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Doweling jig snapped mid-assembly on a $4,200 built-in, should I fight for a refund or eat it? | Cabinetmakers - Free To Speak

leo_black76•15d ago

Doweling jig snapped mid-assembly on a $4,200 built-in, should I fight for a refund or eat it?

Last Tuesday I was pinning the face frames on a library wall unit for a client in Tacoma. The jig was a self-centering one I've had for like 8 years, nothing fancy but it never let me down. On the third row of holes the steel guide pin sheared off clean and the bushing cracked. Bits of metal went flying, one landed in my coffee. I had to stop, clamp everything up, and use a drill bit with a hand-held guide block to finish the last 14 holes. Took an extra 2 hours and the alignment is good but not perfect, one hole is maybe 1/32 off, which I know will bug me forever behind a door hinge. Now here's the thing. I bought that jig for $60 back in 2016, but the company still sells it for $85. I emailed them with photos and they said it's out of warranty and offered me a 10% discount code on a new one. My buddy says I should post the pics on their social media and make a stink, get a full replacement. But part of me thinks, I used it hard for 8 years, maybe that's just wear and tear. The other part says a steel pin should not snap on pine, that's a material flaw. So what do you all do when a tool fails on a paying job? Do you fight for a refund, or do you just factor it into the cost of doing business and move on? Curious if anyone has had luck getting a company to own up to a defect after the warranty expires.

1 comments

1 Comment

caseythompson14d ago

Honestly, I think your buddy is giving you bad advice here. You got eight solid years out of a $60 tool, and that’s pretty much the definition of getting your money’s worth. Steel parts wear out, especially after that long, and pine can be gnarly with hidden knots that just catch a guide pin wrong. Posting on their social media over a tool that's way out of warranty feels kinda entitled, and it makes us all look like crybabies when we do that. The 10% off is them being decent, honestly, most companies would just say sorry and move on. I'd take the code, order the new one, and chalk that 1/32 off up to a lesson learned about having a backup plan for critical jobs. It sucks, but eating small losses like this is just part of running a shop, fighting over it isn't worth the time or the bad look.