Carbatec does it again

[FenceFurniture]

now that is a bit unfair.

Nah, I meant not possible for CT to get close. My personal LV experience was extraordinarily good (and generous)..


(I forget who the character was, but it was said to Fawlty)
"I suggest that this is the worst restaurant on the entire South Coast of England"
The Major "NO, NO, I won't have that! There's that place in Eastbourne"

[nrb]

My experience with these guys has been very good,bought a table saw some years ago and had a problem that something had not been tightened up correctly,they sent a courier to pick it up,a couple of days later a call, when can we bring it back,all good
Just recently bought a angle cross sled,none in Aus but an order from the USA in process,told it would be about 4 weeks,got a call about then to come and pick up,no problems

[MikeJ]

Sorry to hear of your problems. I have found Carbatec in Hobart to be terrific. When stuff needs to be ordered it has always arrived in the time frame promised.

Cheers

[Tonyz]

Dont buy much, cant afford to but I read the comments and my thoughts are.....

has anyone tracked down the head office/management of Crapatec, not just a store but where all the decisions are made...supposedly. Is there a registered office for Carbatec?

the below attachment is interesting. But it may be worth someone doing a more detailed search, knowing what they are looking for.

If stores are just part of an organisation and the staff in said stores know the stuffups start in head office then really while they get paid should they really care, yes some will go beyond the normal staff requirements.

I understand complaints etc but unless the business is notified then nothing will happen. I would also surmise they are big enough to not really get in a panic over a few complaints, there is not enough competition to worry about. Sad state of affairs if that is true.

[ian]

from Carbatech's website
" ... our current retail stores in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide as well as our licensed stores in Hobart, Launceston and Auckland ..."

"our retail stores" would suggest part of a whole.

[Lappa]

Phone calls made and received, emails received , SMS received and I’m promised my item this Friday (7th) so I took a day off work. Still no item.
This time it appears it’s StarTrack Express at fault. Picked up on the 4th but still sitting on their depot floor at 4:30 on the 7th.

On another note, I ordered some TFT displays and boards from China last Friday night and received them 8:52am Tuesday.
No wonder this country is in trouble!

[FenceFurniture]

The most concerning thing overall is that the people who frequent this site, either as participants or lurkers, are surely the core business target of Carbatec. For every +ve story (or at least not -ve) there are many more that are negative, and sometimes breathtakingly so. Does Carbatec not understand that they get so much bad press? People actively look for ways not to spend their hard earned with them.

Leonard Lee would be having conniptions if his business was performing to that paltry standard.

[BobL]

The most concerning thing overall is that the people who frequent this site, either as participants or lurkers, are surely the core business target of Carbatec. For every +ve story (or at least not -ve) there are many more that are negative, and sometimes breathtakingly so. Does Carbatec not understand that they get so much bad press? People actively look for ways not to spend their hard earned with them.

I wouldn't rate our influence that highly. Through my interactions with the various mens sheds and WW clubs I visit my impression is that very few woodies have ever heard of WWF. Some of this is probably because most of these folks tend to be older and less internet savvy and so they don't web surf and this also means they don't know how to access alternative on-line sources of WW gear. Until this cohort move on or wise up I'd say CT and TC will continue to have a have a free ride.

[Lappa]

Interesting BobL. Most people using Men’s Sheds, from my experience, don’t buy their own gear - they go to the Men’s Shed and use theirs - that’s why they join.
I haven’t been back since buying my gear and I know others in the same boat.
Its the members of the committees that buy the gear for the sheds that know full well the problems with these companies and it’s where I first heard disatisfaction re Carbatec and their service.

These companies cry crocodile tears and tell you how sorry they are blah blah blah but they don’t give a rats because they have a captive audience of tinkerers like myself that only want to spend $500 to $2000 on machinery.

[BobL]

Interesting BobL. Most people using Men’s Sheds, from my experience, don’t buy their own gear - they go to the Men’s Shed and use theirs - that’s why they join.
I haven’t been back since buying my gear and I know others in the same boat.
Its the members of the committees that buy the gear for the sheds that know full well the problems with these companies and it’s where I first heard disatisfaction re Carbatec and their service.

My point was mainly that WWF doesn't reach as many woodies as we might think it does. Thee are less than 400 members with more than 1000 posts and most of the members sign up and never come back on a regular basis. Yes there are a lot of lurkers but they probably come and go on an even less regular basis so the chances of them stumbling across or even being interested in threads like this is low.

When I visit Mens sheds my interactions are primarily with committee members. Maybe its a WA thing but only the odd individual on Mens shed committees I've spoke to has ever heard of WWF, and I have never heard anything negative about CT from them. One of the members of our committee recirculates CT emails to all members. The fine woodworking association of WA I was a member of for some 5 years was similar. I can only recall one negative comment in my interactions with members and CT machinery was quite prominent when I visited their sheds.

[ian]

in terms of equipment we have a dilemma.

At one end is Mitre10 and Bunnings -- which in respect to wood working tools primarily caters to "weekend warriors" and tradies looking for a bargain or in a hurry.

then there is Sydney Tools and the like -- catering to tradies and the more informed (and cashed up?) consumer.

then there's "low end industrial" retailers like Carbatech, TimberCon and Hare and Forbes.

and lastly, the "full scale industrial" retailers like Felder and similar.


What I will give Carbatech and Timbercon credit for is their range of hand tools -- and on reflection, they can't be praised enough for this service.
Direct retailers like Chris Vesper, Colin Clenton, Terry Gordon, Lie Nielsen Australia, Henry Eckert, the Wood Works Book and Tool are essential for those "very much in the know" but until you join those ranks where can a person go to get tools that work, rather than just pretend to work? Carbatech is the answer.

[FenceFurniture]

My point was mainly that WWF doesn't reach as many woodies as we might think it does. Thee are less than 400 members with more than 1000 posts and most of the members sign up and never come back on a regular basis. Yes there are a lot of lurkers but they probably come and go on an even less regular basis so the chances of them stumbling across or even being interested in threads like this is low.

When I visit Mens sheds my interactions are primarily with committee members. Maybe its a WA thing but only the odd individual on Mens shed committees I've spoke to has ever heard of WWF, and I have never heard anything negative about CT from them. One of the members of our committee recirculates CT emails to all members. The fine woodworking association of WA I was a member of for some 5 years was similar. I can only recall one negative comment in my interactions with members and CT machinery was quite prominent when I visited their sheds.

Even so, I would still think that the largest single body of potential customers would be within this forum. It may not be a very large body. What else could be a larger body of like minded people within Oz? That being the case, I would have thought that this would be the best place to have a presence......we will never know how many lurkers read these posts, but I'd sure there are many that do.

Years ago Carbatec was a sponsor of the Forums, and as such they had there own sub-forum where they could discuss whatever they liked to do with their business. There was one entry in it - and that was someone else welcoming them! Such is their arrogance that they didn't see any need to participate.

[rustynail]

The variance in experience would probably be due to the variance in attitude of employees. I have had both good and bad service from staff. I have had dealings with managers that have had an inferior attitude to the floor staff. Now that is a problem. If the Boss doesn't care, then it will soon filter down through the ranks.

[BobL]

Even so, I would still think that the largest single body of potential customers would be within this forum. It may not be a very large body. What else could be a larger body of like minded people within Oz? That being the case, I would have thought that this would be the best place to have a presence......we will never know how many lurkers read these posts, but I'd sure there are many that do.

I agree its a very good place to have a presence but I'm not convinced we are in touch with as many woodies are we think we might be. I reckon just the number wood turners alone around Oz would outnumber the number of current "views" of this thread and bear in mind that many of the views are multiple views by the same members and non-members. I make it a regular thing during my talks to clubs etc to ask who has heard of WWF? My estimate is maybe 8-9 out of 10 woodies that I encounter have never heard of us. In the case of seniors woodies some of that is because they don't use the internet much or even at all.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I've dealt with a few different Carbatec branches during my perambulations and the best I can say is... each one is different.

In the past many were pre-existing stores that simply took on the Carbatec franchise... and they were the ones where the service was either exceptional or bloody atrocious, depending on what the store was run like before the rebadging. The ones established from the get-go by and as CT are, by and large, pretty average in the PR dept.

So I think RustyNail has hit that on the head.

As an aside, some of the absolute best buys I've ever made came from stores trying to get out of the franchise. From past conversations with certain ex-managers, the only way they could get out with minimal financial loss was declaring bankruptcy and having massive clearance sales before the CT-authorised liquidators moved in.

A sad state of affairs, but it scored me some equipment I could otherwise only dream about given my budgets at those times.

(I'm not inferring that anything like this is still the case now. It may be, it may not. 20 odd years ago when CT first started expanding, it certainly was.)