Busy Bee Machine Tools Ltd

The store had incredible deals. Some computer issues at check out so we are still waiting in line to pay after an hour. Everyone is friendly and calm so it’s been a great experience.

Garbage customer service, I would rather buy tools from other companies who have very good return ,price match policy and customer services, worst experience from the staff they seems enoyed upon asking simple question. I bought mortiser bit 1/2 inch when i open the box it was 3/8 , I drove 40kms back to replace so check the box before you leave, last visit I ask some one Do u have sharpening wheel which is less coarse ? Rather then help me find that direct me to other person on floor , it seems i was not valued customer for them. Talking about tool quality, some of their floor models are damaged without using, so dont know how wood that last in real time.

Wonderful service from Jessica and Dave. Great advice for a newbie such as myself.Today purchasing a Steady Rest and dial calipers for a metal lathe.Definitely coming back!

I have been a customer of Busy Bee since 1998 and I have a lot of experience with Craftex tools. For the most part, they strike a good balance between cost and performance. Unfortunately, my experience is that the warranty is worthless. I brought a CX125HC planer in for repair 21 months after purchase. The rollers were slipping and the cutters were leaving burn marks on the wood. That was 17 weeks ago. The Ottawa store has great staff (pleasant and knowledgeable people) but they have no visibibility or influence on the repair process. When I call customer service the representatives tell me it is under inspection". Four + months is a long time to be without a tool and no updates on when to expect it back. Using LinkedIn I reached out to the President (Hanif B.) the CEO (Anil Balolia) and the Senior Sales and Marketing Manager (Scott Brumwell). They are all ignoring my messages. I will update this review as time passes and if I ever get a response from Busy Bee. Small Claims court may be my only recourse. I will let you know...Update 1: The day after I post this review Busy Bee tells me my planer is back from service and working properly. As an act of "good will" they offer to take it back with 40% restocking fee. I took the planer home to try it out. Still not working so I posted a video of my test on YouTube (search my name or CX125HC to find it). Have a look and see for yourself. I think consumers deserve better from a company boasting a 3 year warranty.Update 2: I produced a second video review for YouTube. The second video is a side-by side comparison between a new CX125HC and the planer I was asking to be repaired under warranty. It clearly shows that the faulty planer wasn't performing well. In response

Very slow lines at the tent sale but to be expected. Good sales. Value appears good

Top notch as usual.Tent Sale was super crowded and check out very very very super slow.Cashiers were overwhelmed but very friendly and courteous.They need a better scanner system to help them in a rushBut overall Busy Bee is the best ! !

Incredible service! Not only do they have an excellent selection of products but the staff is knowledgeable and passionate. The feeling of both welcomeness and the confidence I’ve been given from interacting with the staff is nearly unparalleled in modern stores.I was served by Shay and David.

The Busy Bee brand Craftex is very poor quality and even worse customer service. They do not stand by their products.I had purchased the 8” jointer CX08HC. Straight out of the box it needed to be aligned. Not a huge problem as this could be expected. I would follow the manuals directions to align the jointer beds. After several days of attempts, I came to the conclusion that there could be another issue with the machine that would not allow alignment. I called Busy Bee few days after the purchase to have the machine brought back for alignment.The machine was brought back to the Busy Bee location in Ottawa so it could be sent back to the Toronto warehouse for repair. 3 weeks later I got a call that the jointer was fixed and I had a few hours of labour to pay for. I laughed off the part of having to pay for a repair job on a defective machine. Before spending more money on transporting this heavy machine back and forth I would show up at the Ottawa location with a straight edge and feeler gauges before excepting it back.In the 1st & 2nd picture I show 5000th of an inch easily sliding under the in-feed and out-feed table. The 3rd picture shows a square in the middle of the fence that does not allow my thinnest feeler gauge through. 4th picture shows 6000th of an inch would slide through the bottom portion of the square. This jointer is clearly not aligned, It’s twisted. A video was made and sent to customer service as I now requested a refund.Customer service ignored my emails and calls for awhile. Then Chris from customer service reached out to explain the jointer was perfectly aligned when it left their shop. Chris implied the jointer must have fell out of alignment after I transported it back to my shop. I informed Chris the jointer never left the Ottawa Busy Bee location. Chris then said he will have to call me back.A week later Chris returns my call and states he can not trust my brand new straight edge in the video. Funny thing is I use a Busy Bee square in the video as well.The next phone conversation with Chris he explained that 6000th of an inch is their acceptable factory tolerance. I explained to Chris that it’s not possible to straighten lumber on a jointer this much out. I asked Chris to inform me the factory tolerances so I can have it on record. Chris got very temperamental when I requested this and said “I don’t have to tell you anything” before hanging up.This phone conversation was on November 1, 2021 at a approximately 11:30am.

I ordered several times fro. The. In the past but this will be the last. I ordered a kreg bandsaw guide and received an open box with missing parts. Contacted them and was ignored. Also ordered a bandsaw blade and quality was poor, ended up ordering an Olson blade from amazon, same price but quality far superior. Last time I order from them.

Firstly, I would like to say that BusyBeeTools provide good value for money for their products. I also find that their sales people are helpful in their stores, specifically their Ottawa store where I have conducted much business.Their online business, related customer service and some business practices are antiquated, dysfunctional and when combined with callous disregard of their customer from the top of the organization down does not bode well for anyone intending to do online business with them.This is not only my experience but is reflected in multiple reviews over the internet.In my most recent disturbing experience is when I placed an order online for an AXIOM CNC machine together with accessories totalling $31 000. My credit card was charged. I followed up with a query checking if there were additional shipping charges and potential shipping dates. As I could not get through to their service desk, I left a message and attached a message to the order. I finally got a call back from them saying due to an error on their side, they canceled my order and that I would need to re-key it. Besides the inconvenience, the main issue being that they had already charged my credit card and would charge my credit card again if I rekeyed the order. I indicated, OK, cancel the order but I will wait for the refund before placing a new order.The status on the web site showed “Awaiting Shipment” for days after until I questioned them about this and asked if it should not show “Canceled”. Over this period, it was impossible to get hold of them, when I managed to get a message out of them, it was just “Its already being refunded”. Which was not true. The order status then changed to “Declined”, presumably Credit Card Declined? Which is incorrect. I could get hold of anyone at BusyBee Tools. Neither through their Customer Service Desk, nor Leadership Team. I was effectively ghosted! Busybee holding on to my $31 000 for which they never intended, nor did attempt to provide any service.I disputed the transaction through my bank, and finally got a refund 1 month later. BusyBee tools this is not the way to run a business!So Online Customer Beware.