Carba-tec Service

[ss_11000]

i agree with john

[Wild Dingo]

Although so far I havent needed to have them come visit I agree with every comment regarding Carbetec Balcatta... bloody brilliant mob

As to M10 well I went visitin this morning while the missus went shopping and although a friendly courteous and attentive bunch their tools and hardware {screws etc} left more than a lot to be desired... good service is all good and fine but really you gotta have something to sell right? ooh plenty of plants barbies an outdoor stuff but buggar all else... mmm maybe I should wander back to Carnarvon one day an see if that M10 is still hardware and tool focused?

Bunnings is changing... again As for staff that actually have a bloody clue in the tools section... FUGGEDABOUDIT!! they have no bloody idea and thats Bunbury Manduarh and Rockingham stores not one idiot I spoke to in any of those stores had a single flamin clue what a router was let alone a trimmer router! one fella suggested I look in the electrical section! they keep hirin informational gnomes they loose this customer right quick For the life of me I cant understand their employment application interview process its utterly beyond me... the more you actually know about home handyman or even trade stuff the less likey they are to hire you... dumb

[Carry Pine]

Our local Home Hardware store is stocking Carba tec machinery at the same price.... and it's moving too. it's amazing how many of those big type thicknessers they go through (no pun).
They are very committed to makita whose big end tools (saw bench) look a bit second rate to the carba tec stuff.

Carry pine

[tameriska]

For the life of me I cant understand their employment application interview process its utterly beyond me... the more you actually know about home handyman or even trade stuff the less likey they are to hire you... dumb

I'll agree with you on that Wild Dingo, I went for work experience "there" years ago, had a reasonable idea of tools (and where they were in the shop, from being sent in there to buy stuff when I was working with Dad) and got stuck in the paint section, did get shown the very basics but was left to pick everything else up if I was lucky. Knew bugger all about paint (even by the end of the two weeks)

[Poppa]

Carry, I agree that the Mittagong Home Hardware is a reasonably good store. We've just set up an account with them, and I just bought a bunch of Makita tools from them for our workshop (not for me personally unfortunately!). I noticed the Carbatec tools when I was there, and mentioned them to the chap assisting me. He said that they will order in any machinery from Carbatec that I want, and to talk to him about prices before I buy as well, which was pretty good I thought. Not that I'm all about price (I was buying Makita after all). The chap that helped me with the Makita tools was an ex-tradie, and he seemed to know Makita tools very well indeed. I'd go back and see him anytime.

I do find the Carbatec service when I order something from them to be terrific. I've never actually visited one of their stores (I will when I've got some money), but everytime I've bought from them I've been very happy.

I actually found Carbatec after I tried to buy a honing guide at the local hardware stores. I tried the Bunnings, the Megamart, and the Home Hardware, as well as the little toolie stores in Bowral. One or two of the stores had the Stanley kit (a basic honing guide and an oilstone) which wasn't what I was after, but at Home the assistant basically told me that honing guides weren't being made anymore. When I disagreed with him (politely - ever polite me ), he asked me to name some companies that still made them. After naming Torquata and Veritas and him not knowing who they were, I asked if he'd ever heard of a company called Stanley? Mentioned that I'd heard they make tools and stuff....

Oh, and I am one of those nasty buggers that follow up such bad service - I sent an email to Home Hardware head office. Got a reply too, but nothing useful. Such a shame. The service that staff give is directly related to the management at the store that they work at, which is why you can have a great experience at one branch and a terrible one at the next branch of the same store.

I must scrape some money together and take a trip up to Auburn to the Carbatec store....

[HappyHammer]

Can somebody please open a Carba-Tec, MIK INternational or similar in Newcastle. The pictures aren't the same!

I think it would be better to split the distance between Brisbane and Sydney and open up in Port Macquarie

HH.

[triden]

Can somebody please open a Carba-Tec, MIK INternational or similar in Newcastle. The pictures aren't the same!

Steve from the Lumber Bunker in Gosford can order in anything from Carba-Tec. Will save you a 2 hour drive to Auburn. (no i dont work there, just good service)

[HappyHammer]

Steve from the Lumber Bunker in Gosford can order in anything from Carba-Tec. Will save you a 2 hour drive to Auburn. (no i dont work there, just good service)

He'll still have to look at the pictures until it arrives...

HH.

[black1]

the only problem i have with carbatec here in perth is that it is not near fremantle. need a sixpack and a cut lunch to get there

[Wild Dingo]

the only problem i have with carbatec here in perth is that it is not near fremantle. need a sixpack and a cut lunch to get there

ooohh wa wa wa ...tuffen up son! its a bloody cartoon and a packed lunch there AND THEN a cartoon and tea on the way home for me

oh an think of poor ol Richard down in Margret River ... poor buggars up for a keg each way no wonder his missus has a hissy fit every time he mutters the C word in conjunction with "road trip" he dont get out much

[NCArcher]

Can somebody please open a Carba-Tec, MIK INternational or similar in Newcastle. The pictures aren't the same!

I noticed that Toolies in Sandgate had a few Carba-tech badged items for sale. The stuff i saw was smaller items in the glass cabinet. There may be other stuff spread around the store.

[Lumber Bunker]

Thanks for the plug Triden.
Happy Hammer, we do stock quite a lot of smaller items from Carba-tec. So you can see them in 3D!!! You can even touch em! and this will blow your mind... You can actualy use most of my kit to see you like it!!!
For an example, My bench in the work shop always has a HNT Gordon Smoother on it (I use it constantly ) and yes the general public may use it! You can use my Stubai Chisels too! Just to nudge you over the edge into buying some, maybe.

We sell JET Machinery too, and yes your allowed to use it to! I'll even give you a peice of Jarrah to run through the thicknesser just to see if you like it! Every couple of days I'll get a question about the P&N turning chisels that we sell (an order-in item), and in about 2 minutes the lathe is spinning with me proving their worth on some red gum!

Real Customer Service - the way it is ment to be.

**End Hi-jacking**

Well done Carba-tec WA

[baxter]

Steve from the Lumber Bunker in Gosford can order in anything from Carba-Tec. Will save you a 2 hour drive to Auburn. (no i dont work there, just good service)

Triden I have had dealings with Steve at Lumber Bunker and purchased from him at the Newcastle Woodworking Hobbies & Craft Expo last year. I would certainly call into his shop if I was in the Gosford area.

I noticed that Toolies in Sandgate had a few Carba-tech badged items for sale. The stuff i saw was smaller items in the glass cabinet. There may be other stuff spread around the store.

Toolies carry a good range of "tools" generally and their staff are helpful. But, as a woodturner, I find that they carry only a limited range of specialised items and it is not worth the visit just to see what they currently have in stock - particularly if you are after a specific item that they then have to order in for you.

The point of my initial post was that it would be nice to just be able to browse in a dedicated local woodworking store.

[watson]

Evening All,
I count myself lucky. In a regional town (with 600 postal addresses....dunno how many people) I have a local hardware store that get's me anything I want.
They deal with Timbecon, Carbatec. Abrasiflex, Northwood. Carbitec and anybody I search out. They can order from the Mitre 10 Cattledog, and on everyday prices (specials excluded) beat Bunnings hands down every time.
Let's take a Timbecon price.......from Perth to Melbourne, then to Avoca....that adds a fair bit of freight......I take the cat number into my local store........and usually five days later I have the goods in my hand........at the equivelant Timbecon + freight price.
A few of us locally keep these people busy, 'cos they will get us anything we want.
I love it.........he even found out I was using Ubeaut Pearl Hide Glue.....so there's some on the shelf.......dunno where he bought it (maybe Carbatec) but if I run out.....its there.

Doesn't that make Bunnings/Mitre 10/Thrifty Link/Home Hardware all look like idiots!
I can access all the aforementioned stores, but at a time/petrol/travelling expense....
I'd rather shop in Avoca

[Big Shed]

That is impressive Noel, nothing like that here in Bendigo.

Worth supporting a local business like that.

Fred

PS You realise it is past your bed-time? Nitey nite.