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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #31  
Old 2018-02-19, 12:53am
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beadysam beadysam is offline
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Join Date: Nov 09, 2005
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Wow! What dreadful customer service - and over a kiln that is not fit for purpose too!. They should be refunding you the cost of the kiln, cost of firings, cost of glass ( scrap or not, it is still an expense) any postal costs incurred, and a good will gesture on top as apology for an unfit product and terrible CS!!!

I had almost the opposite experience with Jen-Ken. I am in the UK and bought from USA as it was soooooo much cheaper - about £350 including shipping, rather than approx £1000 for a similar kiln here - bargain or what? The kiln was sent in 2 parts, lid and body. The hinge was twisted and an area of about 1.5" x 3" cracked off the corner of a brick. I emailed to let them know that it had arrived with minimal, fixable damage that I was happy to deal with - shipping issues were something I had factored in to the kiln budget. The kiln was really well packed and protected, so the damage was NOT the fault of Jen-Ken - it was the fault of the postal service that appeared to have been playing football with the lid package!!! As I said the email was just a heads up that the kiln had landed. However, in approx 4 days (it was 10yrs ago so details are foggy), I received a new hinge, kiln cement and new kiln bricks with directions on how to fix the break and the offer of telephone assistance. They would call me at a time convenient to talk me through the mend so that the cost of the call was theirs. It was a simple fix, no assistance necessary but CS was AMAZING!

A few months later my digi controller died. I contacted the seller and was told it was a known fault - there was a batch of controllers with duff boards in them. What did I want to do?
Send it back for mending (their cost).
Take it to local kiln specialist (their cost with a new board from them).
Fix it myself with telephone tech support.
Fix it myself with written instruction.

Hubby is a bit electronics mad, so he was happy to do it. In less than 48hours (HOW!!!) the board was posted through my door. From start to finish the replacement took just five mins....

Looks like Paragon/Caldera could learn a lot of lessons from Jen-Ken and their distributers don't you think???...
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  #32  
Old 2018-02-19, 1:02am
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essiemessy essiemessy is offline
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Join Date: Dec 03, 2009
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Oh wow, Sam, that's great customer service. And acknowledging the fault as well. Honesty is always the best policy, for sure!

Funny you should mention a bit of brick falling off. A tiny piece fell off the lid of mine, too. But like yours, not an issue in the big scheme of things, so I let it slide.

It was picked up today so the whole sorry saga should be well and truly behind me, hopefully.
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  #33  
Old 2018-03-10, 5:22pm
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This matter is all done. For me, at least.

I have my money back, thanks to the distributor. They have gone the extra mile for which I am grateful and relieved.

Once we've moved I'll look around again for a more suitable multipurpose bench kiln. In the meantime I can set the big kiln back up when we've settled into our new life later in the year if need be.

I notice this thread has had quite a lot of views. I'm glad therefore that, if nothing else, we're at least thinking about doing all in our power to take responsibility for what we expect our customers to be paying for.

I do hope that my experience has been useful (if somewhat unwelcome), and encourages more glass workers to check to ensure their own beads are in line with standards most commonly suggested in terms of stability.

All the best to whoever reads this. May it never happen to you
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  #34  
Old 2019-01-26, 10:22pm
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Wow. A year has passed since this speedbump erupted from my creative roadmap.
Given the amount of views it's had since, it would seem I am not the only one with concerns, or at least questions around ensuring the optimal integrity of the glass we produce.
While I fervently wish none of this had ever happened at all, I hope others were able to somehow benefit from the information and encouragement to do a test every now and then, regardless of the brand or model of kiln of choice.

I've since invested in a completely different kiln which has passed with flying colours, and has won my complete trust.

Happy new year!
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