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Firestopper
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So last Christmas/Anniversary my wife of 30 years approved the purchase of a new lathe as she knows how much I enjoy and use the shop. I purchased a new Acra 1640 TE just in time before the 10% price increase slated for January 2018. The machine shipped from Taiwan to LA then onto Acra Machine in Rancho Cucamonga near Riverside, CA. I had originally planned on driving out to pick it up as I'm set up to do so with a couple of trailers to chose from and a more than capable Duramax. I have made this round trip before back in 2008 to pick up a plate roller and all went well despite the pouring rain and 19 hours later. A couple of weeks ago I got the flu and took two weeks to recover and diesel prices started to rise close to $3/gal in AZ so figure $4.50 in CA. Acra said for another $500 they would have the machine delivered to my location. I felt this was more than reasonable but my gut told me otherwise. As a shipper myself, I only trust one company with my products but they don't run flat bed open trailers. Acra ran full operational test and provided video's to me adding excitement to receive the newest member to the shop.
Acra called me yesterday to inform me the trucking outfit had picked up the machine and should arrive today sometime in the morning or early afternoon. The driver also phoned me a short while after Acra informing me he has a drop off in Phoenix first then he would head to my location (about 2.5 hour drive). The driver could hardly speak english but I figured if he has a CDL all should be good. Today at 13:30 I called him using my phone log only to get a generic message indicating his voice mail was not set up so I couldn't leave him a message. Well this knucklehead must have been screening his calls because he phoned me right back and told me he was still in Phx and had been there since last night. I asked him what the hold up was and he told me he was waiting for them to unload his Phx delivery. What!?? All day, REALLY!?? I guess he thought I fell off the turnip truck and would buy his BS. He then tried to reschedule for tomorrow and I told him no as I'm back on shift (24 hour). I then informed him that he needed to get here before sundown as I was not comfortable unloading a 3700 pound machine in the dark. By now my gut was telling me something is not right with this guy. Sure enough,he called right back and said he was on his way, this would get him here around 17:30 at the earliest. Then he called back around 17:15 and said he was lost, so there I go to find him. I escorted him to my location and see the machine on the upper deck of the flat bed sitting transverse over his drive axels. The heavy end (head stock) furthest from my pick and the only way to unload was with the use of fork extensions. No freaking way!! I asked him to drop his trailer so that I could approach the machine perpendicular from the front of the trailer and balance the load . He reluctantly agreed. It only took him 3 minutes to disconnect and pull forward but had a bad attitude about the whole deal. The second red flag for me was the cheap shredded harbor freight tarp covering the expensive machine. The bungee cord S- hooks had chewed right through the tarp and worst yet he had the S-hooks at the corners. WTH!? A professional trucker doing this? The first thing this idiot asked me was, "how much is your house"? REALLY!? I replied, "it's not for sale"! And thought to myself stupid a**hole. After I unloaded the machine, he asked me to escort him back out to the main road so I did. When I got back I found this:
Minor damage to the back splash from said S-hook. A few locations.
Front of machine, lead screw, feed rod and power lever end block damage.
Lower base back base (headstock end). S-hook damage.
Front base (headstock end) S-hook damage.
I am beyond angry over senseless BS like this. I called my sales guy at Acra and sent him these photos and informed him I was not going to unwrap the machine at this point as this was simply unacceptable. He's a real nice guy and told me he would set another machine aside for me and test run it prior to shipping. I told him I would be driving this machine back and picking up the replacement myself. If you want something done right you need to do it yourself.
This is what I get for trying to do my part in stimulating the economy. Some of you might say it's just a machine, let it go, but I go the extra mile for all my customers, friends and family and now for myself.
The machine is a beast and I look forward to see it unwrapped (different one).
Oh, the idiot left his tarp by the side of the road, I disposed of it.
Acra called me yesterday to inform me the trucking outfit had picked up the machine and should arrive today sometime in the morning or early afternoon. The driver also phoned me a short while after Acra informing me he has a drop off in Phoenix first then he would head to my location (about 2.5 hour drive). The driver could hardly speak english but I figured if he has a CDL all should be good. Today at 13:30 I called him using my phone log only to get a generic message indicating his voice mail was not set up so I couldn't leave him a message. Well this knucklehead must have been screening his calls because he phoned me right back and told me he was still in Phx and had been there since last night. I asked him what the hold up was and he told me he was waiting for them to unload his Phx delivery. What!?? All day, REALLY!?? I guess he thought I fell off the turnip truck and would buy his BS. He then tried to reschedule for tomorrow and I told him no as I'm back on shift (24 hour). I then informed him that he needed to get here before sundown as I was not comfortable unloading a 3700 pound machine in the dark. By now my gut was telling me something is not right with this guy. Sure enough,he called right back and said he was on his way, this would get him here around 17:30 at the earliest. Then he called back around 17:15 and said he was lost, so there I go to find him. I escorted him to my location and see the machine on the upper deck of the flat bed sitting transverse over his drive axels. The heavy end (head stock) furthest from my pick and the only way to unload was with the use of fork extensions. No freaking way!! I asked him to drop his trailer so that I could approach the machine perpendicular from the front of the trailer and balance the load . He reluctantly agreed. It only took him 3 minutes to disconnect and pull forward but had a bad attitude about the whole deal. The second red flag for me was the cheap shredded harbor freight tarp covering the expensive machine. The bungee cord S- hooks had chewed right through the tarp and worst yet he had the S-hooks at the corners. WTH!? A professional trucker doing this? The first thing this idiot asked me was, "how much is your house"? REALLY!? I replied, "it's not for sale"! And thought to myself stupid a**hole. After I unloaded the machine, he asked me to escort him back out to the main road so I did. When I got back I found this:
Minor damage to the back splash from said S-hook. A few locations.
Front of machine, lead screw, feed rod and power lever end block damage.
Lower base back base (headstock end). S-hook damage.
Front base (headstock end) S-hook damage.
I am beyond angry over senseless BS like this. I called my sales guy at Acra and sent him these photos and informed him I was not going to unwrap the machine at this point as this was simply unacceptable. He's a real nice guy and told me he would set another machine aside for me and test run it prior to shipping. I told him I would be driving this machine back and picking up the replacement myself. If you want something done right you need to do it yourself.
This is what I get for trying to do my part in stimulating the economy. Some of you might say it's just a machine, let it go, but I go the extra mile for all my customers, friends and family and now for myself.
The machine is a beast and I look forward to see it unwrapped (different one).
Oh, the idiot left his tarp by the side of the road, I disposed of it.
