Delta CS Experience - 17-950L

glenn bradley

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11,515
Location
SoCal
I was going to wait till this was done to report but the date keeps getting pushed. I thought I had noticed some quill slop on my DP but put off verifying it as I was in the middle of something. I finally gave it a good diagnostic and low and behold. . . quill slop. Not runout mind you, the shaft could be moved back and forth a really fat 1/32".

I emailed Delta with the symptoms and after a couple emails back and forth the tech decided it needed to be looked at by one of their folks. I called the Delta service center which is about 35 miles away. They did not want me to bring the headpiece in as "those things are designed to sit on a post and just beg to get damaged if you try to set 'em on a bench".

The service center gave me a number for Delta Inhouse(?). I'm clueless so I call. They will send someone out to work on it at my house under warranty . . . cool. Now it starts to go south . . . .

The "Inhouse" guys only work Monday through Friday so I take the day off work to be available on the scheduled day. I call the evening before and all is well. I call at 8am on "the day" and all is well. About mid-day (they were due at 9am), I call and they try to reschedule under some lame excuse. Now, I'm not being nasty. They gave me some story about their trucks all being gone before the guy who was supposed to come out had even gotten to work.

3, 2, 1 . . . First I drill them as to why I was told all was well at about the same time they supposedly already had no trucks. They are still asking to delay a couple days. I say no problem but, I will be billing them for the time I have been off work and at this point I will have to go ahead and take the whole day, yammer, yammer, yammer. They acquiesce and finally arrive about 4pm.

The guy looks at the DP for about 10 minutes and say he wants to take it to the shop(!?!). We have a brief discussion about the whole reason he's there is to avoid taking the thing in, yammer, yammer, yammer, headpiece goes into his truck and away he goes.

1 week later, no news. The story is that since he picked it up on Wednesday and they only order parts on Wednesday, they couldn't order the parts on the day he picked it up and just ordered the parts and it takes about 10 days for the parts to arrive . . . . are you starting to get the gist of how this outfit does business (Tool-r-Us is the "Delta Inhouse" folks around here BTW).

So they are supposed to deliver today. I'm so happy because I have Ceaser Chavez Day off and I won't have to miss work. I have made them aware of this every day this week leading up to "the big day".

I finally call about 3pm as I have seen no one and heard nothing all day. They want to come NEXT Friday even though the DP is fixed and everything is working great (so I am assured). I really hope I have good news to post NEXT Friday. . . grumble, grumble, grumble.
 
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Yuk, that's the PITS!!!!:doh::( You must feel like one of the Critters in an old cartoon I used to have.

There were two Buzzards sitting on a dead tree in a desert scene, and NOTHING was moving. One says to the other, "Patience, my foot, I'm gonna KILL something".:rolleyes:

Hope you have GOOD NEWS next Friday.
 
Next Friday arrived and so did the DP. All fixed. A few minor scratches and the light hood is dinged but I'll be darned if I'm gonna give it back to them, I might not see it again till Christmas. As far as the original problem goes, its better than new. So, it took wayyy too long and there was some minor cosmetic damage as I feared but the functional repair was top notch.
 
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Hey Glenn...I know I nice retired guy down in San Diego county who's looking for an imported drill press. ;) :D

Glad to see they got the slop problem fixed.
 
Hey Glenn, I'm glad to hear that they got it RIGHT this time. I guess the time spent waiting on the repair is kind of a parallel to Paying More for a GOOD piece of equipment, "You only flinch or cry Once".:D Hopefully you can enjoy it now for a Looooooooong time with no further problems.:thumb:
 
This is the way Delta treats a customer of a new product, and they wonder why their market share has dropped :doh:

I'm sure happy with Kermit, that 44 year old drill press just keeps on trucking, no run out at all! :D
 
Find all kind of things to do with them you never seemed to think about before you got it.

Oh, so true. It is amazing the things I turn to this DP for that I would never have thought of doing on my little bench top. Thanks to all for the supporting words.
 
This is the way Delta treats a customer of a new product, and they wonder why their market share has dropped :doh:

It's not ALL their fault. I was just truly spoiled by the Bosch 'Rapid Repair Partner' program when I had an incident with my Colt. What a professional setup.
 
Hi All,

I'm an old goat. But when I was younger Delta was considered the Rolls Royce of equipment. It really hurts when you hear of a good company going downhill.

As you know, if you read "Old Iron" I am considering a new drill press. I had sort-of narrowed it down to two floor model units---both Delta. Should I change my mind? Are Glenn's problems exceptions to the Delta units and service?

I do hate to give up the current Delta. But the last time I had to raise the table I said, "Thats the last time." Please understand for 165 pound Glenn, it is no effort. Now if you can make me 165 pounds (muscle not fat), I will be very glad to keep ole Delta.

My main priority in a new DP is that the table crank up and down easily. I certainly do not want slop in the quill. I want a woodworkers table (However, I assume I will have to make one). Price wise I would consider $800 high and $300 fantastic.

Enjoy,

Jim
 
Jim -

I don't know what size DP you're looking for, but I am quite happy with my 14" General Int'l DP that is a little more than $200 these days.

Check out the other General DPs. Worst case you're out a little time spent looking at tools - where's the harm in that? :D
 
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