in the past. These arent equivalent to Carbatech in the fact they are a large store and have everything, they have select tools but are just so much better with customer service and shipping and i cannot complain about prices because of the before mention reasons.

Some or all of these links you will have come across at some point. this is just where i go or google around until i find what i want, i pretty much never go to Carbatech for any Veritas stuff anymore, always lee valley.
.
Hopes this helps someone think outside of the Carbatech box

Skills Publishing Online (http://www.skillspublish.com.au/) - For my books, especially ones that are australian specific. VERY quick postage
Sydneytools.com.au
Buy Woodworking Router, Power Accessories, Online Tools Shop Australia | Timbecon (http://www.timbecon.com.au/)
Home | Carroll's Woodcraft Supplies (http://www.cws.au.com)
Pen Kits, Pen blanks, Clock Kits and wood turning accessories. (http://www.timberbits.com/)
Lee Valley Tools (http://www.leevalley.com)
http://www.thesandpaperman.com.au/
http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Home
http://www.apworkshop.com.au/index.html
http://www.gifkins.com.au/
http://www.justtools.com.au/prod8212.htm
http://www.veneerinlay.com.au/

[doug3030]

When I was living in Bundaberg, up until around 2008, we used to make a trip to Brisbane approximately once a quarter. There was a lacy there called Jan, who I used to email direct with my requirements. We used to leave Bundaberg early on a Saturday morning and try to arrive at carbatec around 9am, about a four hour drive. On arrival my order was always ready to pick up. I only met Jan face to face once but we used to email and phone as needed and it worked very well. I bought a number of pieces of larger machinery from them, a 15" thicknesser, bandsaw, drill press and belt and disk sander. Back then I thought their customer service was great.

I have not dealt with the Brisbane store in a long time apart from an "experience" when I ordered replacement drive belts for the belt and disk sander, and they lost them on me by posting them to the wrong address. They had a typo and sent them to the wrong street number. To their credit they sent another two belts to me after Australia Post washed their hands of any responsibility.

I bought my 21" bandsaw from Carbatec Melbourne at the WWW Show a few years back. I ran into Jeremy, a luthier, who used to work in their Brisbane showroom and had been called in to man the show stand. Coincidentally, he had sold me my 14" bandsaw in Brisbane. He allowed me to negotiate a good deal but I had to go to their Melbourne branch to pick it up.

All in all, I seem to have fared better than most in dealing with Carbatec, and I agree with the sentiments that have been posted that it is the management rather than the employees who are the problem. I have to endure that situation at my place of employment and it is very frustrating.

In my own situation, I know that the top echelon are very savvy people who have a great vision for the company and ideas that work. At the coalface there are great people who try to do their best for the customers, but there is this big sponge in the middle that just sits there and absorbs the good ideas coming from above and below and acts as a huge blocker, frustrating the people at the coalface and I am sure causing the upper echelon to bang their heads against the walls of their ivory towers.

Unfortunately, it is this totally useless layer of management that is frustrating those above and below them. The majority of them have no idea what the people at the coalface do every day or how the management decisions affect how they do their jobs. I think this is the same thing that is happening at Carbatec.

Cheers

DOug

[Evanism]

Use their own ordering and customer service systems.

Why not pick up the phone and order a big widget and see what the experience is like, right through to delivery?

Why not fill in their own forms and see how long and what type of response customer service takes?

Why not order the same thing off a competitor to see if they offer a better experience than others?

It's not as if it costs anything. They can just refund themselves or sell it anyway.

If the CEO is concerned with balance sheets and shareholder value, it can only be seen through direct random experiences.

If someone here knows who to write to at Carbatec I'd be VERY happy to pen a letter.

[Mobyturns]

We had a huge thread regarding this topic a while back which neil shutdown because it was turning into a winge and moan thread instead of something constructive. Not wanting or trying to offend people but if carbatech didnt listen 6 months ago with the last thread I dont think they're going to now.. :) id just go shopping where you know will treat you well and prices are good etc. I wouldnt bother trying to flog a dead horse.

I agree with most of delbs comments. There is no point having a whinge here if you are not prepared to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard to compose an email or letter re your experiences with Carbatec.

Personally I have had some very good interactions and some not so good out of the Carbatec Brisbane office, with enough average & good ones to make it worthwhile though. I have probably experienced no worse service than from several other major retailers these days. That does not excuse poor service by any of them though. Retail managers look at their business model, trading stats, and the percentage of poor customer interactions wrt the total transactions. Unless each poor performance in delivery, customer experience etc makes it into their stats they think they are doing just fine.

When a much smaller competitor offers similar products, very good service, reliable, fast packing and delivery and some even go well above and beyond what I consider good service, they win my business hands down every time, even if I have to pay an acceptable (to me) premium for that service.

One thing I marvel at these days is the level of effort most retailers are putting in to get customers through the door to purchase. Most of our wood/metal hobby purchases are purely discretionary so we really can do without the "luxuries" of our hobby. Smaller competitors must be relishing the opportunities to redirect that business to themselves.

[Handyjack]

Use their own ordering and customer service systems.

Why not pick up the phone and order a big widget and see what the experience is like, right through to delivery?

Why not fill in their own forms and see how long and what type of response customer service takes?

Why not order the same thing off a competitor to see if they offer a better experience than others?

It's not as if it costs anything. They can just refund themselves or sell it anyway.

If the CEO is concerned with balance sheets and shareholder value, it can only be seen through direct random experiences.

If someone here knows who to write to at Carbatec I'd be VERY happy to pen a letter.

An "Undercover Boss" situation where management works in the various areas and states to find out what works and what does not. They might get customer and staff feed back which is negative or positive.

[Big Shed]

........I bought my 21" bandsaw from Carbatec Melbourne at the WWW Show a few years back. I ran into Jeremy, a luthier, who used to work in their Brisbane showroom and had been called in to man the show stand. Coincidentally, he had sold me my 14" bandsaw in Brisbane. He allowed me to negotiate a good deal but I had to go to their Melbourne branch to pick it up.

Cheers

DOug

Thank you for jogging my memory Doug, that is the very efficient and capable guy who looked after me with my tablesaw purchase.

[FenceFurniture]

Use their own ordering and customer service systems.

Why not pick up the phone and order a big widget and see what the experience is like, right through to delivery?

Why not fill in their own forms and see how long and what type of response customer service takes?

Why not order the same thing off a competitor to see if they offer a better experience than others?

It's not as if it costs anything. They can just refund themselves or sell it anyway.

If the CEO is concerned with balance sheets and shareholder value, it can only be seen through direct random experiences.

If someone here knows who to write to at Carbatec I'd be VERY happy to pen a letter.Absobloodylutely! I actually came across a website (2 in fact) just recently where I could tick ALL the items I wanted to add to the cart in one go! Astonishing! Lousy websites proliferate around the world. I often say to my partner (a web designer) "Don't these people test/use their own websites?"

Carbatec contact is Rod Bonham:
CARBA-TEC (http://www.carbatec.com.au/may-2011-intro)

I had a complaint a couple of years ago that he handled very efficiently. Since then I have just accepted their "business model". You could suggest to him that he do a search of his business name on the forums, but advise him to take a strong sedative just prior.

[chuck1]

I have mixed thoughts about them! The positive is there is an agent for them close by so I go through him now! As one person in the Sydney Carbatec needs an attitude adjustment to customer service!

[L R P]

Rod is no longer at Ctec.

Talk with Simon or Travis

[doug3030]

Rod is no longer at Ctec.

That could be the problem :?

[Chesand]

If you do not know the name of the person to write to, you can always address the letter to "The Managing Director" and mark the envelope "Private and Confidential".
I have done this in the past with a couple of companies and it works.

[Morbius]

I agree with most of delbs comments. There is no point having a whinge here if you are not prepared to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard to compose an email or letter re your experiences with Carbatec.

I don't think Carbatec is one of those companies that does much with complaints. I got a "sorry" and no undertaking to fix the problem.

I also doubt that the complaints get past their operators or through the middlemen. Realistically, competition-wise, there's not a lot easily and quickly available, what is a disgruntled consumer really able to do?

They might be surprised.

I dealt with a US company that had operators who figured that I couldn't do anything about my complaint. After failing to get past the operators to talk to a manager, I posted a complaint about Bongo US on "The Ripoff Report"

Ripoff Report | Bongous - Bongo International - Bongous.com Complaint Review Internet: 571856 (http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Bongous-Bongo-International-Bongouscom/internet/Bongous-Bongo-International-Bongouscom-Customer-service-failure-Evasive-and-obstruc-571856)

Bongo US were in a big hurry to contact me and get me to remove my report when they saw where I had posted my complaint.

Mind you, in my case with Carbatec, they wasted time and some money on long-distance calls, and not the quantity that Bongo US was holding to ransom on me. In Australia, there are other options for publicly posting complaints that will come to the attention of anyone doing a bit of repetitional management.

Craig

[Dangermandave]

I'm a loyal person who really appreciates good customer service, I am by no means demanding in anyway when it comes to making purchases. I don't haggle the price is the price and I always smile and say please and thank you. So my local carbatec in Sydney has always been my preferred supplier. I have only ever purchased off the one carbatec employee, his knowledge is excellent & have always waited for him to finish with other customers. We both greet each other on a first name basis.

So a couple of months ago I went and saw the employee and told him I was looking to purchase a powermatic 600mm wide spiral head thicknesser, powermatic dust extractor and a festool belt sander along with other bits and pieces, the total was upwards of $7.5k. Did the deal they had everything in stock I was extremely pleased with the whole deal.I went and unwrapped the toys
That night when I got home I was greeted with a carbatec brochure with a spend $500 receive $100 in store deal starting the very next day. The next day I drove to carbatec and spoke to the employee, enquiring wether they would maybe honour the deal considering it was the very next day! The employee informed me he wouldn't be able to do that.

I promptly told him it would be a cold day in hell before I set foot in,recommended or spend another cent with them.

Just vote with your feet there's plenty of other options if you look.
cheers
Dave

[cava]

Just vote with your feet there's plenty of other options if you look.
cheers
Dave
I would like another option in Melbourne, and I have looked - any suggestions?

[Big Shed]

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