Rutlands....argh!!!!

[Lons]

I ordered a Dakota mortice chisel sharpening kit which did not arrive after they emailed me to say it had been dispatched. When queried they told me I had to wait the full 2 weeks to allow Royal Snail Mail to deliver. This was a real pain as having blunted a chisel on some very hard oak and deadline looming for another job, I needed it asap.

On 'phoning again lsat Friday, I got an appology and a promise that a replacement would be delivered by courier on Monday. This morning (Wed) still no sign so another phone call only to be informed that it was out of stock and placed on back order for me.
I was somewhat annoyed that I wasn't told that on Friday and had to press a little to find out exactly when delivery would be - to be told sometime in March :roll:

One cancelled order and a refund later and I am starting to realise why so many forum members have such a low opinion of Rutlands

Bob

 

[Mike.C]

I ordered a Dakota mortice chisel sharpening kit which did not arrive after they emailed me to say it had been dispatched. When queried they told me I had to wait the full 2 weeks to allow Royal Snail Mail to deliver. This was a real pain as having blunted a chisel on some very hard oak and deadline looming for another job, I needed it asap.

On 'phoning again lsat Friday, I got an appology and a promise that a replacement would be delivered by courier on Monday. This morning (Wed) still no sign so another phone call only to be informed that it was out of stock and placed on back order for me.
I was somewhat annoyed that I wasn't told that on Friday and had to press a little to find out exactly when delivery would be - to be told sometime in March :roll:

One cancelled order and a refund later and I am starting to realise why so many forum members have such a low opinion of Rutlands

Bob

Rutlands are very good, and they are even better now that they sell Woodpecker products from the US, But and it's a BIG BUT if there is the slightest problem you are on a hiding to nothing. Their customer service department simply does not exsit and you would get more sense out of the chimp's at Monkey World.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Unib]

Something I've always wondered and never been able to find out is whether Rutlands are related to the tool shop that were in Bakewell (were they called Tabwell?). I noticed it'd closed down when I drove through last month. I always thought it was too much of a coincidence for them not to be, particularly given their similar reputation for customer service. My mate worked there years ago and has many stories to tell about the bloke who owned it.

 

[Gerard Scanlan]

I recently order a set of 4 foot sash clamps, six in all. Two arrived bent and did not straighten when in use. I photographed them and sent the pictures to Rutlands who asked if I wanted replacement clamps or a refund. So they get it right sometimes too. Even so a customer service department has to be on its best behavior all the time in these days of the Internet. It may have been a genuine mistake they made, but they should have resolved it with you to that the extent that you felt the urge to write a positive post. I always ask if an item is in stock before I order it. If a company tells me it is and then I am informed it is out of stock I get just as mad as you are. A positive post is a fantastic advertisement for a company. Missed opportunity!

 

[Benchwayze]

I don't get it.
Have never had any trouble with them. Also, they do have some good offers. (The castors they do are great and every so often they sell a set of four, for half price.) I use castors for all my machines, as my shop is so small. So that saved me a fair bit of munnie! Also, four x four feet lengths of 'T' track for less than £30.00

I bought a 'Jig-making' set of levers and 'T' bolts etc, from them, on a BOGOF offer. One 'T' Bolt was missing. I sent an email and I had a replacement the next day, by courier.

I must be lucky, or live in the right place.
Credit where credit is due.

John

 

[Halo Jones]

I also have to say that I have never had a problem with Rutlands even if I have had a problem they have sorted it out asap. The only thing that does annoy me about their site is when something is on back order for several months. Are we to assume that it has just been put on a boat from China and that is how long the sailing is going to take :roll:

H.

 

[Krysstel]

OK, my Rutlands story. One of a long list I could tell. In fact I can't remember a single time I've ordered anything from Rutlands without something going wrong.

I don't live in the UK but Rutlands have a supposedly good set-up for export and list Norway as one of the countries there system automatically calculates shipping to - at a standard fixed £19.95 rate regardless of the size of the package.

The story.
One of their many sales, not "off everything" but on what I wanted. Usual free delivery. Written in the corner of the advert "UK mainland ony" - free delivery that is. Fair enough. Free delivery abroad would be a bit too much to expect. I ordered anyway to get the sale price.
1 week later and still no "dispatched" e-mail so I e-mailed them and asked why and got the most fantastic reply ever !
To cut a long story short; the items hadn't been dispatched because the delivery charge was showing £0 and that was incorrect for Norway. No notification, no e-mail, the order was just hanging there waiting for me to take action.
Their system had removed the delivery charges for the said sale item even though the same system usually automatically calculates export shipping charges and even though the sale advert said "UK mainland ony". I suggested they changed their system and they said they would be looking into the matter although "there was no timescale for this at the moment" ! Instead it was suggested that I ordered and additional "non-sale" item to fool the system into adding the correct £19.95 fixed shipping charge to the order. They even gave me a list of cheap additional items I could choose from. My initial reaction was to cancel but I really wanted those clamps so I found some MDF screws I needed, added them to the order and a week later received my 4 clamps and a box of screws for £19.95 shipping costs :shock:

Two months later another sale. Same set-up as last time. Same problems. Same free / not free shipping when I tried to order - ("there was no timescale for this at the moment"). I added another 2 boxes of MDF screws.

I've never tried to order anything from one of their "10% of everything and free delivery" sales. Could be interesting :roll:

Mark

 

[Lons]

I don't get it.
Have never had any trouble with them. Also, they do have some good offers. (The castors they do are great and every so often they sell a set of four, for half price.) I use castors for all my machines, as my shop is so small. So that saved me a fair bit of munnie! Also, four x four feet lengths of 'T' track for less than £30.00

I bought a 'Jig-making' set of levers and 'T' bolts etc, from them, on a BOGOF offer. One 'T' Bolt was missing. I sent an email and I had a replacement the next day, by courier.

I must be lucky, or live in the right place.
Credit where credit is due.

John

To be fair to them (which didn't come across in my post), The guys in I spoke to were very pleasant and full of appologies. What annoyed me was -

1. I was promised courier delivery then no stock. He should have 'phoned me as soon as he realised that rather than waiting for me to chase it again.
2. I was then told it was back ordered but had to push for dates. I think he was embarassed to tell me and I got the impression the order hadn't yet been placed with the manufacturers.

There were no problems sorting out a refund however but I've wasted 3 weeks and still had to order elsewhere.

The mark of a good company is how it sorts out it's customer problems and complaints and if they realised that immediate comunication is by far the most important aspect, they would solve 75% of the issues overnight.

Bob

 

[Dibs-h]

I wouldn't buy off the tossers if they were the last supplier in the UK. In which case I'd rather give my money to the Chinese.

 

[knappers]

Come on Dibs, get off the fence and tell us how you really feel.

Si.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Unib,

Something I've always wondered and never been able to find out is whether Rutlands are related to the tool shop that were in Bakewell (were they called Tabwell?). I noticed it'd closed down when I drove through last month. I always thought it was too much of a coincidence for them not to be, particularly given their similar reputation for customer service. My mate worked there years ago and has many stories to tell about the bloke who owned it.

There was no connection.

Thanks,
Neil

 

[studders]

I bought three Norton Stones some months ago. They arrived OK but they were only 1/2" thick, not the 1" stated. I decided to keep them anyway but contacted Rutlands to tell them of the error. They apologised and said they would amend the description. Well, as you can see, they haven't bothered.

 

[wobblycogs]

Got caught out by them this Christmas. LOML bought me a bench vice but the quick release mechanism was configured incorrectly and the quick release bar was a bit bent. Looked like the handle had been push around the wrong way. After a number of calls to services it was clear they weren't interested in doing anything about the problem. They even told me that the bar was often bent and there was nothing wrong. Thanks to some great photos I found on here (cheers Blister ) and a hammer I've got it working but there's no way I'll buy from Rutlands again.

 

[Keenedge]

Hi Unib,

Something I've always wondered and never been able to find out is whether Rutlands are related to the tool shop that were in Bakewell (were they called Tabwell?). I noticed it'd closed down when I drove through last month. I always thought it was too much of a coincidence for them not to be, particularly given their similar reputation for customer service. My mate worked there years ago and has many stories to tell about the bloke who owned it.

There was no connection.

Thanks,
Neil

I was under the impression that it was the same people, they had quite a few shops but went out of business and then started Rutlands. Heard some poor reports especially on customer/supplier treatment, last resort and would check and double check special offers and prices.

 

[DIY Stew]

I don't get it.
Have never had any trouble with them. Also, they do have some good offers. (The castors they do are great and every so often they sell a set of four, for half price.) I use castors for all my machines, as my shop is so small. So that saved me a fair bit of munnie! Also, four x four feet lengths of 'T' track for less than £30.00

I bought a 'Jig-making' set of levers and 'T' bolts etc, from them, on a BOGOF offer. One 'T' Bolt was missing. I sent an email and I had a replacement the next day, by courier.

I must be lucky, or live in the right place.
Credit where credit is due.

John

To be fair to them (which didn't come across in my post), The guys in I spoke to were very pleasant and full of appologies. What annoyed me was -

1. I was promised courier delivery then no stock. He should have 'phoned me as soon as he realised that rather than waiting for me to chase it again.
2. I was then told it was back ordered but had to push for dates. I think he was embarassed to tell me and I got the impression the order hadn't yet been placed with the manufacturers.

There were no problems sorting out a refund however but I've wasted 3 weeks and still had to order elsewhere.

The mark of a good company is how it sorts out it's customer problems and complaints and if they realised that immediate comunication is by far the most important aspect, they would solve 75% of the issues overnight.

Bob

Bob

What ever happened to 'the customer is always right', I am a great believer in 'give them a second chance' however reading through these post means Rutlands catalogue is now going in the recycle bin!!

Stew

 

[Newbie_Neil]

I was under the impression that it was the same people, they had quite a few shops but went out of business and then started Rutlands.

I aked the owner of Tabwell Tools whether he had anything to do with Rutlands and he said no, he saw them as his biggest competitor.

Thanks,
Neil

 

[Lons]

Bob

What ever happened to 'the customer is always right', I am a great believer in 'give them a second chance' however reading through these post means Rutlands catalogue is now going in the recycle bin!!

Stew

Hi Stew
That's the problem. They're so busy trying to get sales that they don't seem to have time for customer service.

I can't say that I'll never buy from them again as it would depend on the offer and the stock but I would have to think very carefully first.
The customer certainly isn't always right as there are some very strange and dishonest people out there but a small problem if not sorted immediately always becomes a big problem which then takes an inordinate amount of time and resources. Worse still it loses customers who then spread the word - just look at the bad publicity they've had on this forum over time.

Bob

PS - Good to meet you last weekend, did you get into trouble from the boss for gossiping for too long?

 

[DIY Stew]

Bob

What ever happened to 'the customer is always right', I am a great believer in 'give them a second chance' however reading through these post means Rutlands catalogue is now going in the recycle bin!!

Stew

Hi Stew
That's the problem. They're so busy trying to get sales that they don't seem to have time for customer service.

I can't say that I'll never buy from them again as it would depend on the offer and the stock but I would have to think very carefully first.
The customer certainly isn't always right as there are some very strange and dishonest people out there but a small problem if not sorted immediately always becomes a big problem which then takes an inordinate amount of time and resources. Worse still it loses customers who then spread the word - just look at the bad publicity they've had on this forum over time.

Bob

PS - Good to meet you last weekend, did you get into trouble from the boss for gossiping for too long?

Bob

She did pass a comment about men being worse gossips than they are, however when I told her I was checking out your workshop and that you had given me some very good ideas for tools I had to have she quickly changed the subject!!

Still working my way through the mags.

Cheers

Stew

 

[TheTiddles]

I wouldn't buy off the tossers if they were the last supplier in the UK. In which case I'd rather give my money to the Chinese.

I've had some good service from China! Problem is they normally try and fix things they incorrectly think are broken, till they actually are. I was once on the phone to a Chinese supplier walking round Dusselfdorf (as you do) when I bumped into her almost literally, I thought she was in China, she thought I was in England we both saved on the phone bills.

As for Rutlands (I digress I beleive), I have ordered from them once, it arrived just fine, however with all I have seen over the last year or two from people here I would rather give my bank details to that Nigerian businessman who keeps asking for them!

Aidan

 

[isv]

I ordered a 'professional' starter woodworking set for my son during the January sale. 50% off so thought I'd nab a bargain. The quality was without a doubt truly shocking and at any price was worse than useless. I've never seen anything so badly put together.

Anyway, for anyone who is unhappy with the customer server or quality of anything from Rutlands please understand that the UK Distance Selling Regulations are your friend. You can send anything back for a full refund (including cost of your return postage) whether faulty or not and there is not a thing they can do about it.