IMy recent positive experience with Vicmarc
Dinyar Chavda
>I always seem to find myself on the minority side of these discussions, perhaps even the unpopular side, but I feel compelled to speak in defence of Vicmarc because of my recent experience at the AAW. I apologize for the lateness of this posting, but I have been (and still am) on the road, and have been catching up with the postings.
A month or so ago, I was using my Vicmarc chuck which is several years old, with the screw atttachment to hold an irregularly-shaped piece. It was probably not flush up against the jaws, but, to make a long story short, I got a really bad catch, and, as a result, bent the screw. Obviously my fault, and I wanted to get a replacement screw, but did not want to pay for the shipping, so I decided to wait for the AAW, and pick one up there. I asked at the Craft Supplies booth (yes, I know many have had bad experiences there, but, again, I can only go by how they have treated me, which is extremely well), and asked to buy a screw for the chuck model. They did not have it in stock, and then they called over a guy named "Vic", who turned out to be the Vic of Vicmarc. They discussed it briefly amongst themselves, and told me they would ship one to me, which was fine by me. When I asked how much it cost, they did not have a firm price, but ballparked it at being between $15 and $20, which was acceptable to me. Imagine my surprise when they all said that I had misunderstood, and that it was a free replacement. Now I am the first person to fight for my rights when it comes to dealing with companies who try to give me the short end of the stick, but there was no way that I expected to have the part replaced gratis. After all, it was my fault, and I had no complaints about the chuck even after the screw bent. In fact, I had not even asked for it to be repplaced for free, and thought that I would have to pay $15-20 for it. How much of the decision was made by Craft Supplies and how much was due to Vicmarc is unknown to me, but the fact is that I am getting something replaed when it was Waaaaay out of warranty.
I don't know the full circustances of what happened to the lathe that was the subject of prior threads. What I usually find in these situations (having done a lot of intra-departmental consulting in companies) is that the picture varies from each side, and is reminiscent of the Japanese movie, Rashoman, (remade as the Incident in English), which is the story of a rape from the point-of-view of three people-----each of which has a dramatically different, and equally valid viewpoint.
Would it stop me from buying Vimarc products---no, I stil think they are a good value for the money. Will I include wording ensuring that the packing is done properly, and, if the product is damaged, it is replaced, not repaired,---you bet. But, and this is a personal decision, I will still do business with them, because IMOWISNU they are a good company based on my experience.
Dinyar