RECORD POWER TSPP250

[Anonymous]

Just thought i would let you all know about my experience with Record Power.
Took delivery of my brand new table saw on saturday afternoon, spent most of sunday uncrateing and building it- this is what i found;
Rip fence broken in box
Table extension like the skin of a golf ball (very very poorly ground)
Main table not flat
Blade would not go to 90 or 45 degrees- Even after adjustment
Sliding carriage would grind on the table at the front and leave 3mm gap at the rear of the table(not adjustable)
When the blade lock was loosened the blade and motor would drop down by itself (no effective counterbalance)
Main table so out of whack the blade could only be measured at 90degrees on one side of the blade and more than 90 on the other . Oily black fingerprints all over alluminium extrusions
Alluminium extrusions had dings and scratches all over them
Not a happy bunny i rang record tech department and got nowhere.
Asked for another saw - got laughed at
Thank god for Dave at Homewood in Worthing who agreed to refund my money.
Anyone else had this kind of trouble from this awfull company?

Piggy.

 

[johnb]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a TSPP250 and BS350 directly from Record for delivery directly to France.

The only minor problem I had with the TSPP250 was a similar slight misalignment of the sliding table. This was easily adjustable. The rollers the sliding table run on are fixed into a channel under the actual skeleton table and there is a simple adjustment of the position in that channel by loosening some Allen screws.

I'm puzzled why, having presumbly unpacked and checked all the parts, you bothered to build the saw before contacting the supplier. Did you take photos to confirm the problems?

The BS350 had a broken plastic handwheel (it should not have been mounted when the saw was in the packaging - Record confirmed this had been a fault on a couple of others). Record are sending a replacement and three free blades.

 

[Noel]

Well Piglet,

Interesting tale....For your first post it appears to be a litany of bad news and to be honest Record Power, in my opinion, certainly do not have a reputation for shoddy workmanship, although I daresay the transport element may have caused much of the damage. Since you've come to an arrangement with your supplier let us know what you intend to replace it with.

Noel

 

[Anonymous]

Well johnb,
Most of these problems didn't show themselves untill the saw was built and i was on the phone allmost constantly and was told that every thing would work out in the end. Even Dave at Homewood was at a loss as to what to do, or how to fix the problems. I believe i got a Lemon but trying to get Tony at Record Tech Department to believe this was imposible.
Johnb, Would you be happy useing this saw under these conditions? What good is saw that will not cut at 90 degrees even after full adjustment?, What good is a saw that if you want to cut on the other side of the blade you have to re-set the blade?
Why would you want to spend money with a company who treats you like that and even though you are the first person to see the machine straight off the boat.
I bought this saw to replace a £150 SIP job i got fron Argos some 11yrs ago that did go to 90 degrees, that could be used on both sides of the blade without re-setting.
NO that's right- You wouldn't would you?

 

[Noel]

I think there's a forum on the Record Power site. It may help.

Noel

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Noely, Yes I was very supprised at the service i recieved, I have a DX5000 Dust Extractor and it has worked faultlesly. But I have heard of people having similar problems with Record ( If you remember when Record Had a forum).
I am looking now at a jet supersaw but not quite sure yet, I would prefer a good TSPP250 but after this experiance I have vowed never to put my money in their hands again.

Piggy
P.S. No forum on record site anymore.

 

[Noel]

Me too, I've a DX5000. Think one or two members have the Jet SS. Didn't know the Record forum had gone.

Noel

 

[Anonymous]

If my memory serves me right the Record Forum was just full of complaints, I recon thats why they did away with it.

 

[Anonymous]

PW

Record's explanation here: http://www.recordpower.co.uk/index.pl?s ... =37&dp=155

Form your own opinion.

Bad luck on the saw. I have to say when i have had cause to phone RecordPower I have been treated respectfully and taken seriously so I am surprised at your treatment. Getting things sorted out, now that can be a bit frustrating.

Regards

Roy

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Roy, Yes off course it is My Opinion- Bassed on Experiance.
What would you have done if it had happened to you?

I really dont care for the official version that you pointed out- if it wher your company would you have written WE HAVE SO MANY COMLPAINTS ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS ON THE FORUM THAT IT IS BECOMING EMBARRASSING SO WE ARE CLOSING IT DOWN.
I don't think so.

 

[gidon]

Hi PW

Sounds a nightmare - just glad you bought it locally. Although I thought from what I've heard on this group that Homewood put this stuff together for you?

I really can't understand why they wouldn't offer a replacement. I had some trouble with my Record bandsaw recently (and relatively minor compared to your difficulties) and they offered a replacement. Overall I have found their service average - it does depend who you speak to a little (like many companies).

Cheers

Gidon

 

[johnb]

No Piggy, I wouldn't have accepted a saw in that condition. I checked the components of mine out carefully as I unpacked it from the very copious packaging and then tested various operations, e.g. rise-and-fall and tilt, before I put it all together. I've even had to take it nearly all apart again to move it! It certainly sounds as though yours should never have been shipped out.

If you want another TPSS250 I'd ask Dave at Homewood to get you one. He'll certainly be dealing with Record over the return of yours and I'm sure both he and Record will make sure your new one would be perfect.

It is nearly always the case that forums are where problems rather than compliments are aired. If there aren't any problems then people just get on and use the equipment. There are several others on the forum with TPSS250 and they've either not had problems with their saws in the way you have or have been keeping quiet.

All I can say is the many e-mail contacts I had with Record before ordering and the one problem I had were all handled very well.

 

[Anonymous]

HI again Johnb,
I did an awfull lot of research on this saw and it was thanks to posts and reviews on this forum that gave me the confidence to go ahead and buy one but looking at the pictures posted my saw was /is in no way as good as what I have seen or heard about.
This saw was a 40th birthday pressie from the wife, She has just rung me and told me she has been onto the boss and a deal is being thrashed out on a replacement.
I wait with baited breath.

 

[Philly]

Hi All
Sorry to hear about your saw woes-personally, I went for Woodford's Xcaliber saw, a Unisaw clone. It was even better than I expected, and service was second to none.
If you get stuck you might like to give them a call and have a chat.

www.woodfordwm.co.uk

Click on the Xcaliber link.

cheers
Philly

 

[Taffy Turner]

I personally have had very good experiences with Record Power's after sales service.

I bought a CL4 variable speed lathe from a company in the Forest Of Dean (they were the only ones who had one in stock at the time).

When I tried to run the lathe, it kept tripping my RCD. I rang Record Power, and they arranged for the headstock / motor / inverter assembly to be collected and returned to them. They tested it, but couldn't find a problem, but changed the inverter anyway, and returned it to me.

The problem was still there, so I rang them again, and this time they sent an Engineer down to collect it and they changed the motor (even though they couldn't find a fault), and the Engineer drove all the way down again to re-install it. (Sheffield to Caerphilly is a fair drive!!).

Eventually the problem was traced to the supply (faulty RCD), so it wasn't even Record's fault, but they didn't bat an eylid.

I was more than happy with their service, and more than a little impressed.

 

[Anonymous]

Apparently Record beleve that I may have expectations of TSPP250 that are higher than the price CAN YOU BELEVE THIS they are now trying to say that YOU shouln't expect to be able to cut at 90 degrees to the table, you shouln't expect to have the blade parallel to the mitre slots, you shouldn't expect the table to be the same level either side of the blade, you should accept two smooth shiny tables and one lizzard skin table, you should accept that the bottom of the sliding carriage fence will grind itself away on the table and most importantly you should hold onto the blade tilt knob with two hands because it will fall and swing like a pendulum.
I give up.

Pigwhippit.

 

[Alf]

Welcome to the forum, Piggy.

Well I dunno, all sounds a bit depressingly familiar, and I can all too well understand how upset you must be. Not Record in my case, but also a birthday pressie. I also had lots of people telling me what great service they'd had from the outfit in question too - rubs salt into the wound rather, doesn't it?

I can't comment on Record's products 'cos I haven't bought or looked at any of them for yonks now (Please don't mention the M-word...), but there is simply no excuse for such an apparently poor response from their customer service side. <sigh> When will companies in this country realise what a huge difference that makes?

Thank goodness you bought it from Homewood who have such an excellent reputation. Sounds like time to look for something else...

Record's explanation here: http://www.recordpower.co.uk/index.pl?s ... =37&dp=155

Form your own opinion.

When the forum was launched there were few active UK based forums for users to seek other users help but since then the situation has developed rapidly and there are now many excellent and very active independent UK forums where a great deal of knowledgeable and independent advice can be found from other woodworking enthusiasts and professionals.

"Many"? Many?! Where? My opinion is they lurk round these parts...

Cheers, Alf

 

[Midnight]

Welcome aboard Pigwhippet.... and my most sincere condolences....

I've often wondered why it is that whenever bean counters start to run a company, quality assurance and customer support are always the first to go down the pan...

I won't mention any names (to protect the ummmmmm.... innocent... Ahem) but some of the more worldly wise in here recommend that when customer service flip you the bird, your next contact should be the company M.D., and don't spare the rod...

Form your description, I wholeheartedly agree with you that your list of expectations are quite reasonable. I hope the deal you're working out with the supplier makes up for your experience.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi again all,
I still do not know what is going on cos the pipper didn't ring back as promised but I'll let you know when he does.
I would like to say that in all of this I feel incredibly sorry for Dave at Homewood he is such a nice accomodating guy and looks visibly embarassed about the whole thing and i promise i'll buy the next bit of kit from him even if he's more expensive, allthough I would forgive him if he never wanted to see me again.
Homewood are holding Record Power Demo's in December and you can bet i will be there to check out what standard their TSPP250 comes up to, I suspect it will be nothing like the Lemon Ive got.

Thank you all for the great welcome to the forum and I am sorry it was in such misserable circumstances.

Thanks to all for the replys, it's good to know I wasn't on my own in expecting decent standards.

Pigwhippit.

 

[Anonymous]

Update,
First i must appologise to the Tech dept boss at record, It turns out he did ring back but nobody there to speak to him(I will not speak to them anymore cos they rile me)
Record has agreed to send an expert to me to check this saw out but im not prepared to take time off work to do this and he will not work on Saturdays so like the missus told them yesterday All we will accept is a refund (allready agreed with Homewood) or a completely new saw. A new saw is apparently not on so it looks like a Jet SS will be nuzzleing in my workshop in the next couple of weeks and watch out if you have ordered a TSPP250 cos you might well end up with mine.

Piggy.