Thread: Carbatec

Originally Posted by cray-

Got my Kreg Jig yesterday, that's 9 business days from order to delivery. Still waiting on the back ordered screws, might order the big multi size box from Amazon and see if it gets here faster. I know I've been quite critical of their online service, I wouldn't use it again, far too slow. If I want something quickly I'll go elsewhere or see what the service/stock levels are like in their Perth store. So I haven't written them off completely. =]

I dont bother with the kreg screws anymore as the quality of them has dropped significantly I only use the screws from these people Screw-It-Screws their quality, range and prices are better and they are specifaclly designed for pocketholes(I have no connection with them just a very satisfied customer).

Originally Posted by Milo

I have been shopping on and off at Carbatec for about 3 years now. The one thing that absolutely gives me the poopers is when I call to find out if they had a 1 1/2 inch Forstner bit but I want the one with the spur on the leading edge either the CMT or a new brand they are plugging Fisch.

You have the option of talking to the " I don't have a friggin clue" woman on the phone or be put through to the showroom but you never get through!!!!!! I live a good 40 min from their store in Brisbane and its a right royal pain for me to drive over there, so I insist that the sales person is actually holding the item in the hand before I get in the car.

the last couple of times I have got the " I don't have a friggin clue lady" who I am sure is nice enough but she wouldn't know the #### end if a forstner bit if it bit her on the behind!

I have actually told the owner but nothing changes, there was a bloke Cam who worked there and he was so helpfully but he has left so back to square one.

The only product I really like is Jet but now that this Laguna range is out it looks on par and is cheaper, by the sounds they need to take a good hard look at there customer engagement/ experience and work it out.

They do a slick job with their marketing its just a shame they are lettinghemselves down.

Let me guess....... all women should stay in the kitchen?
You'd better hope her fella's just a little bloke.

Originally Posted by cray-

Ordered last Monday, still nothing in my hands. I believe they dispatch from QLD, I'm in Perth. Now I realise this is a big country and all but last Monday I also ordered a bunch of bike parts from the UK which included 26" mountain bike tyres (big box) and I got them on Friday. Cost me $15 shipping, same as CT and they managed to send it half way across the world in less than 5 days!

First and last time Carbatec.

Your shipping from OS is by air, shipping by Ozzie Post to Perth is surface. Timetable as follows..

Day 1. Order
Day 2. Despatch...maybe.... if CT are on the ball
Day 3. Into AP system and on road that night to Parks NSW
Day 4. Loaded into container and on train
Days 5, 6, 7. Transit by train
After that whatever time it takes in Perth too unload, process and deliver, I'd allow two days

You could specify air freight (Express Post) and have it delivered the day after despatch in Metro Perth but bring your money with you. I used to do this stuff for a living for AP out of Sydney. Your air freight went straight into Perth and they lost money on the deal, not your problem of course but that is what happened.

Originally Posted by Milo

I have been shopping on and off at Carbatec for about 3 years now. The one thing that absolutely gives me the poopers is when I call to find out if they had a 1 1/2 inch Forstner bit but I want the one with the spur on the leading edge either the CMT or a new brand they are plugging Fisch.

You have the option of talking to the " I don't have a friggin clue" woman on the phone or be put through to the showroom but you never get through!!!!!! I live a good 40 min from their store in Brisbane and its a right royal pain for me to drive over there, so I insist that the sales person is actually holding the item in the hand before I get in the car.

the last couple of times I have got the " I don't have a friggin clue lady" who I am sure is nice enough but she wouldn't know the #### end if a forstner bit if it bit her on the behind!

I have actually told the owner but nothing changes, there was a bloke Cam who worked there and he was so helpfully but he has left so back to square one.

The only product I really like is Jet but now that this Laguna range is out it looks on par and is cheaper, by the sounds they need to take a good hard look at there customer engagement/ experience and work it out.

They do a slick job with their marketing its just a shame they are lettinghemselves down.

Sounds like the "Superior Male Syndrome" also known as MCP.

Every female employee I have spoken with in Brisbane know what they are talking about or make sure they find out.
I have had plenty of males of the " I don't have a friggin clue " kind.
Also had plenty of males who treat me as a " She doesn't have a friggin clue" kind, that attitude gets cut short quick smart.

Ms SAISAY

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Your shipping from OS is by air, shipping by Ozzie Post to Perth is surface. Timetable as follows..

Day 1. Order
Day 2. Despatch...maybe.... if CT are on the ball
Day 3. Into AP system and on road that night to Parks NSW
Day 4. Loaded into container and on train
Days 5, 6, 7. Transit by train
After that whatever time it takes in Perth too unload, process and deliver, I'd allow two days

You could specify air freight (Express Post) and have it delivered the day after despatch in Metro Perth but bring your money with you. I used to do this stuff for a living for AP out of Sydney. Your air freight went straight into Perth and they lost money on the deal, not your problem of course but that is what happened.

After phoning and driving around the northern suburbs of Melbourne all day, looking for suitable ball bearings for a rub collar for my spindle moulder, I gave up and decided to order from the U.S. I expected to have to sit back and wait out the ten days to two weeks for delivery. FOUR working days later it arrived from New York!

And so it should. Internal delivery in the US would have taken longer than four days if over any distance. it is an anomaly that internal mail in any country is surface while just about all international mail has become air freight.

Its pretty easy to criticize a retailer for poor service standards, however it is not only the likes of Carbatec suffering in this respect or facing the challenges of an offshore competitor who operates in a global sense with the advantages of larger market place, no overheads of a physical retail presence in multiple locations and no GST etc.

I have no affiliation with Carbatec other than to be an occasional customer so I have no interest in this matter other than to be a customer who appreciates a quality product, good service standards, advertising and marketing that meets legal standards and being informed when items are not in stock or when things go awry.

Yes I have had dealings with Carbatec (& other businesses) that did not go perfectly but my experience has been that the female staff member in Brisbane did know her stuff and did genuinely resolve the matter in the best interests of both customer (me) & business. In another instance several years ago the owner/manager (?) of Brisbane Carbatec resolved a small matter re a "live" website that was not "live" in their opinion and did honour the pricing advertised on that site when he listened to my reasoned complaint and understood that I knew what options and legal rights were available to me as a consumer & I could prove my assertions. So I have no real gripes as I have found they genuinely acted as they should have given the circumstances. I have also purchased many items over the years from them that had to be freighted from their Brisbane store to FNQ, with no issues.

To often Oz consumers will gripe about service standards but will not exercise their full legal rights, by firstly genuinely attempting to resolve the issue with the business, then escalating the matter to "The Office of Fair Trading" if they think they have been misled or they have been deceptively dealt with. When "Fair Trading" start seeing trends in complaints against a particular business they are then able to fairly assess if there actually is misleading & deceptive conduct by the business or its staff.

Don’t accept poor service standards! If you travelled a significant distance on the understanding that an item was in stock and on the shelf after contacting the store and it was not – then that could possibly be considered misleading, perhaps even deceptive. Items not as described in advertising literature is considered to be misleading or deceptive conduct. Politely and calmly send a letter to the management setting out the facts and circumstances of your complaint. If you still believe that you have been misled or deceptively dealt with then raise a complaint with the OFT or similar in your state. It works! Consumers do have buying power and multiple options available to them – IF they exercise them.

No only do OZ retailers have to deal with O/S competition who do offer comparable (same?) product, often exemplary customer service standards, no GST or import duty (under $1k) and fast transit times, but they also have to learn to manage social media like FB & WWF etc. I’m amazed Carbatec do not have a staff member monitoring WWF and PM’ing complainants to seek a resolution or to at least understand the challenges they must resolve to remain a viable business.

That's a great reply Mobyturns. It's quite disappointing though that Australia's own dedicated woodworking store is light on service standards. We all know that Carbatec can be better than they are and it's an insanely frustrating situation. It's even more frustrating that Carbatec seem ambivalent towards their criticism. There are many Carbatec bashing threads on this forum and many forum members have emailed Carbatec with no reply. I would say though, that 99% of the criticism is well founded from poor service to slow delivery times.

There is a 'very' well known company based in Victoria who I have ordered from in the past. The past 3 orders I have ended up cancelling because there was no stock despite their website stating it was 'in stock'. Last week I was advised 4 days later that the item wasn't in stock. I cancelled and ordered elsewhere. This sort of issue seems endemic in Australia, not confined to Carbatec.

Originally Posted by rustynail

Let me guess....... all women should stay in the kitchen?
You'd better hope her fella's just a little bloke.

First up let me apologise to the men and woman that took my comments the wrong way, I should not have directed my comments at the lady who mans the phone at Carbatec, she's just doing her job but what I meant is that she has been set up for failure by Carbatec management. She doesn't know what she is talking about because she has not been trained or she does not know even the most basic knowledge or because she might not have much knowledge or interest In woodwork. In my business the first person you speak to is actually the most important person in the company!! They set the tone to your customer experience!

Saying that its wrong to discriminate as I have spoken to male customer sales guys that also do not have much of a clue or they shouldn't be in a sales customer facing roles.

I am actually super patient with people but when you have to remind them three times that no a spade bit is not a Forstner bit, it gets a tad irritating.

All up for my mind Carbatec is not that bad there are some good people there and they do have some good products, what's the alternative in Australia that can match their setup?

I have placed quite a few orders thru Carba-tec over the past year or so, as well as with other vendors, depending on either my needs or their sales specials. While some have been delivered in part due to "out-of-stock", and some parts being back-ordered, in general all have come through in a reasonable amount of time.
My last order (with Carba-tec) was picked up today and that was only because the dispatcher at Goulburn, where the packages arrive, wasn't able to reach me last week after 3 attempts. So in fact, the order I placed on the evening of Saturday the 17th of August actually arrived (in its entirety) 10 days after I'd placed it. Also, in this particular order, 3 items were from Incra which, I have to presume, were in stock at the time. So over the space of 7 business days, my order arrived intact and in full.
Checking my order's progress via their website yesterday led me to believe it was still being processed, which having checked it again before writing this entry, it STILL says it's being processed. It matters not to me that they are behind in maintaining their accounts processing, only that I have all the items I ordered in my hot little hands NOW!

Bob

They need to update their website/inventory/database back end. I'm not going to order something if i csn see its out of stock, ill simply go elsewhere. But the fact they take your money then tell you its on back order and your forced to wait however long really annoys me.

Also. Gift cards. Great idea i have received a few myself but when you actually order them why can't after the purchase has been finalised can't thry just email you the code, why does it have go be sent via snail mail. Then also when using it you have to wait for an email or phone call from them to ask for the gift card code. Then No notification to say that's it's been shipped nor a tracking number. Nothing but the word 'processing' even after my orders are complete they still say that.

Ah man they need to update bigtime

delbs - couldn't agree more, and have stated so on other threads frequently. The Carbatec customer management/stock control software is a huge shambles, and possibly the biggest single factor in causing customer dissatisfaction. It has been that way for as long as I can remember. Maybe it didn't matter when everyone else was still using bits of paper, but look what they are up against these days. Never mind Lee Valley - even some small local online woodworking retailers run rings around Carbatec in this respect.

How much could it cost to fix? Or do Carbatec management think that it is all working just fine? If so, then they deserve to go the way of the dinosaur.

Couldn't be easier, it's a matter of management will to change.

It's pretty clear the site had a good dose of web design and SEO at some stage, but the effort fell flat after launch.

Being a woodwork place, they probably see the site as secondary. A starved unloved child they hope will go away.

This, from my perspective, is a disaster for them as I've put an absolute motza through Lee Valley, Amazon, Incra and especially Woodcraft and Rockler. The last has won a LOT of business off me.

It's an odd thing indeed in Australia. It's so hard to get a business up and successful, but as soon as they do they sit back and rest on their laurels.

Rent seeking at its worst.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

delbs - couldn't agree more, and have stated so on other threads frequently. The Carbatec customer management/stock control software is a huge shambles, and possibly the biggest single factor in causing customer dissatisfaction. It has been that way for as long as I can remember. Maybe it didn't matter when everyone else was still using bits of paper, but look what they are up against these days. Never mind Lee Valley - even some small local online woodworking retailers run rings around Carbatec in this respect.

How much could it cost to fix? Or do Carbatec management think that it is all working just fine? If so, then they deserve to go the way of the dinosaur.

There Feedback function on their website is rubbish, Do carbatech have a presence on this forum? Surely there's got to be a way to get this constructive feedback to a person instead of a disfunctional website?