This is one o those threads you kind of wish the company would see. Might make them start thinking harder about their business practices...
I've had mixed results with PSI myself. I actually like a number of their kits. Some of them are pretty well designed, some have nice ornate designs, others just real slick designs. Some of the tools they stock are pretty nice too, and often seem to be fairly unique. Their catalogs that they mail out also have some nice pens as examples, and that can be a good source of inspiration. So, some things I do like. That said...
I have opened support tickets, and had ZERO response to any, ever. I have two mandrels I purchased from them that were defective upon opening the package. One was a normal mandrel with a bent (or curved) shaft, which made it effectively unusable (and I had terrible issues with non-concentricity). Never received a single response of any kind to that ticket. Also opened a ticket about their TBC mandrel where the pin on the live center part wasn't entirely strait, which was also problematic. Less so than the standard mandrel. I received an automated response to that ticket, but no further responses. I had an issue with this thing they call the Bushing Buddy (missing parts), no response until I got really angry, then they finally responded and I was able to exchange the item. Not a great experience. (Which seems odd, given how big they are.)
I still have both mandrels. In total they were abut $70 worth, plus the shipping and taxes. The one with the bent shaft is useless, it sits never used in a drawer. I pull out the TBC mandrel only when I'm using those CA bushings for finishing purposes. I no longer turn with it as it just isn't as good as direct TBC, and I suspect its that slightly bent or mis-angled pin.
Oh, yes....something else I discovered about PSI. Something I'm going to try and have my tax person look into. I live in Colorado. PSI is of course in Pennsylvania. I realized, while putting all my receipts for the last couple of years into Craftybase, that PSI has been charging me some kind of state tax, on every single order. At this point, it amounts to a few hundred bucks. This is in fact the main reason I've stopped ordering from them. I shouldn't be paying PA state taxes since I live in Colorado, but they charge it anyway. It might be worth checking your receipts. Its a few percent, not huge, but still, over time it mounts up. The percentages are also inconsistent...I can't quite figure out what the tax rate is supposed to be, whatever this tax is, but it doesn't seem to be applied consistently...? I can't quite figure out how its calculated. Sometimes I wonder if they are just slapping an arbitrary number on each order just to cover their bases and not have to invest much time, money or effort in making sure they rake in enough money overall to pay their state taxes???
I've never faced a tax charge from any other pencraft seller I order from so far, as far as I can tell. Seems really sketchy for PSI to be doing this...but, given some of their other practices, it really makes me wonder.
I do like some of the PSI kits, get inspiration from their catalogs...but, there are ways to buy them from places other than PSI direct, and if you do, I suspect you'll have no issue with being charged undue taxes or anything like that (and will probably have better customer service to boot!)
