Recoil over the Recoil

[Java Beansoup]

Hello,
I am sorta in a bit of a situation. About a month ago I started researching portable equipment because one of mine died and we need it replaced for some of the commercial work we do. After much research I decided on the Cross-American Recoil. When I talked with Ed V. I told him that since I am buying it sight unseen, if I was not happy with it I was going to send it back and I would pay the shipping, but I would expect a refund. He told me that he would not do business that way. So I got spooked from buying it. The other thing that gives me reason to pause is when I asked for a list of people in my area that he has sold these units to he seemed reluctant to offer that. He did say he would try, but its been a month and he still hasn't. I know I heard some really enthusiastic comments about Ed's machine but his response makes me wonder if he is just really small time. And if I have any problems with it then he's going to be a real hassle to deal with. To me he sounded very confident with his equipment until it came time to back it up. He may have other reasons for not wanting to put any type of guarantee on his work but to me it just seemed that I was taking the bigger risk buy laying out hundreds of dollars in shipping costs and he was risking nothing. So I backed way off because Ed's company sounds like a difficult company to deal with.
Okay so that is my situation, now my question is has anyone ever bought one of these machines sight unseen? Have you been happy with it? Is there anything you have been unhappy with? How is the service after the sale with Cross American? Anything that anyone could tell me about their experience would be helpful. :?

 

[Mikey P]

dude, are you for real?


Have you searched Recoil or reSoil here on MB?

You'll find tons of info here on that machine.



I'll tell you why he does not want you to see the machine upfront.

It's the most poorly made pos extractor you'll see in this industry this side of Flowermound Texas.
Lop sided, misaligned, hand whittled crap that anyone with any common sense would not spend more than $750 on to cover the cost of the vacuums and pump and $50 in plastic and hardware store wheels and handle.


but it does suck and squirt :!: :!: :!: :!:

 

[FB7777]

the biggest red flag is that Cross-American does not offer a money back guarantee

not even a 20% re-stocking fee on returns... there is a NO RETURN POLICY


if you are not happy with this $3000 portable... you are out of luck, he will not take it back


In this day and age, you would be hard pressed to find another distributor that would not work with you to ensure your satisfaction

go with Mytee, JonDon or your local Interlink supplier for a portable... I GUARANTEE you will get a better offer and performance

 

[hogjowl]

Dude ... you're from Alabama and didn't bother to call me about this?

I would have guided you here and left you with volumes of material to read on this subject.

 

[Mikey P]

and if you plan on really living up on this statement "The Most Thorough Cleaning Ever Or Its Free!!" off your site,


you better ditch the whole portable idea...

 

[Desk Jockey]

I've only seen his machines online, never in person so I can't really speak for or against it.

However if it were me I would purchase local, then you can see touch and run the unit.

Then if you have a problem you can also take it back for warranty, repairs and service.

 

[Todd Anthony]

Do a search for the Mytee M5. They have alot of info in the portable section. They did a porty shoot out at one point and put all the data up on this website. Other good machines would be the Masterblend.net Truckforce or Masterforce
Rotovac CFX and the Steamin Demon...

 

[gary mackay]

One of the greatest attributes of the Recoil is that you won't have the typical problem of tripping breakers and yet still have a powerful portable.

 

[Bjorn]

Ed is not out to screw anyone and I can see where he is coming from.

for a return adding a 20% restocking fee and you paying the return freight. does not sound bad to me.

Carpet cleaners being what they are flakes by nature you could be buying his machine for a big job
then use it on the big one time job make money and then return the machine with no real intentions of really paying for it.

Does this happen YES! it has happened to me I have taken the equipment back and said what the fook did you do, your supposed to run it through it's paces not run over with it with a truck. Being a small world I find out the cleaner in question used it on several large jobs made money and then I got it back.

Carpet cleaners are an odd bunch most honest and hard working then there are a few that are nightmares that ruin it for the honest cleaners with good intentions

 

[Mikey P]

I think Ed's lawyer got a hold of Brevick

 

[FB7777]

Terry, I would agree with the 20% restocking fee as well


but Cross-American doesn't even offer that option

 

[Bjorn]

well that's Ed's choice to do so and he is a bit paranoid ( not in a bad way )

Not saying what is or what is not about his machine I see the guy has nothing to bitch about other than
it looks like Ed told him to take a hike.

 

[Mikey P]

I have heard the same story many times though Terje, it's not just this dude.


Ed does not want people to see his machines before they buy, plain and simple.

 

[Bjorn]

all the dude had to do was hit the road and visit Ricky fountennutz and find out in person

 

[Dolly Llama]

I'm curious...if i buy a porty from JonDon, use it and don't like it, I can send it back and get a refund?
Will US Products do the same?
Interlink?
Rotovac?
Will Ricky G let me send back a Cimex or OrbOt if i don't like it and refund my donnuts?

..L.T.A.

 

[ACE]

Ask Junior or Willy about the Recoil. They have built nice operations using the Recoil as their primary machines.

 

[Padden McFadden]

I picked up a gently used recoil a few months ago, and Ed spent about 30 minutes with me on the phone explaining aspects of the machine to me. In other words he is providing me with great customer service and I didn't even buy a machine from him. In fact I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone with a recoil who hasn't received top notch service from him. The machine functions perfectly for me.

Mytee has also been good to me with customer service, but you have to make sure you talk to the right people when you call them (like John L, or Nathon P.) If you get Nathen on the phone you will be well cared for!!! The nice lady's who answer the phone do try hard, but lack knowledge. That's one thing I like about Cross American , when you call you ALWAYS get the head man him self, and not some lacky boy who just started last week.

 

[juniorc82]

I have been happy with the reoil. It is a pretty good machine I think its pretty well the best out of all the portys I have ran.

 

[John LaBarbera]

I believe the question here is regarding a return policy, not customer service. The fact is there was a time when I did answer the phone. As the company grows that is no longer possible and new people have to be trained. Any company would have that problem, even a carpet cleaning service.

 

[pATRICK]

This machines starting to dominate the high powered porty market over here in UK getting good reviews.

http://www.cleansmartsupplies.co.uk/aca ... Turbo.html

mark

 

[Todd Anthony]

That airflex turbo is a cool looking machine Mark.I don't think we can run that in the usa with the power requirements.

John does Mytee have anything new in the works? I though I read that you were going to show some new things at the last mikeyfest?

 

[sweendogg]

Thanks to MB I now have a reading disability... everytime I see the word ReCoil my mind reads ReSoil!! :shock:

 

[John LaBarbera]

That airflex turbo is a cool looking machine Mark.I don't think we can run that in the usa with the power requirements.

John does Mytee have anything new in the works? I though I read that you were going to show some new things at the last mikeyfest?

That is a nice looking machine. $4000.00 with the exchange rate. We are working on a few new things, they were not ready in time for Mikeyfest. May Connections in LV.

 

[Padden McFadden]

I believe the question here is regarding a return policy, not customer service. The fact is there was a time when I did answer the phone. As the company grows that is no longer possible and new people have to be trained. Any company would have that problem, even a carpet cleaning service.

I understand that John, my post was meant to be more of a complement of the service I got from You, and Nathen rather than a complaint. Your other people need more training , dealing with them was a waist of my time.

Regarding the topic of this thread,,, you stated....

"I believe the question here is regarding a return policy, not customer service."

The guy who started this thread mentioned a concern about after the sale service.....

"I know I heard some really enthusiastic comments about Ed's machine but his response makes me wonder if he is just really small time. And if I have any problems with it then he's going to be a real hassle to deal with."

Thus my comments about customer service I received from Ed was, and is relevant to the discussion.

 

[Bjorn]

this guy came here for a one hit

that's Ed's policy so no soup for you!

Get over it

he posted the same thing on ics Tm f and here

 

[randy]

This whole thread and the exact same one on ICS makes me rather suspicious of the original posters intentions and causes me to question his real motivation in posting this. Having read his post here and on ICS I'm left wondering if this is just another RECOIL hit piece from folks with a clear agenda. I think perhaps the poster was put up to these postings for the clear purpose of taking another cheap swipe at Ed Valentine's company. Why he deserves the continued focus /abuse on this and other boards is beyond me. I owned a Recoil for years and it was a fine machine. Ed was great to deal with and is a really decent guy. Leave him alone and let cleaners decide what portable they want to buy.

I believe these postings here & on ICS are a staged, planned attack on Cross America and not an "organic" legitimate , review of equipment or the company.

Maybe we should just have a banner that pops up once a week that says: "recoils suck & Ed's a jerk".
It would be easier then the constant bogus hit pieces.

This is getting ridiculous and rather obvious.

 

[joey895]

I don't see how the original post was a hit piece. In fact it sounds to me like he is trying to,against his better judgment, talk himself into a recoil and is looking for someone to help him overcome his questions about how cross-american does business.

Now that being said I know nothing about the recoil but when I did buy a portable I bought a mytee and when I need another portable I'll buy another mytee.

 

[randy]

I don't see how the original post was a hit piece. In fact it sounds to me like he is trying to,against his better judgment, talk himself into a recoil and is looking for someone to help him overcome his questions about how cross-american does business.

Now that being said I know nothing about the recoil but when I did buy a portable I bought a mytee and when I need another portable I'll buy another mytee.

You have a great unit as well. I had one of the original blue & white Mytee units years ago and it was a wonderful unit.

Think about it, would a guy looking for reassurance on a purchase post that diatribe slamming Cross America on three different industry bulletin boards or just do a search on cross America / recoil and maybe contact a few owners of recoils.

 

[pATRICK]

Have run a Recoil in UK for 5 years. It looks flimsy but is surprisingly strong. Way too noisy and ugly. But for a porty has good airflow allowing good hose runs. No comparison to a TM though.

mark

 

[Willy P]

Time for Willy to wade in here. I own a Recoil, have for a few years now. There's a lot other suppliers could learn from Ed. I demand the same degree of customer service that I deliver - Ed's exceeded that many times. If the recoil was in a beauty contest, it would be in the running for Miss Congeniality, but that's not what it's about. The machine has for years delivered dependable service and when I have run into a problem, Ed's been right there. A lot of parts are available locally and can be bought at the hardware store and anything that I needed direct from Cross American came as quickly as over night. I see an end user- supplier relationship as a partnership , with both parties working toward a successful outcome. I hear a lot of "you can't do that" types. Baloney. Here's a few pics of jobs I've done with the recoil, long hose runs, filthy carpets, and all to my expectations.

Long runs? Here's a 135 foot run, hooked up to auto fill and dump:
(the key to this is placement of the inline vac booster)

Some filthys