Customer Service
Let me start by saying I don't judge a company based on if there is a problem, (defective equipment, etc..) I judge them on how well they take care of the problem. Cause in the course of business there will always be problems along the way it's how it's handled that counts.
on 2/6/2012 I called to order a 225LX (I wanted a water cooled torch and liked the amount of features). After talking to Alex in great depth about what I wanted and what I needed (2 Different things) He talked me into getting the 200DX because I really didn't need alot of preflow and didn't care about upslope and downslope because I'd be using the pedal 99% of the time. I also didnt need 225A, Don't even really need 200 either. During the conversation (quite long) nothing was mentioned about the 200DX not coming with a watercooled torch. I was quoted a delivery date of 2/17/12. I ordered the 200DX and a WP9 Torch. The 17th came and gone and I called in to check the order status and the boat hadn't arrived or cleared customs yet. I received the unit on 2/23/12. Opened it up and found the WP9 Torch and a WP26 Torch (AIR COOLED) I called Everlast and talked to Alex again and was told I ordered a Air cooled WP26 and I specifically said I wanted a watercooled torch when I ordered it but apparently the 225LX comes watercooled and the 200DX comes with a Air cooled torch but this wasn't conveyed to me in our original discussion. Alex told me I didn't need a watercooled torch anyways cause I'm only 200AMPS. Frankly this kind of pissed me off. I may not need the water cooled torch but It's what I wanted, and it's what I thought I ordered, again I stressed to Alex in our original conversation that I had to have a water cooled torch, and he didn't tell me the 200DX doesn't come with a water cooled torch. Alex said I could return the WP26 and get a WP18 but would have to pay for the upgrade. I was a little confused because I thought my original order was for a watercooled torch, he explained to me that the 200DX didn't come with one, but the 225LX does. I realized that detail was missing from our original conversation. So instead of dealing with shipping the torch back and paying the upgrade fee I would just keep the 26 torch and later buy a watercooled 18 torch.
I setup the welder and plugged the pedal in and immediately discovered a problem. No matter how I set the knob on the pedal it made no difference the welder would only put out 7-13AMPS with pedal to the floor. After several conversations with Ray some at near 10PM Pacific and testing with a multi-meter we determined the problem was not with the pedal but was with the welder. With the torch switch the welder did fine. I was NOT HAPPY. I had scheduled 2 weeks off where I would not take in any other automotive work to finish our shop car and this welder was needed to build the motor mount, intake manifold, turbo headers, downpipe, etc... Ray told me it could take 2-3 weeks to get it back from repair. (I don't think he realized I had just received the welder that same day) I was really bummed because the next point I could schedule time off is next September.
The next morning I called Alex and told him what was going on, he told me he'd call me back in a couple hours after talking to Ray. 5 hours went by and no call so I called Alex again he told me he was playing phone tag with Ray, and asked me if he should ship me a pedal first just to try out first before returning the welder and I said no because I was 100% confident the problem was within the welder not the pedal. So he said he closes at 5PM my time and would give me a call back and get this sorted TODAY. At 4:51PM Alex called me and told me he could not get ahold of RAY and asked what I wanted to happen. I told him I wasn't happy with the knob on the pedal and the unorthodox way it sets the amperage on the 200DX and that I wanted the watercooled torch. So naturally the option was to upgrade to a 225LX which had exactly what I wanted. (wish I would have done that to begin with but can't blame Alex for trying to save me a few bucks)
Alex transferred me to Katya who processed my RMA, emailed me a return label to return the 200DX, a RMA form and a tracking # for the new 225LX machine, I paid $225 for the upgrade. Katya told me as soon as I ship the 200DX to call them and they will check the UPS tracking and immediately ship out the 225LX. The next morning I dropped off the 200DX at the UPS Store, called Katya she tracked the shipment and immediately shipped the 225LX. That was yesterday, UPS says I'll have it tomorrow.
I couldn't be happier with the way they handled this problem, and because they handled this so well I will be purchasing a Plasma cutter and probably a Mig welder from Everlast in the near future.
If I could offer some constructive criticism, it would be to try to be clearer on the differences between models so I could have made a more informed decision. (I did not have access to the internet at my time of ordering otherwise I would have been looking at the specs while talking to Alex)
Alex, Ray, and Katya turned this whole experience from a Negative to a Positive. Oleg they deserve a raise!
Happy Everlast Customer
Jeremy Hartz
Southwest Speedworks LLC
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Originally Posted by sw2x
