Axminster Tools

[Max Power]

Can't rate their customer service highly enough. I've had a couple of deliveries lately and the service has been exemplary.
I somehow ordered two of everything on the last order, so phoned them yesterday morning and it was amended straight away with no hassle.
Got a text last night to say it would be getting delivered today. Another message early today with the time slot, and the delivery arrived spot on time.
They may not be the cheapest sometimes, but I can't be bothered with aggravation (must be getting old) so they'll be getting a lot more of my business

 

[robgul]

Yep - a bit pricey but top quality and reliable for delivery - the courses they run are also excellent . . . I spent 3 days at the Axminster HQ at the end of January with a 2-day routing course and 1 day bandsaw skills. The routing course created a small cabinet demonstrating a lot of techniques and joints etc. Downside of the courses was that I spent about £300 on tools while I was there !! (and probably the same since then)

Rob

 

[sunnybob]

I used to go to axminster tools when it was a single shop in the town centre. :shock: Theyve come on a bit since then. =D> :lol:
Another vote for their service though, despite them now being one of the biggest companies in the game. I found Record so hard to deal with that I've given up on them completely.
Axminster deliver to me in Cyprus for a very reasonable charge.

 

[AJB Temple]

I agree that service is excellent. They are very good with delivery, and what impresses me is how they fix it when things go wrong. Twice in the past few months I have had small things simply not delivered - both times via parcel force (who I often find quite bad in our area). When I realised, Axminster sent replacements out with no fuss (and a different courier) straight away. Top service.

I do buy from them when I can, but often their tools (eg Festool) are not close enough to people like FFX (who I also find excellent on-line).

 

[DBT85]

I've never actually even been into an Axminster let alone bought anything, but what has generally struck me is that you are paying over the odds, but that they generally do back that price up with service, if you need it.

 

[woodbloke66]

If you have a look at my sig block below, I was employed by Ax for three years and finished in May 2017. I made some good friends there and one of first things I was 'volunteered' :lol: for was this little gem :lol: You wouldn't believe the agricultural language going on and if I recollect, it took the best part of a day to get it filmed. I seem to think we did the final 'take' just before I had to leg it down to the station to catch the train home. Happy days! - Rob

 

[ColeyS1]

I dont think they have the reputation they use to have to be honest. They seem to sell Chinese junk but are very swift at sending out more junk hoping that its satisfactory. The buyers are the quality control- god knows how many people have been put off taking up woodworking because they were unaware it was the tools that were at fault


Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

 

[AJB Temple]

To be fair, Axminster do sell some Chinese junk as Coley suggests - built to a price for a market segment. But they also sell Lie Nielson, Veritas, Festool, etc and a pretty good range of branded machines, including very decent lathes. As with many things, you pays your money and takes your choice.

They have priced matched for me in recent history. I quite like visiting their store in Kent as they carry a good stock and it is easy to compare things that way.

I also think that unlike some other firms, the reviews on their website are genuine: they don't edit the bad ones.

 

[Chris152]

I've had nothing but positive experience from Axminster Cardiff - really helpful and friendly service in store, and they've been great participating in the wood fairs we've organised and helping promote them. They always seem interested to help develop woodworking in our area - clearly good business sense on their part, but of course nothing wrong with that.

 

[AndyT]

I've used them for most of my bigger purchases and a string of smaller ones over the years and never had any problems at all.
They ran a really good open day a while back which I attended with a couple of other forum members and we were shown the whole operation. They are a family run business keeping everything in house, with many staff staying there long term.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them for any future purchases or recommend them to others. I've only seen the Axminster shop - which is a tremendous resource. Long may they thrive.

 

[Doug71]

I have always had fantastic service from them online and over the phone but they have fallen short in store both times I have visited.

I'm equidistant from 3 Axminster stores, all about 80 miles away in different directions so it's not a quick trip.

I was interested in 2 of their sliding panel saws and phoned my nearest store to see if they had them on display, I was told yes so went over to look at them. The first saw was wrongly assembled so the table only slid about 600 mm instead of 1500 mm, a member of staff (who clearly didn't know what he was talking about) was telling me it would be correct and demonstrated how he thought it probably should be used #-o . The other saw that I had said I wanted to view didn't even have the sliding table fitted, I was told "We don't have room to have everything on display", if they had told me this over the phone I could have gone to one of the other stores instead.

The other time I had made a large purchase, PT, bandsaw, extractors etc and had arranged a time to collect them. When I got there non of it was ready, it took them nearly 2 hours to sort it out and then when loading it into my van they took some chunks out of the internal ply lining, I overheard one of the staff who was helping load it telling the other "I don't think he noticed, don't say anything." :evil:

Like I say always great service online and on phone but I won't be making another trip to the stores anytime soon.