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1.0

Beware of Grizzly!

It's not a surprise that the machinery sold under their brand isn't first class product, when you buy something for a lower price, there's a reason and it's not that the seller is especially generous.

Grizzly is a perfect example of the absolute opposite; not only isn't the company generous, they're motivated by greed.

I purchased a H8192 belt sander from Grizzly last October to use when my JET sander is otherwise occupied. Since the second day the Grizzly was in service it has been the shop problem child.

I'll not complain about the plastic wheels used on the Grizzly in place of the machined aluminum used by JET, as I stated earlier there's a reason for a lower price and this is a clear case of the difference being in quality. I can deal with the vibration transmitted to the sanding belt through these substandard wheels, cheap is cheap.

The real problem is in warranty and customer service with Grizzly.

On the second day the โ€œmachineโ€ (I'm being kind calling it such) was in operation it wouldn't turn on. I'm an old ASE Certified Master Automotive Technician so diagnosing problems is second nature. I'm not about to send a machine back for a loose connection or broken wire that I can fix myself but in this case the cause was simple; a bad power switch. Upon removing it from the housing the melted contact was visible.

With a quality manufacturer a simple phone call to customer service would result in a replacement switch being shipped immediately under warranty. Not with Grizzly.

I was informed that my two day old machine would be tied up for several WEEKS until they had a replacement switch to supply. When I informed them that this was not an acceptable solution as I purchased the machine to use, not to store in a corner, the phone guy (customer service is a title one should earn) told me to send the machine back and they would send me another. This, again would entail WEEKS of downtime for something I paid for.

I did ask if they had a replacement machine on hand and was assured they did. When I suggested that they remove the switch from the machine they were willing to send me and replace the switch on THEIR machine I was informed โ€œThat's not going to happen....โ€ Essentially I was told to wait and that Grizzly had no intention to reach a better solution.

It was only after I called corporate HQ and made a stink that someone decided to check other machines in their line to see if a replacement switch for one of them would solve the problem. Hours later it was found and a replacement was sent.

Not great Customer Service but it shouldn't be the job of the customer to find a way the service the problem.

The Problem child stumbled along fine, no real issues other than the expected poor quality I've come to expect from Grizzly until mid April when it again wouldn't run.

Not a switch this time as the motor buzzed when switched on. First place to check is the Start Capacitor and the BEST way to test a capacitor is to swap in a known good one. After calling Grizzly, for a replacement that would take several days to arrive I locally obtained one of the same rating. While the external dimensions were larger the local replacement would allow the machine to be used while I waited. Problem is, the capacitor isn't malfunctioning it's a bad motor. Great quality from Grizzly seven months on a motor.

When I called Grizzly again the nightmare began. They weren't happy because I was mean to their people when they were chasing me in circles about the switch, my options were โ€œsend the machine back and we'll replace of refund it.โ€

Realize, Grizzly lists a replacement motor and actually had on in stock, but they wanted to punish me by making it as inconvenient as possible. Another call to corporate and an agreement was reached to send a replacement motor as returning the machine was simply a stupid solution.

The replacement motor showed up and was installed immediately. The replacement motor lasted TWO WEEKS. I do understand that cheap machines come with cheap components and that includes cheap motors so I again called Grizzly and asked them to send another and offered to return the โ€œnew badโ€ one for them to check. I was told essentially the motors are cheap enough to not warrant checking the bad one BUT the only thing Grizzly was going to do was to have me return the machine and they would send me a refund.

That's ridiculous and the worst example of customer care I have ever experienced. I own that machine, I paid for it along with the warranty that is supposed to be taking care of this issue. I asked that Grizzly send me a refund check along with a pickup slip for their machine. If they want out of their warranty obligation they can buy the machine back, but judging by the constant runaround I get whenever I needed service I'm not sure I'm comfortable trusting them to actually pay me. After several calls I acquiesced and told them to send me a pick up slip but that I would be tracing the package as well as saving evidence of what was in the package.

The owner of Grizzly doesn't accept calls, I guess he's too important or busy figuring new and different ways to screw customers.

My impression is that Grizzly plans on trying to run out the clock on the warranty to avoid taking responsibility for their low quality products and cut rate customer care.

Grizzly finally sent the pickup slip along with a letter stating that they will only accept a return of new, unused merchandise in the original package and then will deduct a 10% restocking fee and return shipping costs. Here's a link to the letter... https://www.facebook.com/170852****041420/photos/a.170861****699368.107374****.170852****041420/170861****366159/?type=1

Reason of review: Warranty issue.

Monetary Loss: $230.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Grizzly Industrial Pros: Are cheap.

Grizzly Industrial Cons: Attitude and poor service.

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Guest

You get more Flies with Honey then your ****

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1057942

So I'm supposed to kiss their ring and accept whatever poor customer service they choose to provide? If Grizzly cared about their reputation they would go out of their way to provide quality service rather than jacking their customers around.. Sort of like Rikon who sold me the replacement for the Grizzly POS, one problem, one phone call and the problem was solved.

You go ahead, buy Grizzly and deal with their poor customer service and non-existent warranty, I'll spend my money with reputable companies.

Guest

Next time buy a machine higher up on the food chain, instead of one from the bottom line of their series.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1031861

Only one level for this machine. Regardless, they claim to offer a warranty but refuse to honor it.

More details here... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grizzly-Industrial-Tool-Failures/170852****041420

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