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Fireball table- NOT impressed

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Fixr

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Customer strips a hole and you have to sent them a brand new table to avoid bad rep, which you still get if someone only reads the first 2 pages 😜

I wonder why everything cost so much money's?!
Reading is hard, huh?
 

Fixr

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Here’s an update some of you asked for.


Victor, the Operations Manager called me first thing on Monday morning. He said prior to calling me he viewed all the emails, videos and pictures.
He first apologized for how customer service handled everything Via email. The girls are new, it’s a new system they are working with and obviously more training is needed.

He said the way the plates have an edge lifted is not the way they were designed to be and obviously this failed their quality control and for that he was extremely sorry for it.
Victor said that he wants to keep me as a fireball customer and will make this situation right. But if I decided to go else where he understood and would issue a full refund immediately.

He asked me why I chose the table topper and I told him it was the size I was looking for and the price range I wanted to be in. I told him I saw his dragon wagon table top in the same size, but I didn’t buy it because I didn’t think I’d have a use for the sides of the table and it couldn’t be taken apart like the table topper. Plus it was an additional $400. I explained I was no professional welder and just took this hobby up last year, but after seeing my friend weld on a table with a gazillion holes, I understood the purpose of them and wanted to try it first hand.

After chatting for about 20 minutes on the phone Victor offered me a 36x24 Dragon Wagon table kit with adjustable casters shipped for free. Honestly, at this point I was a little shocked that he would offer that much of an upgrade when they could have refunded me or extended a discounted price.
I told him that I was just looking for a table top only in a 24x36 size or something close to it. He said the only other table he had would be the dragon wagon in a 24x36.
I told him that I wanted to think about and I would call him back.

After a few hours of letting my head clear, I called him and said I would accept his offer.
I told him when the new table arrives, I’ll throw my table topper in the box the new one was sent in and send it back to you guys. He said that wasn’t necessary and they saw in the videos and pictures what was wrong.
He told me to keep the topper, give it away or throw it in the garbage… Yep, shocked once again they didn’t want a $1100 table back!
Tonight I was sitting down watching tv and I remembered that there is a community college close to me that has a welding class. I said what the hell, I’ll take the table topper there and donate it to a student as I don’t need two tables. I’m sure they’d appreciate it.

Victor didn’t try to make any excuses about the issue, but he also didn’t kiss my a*s.
It felt like a real productive conversation and he knew how frustrated I was.
He didn’t ask me to take the videos off of YouTube and I’m not sure if he is aware of this forum and post. But if he is, he will see how a majority were curious to know how this would be handled and read the updated post.
I was not expecting this resolution. Good on Fireball, and good on you for looking for a way to pay it forward. Win/Win.
 

The Cobbler

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Good on them for coming to a resolution, even tho it was more than expected .
as for, " maybe they caught wind of discussion on forum", well perhaps that's the case, perhaps they were really having staffing issues ( which is very common these days ) .
whatever the case, time will tell if there's any trends one way or another .
 

mike93lx

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I was not expecting this resolution. Good on Fireball, and good on you for looking for a way to pay it forward. Win/Win.
The not wanting the table back doesn't surprise me. Shipping is expensive and if it is defective, they'll just toss it. They get some goodwill too by saying keep it since it isn't total junk
 

Fixr

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The not wanting the table back doesn't surprise me. Shipping is expensive and if it is defective, they'll just toss it. They get some goodwill too by saying keep it since it isn't total junk
Indeed. They would pretty much have to remanufacture it to make it salable even as a "scratch and dent". Hopefully they have the "customer service" issue figured out, too.

I regard the outcome as a very good response by Fireball. Sometimes, the measure of how good you are is shown by how you fix problems and mistakes.
 

PCustoms

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Apparently critical thinking has a limit, too.
Agreed.

If your going to sell a table to someone for $1k and make claims about how fantastic it is you certainly need to back it up. People that understand such things would also appreciate actual tolerances. Absolutes aren't and variables will...

I would have never spent that money of a ridiculous product, but had I somehow faced the issue of 2 independent surfaces not being level to each other I would have grabbed some shim stock, done what I needed to do and moved on. 1 time setup to be "flat" would have been less time then posting 2 threads about it.
 

Jswain

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Agreed.

If your going to sell a table to someone for $1k and make claims about how fantastic it is you certainly need to back it up. People that understand such things would also appreciate actual tolerances. Absolutes aren't and variables will...

I would have never spent that money of a ridiculous product, but had I somehow faced the issue of 2 independent surfaces not being level to each other I would have grabbed some shim stock, done what I needed to do and moved on. 1 time setup to be "flat" would have been less time then posting 2 threads about it.
If you sell someone a brand new SUV and they crossthread the lug nuts is the SUV a **** vehicle?
 

PCustoms

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If you sell someone a brand new SUV and they crossthread the lug nuts is the SUV a **** vehicle?
No

But if I run my opposite corner tires at 0psi I reserved the right to complain.

$1k for a table should be slightly more idiot proof.
 
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Jswain

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No

But if I run my opposite corner tires at 0psi I reserved the right to complain.

$1k for a table should be slightly more idiot proof.
You thinking running a steel bolt into aluminum 30-40 times before checking the threads is intelligent?

You can't idiot proof everything. If you spend 1k on a fab table and one of the complaints is it didn't come with instructions, I mean it's not rocket science

Maybe they should engrave, WARNING ALUMINUM in the base.
 

Fixr

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You thinking running a steel bolt into aluminum 30-40 times before checking the threads is intelligent?

You can't idiot proof everything. If you spend 1k on a fab table and one of the complaints is it didn't come with instructions, I mean it's not rocket science

Maybe they should engrave, WARNING ALUMINUM in the base.
When "Customer Service" tells you to shim it and offers 10% off on the shim kit, it complicates things a bit.
 

Fixr

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Agreed.

If your going to sell a table to someone for $1k and make claims about how fantastic it is you certainly need to back it up. People that understand such things would also appreciate actual tolerances. Absolutes aren't and variables will...

I would have never spent that money of a ridiculous product, but had I somehow faced the issue of 2 independent surfaces not being level to each other I would have grabbed some shim stock, done what I needed to do and moved on. 1 time setup to be "flat" would have been less time then posting 2 threads about

I'm guessing most people that buy this sorta thing figure it out without a call to a customer service girl.
Because the average home game new welder already knows how to assemble the welding table better than the company that sold it to him? Have you actually read any of the thread?
 

Jswain

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Because the average home game new welder already knows how to assemble the welding table better than the company that sold it to him? Have you actually read any of the thread?
So instead of asking for instructions he assembles & disassembles 30-40 times? Lol

If you buy a manual transmission car, but have never driven one, and do not say anything to the dealership...are they responsible if you pop the clutch in the parking lot into a brand new truck?
 

gatewaysysop

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It's unfortunate folks so often take these threads in the direction they do. Op provides updates to share response by the company and it still descends into people taking jabs at him and each other. I don't know what value that adds for anyone or how it contributes anything positive, but to each his own.

Personally I'm glad they made it right and then some, whatever their reasons are. I still wouldn't buy products from them, because if customer service is this far out of the loop, it's not worth the hassle. YMMV but there are too many things I prioritize over chasing a response from companies and their owners when their product has an issue.
 

dogdog

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Personally I'm glad they made it right and then some, whatever their reasons are. I still wouldn't buy products from them, because if customer service is this far out of the loop, it's not worth the hassle. YMMV but there are too many things I prioritize over chasing a response from companies and their owners when their product has an issue.
You mean the girl is just doing her job. Like you are looking at your HR to be on your side when you have issue with the company. They are there to protect the interest of the company, not you.

yes some company are junk like channel lock.
 

dogdog

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customer service wise. Their product is average at best, there are plenty of better one. but one thing that turns people off is when rubber meets the road and the life time warranty cost you more than the dam tool. Anyways. Yes they are junk as fk.
 
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