"As we can see neither Dylan nor Todd responds to customer posts any longer. I personally PMed Dylan from 2016+ on a Duetto that had more issues than a magazine publisher."
First, you are correct in your observation that either I or Dylan don't post on here very much. I receive emails from two different company email addresses, my personal email address, instgram, PM's, Facebook, two different forums, text messages and phone calls. In other words, as the branches of contact points grow it becomes more and more impossible to manage them. Not because we don't want, because feed back (good or bad) is necessary to provide good customer service.
The biggest problem becomes it that if people try creative ways of contacting they tend to be disappointed or feel ignored. To avoid this Dylan wrote this in the opening paragraph:
As it stands, callings or email is really the only way to contact us. We simply cannot manager multiple points of contact and provide the response time you demand and are entitled to.
" I found "Todd" today and thought I had a new contact but his inbox "is full and will not accept messages." My guess is neither work for Rupes any longer but who knows."
Still work for RUPES, thankfully. I have purposefully and purposely let me mail box get full because if I empty it I run the risk of somebody using that as a point of contact, and then getting frustrated (rightfully so) if I don't answer in time (rightfully so).
"My Duetto has gotten so bad it literally burned my hand after only a few panels of correction."
I am very sorry to hear about this!
" It's been bad since a few months after purchase from AG but the only reply I ever received was "send it in and it will cost about $100 to go through it", which I thought was poor support for a machine just a year old and used maybe 4 times."
All RUPES tools are covered by a 1-year, factory backed and supported warranty. We strongly recommend contacting us at the first sign of trouble. The warranty covers shipping both ways, is carried out at the USA factory, and is, of course, free.
If the tool has low use, and is outside of the 1-year factory warranty, you can certainly contact our repair department, and explain your situation to them. I, and I'm sure others reading, are sympathetic to your situation. There can, at times, exceptions to the rules, but we have to remain conservative. Otherwise we receive a number of tools that have been duct taped together, are full of dust, that have worn brushes, and have been used "a few hours."
I am not suggesting this is your case at all, just that there are people who take advantage of generosity and unfortunately these bad apples can ruin it for everybody. Again, please please please contact us at the first sign of tool problems!
Additionally, the "about $100" repair is for our flat rate program, this is from our website:
Here is a link:
Service Requests - RUPES USA
This program is quite generous and offers factory backed repair and maintenance with shipping covered. However, in your case, I understand why, after 4 hours of use, the suggestion for you paying for anything is frustrating. I
"It was just stalling and overheating at the time but this weekend finally began it's trip into final death, making some quite disturbing growls as it went into the afterlife."
I am sorry to hear this.
" I did help it along by throwing it as far as I could after it burnt me. Anger issues I guess but years of frustration with Rupes and their expensive turds."
Yeah, that probably didn't help but we all do things with frustration. I wish you would have called our repair department first and see if we could have at least found a reasonable compromise, particularly because you did contact Dylan in 2016 and might have a record for your problems with this tool.
"For the record I've owned an le15 in both Mark I and Mark II editions. One stalled constantly and the more powerful one melted pads like no one's business."
Generally pad stall on the LHR15 and pad melting on the MKII are caused by the same root problem which is excessive pressure. We generally train people to use almost zero pressure on the MKII and only exceed speed 4 if you are working on an isolated scratch. Once the pad starts to heat up, the surface area increases and does friction (like a drag car warming up its tires in a burnout). This usually means an increase in speed and pressure to fight the grabby pad which increases the problems further and soon the pads are toast. All long-throw orbital tools require long-throw orbital technique.
"Rupes just doesn't seem to value customer service nor long time repeat customers. I'm done giving their products a second/third chance."
I will forward your reasonable complaint to customer service and management, to see if there is a better way we reduce touch points and increase customer response. We aren't perfect, and I understand your frustration. Please accept my apology on behalf of RUPES.
