Busy Bee Tools Canada

T

tigercat4519

Registered
Registered
Joined
Sep 13, 2014
Messages
16
Hi to all Canadians and any one else on here that may be considering buying from Busy Bee Tools. I purchased a lathe from them in September 2014 the CX701 and on start up the gearbox took out 2 gears and bent one shaft, they said no problem it was under warranty, so from there on in all I got was a runaround, finally I told them I had handed it over to the credit card people and by then I told them that I wanted a new lathe because why should I have to do my own repairs on a lathe that I just paid $3600.00 for, while this was going on the parts arrived but was told by the credit card people to not install them which I got nothing from another joke, Parts are sitting home still not installed.
The Lathe is not something you want to wast your money on it viberates and the Apron gear box leaks oil enought that if I have to keep it I will have to take it apart and try to stop the oil, I have 25 years experience on Lathes and any thing Busy Bee sells you that is made in China forget warranty you are on your own they will not have someone come out and repair it for you or even come out and look at it and the store in Nova Scotia is only about 20 miles from my house.
Just wanted to warn people not to wast your money on any thing Busy Bee sells and I'm not the first one that this has happened to, I'm in Florida for the winter and when I get home I'm hoping to see if I can take them to small claims court.

Just wanted to ad here is the chinese company that makes these Lathes:
http://www.weiss.com.cn/company/&FrontComContent_list01-1323238072385ContId=10&comContentId=10.html I talked to them when this happened and they are of no help because they said I didn't buy it directly from them, not much like the North America companies, Wish I would have purchased even a used North American Lathe.

Phil
 
Last edited:
Hi
Tigercat4519,
I live close to the Toronto store for Busy Bee, a couple of years ago I called to inquire about parts for my Craftex b1979c lathe.

I asked about buying a manual and a few parts. I had the parts #'s & stated I could pick them up to save the shipping.
The person who answered the phone was almost rude, obviously not interested in my purchase. Giving one word replies to my inquiries.

I will NEVER promote or support the company in any way. I have heard nothing but poor reviews about their products and services.

I completely understand your frustrations with " Too Busy Bee to Care "
 
When I was shopping for a milling machine, I looked at the small knee mills on the Busy Bee Tools showroom floor in the Edmonton store. There were 2 sales guys working in the metal machine area. The first guy I talked to had absolutely no knowledge of machine tools and referred me to the second guy. He was disinterested in my questions and downright rude. The small knee mills they have are Taiwan made and look like pretty good quality but I couldn't make myself buy one based on the attitude of the people in the store. I called Matt at Quality Machine Tools and ordered a PM932PDF. He made the decision very easy by answering every question I had, arranging very reasonably priced shipping, and handling all the customs and duty paper work for me. Once the machine was shipped from Pittsburgh it arrived here in Edmonton in less than a week. I have had a couple of small warranty issues that Matt has taken care of with absolutely no hassles. It would be nice to be able to deal with a Canadian vendor just to support a local business but it takes good customer service and quality products to get my business and you can't get either at Busy Bee.

I hope you are successful getting your money back from Busy Bee and thanks for posting your comments. Maybe it will save a few other Canadians the pain of dealing with this shoddy outfit.

john
 
Good luck on your lathe. It must be very disappointing to have bought a new lathe and have those problems.I have three BusyBee machines, none bought new, just really cheap.

I stop by the store in New Westminster. It's just two bays in a row warehouse. In the mid-80s, they had a nice store in Burnaby and KMS had small single bay store in a run down strip mall. KMS, now, has large store and a chain across B.C. and Alberta.
 
I'll have to confirm their customer service attitude. I was passing through the city and stopped to get a dado head for the table saw. Was far from cheap, I was leery, but bought it anyway. It cuts nice but over width, the blades are too thick so a 1/4 wide groove comes out close to 5/16. I wrote a review on their website, of course it never was posted, I emailed them and much latter got a reply saying thanks, they'd check their manufacturing for future products. No offer of exchange.

Greg
 
Wow, we have replies from coast to coast! Looks like it's the same situation right across the country.

John
 
Thanks guys and to anyone else reading about my CX701 Lathe problem, hopefully we can get lots of people commeting on this, I put a review on there site on the Lathe but they didn't post it I expected that from someone that sells junk, I hope when I get home in April it's not to late to take them to small claims court and get my money back,in the meantime I will give them lots of free advertising.
When this thing runs its course I will send them a link to this site and tell them there is always ways to get back at them through the internet.
If anyone has any other input/ or good ideas please let me know.
Thanks
Phil
 
tigercat4519 said:
Thanks guys and to anyone else reading about my CX701 Lathe problem, hopefully we can get lots of people commeting on this, I put a review on there site on the Lathe but they didn't post it I expected that from someone that sells junk, I hope when I get home in April it's not to late to take them to small claims court and get my money back,in the meantime I will give them lots of free advertising.
When this thing runs its course I will send them a link to this site and tell them there is always ways to get back at them through the internet.
If anyone has any other input/ or good ideas please let me know.
Thanks
Phil
Click to expand...


Sorry the hear about your problems. Please make sure that you keep things factual when commenting. Opinions are fine, but state it as such.

I don't see any problems yet, just a gentle reminder for all.
 
I bought a small X2 clone from them and a bunch of accessories. When I had issues with the mill the store was of no help and like others have mentioned they were actually quite rude and indifferent. Now, If KMS tools doesn't have what I need I buy from reputable ebay dealers. Haven't had an issue yet that wasn't dealt with quickly and reasonably. Personally I would never order or recommend ordering from busy bee to anyone. There are far better options already mentioned above.

Shawn
 
I would go on every machine tool, trade & hobby forum I could find online and post warnings about that company. Also, do you have a department of consumer affairs or equivalent, in Canada?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top