View Single Post
Old 08-16-2013, 08:55 AM
  #39  
sbraz64
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 7
Default

I purchased a Tin LIzzie in August of 2012. It worked perfectly for about 6 months. Then I started getting an index error when I was using quilt magician, I have trouble with the tension now...and when I try to pull the bobbin thread up from the bottom my top thread is getting wrapped around the bobbin casing. My local dealer has had the machine four different times. Each time they tell me that the timing was off and that it is fixed now. I get it home (which is no small chore - it weighs 40 lbs and my sewing room is on the 2nd floor!)...I turn it on and start sewing and THE SAME THINGS START HAPPENING. I had finally had enough of my local dealer and went direct to Tin Lizzie. I am not impressed. I sent a service request through their website...and did not even get an acknowledgement after 2 days. I called and got to talk to a representative who seemed initially to be very helpful. However, he wanted to talk to my dealer to see they could fix it locally while on the phone with one of the corporate service techs. He called me back 2 days later and suggested that I take it back to my local dealer because he'd been on the phone with them and he felt certain they could fix it. I refused...I'm not taking that machine back to that dealer. I explained all that I had been through with them again...and he said well...I guess you could send it back to us. DUH! That is what I had said I wanted to do from the beginning! He wanted to call the dealer again to see if they had a box I could use so TL wouldn't have to send me one. (Oh...and by the way...the dealer never GAVE me my box when they set it up...lesson learned). I did not hear from him for several more days...so I phoned back. He was "unavailable". However, he did call me back the following day and said he was on a business trip. When we talked again it was as if he'd forgotten the bulk of what we discussed in the previous call! He thought I was going to let them fix it! I don't think they are CAPABLE of fixing anything beyond timing. So I went through it again with him...and he remembered basically what we had discussed. He said yes...the dealer had a box...but they didn't have one that would exactly fit my machine... but did have one that was close that I could have. He said he'd get me the repair ticket out quickly. Two days later a lady calls me from the company to work on the repair ticket. I had to give her my warranty # and serial #...I just find it odd that they don't have that info available to them on their computers...but ok. We get off the phone...and she calls me back...to get my address...really? She calls back a third time to get my credit card and I went off on her. She said that my year warranty was up...but I got her to do the math with me...I was still within my warranty period and this was an ongoing problem and I wasn't going to pay them to fix this machine. Finally...after the FOURTH phone call...she emailed me my repair ticket. At the same time I was trying to get Tin Lizzie to allow me to send my machine back...I was also looking on line to see if the Quilt Magician and the Phoenix frame can be used with any other type of longarm. I sent an email to Quilt Ez...the company who manufactures the quilt magician and asked them that question....the customer service rep sent me a response...and asked why I might be interested in changing machines...so I told them my story. They got a service tech to contact me...and the service rep from this company was able to figure part of the problem I was having with my machine....the needle sensor was not working. This OTHER company sent me a new needle sensor FREE of charge...and worked with me on the phone to help me install it. The original needle sensor had broken completely free the bracket that held it in place...so no wonder it wasn't working. Given that this problem had been a constant issue for over 4 months...you'd think that my local authorized service rep would have explored that. It was a very easy diagnostic test that showed that it was not working. So...from that I conclude that they never even did any diagnostics...they just reset timing and called it a day. Timing by the way...can be done by a 10 year old with a screwdriver....and it takes about 5 minutes. I still have problems with the thread getting wrapped around the bobbin case and with tension. So this morning I shipped my TL back to the manufacturer. There are two quilt shows coming up in the next couple of months that are relatively close t my house. I plan to visit the TL booth there and have a discussion with Mr. Floyd...or whomever the top rep is on site...to express my disappointment with their product, their technical support, their customer service AND who they allow to sell their products...because the local rep is a HORRIBLE representative for that company. What I hope to accomplish is to give the machine back to Tin Lizzie...and start all over with a completely different product.
sbraz64 is offline