nashville girl

You know what really bugs me is the amount of time this machine has been "in repair." The folks at the shop have give me a loaner twice, but it was a Designer I both times. Everytime I have had a loaner, I was trying to get caught up on piecing or ditch quilting. In retrospect, I should have tried to free-motion with the Designer I loaner. I don't think Viking cares enough to have a recall or to even consider a refund or replacement. I get the distinct feeling that the folks at the shop are pretty much in the dark as well. I really believe that they would help me if they had any more to offer.

Celeste

Nashville Girl,

I cannot say anything about freemotion quilting, etc., but I did want to say here and now Thank You!!!!! for being a teacher! 6th grade! SCIENCE! Yikes! :shock:

nashville girl

Thank you. I REALLY love every day I go to work. There is no other career like it. No day.. no child... is the same. You get to see the changes minute by minute. It is the BEST job in the world!

nashville girl

Good night folks, gotta close and wrap up.

azdesertrat

Hi Nashvill girl
Miss Nashville! lived there for 5 years.But I had a designer SE and never had any problems at all ,But I never really did any free motion with it,can't quite get the hang of free motion yet.not patient enough,usually do stitich in the ditch or heirloom stitched on the seams,or better yet send it out to be quilted.
But I just traded it in today for the new Brother Duetta,not because I didn't like it or had any problems,See if there is a viking rep at the show this weekend and talk to them
Good Luck

Extreme Quilter

Nashville Girl, the one and only time I contacted customer support re: a problem I had with embroidery software for my Designer I, I remember it took quite a while for an e-mail reply to arrive from Husqvarna, but they did respond.

Have you tried the following contact information:
+18003580001
[email protected]

My Viking dealer in my area just recently closed shop and moved to another state, leaving many of us high and dry. We are scrounging around looking for places to buy products and service our machines. There are a few places here and there, i.e., Viking dealers located in JoAnn's, etc., but nothing to equal the scope of service and products that my former dealer offered. Service, support and proximity are major considerations in the next machine I may need to buy.

I can really sympathize with you in your plight.

amma

I was just watching a show and part of the hint section on thread breakage was to make sure that your thread is feeding off of the spool correctly. Using nets, spool holders, etc.... may be necessary depending on the thread choice, the spool design and that each machine can have its own little perks. They even used a banana holder (the thread cone sitting in the center of the baseand the thread comes up through the hook at the top)as a hint to help get the thread up high enough to feed better through the machine. Don't know if this will help but I thought I would pass it on.

lin

I'm glad you brought the thread position up amma. It's an excellent point! Before I got my new machine (which has a holder that takes the thread high above the machine,) I was using an older machine that just had regular holders, and I had a terrible time with my thread and needles breaking. I had no idea what I could be doing wrong. My dh built me a little thread holder (much like the one you described) to stand behind my machine and bring my thread up through a hook, and away from the back of the machine. Suddenly everything was working perfectly!!!

nashville girl

Went to the show this weekend. Sewed on a Janome 6600 for the whole day on Thursday, and it was effortless! Freemotion is shockingly easy to do if your machine works properly. Spoke to a Viking Rep who was very attentive. Showed her my work from Thursday's class, and she was impressed. She said bring sample from my Designer SE the next day. I did ... together with the samples sewn on the Janome. She was shocked at the difference. It was easy to see how badly my SE was sewing and how well the other machine sewed. Got a call today. That they will replace my machine if I bring it in. I guess Viking really does care. They want me to sew in the store on the new machine to see if if works before I take it home. I will be happy to do that, because if the new can't do free motion, I really don't want it either. The folks at the store were wonderful about everything as usual. Can't say enough good about them. Will post a message after I sew on the replacement SE. Probably have to do that on Saturday, because school is in full swing now.

nashville girl

:lol: Good news folks! I went to AQS in Nashville, and, through a series of meetings, met a Viking rep from higher up in company. Not sure of her exact position. She asked for samples and I supplied them the next day at the show. She said she would elevate the problem. Elevate she did.
Just a few days later, Mary from the local store, called to say she had approval to replace my machine with a new one. (Mary has been wonderful through this whole thing, but she really couldn't get any traction higher up.) I sewed free motion at the store for 1/2 an hour and NO THREAD BREAKS or problems at all!!!
I wish there was an easier way to obtain quality, first hand technical support, and trouble shooting for these computerized machines. If Viking could make customer service "job 1," I think they could sell more of these machines than they could even imagine.
I use an interactive Smartboard, gradebook.com (grades online for parents), digital photography, power point, and love technology in the classroom of any kind. BUT, there is technical support available if a problem arises. I have seen teachers that are fearful of technology light up with proper training and great technical support.
Many people who sew all kinds of things would buy buy buy if they had training and technical support. What are these sewing machine/software folks thinking? I would leave the classroom to work for a company that supported and trained women properly to use these computerized sewing machines and the complex software that accompanies them.
Photoshop with all its bells and whistles is way cheaper ($100's) than sewing software ($1,000's), and you need almost no training because of its intuitive design. There is absolutely no technical support for the sewing software. Would anyone buy computer software if they had to go back to the store where they purchased it together with their computer for technical support? How many of you have purchased this expensive software and never used it? I bet a lot, and you won't purchase any more when that happens.
The interactive smartboard people come to the school and offer as many training sessions as a school needs. They know teachers will use any tool that is powerful, easy to learn and has technical support. Once you know the basicsl, the sky is the limit. They sell a lot of boards this way. The software is a free download after you buy all the equipment. How many boards do you think they sell that way?
I think the sewing machines and their software would be the same way. We pay $1,000's for the sewing software and it is little-used or understood. This does not lead to lots of use and repeat sales.
Anyone else have solutions for this issue?