Sears V CarveWright

[RC Woodworks]

I recently found myself in trouble for telling others what I have learned about Sears warranty. To avoid any more trouble I am not looking for an argument from other members!

I passed on what I was told by my local Sears owner about working on your own machine and how it can void the warranty. He also told me the Sears repair tech are trained to repair the CC. And lastly if the machine is used commercially it will void the warranty.

I live in Northern Ca, so I am not sure if Sears is slowly training their techs to repair the CC and it will be a matter of time until all techs will be trained? I do know I thought I should pass this info on.

Where I found myself getting in trouble was when I expressed a dissapointment in the first 2 machines I used and needed to return. The first being a series of problems which I did send the the unit to CW. Then on the advice of a CW tech I exchanged it for a new one. Then the second one was 2 fold a time issue and how the CW tech handled the problem.

In my opinon the real issue was talking negative about the machine and about 1 CW tech. Not insulting other members besides the moderator who gave me the forum violation. I really can't see telling others about what I learned and having a couple members express their opinions about Sears an insult. Maybe it was I took it as they didn't believe me and I told them to check for themself?

I attempted to PM the moderator about the issue and he made it very clear what the real issue was. He took it I spoke negative about the CC and the company. I have seen his post with other members, matter of fact it was ok to insult the member by posting a cloud formation that looked like it was giving the bird.

He told me he has had his machine for over a year without any problems. As forth to the Sears warranties issues he spoke to CW owner Chris about it and it was not true....End of discussion.....

I can't see how a moderator can be bias when they are personal friends with the owner and have not experienced any problems like many of have? I just wanted to share this information because it does effects us all.

I used my 3rd machine yesterday without any problems. It even sounded different! I am very impressed with what the CC can do. That is why I bought it! Like many of you I use it commercially making signs. Until this machine came out I longed to buy a CNC machine but could not afford the price. I have been hand routing my signs for years now and having this machine is a great help and has let me make signs that would have been difficult to make by hand.

I have no problem with CW or the personal. Sears has many problems so I want to make sure I am following their rules. I know for now and this may true always we can have CW take care of any warranty issues. The more Sears sales the CC and train their tech the less the manufacture will be involved. We all paid a lot for the CC, but a small price for what it can do!

PS. My intent is not to offend anyone, if I have offended anyone past, present or future I appologizes. I need to add when I said using the CC commercially will void the warranty. That is Sears policy and not CW, I asked CW about commercial use and Chris Rawls told me it does not have the speed of Commercial CNC units. However can be used for 6 hours straight but will need time to cool down for continue use

[rgant05]

RC,
I don't know anything about what you might have said, nor to who, nor against what you were addressing, and I won't defend you nor anyone else involved, but I do know that many times on forums like this sometimes the participant and/or the moderators can be overly sensitive sometimes. If you ever say anything that offends me, I will most likely tell you privately or if you did it publicly I may even reply publicly, but I would hope that all of could build a higher level of tolerance for misinterpretation or misstatement of what is said on this public forum. We are all here to learn and bottom line to enjoy something that we all have in common. Hopefully you will be able to put this issue behind you and get on with the enjoyment of the hobby. I'll not judge anything that has been done or said on the issue, but I do feel that it is helpful to share information and hopefully others feel the same.

Regarding any warranty, technically anytime you as a consumer touch anything on a product, you have voided the warranty. And Sears will always have that to fall back on for whatever situation they choose to but will hopefully use it only when it is clearly warranted. I have given warrantys and followed behind customers who tried to repair their system themselves, causing much more damage than help, so I can understand that policy. Fortunately, for us, there are 3 parties in the warranty involved with the CompuCarve instead of just 2.... the manufacture(CW), the Distributor, and the consumer. For me, if it had not been for the support of CarveWright and the fact that they claimed they would be taking care of all warranty issues on the CompuCarve, I would not have bought it from Sears. I am sure that Sears is training their techs and someday they may be a formidable force in providing warranty support, but truthfully, I seriously doubt that it will be within the duration of my warranty. I had a major problem that required I return my machine after 5 minutes of ON time. I could have taken it back to Sears and waited for another 3 or 4 weeks for a replacement from Sears OR as I did, I allowed CW to pick the unit up at their expense and rework and check it out and have it back to me in 2 weeks. NOW..... after 4 hours of runtime, I have a bad board sensor. Monday I talked with CW and now have a new one on the way and hope to be carving by the end of the week. Sears could not have done that for me at this time, nor would they have even tried (they are 60 miles away). Technically, I voided the warranty when I took the board sensor off to look at it, but the manufacturer who is supporting me is guiding me through the troubleshooting process, and allowing me to help rather than paying for the expensive two way trip for the machine to make back to Texas. Sears will always be able to fall back on the fact that I voided the warranty from day one, but fortunately CaverWright who is providing the actual support, does not do that. Sears has no idea that I have even had a problem, much less two. I am sure that as time goes on and Sears aquires technical people trained to compitently provide warranty service then the situation may possibly change, but we have to deal with what we have NOW, not what we may ideally have down the road. Sears is right..... work on your own machine.... void your warranty, but fortunately for us, it is not quite that clear cut or simple just yet. We have a manufacturer that is providing far better service than I have ever seen from Sears. Sears will back up their products, but in this particular situation, they are using the service and expertise of CarveWright to do so. As for me, I will not ever involve Sears or their local people unless CarveWright is no longer to able or willing to help me. To do so only sparks potential problems of the "technical violation of warranty" which is better left to sleep.

As I say, hopefully you will be able to put the difficulties you have experienced behind you and get back to enjoying the art of carving via computer.

Good luck,

Roger

[RC Woodworks]

Thank you Roger, I totally agree with you. All I was trying to do was pass on what I have learned from Sears. Yes CW provides better service and in the case of my first unit I sent it to CW for repair. I would have repaired my second unit and not exchanged it had it been for time and as I mention the way (1) Cw tech handled the problem.

As you pointed out and I agree Craftsman is the name on my machine. So as a consumer we are between a rock and a hard place to has control on the warranty. According to Sears they do since they put their name on it. CW no longers has anything to do with the product. I know CW does and I am thankful for it.

Just like Kenmore products they are made by Whirlpool, but once it becomes Kenmore it is a Sears product. Just like Craftsman. The good news in this case we have CW to call. I am just concern as fast as this product is being sold we might not be able to call CW in the future.

Thank you, again Roger I hope I can put the problems behind also. I really do like this machine!

[Semper Fi]

I had to contact Sears on the warranty in the past and this is an exact quote from their response back to me........."Please contact the vendor personally to address this matter further.". Doesn't sound like the "National Customer Relations, Sears Holdings Corp " shares your stores interpetation on this issue. And I too have noticed one of the Moderators coming down on posts for being negative toward CW. Didn't realize that this board was a "Hug Fest". If it is the case, maybe we should state it as such. This forum has always been complimented for addressing everthing about our machines, the good and the bad, including the "warts". I would hate to see that change.

Ernie

[RC Woodworks]

Thanks Ernie, I know in the past I have called Sears with my 1st machine and they acted as if an alien landed! As time goes on Sears continues to keep up and since the CC is new for them. It has taken awhile for them to catch up.

As forth to Hug Fest it is like the city police speeding down the street, who going to give them a ticket!

[DAT60A3]

I was told by one of the CW techs that there are some parts the Sears is not allowed to work on. That may not stop some Sears tech. One might want to check with CW first before allowing a Non-CW tech to start screwing around with a machine.