- Joined
- Mar 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,531
TFC, I understand your frustration and I completely understand the customer issues. I too should have held on to my old equipment a bit longer, however, you know the saying, it is easier to sell something when you have a buyer. I at the time had an immediate buyer within a few weeks of the initial expecting date and figured it would only be a 2-4 week gap without equipment. I felt like I could deal with such a small delay without impacting my loyal customers.
Hindsight being 20/20 maybe I should have tried to hold on to it a little longer. Would I make the same choice on equipment? I would like to say YES. I did my homework and felt VERY good about the choice of equipment and in talking with Matt @ Precision Mathews. The only thing I was getting uneasy about was the 932 mill but it was more of a gut feeling than anything else. That was remedied when I negotiated the purchase of the 935TV Taiwanese knee mill from Matt. I feel especially good about that piece of equipment even though it was quite a stretch on the budget. The lathe for me was a no brainer based on the fact that it was Taiwanese and I have worked on a Taiwanese lathe for many years at my full-time job and had no issues at all with the quality or performance.
Matt ALWAYS returned my phone calls and emails, and still continues to return phone calls and emails, so that is a non-issue. I don't understand that complaint when I see/hear it because my situation has been the exact opposite. Matt has gone out of his way to respond to my questions and inquiries whether about an update or various other pieces of equipment.
I understand the difficulty in overseas ordering and customs. We have some equipment at work that we have to get parts out of Germany and have to plan well in advance when ordering. That said, they have never been as far out on shipping dates as this equipment has been.
I feel 100% confident that the lathe and milling machine will be everything in which it was described and relayed to me when purchasing. I will be very disappointed if it is not but again, I feel very confident that it will be.
I have told both Ray and Matt that when the equipment arrives I would be 100% honest in ALL of my reviews and experiences with Quality Machine Tools and the purchase experience, as I have had many people on this forum and a couple of other forums that I belong to send private messages asking for reviews when the equipment arrives. I also have a friend who is waiting to see my lathe as he is possibly looking to upgrade in the near future. I would still recommend these machines based on experience thus far with the only exception is that I will stress the time frame and insist that perspective buyers be aware and prepare accordingly. That response could change if after getting the machines I am not satisfied but I am not expecting that to be the case.
As far as my customers being upset, I have a couple that I am sure I will not ever see again, and a couple that were getting tired of the same answer but I am sure they understand. I am not going to solely blame someone else for that as I possibly could have done things differently and probably would have knowing then what I know now as far as delays. I have two VERY loyal customers that I have pretty much done the jobs for free as I have had to take the engine cases to a local machine shop for machining and there went my profit. But I have kept the customer happy and they are riding their motorcycles so hopefully they will return without question.
I hope you get your machine and it is everything that you expected and then some. Stay current and post up pics when it arrives.
Mike.
Hindsight being 20/20 maybe I should have tried to hold on to it a little longer. Would I make the same choice on equipment? I would like to say YES. I did my homework and felt VERY good about the choice of equipment and in talking with Matt @ Precision Mathews. The only thing I was getting uneasy about was the 932 mill but it was more of a gut feeling than anything else. That was remedied when I negotiated the purchase of the 935TV Taiwanese knee mill from Matt. I feel especially good about that piece of equipment even though it was quite a stretch on the budget. The lathe for me was a no brainer based on the fact that it was Taiwanese and I have worked on a Taiwanese lathe for many years at my full-time job and had no issues at all with the quality or performance.
Matt ALWAYS returned my phone calls and emails, and still continues to return phone calls and emails, so that is a non-issue. I don't understand that complaint when I see/hear it because my situation has been the exact opposite. Matt has gone out of his way to respond to my questions and inquiries whether about an update or various other pieces of equipment.
I understand the difficulty in overseas ordering and customs. We have some equipment at work that we have to get parts out of Germany and have to plan well in advance when ordering. That said, they have never been as far out on shipping dates as this equipment has been.
I feel 100% confident that the lathe and milling machine will be everything in which it was described and relayed to me when purchasing. I will be very disappointed if it is not but again, I feel very confident that it will be.
I have told both Ray and Matt that when the equipment arrives I would be 100% honest in ALL of my reviews and experiences with Quality Machine Tools and the purchase experience, as I have had many people on this forum and a couple of other forums that I belong to send private messages asking for reviews when the equipment arrives. I also have a friend who is waiting to see my lathe as he is possibly looking to upgrade in the near future. I would still recommend these machines based on experience thus far with the only exception is that I will stress the time frame and insist that perspective buyers be aware and prepare accordingly. That response could change if after getting the machines I am not satisfied but I am not expecting that to be the case.
As far as my customers being upset, I have a couple that I am sure I will not ever see again, and a couple that were getting tired of the same answer but I am sure they understand. I am not going to solely blame someone else for that as I possibly could have done things differently and probably would have knowing then what I know now as far as delays. I have two VERY loyal customers that I have pretty much done the jobs for free as I have had to take the engine cases to a local machine shop for machining and there went my profit. But I have kept the customer happy and they are riding their motorcycles so hopefully they will return without question.
I hope you get your machine and it is everything that you expected and then some. Stay current and post up pics when it arrives.
Mike.
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