Common to have to re-touch paint on new attachments? Part II

[rossn]

It's been a busy week, and I have little free time in my schedule, so it's not like I get to follow things real time. I'm just catching up now -- nice lively thread.

Can a forum moderator explain why my original thread was closed? I didn't see anything that warranted that.

Common to have to re-touch paint on new attachments?
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/376093-common-have-re-touch-paint.html


First off, I'll mention that from my perspective, I don't give a **** if I I scratch up something with use, but when I buy something as new, I usually expect it to come in new condition. If there was shipping damage, that is one thing, but in this case, that's not where it was missing paint down to the bare metal. As to Everything Attachments claiming shipping damage, they could easily prevent that by putting two bolts in the two bars to hold them together during shipping. 30 seconds and no additional cost.

As to their response, no -- they didn't respond to 'make the situation right'. At first, they offered to reimburse me for a can of paint. I asked if they could ship me one, and they said no. Ultimately they offered me $20.

I'll be honest, the biggest issue I have is that my time is pretty limited and therefore valuable. I don't want to go have to locate and buy matching spray paint and prime and paint areas on something that I bought as new. That would run me at least $150 of my time, and THAT is what I am concerned with -- not if it gets scratched in-use. I think it will be a great product, which is why I bought it. However, don't expect to do work on new items to cover up bare metal.


Here's the response I received thus far from EA, following our conversation:

From: "Rick Rinehardt"
Subject: RE: Pine needle rake - paint issues or used
Date: March 8, 2017 at 12:39:01 PM MST


No, I have been her 21 years, plus, and am willing to give you a credit of $20 for this damage, if you want to keep the attachment, and touch it up, not knowing how or when it was scratched, but also realizing that you are in Colorado, and shipping is an issue as well let me know if this will be satisfactory to you if you are wanting to get to work with your new rake Thanks,

Rick Rinehardt, Everything Attachments 866-581-5818 or 828-464-1200

Sent: Wednesday, March 8, 2017 1:56 PM
Subject: Re: Pine needle rake - paint issues or used

Rick,

The boxes show no evidence of mishandling. Many of those places where bare metal are showing are clearly not from shipping.

If you ordered a new tractor, and when you went to pick it up, the paint was damaged with bare metal showing in multiple places, and the dealer said it was damaged in shipping, but he would give you a can of spray paint, would you take delivery of the tractor for full price?

Are you the owner of the company?


On Mar 7, 2017, at 1:15 PM, Rick Rinehardt <rick@everythingattachments.com> wrote:

This main scratching could have come from shipping, they don稚 leave here like that, for sure, but I will gladly pay for a can of CAT yellow spray paint for you to remedy this. I apologize for the shipper, they must have tossed it and were not gentle, but on the top, I would consider that to be from stacking them here, probably Thanks,

Rick Rinehardt, Everything Attachments 866-581-5818 or 828-464-1200

Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2017 3:05 PM
Subject: Fwd: Pine needle rake - paint issues or used

Rick,

Here are the pics for the rake I received. There are many places where paint has been removed either due to paint issues or use.

Let me know.

 

[Coyote machine]

You're relatively new here so, you can't swear on TBN, as noted your bad word was deleted due to that error in the post above. And the admin can and will close any thread they deem needing to be closed, without any explanation. This is their right, and fully explained in the EULA you agreed to when you signed onto TBN.
I think it would be best to just let this one go. I surmise your thread irritated a lot of touchy guys who think it questions their manhood to talk about scratched paint on ground engaging equipment, or some such nonsense.
One guy toward the end did suggest it is where we are in the world today, nobody takes any pride in their work and consequently the consensus is we should just accept shoddy shipping, painting, packaging, etc. I can't argue with that view, we are at an all time low in quality of workmanship in this country, but I am unwilling to just chalk it up to man up and accept it.

 

[jeff9366]

ROSSN: 78 responses, generally long responses, to your thread in 24 hours, a very high rate ~~~~maybe a record.

Muhammad Chisti, Post #65, is the owner of T-B-N. He rarely enters a thread. Probably monitoring your thread because of its propagation and because the subject was ETA, a T-B-N advertiser. (This forum would not exist without advertiser's revenue. ) I think everyone had an opportunity to vent in 78 responses.

Your thread was not deleted, just closed, which is a rare occurence.

 

[oldballs]

Most of my attachments are stored in the open without a cover. I've found that the paint is holding up pretty good. On one occasion the trucking company dropped the pallet off his loader as he brought it out of the warehouse. Some scratches occurred, but I touched it up without much thought. Overall I'd say that the quality of workmanship/design/manufacturing is better than it has ever been.:2cents:

 

[PJSprog]

Most of my attachments are stored in the open without a cover.View attachment 501527

That's a nice arrangement, Mike. I need to make a nice graveled area like that for mine. Maybe behind the barn. Hmmm ...

 

[Argonne]

Relax.

As a group, we are some of the prime benefactors of the China manufacturing revolution. You got an implement that, if it were 20 years ago, would have cost you 4 times as much money (and the paint would have been perfect). As it is, you were able to afford a Chinese knock off. Chances are, if you had to pay the old price, you wouldn't even have the implement. That low cost allows you to have an implement for just about everything you can think of.

The offshore stuff is pretty adequate nowadays, but they are not perfect. I find I have to treat them pretty carefully, and I still see bolts breaking for no apparent reason and have to replace them with something of higher quality. Another shortcoming is finish. All of this stuff spent months, packed tight in a shipping container, carried by various conveyances, and sat in a yard, outdoors, before and after their 12,000 mile journey.

They were assembled, and painted, by humans, probably un-sophisticated humans new to manufacturing, making very little money for their efforts. I am frankly amazed at the quality they are managing to achieve these days, given how short a time they've been doing this.

This cheap stuff, has had a profound effect on the market. The offshore stuff is just fine for us hobby types, and the market is awash with it. Even the major players get stuff manufactured over there so they can compete, and although their quality is better due to their demands for better specs and finish, their delivered prices reflect that. With few exceptions, I go with the obviously offshore stuff, and the fit and finish is NEVER perfect.

The retailers of this equipment don't have much of a profit margin To the manufacturers, they are "the customer". I speak from experience when I say that you can't even get the manufacturer's attention unless you are spending hundreds-of-thousands of dollars annually, and that's just attention to sell you stuff, which does not extend to responding to complaints about fit and finish. The retailers do the best they can while trying to stay in business. This can not extend to doing what amounts to professional body work on every implement they sell. You might say, "well it doesn't need to be professional", but what would you, the end user, think if you found obvious touch up paint on an implement? Any better than chipped paint and a little rust? Probably not, and the cost to the dealer of applying that paint would be to a) Pick the crate with a forklift and transport to a workshop, b) Uncrate the implement, c) Inspect, prep surface, repair, d) Re-crate the implement, e) Re-stock the implement.

So in the case of a pine rake, for instance, where your profit margin is, say $60, how would you accomplish this prep and still have a prayer of competing? You wouldn't.

Be pleased you got a functional pine rake for a song. It goes with the territory that this cheap stuff needs some TLC if you care about that kind of thing.

 

[jeff9366]

I believe I am correct in stating ETA manufactures their Pine Straw Rakes in Newton, North Carolina.

Here is a 'COPY' from ETA's web site:

To insure quality, we have NO CHINA MADE attachments on our Entire Website!!


I am among those who have complained of chipped paint on new ETA equipment on arrival. However~~~~
I disagree with your final sentence: "It goes with the territory that this cheap stuff needs some TLC if you care about that kind of thing." I own multiple ETA implements. ETA build quality is robust. ETA paint application/adhesion is poor quality, relative to ETA build quality.

 

[Argonne]

I believe I am correct in stating ETA manufactures their Pine Straw Rakes in Newton, North Carolina.

Then I stand corrected, if they are truly manufacturing their own, then they are wholly responsible for fit and finish. They ARE inexpensive though.

 

[murph1]

I believe I am correct in stating ETA manufactures their Pine Straw Rakes in Newton, North Carolina.

Here is a 'COPY' from ETA's web site:

To insure quality, we have NO CHINA MADE attachments on our Entire Website!!


I am among those who have complained of chipped paint on new ETA equipment on arrival. However~~~~
I disagree with your final sentence: "It goes with the territory that this cheap stuff needs some TLC if you care about that kind of thing." I own multiple ETA implements. ETA build quality is robust. ETA paint application/adhesion is poor quality, relative to ETA build quality.

Am willing to bet no primer is used.

 

[jeff9366]

Murph ~~~ Why are you using an alias?