Hare and Forbes

I have just sent the following email to the service management at Hare and Forbes. It speaks for itself.

"Hi there,

In today’s “lets make a quick buck” society, I don’t often have the joy of writing to a company with praise; most of the time its with a complaint about poor service, quality or attitude.

Admittedly I have not had a great run with new machinery from you guys, but in all honesty, for once, for one outstanding reason, it does not matter that much. That reason in a word is, service. I have the highest praise and admiration for your company and its service staff. Not only do the staff do their job and do it well, they go the extra mile to be helpful and they do it with a smile.

In particular, I have had multiple dealing with both Troy and George and they are both terrific. And I am not easily pleased. I actually expect people to do what they say they will do. Both George and Troy always keep me fully updated and deliver when they say they will deliver. It’s a pleasure dealing with two such professional service people. It’s a pity more companies don’t perform as proficiently as Hare and Forbes.

Thank you for providing such professional service and keep up the good work. Hare and Forbes are miles in front of the competition."

For the record, I have no affiliation with them but their service, support and attitude are the best I have encountered from a woodworking equipment retailers in Australia.

Been a while since I used them but I have had the same experience. They made sure that what I was buying was what I needed.

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Originally Posted by jimbur

Been a while since I used them but I have had the same experience. They made sure that what I was buying was what I needed.

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Likewise when I bought a bandsaw 2 or 3 years ago and a jointer earlier this year.

My experience unfortunately isn't the same. I have been into H&F Bribane on three occasions looking for equipment and couldn't even get a salespersons attention let alone help, and ended up going elsewhere each time. I found the presentation of their "showroom demonstration stock" to be rough with rusty table tops, dirt & dust, vague & out of date labeling etc. As a result I spent my money elsewhere.

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Originally Posted by tdrumnut

My experience unfortunately isn't the same. I have been into H&F Bribane on three occasions looking for equipment and couldn't even get a salespersons attention let alone help, and ended up going elsewhere each time. I found the presentation of their "showroom demonstration stock" to be rough with rusty table tops, dirt & dust, vague & out of date labeling etc. As a result I spent my money elsewhere.

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Same story on all counts with Bris H&F from me.

I did write more but decided to delete before posting.

I have been replacing my workshop set-up after the 2011 Brisbane flood so have been purchasing a lot more gear at one time than I would normally do. In that regard H&F recent sale was quite a boon :).

I have been quite disappointed with the quality of components such as the stands, which don't fit together at all well, and the very poor instructions, which make it a battle to assemble equipment when they describe a base that is not the one supplied. However, since I haven't complained about any of that I can't expect them to do anything, can I?

The one thing I have complained about - a used drum sander supplied as new from the Brisbane store - they have responded to superbly. They had no idea that it was used - some kind of mix-up in the store I suspect - but they readily replaced it, delivering it right to my workshop, which has 4WD drive access only! To make it up for the inconvenience they also delivered my new 14" bandsaw free of charge - also straight to the workshop. I think that level of service is to be commended.

I just wish they would match the competitions' 3 year guarantees!

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Originally Posted by Xanthorrhoeas

and the very poor instructions, which make it a battle to assemble equipment

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I am in violent agreement with you on that point. :p Hopeless and confusing, incorrect photos etc make it hard to put it together :~ .... but a couple of points.

Firstly they are not alone with these Chinese made instructions manuals that have been put together by technical boffins that may know all about the product, but have no idea that the recipient may have not have had 10,000 hours of experience with the product. Add to that, the translation that started as Chinese, was then translated to Greek, then Double Dutch, then French, then Pigeon, then Latin and finally to English. And the translations were done by primary school kids! :o Unfortunatly I have had the same problems with other suppliers.

Secondly, and this is important, when I was having trouble putting together my H&F Jointer and could not understand the dependency between the manual pictures, the text, and what I was actually seeing on my Jointer, they immediately emailed me some pictures of their demo machine and then walked me through the problem over the phone. Problem then solved quickly.