I had a similar story w/ a jointer I bought from Grizzly, but was in much rougher shape. The pics you posted would not honestly bother me.

 

Here's the thread I started.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/44981

On a positive note, I found Grizzly to be very responsive to my concerns. Best of luck on whatever you end up doing.

 

George M

I have had nothing but goo service from Grizzly, I believe they will take carer of you.
For me if those nicks did not effect the performance of the tool, I would let them go.

I am very close to placing an order for that jointer. I would be very intrested in hearing what your review is of the jointer and the sprial cutter head.

 

My thought is that even though your investment is sizable, its nowhere near what it would be for a brand like Powermatic or other, so little nicks or quality control oversites should not be surprising. As long as Grizzly helps you get everything running correctly and adjusted, I'd be happy. If you were to demand a new unit, you run the risk of the same issues and you'd be out a tool for a long time. That new one they would send would have the same quality control. I think you will be happy eventually.

 

Hey George -

I originally bought the 490 w/ the straight blades and it was a great machine. It came w/ a few nicks/scrapes like the one here, nothing major. I ended up putting the grizzly carbide cutter in it about a year later and absolutely love it. I use mine inside in a basement, so noise is a concern for me and its so much quieter w/ the carbide cutter. Nice smooth cuts too. My only complains are that one of the little feet on it busted and I wish there was a bit more travel in the infeed table. I cut tapers on my jointer and it would be nice to have a bit more depth to play with.

 

Call me picky, but if I buy a new item from a company I expect to receive it in perfect condition. Nicks and gouges would not be acceptable to me and I would send it back. To me it says a lot about what the company perceives "quality" to be. It takes a lot to separate me from my dollar bills but when it happens I expect to get what I pay for and nothing less.

 

The first piece of equipment I ordered from grizzly was a cabinet saw. There were some small pits in one of the miter slots. Grizzly actually sent me a replacement top and shipped it after inspecting it for any defects. It was only a cosmetic thing, but like you, I was thinking, "I wouldn't buy a new car with a dent in it". I ended up keeping the original table top and sending the replacement back to them, I just dabbed a little JB Weld in the pits, and sanded them smooth. A couple years have gone by now, and I bet it would actually be difficult to find those spots now…..

I guess my point is Grizzly will probably bend over backwards to make you happy with either a new jointer, or the parts to replace on your current one. But is it really going to make a difference in the quality of your work, or just make you feel better. Pretty much I think that is the reason that a lot of us buy a Grizzly as opposed to a silver/grey or yellow machine, we're able to build items just as good as the rest of them, and we saved a few bucks in the process. And personally, If you cut through all the hype, I don't think there is a lot of difference between us and "them". When I was a kid, people used to say that anything that had a "made in Japan" sticker was junk. Tell that to a Toyota owner today…..

So if you want to go through the work of packing up the old one to ship back, or replacing the parts on it, go for it. Personally, (this is all in retrospect) I don't have tours of people going through my shop to look at my equipment…..

 

Two thoughts ,you paid for new condition and you should get new condition on the other hand Lets say Grizzly says pack it up and ship it back,do you want to spend all that time again on clean up and assembly on another jointer ? It's like buying a new car and finding a dent in the wheel well do you want it fixed and wait a week to use your new car ?
It's each individuals thoughts and approach on how they feel about it and what action they want to take,
I've had very good customer service from Grizzly and own several of pieces of their equipment and have been very good service from them. As aggravating as it is even the best of companies have a percentage of tools that go out the door with defects in them. Good luck on what every approach you take.

 

Sorry to hear about the problems. I got my jointer from Grizzly on 3/21/14 and it arrived in a box that was slightly damaged, just carboard ripped up, but I noted it on the receipt. After getting it out and starting to assemble it I noticed some nicks and scratches and chips in the paint. I didn't think much of that, but it was a bit off putting that something new was not in pristine condition, but I could live with it. Then, I was cleaning the gallons of grease off of it and noticed that the infeed table was cracked. I immediately stopped assembly and contacted grizzly, got my activity code for the issue, and sent some pictures. I called on Monday to check on the status, they had not looked at my pictures yet. I called on Tuesday because I decided I would assemble the rest and look at everything and turn it on to at least make sure it ran. It ran nice, but I did see that another part, a knob that advances the fence, was cracked. So, I called them and added that to the activity code for replacement.

I did not hear back from anyone until Wednesday. That was after I called to get some touch up paint added to the list since there were scratches and dings. I will say that everyone I dealt with has been very nice and professional. Apparently, since the infeed and outfeed tables are ground as a matching set they cannot send me just the infeed table. So, they are going to send me the whole table assembly. Unfortunately, it is not in stock so they had to put a "rush" on it with the manufacturer to get a new one made so they can send it to me. I still have not heard when I will be getting it. I am a bit nervous about them rushing to make it, don't want any problems in manufacturing it in an attempt to get it to me fast. But, Grizzly is doing everything it can to get me my parts and satisfy my needs. I am just hoping it comes to me without having to be shipped by frieght, had to take a whole day off work to wait for it since the window for arrival was between 10 am and 6 pm.

I am sure if you contact them they will do everything to address your concerns. But, if the damage does not affect the performance of the machine, you may want to just accept it. I couldn't accept the cracked table because I didn't know how it might affect things years down the road. Good luck.

 

If the beds are otherwise flat and smooth and these defects aren't going to affect wood sliding smoothly over them I would accept those imperfections, particularly from a value brand like Grizzly. In my mind I am paying them to deliver performance. My guess is that as soon as you start using the machine you will be happy with it or not because of the quality of results it delivers and the ease of use.

 

I totally see it from your point of view. I will say without anything to reference the nick or the gouge to its hard to say the size. I would say if it were me and it didn't affect the performance, it's not worth sending it back. I would think some kind of credit would be in order. For now I would correspond with Grizzly and see what they think and are willing to put on the table. Lets just say the 2 defects are in the same table. If Grizzly has to send you a new table thats costly, as is the same with sending a whole new jointer. Shipping both ways would be astronomical. Looking at it that way a $100 credit would be an easy out for them. I personally have never bought a new machine. I can't imagine how the process goes down. I am fortunate enough to have found the many tons of Iron I have used, and locally.

 

I own several Grizzly tools and have been overall happy with them. I did have a major problem with a parts order I placed with them about a year ago, but they worked through it until I was satisfied. Contact Jane Brion (janeb@grizzly.com). She is a customer service manager there and worked with me until everything was right.

Like most of you, I expect new tools and anything else I pay good money for to be right, but if they aren't I fully expect to be taken care of. Jane will get this done for you.

Ron

 

Thank you all for your input. I have not heard back from Grizzly yet so I cannot report on any conversations.

I am a little surprised at how we all have come to just accept pour quality control. As A1Jim said, would you accept the same in a new car? Most of us wouldn't.

How many advertisements or brochures do you see of their products that shows chipping paint, or cracked castings, or nicks in the bed? So why should we be happy with the actual product having such. I purchased a SawStop a couple of months ago. It was as close to perfect as I would have expected. Same with my Festool tools.

Yes, a Grizzly product is not in the same price range as a PM for example. However it is not cheap!
And I am not going to be trying to get something for nothing. I am very willing to pay good money for a good product.

Now that my rant is over, I don't know what I will want to do until I talk to Grizzly. I would much prefer not to have to send it back. I also don't want to be spending hours of my time to complete the job that was supposed to have been done before it arrived.

 

I'd be exchanging it.
If companies get away with low quality control products slipping through the cracks they'll never know these qc issues exist, thus they won't be able to fix them.

You paid for a brand new jointer; keep swapping them out until you get one.
Follow up with grizzly.

 

If I am paying for a new machine, I expect a new machine without any flaws. The idea that I am saving money by buying from Grizzly, so I shouldn't expect quality is ludicrous. I don't care if it's from Grizzly or Harbor Freight, I would not accept defects in a new machine.

 

I would be sure to complain it was bought new not sold as seen with damage no matter how small.It is their duty to deliver what you paid for a brand new machine, sorry I would not simply let this go and I would insist it were put right.MY 2 cents Alistair

 

Some say return/exchange, others say accept the flaws if all else functions well.

I disagree with both of those responses, if you can get some of your purchase price refunded for your troubles.

"Settle out of court" so to speak…I did exactly that with my R4512 table saw from HD for all the trouble/down-time it's going to 'cost' me, they ended up refunding $110 of my purchase price.

It's probably going to cost them less to do that then return shipping it, and replacing the damaged parts anyway. plus you could end up with some extra scratch in your wallet.

Worth a shot and couldn't hurt to ask, eh?

cheers
-wreck

 

About 15 years ago I purchased a new Delta 6" joiner from Woodcraft. There were 4 nicks in the indeed table by the blades. It works fine.

If the problems are not interfering with the joiner's performance, then keep it. After a few years you will have added your own scratches.

 

I cannot believe that some folks here would be willing to accept a damaged product just because it is a Grizzly product??? You bought a new machine first quality and should expect to receive the machine in that condition. These are not shipping related problems but left the factory this way which is even more disturbing that they would allow a machine to leave that way. Maybe they do that because there are people out there that are willing to accept less than perfect. Just because it is a Grizzly does not absolve them of the responsibility to deliver perfectly manufactured equipment. I don't care what it would take but I would demand a replacement machine and send the boat anchor back to them to be melted down and rebuilt into something else. I am disappointed with so many people willing to accept shoddy manufacturing for any reason. It just speaks to how this country has fallen down on its face.

 

Wow Kickback, Hmmm…

 

10 years ago this wouldn't be an issue, hi def photo's of tiny nicks and huge gouges? put a years worth of stock through it and you will do alot more damage.

Today's image of getting a shiny new car in your SHOP! is far from flawed. If you want a toy buy a toy and keep it under shrink wrap until you get around to using it.

I understand you spent ALOT of money but this is for your shop right? Are you going to bring your new 8×4 sheet of birch ply back to the lumber yard after you wreck a corner "shipping" it yourself to your shop and bashing it into the cast iron table of the new jointer?

This is not directed at you OP.

Paul

 

So Paul, let me understand you correctly. You are saying that it doesn't matter if you buy something new and it arrives beat up and broken because it will eventually get beat up and broken from using it?

 

"beat up and broken" implies you didn't look a the photo's.

Paul

 

Is there an ignore option on this board? I swear there is… HAhahah…

Or is it the principal and not the practical? Hmmm…

Get some money back

 

So, Paul I don't know how that is not intended for me? And I really am struggling to understand what you are saying. Let see - since this is for my SHOP I should expect lesser quality? What??

I guess if I bought a new stove I shouldn't care if it was scratched because I'm sure to scratch it anyway?
Wow.

Anyway, except for a couple of instances, these are some very good comments, and some good questions being discussed. It goes beyond my particular problem with Grizzly. It is really a question of as a society have we really gotten to a point of just accepting inferior products (again not talking specifically Grizzly here) because it is easier or because that is all we can expect anymore????

As for my situation, I got an email asking for the serial number which I supplied. Have not heard back again. If I don't hear from them tomorrow I will follow up with a phone call. From what I have heard about Grizzly I expect a reasonable outcome. I will keep you posted.