I've had it with PSI

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jcimm2000

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Joined
Jun 14, 2020
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19
Location
New Jersey
Only been turning pens for a few months now, but my experience with PSI is almost enough to make me go back to recreational drugs as a hobby.

Delivery is hit or miss. Sometimes receive orders in 3 days. Sometimes it takes 5 days just for the order to ship. I'm in north Jersey not that far from their location.

Ordered a trimline assortment. Half the pens needed the tips to be glued in as the machining was way off in regards to the tube inside diameter.

Ordered a Faith pen starter kit. It included some olivewood blanks, 3 pen kits, AND the wrong bushings.

Ordered several Gatsby Grande kits. Two of the kits had defective twist caps. The larger section of the cap (where one would normally grasp to extend and retract the pen) just spins around it's housing. Kinda makes the pen useless.

A lot of their kits are not inexpensive. Unfortunately it's the typical quality issues common to Chinese crap. There's a Woodcraft store not far from me; but their Woodriver line of kits look like rebranded PSI. Am I just unlucky, or is there somewhere else I should be looking to purchase quality pen kits?
 
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jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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19,082
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NJ, USA.
Quality kits is your key word in this rant. The saying you get what you pay for applies many times. But what makes one vendor stand out from others is their customer service . Most these vendors buy these kits from the same source and China and Taiwan is mostly that source. You want top of the line quality kits buy Dayacom kits. But they are not cheap. With this said you and I are living in a different time in our lives that no one has ever seen before. With this Virus many things and vendors have both shortages of materials as well as manpower. Then there is the mail system which has been thrown a curve so I suggest you either call PSI and explain the situation or find other dealers. Exotic Blanks is a PSI distributer of kits too and maybe you can get better service through Ed and Dawn. There are many other vendors and I will not list them because that is not fair when you leave people out and use this forum as an advertising board.
 
Joined
Dec 22, 2017
Messages
3,032
Location
Wolf Creek Montana
Unfortunately you've picked the worst possible time to start turning pens...Corona Virus. I've had orders from PSI and other vendors take weeks, literally, to get from the east coast to Montana. That's UPS or USPS, not the vendor. As for quality, I've had great luck with PSI kits and with very few exceptions they've also been great. If you do have a quality issue call them, they usually get spare parts right out to you.
 

Jay

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
110
Location
Atascadero, CA
I am just a hobbiest and only turn pens as gifts so quantity is very limited. However, the one time I had a bad part in an order from PSI all I did was call them and the bad part was replaced and shipped within a couple of days. Good customer service.
Jay
 

turnit2020

Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2020
Messages
135
Location
Marietta, GA
I have not had any problem with PSI that they did not resolve favorably. Just remember, the virus has disrupted the normal flow of commerce and shipping. PSI will make it right for you. As to Woodcraft, most of their kits are Berea Hardwoods kits, renamed for woodcraft but the same quality as any Berea Hardwoods kit. Some Woodcraft store also sell PSI kits and the store I buy from keeps the PSI kits and bushings in a separate display area with the matching bushings.
Give PSI a chance to make your order right. When this pandemic is over hopefully everything will return to normal. I understand your frustration but take a deep breath it should all get better.
Turtncrazy43
 

1shootist

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Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
818
Location
Frisco,Tx
Another vote for Dayacom pen kits. You really can see and feel the difference in quality. And you are going to pay more for the quality thats forsure. A regular slimline is $2 or $3...the Dayacom version is over $6.
 

pensmyth

Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
425
Location
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
ExoticBlanks.com gets all my business. Ed and Dawn have been shipping my orders within 24 hrs or less (usually less!) of my placing them and the longest I've waited to receive my order is 3 days after shipping and never had an issue. Good selection, good prices, great customer service!
 

qquake

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
5,007
Location
Northern California
I've been turning pens for 21 years, and have been ordering from PSI the majority of that time. On the rare occasions I have had a problem, as others have said, they took care of it right away.
 

ramaroodle

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Messages
686
Location
Seattle
ExoticBlanks.com gets all my business. Ed and Dawn have been shipping my orders within 24 hrs or less (usually less!) of my placing them and the longest I've waited to receive my order is 3 days after shipping and never had an issue. Good selection, good prices, great customer service!
+1
Let me repeat that...

ExoticBlanks.com gets all my business. Ed and Dawn have been shipping my orders within 24 hrs or less (usually less!) of my placing them and the longest I've waited to receive my order is 3 days after shipping and never had an issue. Good selection, good prices, great customer service!
 
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jrich7970

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Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Messages
124
Location
South Jersey, USA
Although I have not contacted them about it, I just recently had an order that was supposed to take 10 days take 23 days. And, literally, their operation is across the river from me. 20 miles max.

It's not worth the $8 in shipping for me to fight. But if it happens again, I might not do business with them again.

Jeff
 

RunnerVince

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2019
Messages
276
Location
Ogden, UT
I can second the bad experience with PSI from a shipping standpoint. Recently ordered some things for my new lathe and got the email saying the order had shipped a day or so later. Great. But then when I tried to track it, UPS said the order had been created, but not received by UPS. I contacted customer service, and was told "sometimes they forget to scan it." I thought, yeah, right. UPS forgot to scan it when they picked up. Then when it got to the local distribution center. Then when it left the distribution center. Then when it arrived, and subsequently left, the regional center. And so on. Customer service then told me I had to wait until the last day of the 8-10 days (I skimped on the shipping because I wasn't expecting the new lathe for another week or so) before they could do anything. So I waited, and then when I didn't recieve my order at the end of day 10 (which was a Friday, so no customer service available until Monday), I emailed them again and asked for expedited shipping on a replacement order. Magically, Monday afternoon when I checked the tracking, it was finally showing up, and was still on the East Coast. My impression was that they created the label, then the package got accidentally dropped behind something, and somebody finally went looking for it a week and a half later.

I've had my share of delayed packages with the pandemic, but in this case I think the blame was all on PSI.
 

jrich7970

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Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Messages
124
Location
South Jersey, USA
Well, I never contacted them, but essentially this is what happened to me as well. Saw same day that the order had been sent to UPS. But it was over two weeks before the order actually was trackable on UPS. I didn't care since I was away on vacation. But when I got back, the order STILL was not trackable by UPS. Hence, not received. It took another 10 days to arrive at my house. Via USPS.

USPS got the thing and had it in my mailbox the next day. I call BS on PSI. Like I said, I could have walked there, picked the items up, and walked home faster than they shipped.
 

jttheclockman

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Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
19,082
Location
NJ, USA.
Well, I never contacted them, but essentially this is what happened to me as well. Saw same day that the order had been sent to UPS. But it was over two weeks before the order actually was trackable on UPS. I didn't care since I was away on vacation. But when I got back, the order STILL was not trackable by UPS. Hence, not received. It took another 10 days to arrive at my house. Via USPS.

USPS got the thing and had it in my mailbox the next day. I call BS on PSI. Like I said, I could have walked there, picked the items up, and walked home faster than they shipped.
I highly suggest you walk there next time. Coming here to complain did no good. We all can relate to some sort of mail failure or delays in this time we are in. Pick the PHONE up and call them. Don't get the answer you want keep calling or move onto other vendors. But again good luck.

There is a Vendors Jeer and cheers forum.
 
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Joined
Dec 22, 2017
Messages
3,032
Location
Wolf Creek Montana
Like JT posted, if you're not happy give them a call and if you still don't like the results, find another vendor. To be honest, I've had problems with many vendors and some that are well respected on this site. I had a package that left PSI and was not traceable...at all. I called UPS and they said they were backed up, okay, the virus is causing all kinds of problems. In a few days I saw where the package had been picked up and UPS had it. It made it as far as Billings and then sat there for two weeks. It wasn't until I contacted our local Post Master that the package finally made it to me, two days later. Don't always point at the vendor, many times it's not their fault, it's the carrier. And like I said in my initial post, right now USPS, UPS and FedEX are all backed up. Our Post Master, in a very small town, told me her package deliveries are 25 times more than normal. Pretty hard for a one person operation to keep up at times...but she does a great job. I'll still order from PSI and if things are delayed for whatever reason, I'll chalk it up to the Virus. Fine to complain, but @jrich7970 if you're unwilling to call them it's kinda on you.
 

CREID

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Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
3,009
Location
Vancouver, wa
I have shipment from different places get shipped UPS and then transferred to USPS. Things out there are just weird now. Sometimes it says will arrive next Thursday and I go why so long and then it shows up early. Sometimes it says it will show in 2 days and then gets transferred to USPS and has to go to Seattle or Tacoma and then to me and takes a few days extra.
 

Pen_man_ship

Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Messages
126
Location
Boothbay, Maine
I pay PSI a little more for shipping than just the standard shipping rate and my orders are delivered within five days. No problems there, however if I join the rant, it pains me to no end when a vender won't deliver to a P. O. Box only to find a slip in the box....you have a package! UPS drops their boxes off at the post office...go figure?
 

ramaroodle

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Messages
686
Location
Seattle
Again, nothing against PSI but they are a larger company. When I order from Ed on a Monday I get my stuff by Wednesday. He uses the post office. Ed answers his cell phone. Dawn manages the website and sometimes stuff arrives before she has a chance to update the site. Even when the website says it's not in stock he will walk back to his stock area with his phone in hand and grab what you need and ship it. I also love how Ed lists who the source is for the kits, i.e. Dayacom or PSI etc. Great folks.
 

jrich7970

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Messages
124
Location
South Jersey, USA
I highly suggest you walk there next time. Coming here to complain did no good. We all can relate to some sort of mail failure or delays in this time we are in. Pick the PHONE up and call them. Don't get the answer you want keep calling or move onto other vendors. But again good luck.

There is a Vendors Jeer and cheers forum.

I'd have to bring a tent or something though. Wonder if they would make me pay a toll if I walked across the bridge.
 

WriteON

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
3,266
Location
S. Florida
Welcome aboard. Sorry to hear about the problems with PSI. They have been, always will be my main vendor. Don't like how it's going...move on. It's that simple. As for shipping... Was economy, first class or priority mail selected? For $6.50 it's not coming over night.....however I get it in less than a week in Florida with economy shipping. There are a lot of quality vendors on this forum. Most will do everything possible to accommodate. As for PSI...the issues mentioned do not sound right. They tend to be a customer friendly and quality vendor. They are not in business to sell junk or chase customers away. As for recreational drug use.... I prefer glue. That would be CA. Also enjoy the sweet smell of Tru-oil.
 
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jrich7970

Member
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Messages
124
Location
South Jersey, USA
I too started turning pens after the virus started and I think it's a great way to spend time and hone a new craft. And art, if you will. And I can practice that art and get good enough to sell, once the craft fairs/shows start up again. So I don't have to worry about being totally demoralized trying to sell junk that no one wants to buy, while paying for a table. :)
 

DrD

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Joined
Jun 26, 2019
Messages
1,104
Location
Columbus, Mississippi
Yeah, I've had it with several of the original guys, BHW. PSI specifically. But guess what, I still love some of their kits, so I now got to ExoticBlanks, BearTooth Woods, Arizona Silhouette, Turners'Warehouse - most any kit you might want you can find within this group.
 

EricRN

Member
Joined
May 16, 2019
Messages
760
I'll add my stories to the mix: Stuff sent by USPS has never had the tracking updated. It just says "label created" for a week. I have to follow up to make sure my customers get their stuff. And I've had stuff get loaded onto the UPS truck for delivery to my home for 7 days straight, before it's finally delivered.

I too like the Dayacom kits. I'm also a fan of the Beaufort ink kits but those are even more expensive than Dayacom. But man, what nice pens. I also find the Beaufort designs to be more unique. Lots of companies make gents. The Dayacom ones are better, but the styling is the same.
 
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