Hello all!
We are an authorized distributor of the Carvewright and would like to put in a quick word about the reviews that can be found online about the Carvewright. This is not an advertisement for our company, it is simply a researched investigation into the issue of the reviews that can be found online of this machine, and hopefully will answer questions for those of you considering a purchase.
These reviews are often referred to in discussion forums and are a common thread in the emails we receive from interested buyers.
Some of the reviews can be found in forums where people can post opinions, questions and so forth, others are strictly review sites that offer the prospective buyer some feedback from other buyers.
Needless to say they carry a lot of weight and often directly affect the buying decisions of consumers.
DATA
We gathered all the reviews that were readily available and read through all of them individually. We discounted all postings that were not based on actual ownership of the machine. Negative reviews based on the difficulty of learning the software or learning certain aspects of the machine, and experiences directly related to the lack of satisfaction with a specific retailer were not included either.
Websites that had fewer than three actual owner -based reviews were not used.
Data researched by http://www.machinerydistributors.com
The primary source of reviews were in the order of appearance in google:
1. http://www.artisthideout.com/
2. http://www.amazon.com/
3. http://toolmonger.com/
4. http://www.sears.com/
The rest of the websites, and majority of other forums consisted of an isolated review, but mostly speculation and aspects of hypothetical ownership. These included:
www.blogmakezine.com
www.about.woodworking.com
www.talkshopbot.com
www.tuaw.com
www.arboristsite.com
www.woodworkingonline.com
The reviews were classified as follows: Positive, Negative and Mixed (reviews that were very much in favor of the machine but thought that some issues needed resolving, typically a three out of five star rating)
THE RESULTS
Artisthideout.com resulted in 4 Positive, 7 Negative and 4 mixed Reviews.
Amazon.com resulted in 8 Positive, 7 Negative and no Mixed Reveiws.
Toolmonger.com resulted in 7 Positive, and 4 Negative and 2 Mixed Reviews
Sears.com resulted in 50 Positive, 35 Negative and 7 Mixed Reviews.
Total we have 68 Positive Reviews, 53 Negative Reviews and 15 Mixed Reviews.
How do these weigh against the total number of Carvewrights sold?
Well picture this: This company has sold over 14,000 Compucarve/Carvewrights to date. That means the negative reviews represent less than 5 one thousandths percent of the total sold.
Above on the left is a representative Pie Chart:
That is .005 percent.
Conclusion
The feedback on the internet is not representative of the ratio of user experience whatsoever simply because there are simply not enough reviews.
In fact the negative reviews do not even outnumber the positive ones.
Our experience with the Carvewright as retailers has been very uneventful. Yes we have had a small handful of issues and technical difficulties reported but as with any machine as complex and sensitive as this, when combined with new owner inexperience, at times will force an issue to arise. However with 14,000 machines humming away in the country, it is probably safe to say that just like any other machine, one can encounter problems, but for the most part if used properly and well maintained it can and will perform wonders.
More importantly, we consider how the manufacturer has handled the problems that have arisen. As longtime retailers, having bought and sold Millions of dollars of merchandise, we can state that the level of service provided by the manufacturer of the machine to the end user has been very satisfactory.
