A trip, a discovery, and Outstanding! customer support

Some of you know that in February of 2012 I bought myself a Baynes double drive/double treadle spinning wheel. It has done a bit of traveling and has gotten me fairly broken in on its likes and dislikes. Unfortunately it has not had much of a workout lately what with one thing and another. No, please don't ask me to explain; it's complicated and having a cast on one leg for a month is only a small part of that.

I determined to take my Baynes wheel to the Gun Blogger Rendezvous in Reno the 2nd weekend of September. I went to accompany my terrific D.W. on the trip, pretty much knowing that I was not going to be putting in any range time and would need to  entertain myself. Setting up to spin or read in the hotel pool area seemed a fine idea.

2 things stopped me.
First thing was that the Silver Legacy does not have an outside pool, only an exercise pool by the "spa" in the hotel. The only outside in the sun at the hotel is on the sidewalks around it.
Okay, we had a nice view from our 15th floor room, I could watch the hot air balloons floating out and over a neighboring hill.
Then I discovered that, somewhere along the line of moving my wheel about, I had lost the drive cord tensioning knob. OOOPS.

For non-spinners a double drive wheel can be used in double band mode with two separate drive bands and using band tension and treadle action to control speed, or in Scotch tension mode where both drive bands work as one and there is a separate tension control "brake". Not having the drive cord tensioning knob meant that the wheel could only work as Scotch tension. Think Toyota versus Cadillac. Both have their place but each has virtues of its own.

I called the distributor from whom I had purchased the wheel, Susan's Spinning Bunny in West Danby, New York. Did they sell spare parts or could they tell me how to fix it? Susan could give me only a broad idea of doing a homemade fix. She could, however, tell me who to contact at the Baynes factory in Ashburton, New Zealand; she gave me his email address. If you have ever ordered anything from Susan you know that she is a wonderfully knowledgeable and friendly lady.

Emails were exchanged between myself, describing my dilemma and asking direction, and Murray B. at the factory.

Murray told me the particulars of the part I needed including screw width, pitch, and length and the total length of the part. He told me that I could most likely replace the screw at a local hardware store but that I would have a bit more difficulty finding the weighted knob to which the screw was affixed.

And then he said "I think it would be just as easy if I sent you a new knob and threaded rod complete at no cost.", and asked if my postal address was the same as when my wheel was shipped from the factory. This offer was quite unexpected but definitely appreciated, of course I accepted.

These emails were exchanged on September 7th. The replacement part arrived September 19th.
A small replacement part at no cost and half way around the world in less than 2 weeks.
That is what I call amazing customer support. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Can I get snaps and kudos for these 2 marvelous people?
Anyone looking for a new wheel? Fiber? Spindles? Accessories? Yarn? Patterns? Knitting needles?