Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Iwata - Amazing Customer Service

I just have to share this good deed (or amazing customer service...).

I bought an Iwata Smart-Jet compressor for my Paasche Airbrush.  I bought it for several reasons at the time as it is a known quality name-brand, had positive reviews at the time, can hold my airbrush, included a moisture trap, and it knows when to turn the air on/off all on its own.  This last option is nice, so you don't have to keep flipping a switch, or fill up a tank every so often.

So after several years of use...probably 4 or maybe even 5, my compressor stops working.  I can't figure out why, but I figure trying to get it fixed would be cheaper than buying a new one as its still in good shape.  I called tech support and the gentleman gave me a few ideas for the model I was using, but told me that it was probably the pressure switch and they no longer use the part I have on mine.  The back up plan that where I could not figure out what was happening or fix it, was to mail back the compressor with $50 and they would fix it with return shipping included.  Even that isn't a bad deal for a quarter of the price of it new.

I took the advice first and I hit the pressure switch with a hammer and it would turn on sporadically every time I did that.  It was a sign that the switch was broken. I ended up taking it off and opening up the part.  A broken copper connector that is used to push a pole into the air-flow gap had broken, probably from lots of use.

In an attempt to get just that part to fix the switch, I emailed the photo to Iwata and a customer service rep actually replied and said they would send me an entire pressure switch free of charge; no worries that the compressor was way past the one-year warranty mark.  I never had to send it back and the part usually runs $20 by itself.  Now that is service.  I will stay with their products if I ever need to actually buy a new one.
Here is a link to the compressor itself... http://www.iwata-medea.com/index.php/products/smart_jet


Broken Switch (copper part inside)



New pressure switch wired in and screwed in.