Let me start out by saying that I do not search out ways to slam a company, over the last 30+ years I learned to be patient and treat challenges as challenges and try to learn and become smarter from them. About 4 months ago we got our new Flow waterjet , replacing our 20+ year old KMT/Ingersol machine with its out dated drives and software. Lets say I learned a lot from that purchase and I certainly don't feel any smarter, just more foolish as my down time days keep accumulating and the lost dollars keep stacking up. In receiving the machine the first problem was we had a machine in place that we were selling: that took a while and eventually flow said your taking this on this day (about a 5 day lead time). We had our old machine under contract so I scrambled to get the old one ready to remove so the new one could come into the building. We have a lot of space constraints so I had to plan accordingly. 4 days and ticking I call Flow and ask if we can delay for 2 days , they said no, you can call and tell the driver to drive slower but your taking it and your installer will be there that next Monday. 3 days and ticking - next day pull in the parking lot 6am, there's the truck two days early waiting to get unloaded. So Flows scheduling sucks, small hurdle , I can clear it, and I do. Monday comes, no installer, call flow, they have no clue. Mid day Monday I am chasing as we need to get running, we lost two days we needed for building ahead and need production. Flow says, ya we screwed up and forgot to schedule you a installer : WHAT ? You told me a week ago he was already scheduled: EEERRRRR !!!!
Next week , installer comes and is pretty unskilled. I have built and installed literally miles of machinery in my day, I know good from bad, I am being kind if I say he SUCKED ! Told me the machine was level, I argued as I checked it when he was out hitting the local dispensary at lunch ( Colorado-legal weed). After proving it was out he told me level was + or - .200 ; I shit you not that is what he said. I was like - no you are dyslexic maybe .002 but not .200. I explained with a tape measure that that is a variable of over 3/8" - terms I felt maybe he could understand. Nope guess not. He sees the machine fire up and run some parts, leaves to go hiking before his early flight out. We didn't make 10 parts that day due to drive faults, ghost faults, head hitting the material due to tank out of level. THANK YOU FLOW ! So now we are down for faults , Week goes by and we are the only penis in the circle jerk and my head is hurting. We are told its water supply issues and getting multiple things to try on our new machine that is sitting in the corner while we start farming out our work. THANKS FLOW . We invest $15K plus down time into water and pre-pump solutions and spend the next week down until installer #2 comes out and has to re-install our system and trouble shoot the problems. BTW- the 15K problem was a wiring issue from the factory, I think it was their janitor that figured that out. Installer 2 leaves we try to limp along but eventually give up and just shut down. Loosing money we are now watching weeks go by , flow never returns calls and really can not give two shits that we are down and sending our work out. I think this is where I again say - THANK YOU FLOW. My fingers are starting to hurt and I am not even into month two of our problems yet. Let me cut this short and say we are in month 4 , down again for electrical problems and they don't give one . two.. or three... shits that we purchased a machine that is still not running. I have requested they refund our money and get this POS off my shop floor 3 times now. It seems that they will not even return a call without me chasing with emails and calling over and over. FLOW waterjets and Flow as a company are horrible. I am at the point of legal action now, I tried to avoid it but I have no choice. Our loss's will soon exceed the cost of the machine. Our 20 year old machine with thousands and thousands of hours was better and more reliable than this new one. That's the sad truth. People you can say what you want and stand up and shout "FLOW is the best", but if you do, you must be on the flow gravy train payroll cuz flow sucks ! Don't believe me ask their techs , they will tell you all they do is deal with pissed off customers. The best customers are the ones getting the install because they don't know what a shit show they are entering into.
Maybe today I will get a new control box that they want me to install - can you say sweet warrantee ? 4 months not even 100 hours on the machine, most of which were not cutting but trouble shooting and we need to install our replacement electronics. Which machinist or welder should I pull off their job to do that as I am sure they are all electricians or have the correct training to do wire a panel on a waterjet.
Two things I will suggest - OMAX & KMT , save yourself a lot of pain !
BTW if I seem a little salty ??? I am and I bet not one person at flow gives a half a turd about it.
Next week , installer comes and is pretty unskilled. I have built and installed literally miles of machinery in my day, I know good from bad, I am being kind if I say he SUCKED ! Told me the machine was level, I argued as I checked it when he was out hitting the local dispensary at lunch ( Colorado-legal weed). After proving it was out he told me level was + or - .200 ; I shit you not that is what he said. I was like - no you are dyslexic maybe .002 but not .200. I explained with a tape measure that that is a variable of over 3/8" - terms I felt maybe he could understand. Nope guess not. He sees the machine fire up and run some parts, leaves to go hiking before his early flight out. We didn't make 10 parts that day due to drive faults, ghost faults, head hitting the material due to tank out of level. THANK YOU FLOW ! So now we are down for faults , Week goes by and we are the only penis in the circle jerk and my head is hurting. We are told its water supply issues and getting multiple things to try on our new machine that is sitting in the corner while we start farming out our work. THANKS FLOW . We invest $15K plus down time into water and pre-pump solutions and spend the next week down until installer #2 comes out and has to re-install our system and trouble shoot the problems. BTW- the 15K problem was a wiring issue from the factory, I think it was their janitor that figured that out. Installer 2 leaves we try to limp along but eventually give up and just shut down. Loosing money we are now watching weeks go by , flow never returns calls and really can not give two shits that we are down and sending our work out. I think this is where I again say - THANK YOU FLOW. My fingers are starting to hurt and I am not even into month two of our problems yet. Let me cut this short and say we are in month 4 , down again for electrical problems and they don't give one . two.. or three... shits that we purchased a machine that is still not running. I have requested they refund our money and get this POS off my shop floor 3 times now. It seems that they will not even return a call without me chasing with emails and calling over and over. FLOW waterjets and Flow as a company are horrible. I am at the point of legal action now, I tried to avoid it but I have no choice. Our loss's will soon exceed the cost of the machine. Our 20 year old machine with thousands and thousands of hours was better and more reliable than this new one. That's the sad truth. People you can say what you want and stand up and shout "FLOW is the best", but if you do, you must be on the flow gravy train payroll cuz flow sucks ! Don't believe me ask their techs , they will tell you all they do is deal with pissed off customers. The best customers are the ones getting the install because they don't know what a shit show they are entering into.
Maybe today I will get a new control box that they want me to install - can you say sweet warrantee ? 4 months not even 100 hours on the machine, most of which were not cutting but trouble shooting and we need to install our replacement electronics. Which machinist or welder should I pull off their job to do that as I am sure they are all electricians or have the correct training to do wire a panel on a waterjet.
Two things I will suggest - OMAX & KMT , save yourself a lot of pain !
BTW if I seem a little salty ??? I am and I bet not one person at flow gives a half a turd about it.