TimberKing Customer Care (long post)

wesdor · May 25, 2022, 01:55:43 PM

I have the privilege of working at Holden Village, Washington on random occasions. For those of you who do not know about Holden, it is a church retreat center high in the Cascades. It is considered to be one of the most remote continuously inhabited places in the lower 48 states.

The trip to Holden is long and time consuming. In our case we flew from Chicago to Seattle and then back to Wenatchee. From Wenatchee we went to the Lady of the Lake boat dock in Chelan by car. The boat leaves at 8:30 in the morning to begin its long trip up lake. We arrived at the dock - Lucerne about noon and were met by a bus which took us the remaining 12 miles to the Village. (BTW - the road gains about 2,000 vertical feet covering 9 switchback in the first two miles).

Holden is the site of a former Copper mine which ran from 1937 - 1957 and then became a church retreat center beginning in 1962. My wife and I first visited Holden in 1969 and have been returning frequently since that time. In 2013 I was able to spend a month in late summer running the TimberKing 2000 sawmill at Holden. This year I returned with the goal of sawing more lumber (Douglas Fir) for various projects.

The mill is normally stored in a large container but had been pulled out and largely setup for me. Unfortunately the lubrication tank was inoperable and although we tried to effect a Rube Goldberg repair, it did not work.

Last July, Holden installed the Elon Musk Starlink and now has internet based phone service. When we were cutting VERY WAVY boards I called TimberKing and spoke with Jason (I think that was the person but did not write down his name). He gave us some pointers and was very helpful on the phone.

Now to the observation about TimberKing and customer service. I only identified myself one time and said that the mill had not been run in several years and we could not locate the manual or DVD disc. Much to my surprise, when I checked my email that evening, I found an email from Mike Alexander which included the manual for the Sawmill (my email was evidently still in their system since the 2013 visit) In addition they sent a package with the DVD and paper manual which will likely arrive at Holden sometime this week (did I mention that Holden is very remote and mail takes much longer to arrive). After going through the mill we sent a request to Mike for part numbers and prices which he provided and we ordered parts which should get this excellent mill back into working order.

I will return to Holden in July and if the mill is not repaired before then should be able to get it back into good sawing order.

A big shoutout to the staff at TimberKing, especially Mike Alexander who made so many things happen in such a short time for this very remote site.

barbender · May 25, 2022, 02:01:54 PM

Excellent, that knowledgeable and caring customer service is what sets great manufacturers apart from the good ones.

chet · May 25, 2022, 02:04:11 PM

Walnut Beast · May 25, 2022, 02:06:15 PM

Good to hear! Timberking is one of best in sawmills and customer service!!

beenthere · May 25, 2022, 03:31:38 PM

Good to hear you are still going back to Holden. Was thinking you quit that trek a few years back, but glad you are still helping out.
A younger brother did that trek a few years back and ran some of the heavy equipment for the village.

Look forward to hearing more from you in July with pics, now that the Starlink is up and running.
Still on the wait list for mine.. say it is coming, but won't say when. 59 more Satellites went up today.

wesdor · May 26, 2022, 08:54:19 PM

Been There - I recall reading somewhere that if you didn't take a picture then it didn't happen. Thanks for the gentle nudge.

Here is a photo of the wood processor in the yard, Buckskin Mountain is in the background.

Holden is not only a great place to work but the scenery is fantastic - especially for us "flat landers".