Tilting At Windmills with the 107W5 - Allbrands.com Adventures (?)

 This is pretty much a post about how retired guys keep themselves entertained.  

 As you may remember from the last post I'm currently in the process of converting the 3.9 amp Singer motor into something I can use to make the 107W5 a sorta-portable machine.  And here we sit.

I picked up a 2" pully for the shaft at Tractor Supply.  It's going to cut the SPM down to around 1300 or so, but I'm good with that.  It's still blazing away at 301 speeds.

I did some test runs using the straight on-off switch and it worked good.  So next, in shear folly, I decided to try some variable speed.  Since I didn't have any full-on 3.9 amp power pedals I had to decide if I just wanted to go ahead and sacrifice a low amp pedal for SCIENCE!  Of course I did.

So, while enjoying the sizzling sounds of carbon discs frying I was able to validate that the motor will run at variable speeds through a foot controller.  

After the controller finished cooking I tested it on the nickel plated 15-91 and found that it appears to have survived, more or less intact.

Groovy, I thought. Now I just need to find a high-amp foot pedal.  There's a few options out there, but (to my later regret), I decided to go with one that specifically stated it was for sewing machines.  Sold by Allbrands.

"Uh-oh," I can hear a lot of you already saying.  And yes I was well aware of Allbrands reputation going in.  But dangit, it's not like it was something that could be screwed up, it's just a pedal right?  I even paid extra for the expedited shipping and handling.

Uh, wrong.  Yep, some clown managed to screw up an order for just about the most basic thing you can buy.  Here's what they sent.

I had it out of the box for all of a minute.  Of course I was bummed, but hey, screwups happen so I just tossed it back in and called up customer support  to get them to swap it.

And here's where the tom-foolery goes into high gear.  I get ahold to customer support who I guess is having a really bad day, but he starts off trying.  I tell him the issue.  "Opened box, wrong part, put it back, need a replacement." Plain and simple.  I hear him clacking away on the keyboard for a bit and then he comes back and says that he has sent an email to the warehouse and I should hear something in a couple of days on if they will allow a return and then send out a replacement.

Umm, what?

Now I can see how people would go off at this point.  But I choke it back.  I tell him that there's no return here.  I just want a swap for the correct 5.0 amp part.  I said I paid a premium for shipping and handling and consider the exchange part of handling.  He said it didn't matter that they work return cases as they come up in the queue and I just have to wait my turn for someone to get around to it.  My exact response to this was "That is not acceptable."  I ask to speak to a manager.  He says no.  I reply "I won't continue to do business if this is how-" He hangs up.

I mean what?  Allbrands hates having customers?  I guess people have said it enough.

So I go to the website and found the contact us page and posted this complaint:

I paid  Shipping & Handling    $17.27 for shipping and handling, 3 day select delivery on a 24 dollar part.  I was sent the wrong part.  When I called to request the correct part I was told that the request would be 'handled in the order it was received'.  What did I pay that 17.27 extra on handling for if I am going to get shuffled off by customer service when I paid to have the CORRECT part sent quickly?

As it stands I will be sharing my experience with my fellow sewists on forums like Victorian Sweatshop, as well as the Treadle On and Vintage Singers mailing lists.  I hope that I will be able to include in that narrative how, in the end, Allbrands stepped up and made it right, rather than the current narrative of once you got my money you basically shoved me to the back of some arbitrary queue that I had paid a premium to avoid when there was an issue.

My post to Victorian Sweatshop will be visible in the main forum under the "Today's Sewing Adventure" thread.

Still feeling a bit 'grumpy old man' I also filed a BBB complaint stating pretty much the same thing but in more detail, with pictures and receipts.  Unfortunately it hasn't made it to the complaint page for Allbrands yet.

About four hours later I got a reply from the wife-half of the owner team.  She was really nice, apologized and said the would see that I got the correct part shipped to me as fast as possible.  It was a very pleasant exchange and I thanked her profusely.  I ended the night feeling a little guilty about filing the BBB complaint.

Then the next day came and went, with no contact.  And so today I was feeling a bit grumpy again but then this morning I get a note from BBB stating that they've taken on my complaint and have notified Allbrands of it.  Four hours later I get an email from Allbrands, not from the nice owner lady, but a generic email stating that my "return request" is under review.  Seriously!?

Yeah, so now it's off to Yelp!  Yelp said my review was epic.  Here's the link, I'm the third one: Yelp Review of Allbrands. (Edit March 26 - Well look at that, Yelp took down my review.  I guess reviews with documentation -I had lots- don't stay up, only emotional "they suck" or "they're awesome" reviews are allowed these days.  Sigh, oh well.)

So I guess Yelp matters to them.  Because a couple of hours later I get an email from the husband-half of the owner team in which my Yelp review was screen captured.  He bcc'd me on an email he sent to the company they sold the part for.  Yeah, it turns out they didn't actually stock the part.  They just passed the sale request to another company for shipping.  Which would be fine except throughout his email he keeps suggesting that I connected the pedal to something high amp that wasn't a sewing machine motor so he doesn't see the need to replace it.  He stated that no sewing machine motor pulls more than 1.5 amp so I must have burnt it up.

Jerk!  I fired right back to him that I never connected the stupid pedal to anything.  I ordered a 5 amp pedal and when I saw they sent me the wrong pedal I boxed it back up and called for the correct pedal.  And just to slam him on his "no sewing machine motor pulls more than 1.5 amps," I sent this.

And for good measure I forwarded my response to the folks at Brewer Sewing, the company Allbrands ordered from just so they know that he is BS'ing them.

In the end, it doesn't really matter.  I can actually use the 1.5amp pedal for other machines if they don't replace it.  What irks me is that this is going on a week of drama with these dinguses with no resolution in sight.  If I had believed what people said about how crappy of an operation Allbrands was I would have just bought a 5 amp rheostat, spring loaded it and made a floor box with a pedal on it myself and had it done in a couple of days.

So add my voice to all those out there that say, avoid this company.  They might sell you something useful, but if it turns out to be crap they are going to do whatever they can to avoid taking responsibility for it.

Next day update:  So this morning Allbrands punted and refunded.  I guess it's "meh, okay," at this point.  A week has been wasted and I'm back to square one.  But at least they gave up the "blame the customer" routine.  So when dealing with Allbrands, if there is a problem expect to have to go through the BBB, Yelp!, and other avenues to get a resolution.