need a tech?

By dgtees.com on Oct. 21, 2012
Knoxville United States

His name is Donnie Blackwell. His friendly, knowledgeable, fast and worth every dollars you give. He get me up and running fast. dgtees.com knox, tn
thank you again Dennis:D

Screen Printing

There are 38 Comments

Submitted by ucp on Fri, 08/09/2013 - 07:37

I see where someone is removing all honest feedback about Donnie Blackwell. Its a shame, others will learn the hard way.

Submitted by BlueMobster on Fri, 08/09/2013 - 15:19

ucp wrote:
I see where someone is removing all honest feedback about Donnie Blackwell. Its a shame, others will learn the hard way.

He's not a bad person, he's just a Blue Ribbon Moron who has the business management skills of a toddler.

I've been waiting since March for the King of Incompetence to get me all the pieces to my dryer (which arrived with a shorted-out control panel that we had to splice together with parts from our old dryer). He sent me the damned thing without the belt extension we needed and we're still waiting on it. If he wasn't such a cheapskate, he could have just paid for an extension from M&R and we would have had it within a week.

If you must buy something from him, don't pay him until 30 days after your equipment is installed to make sure it is working thoroughly and you have every part you need. If you give him money on good faith that he will deliver the rest of what you need in a reasonable amount of time, you are kidding yourself. If you try to get any information from him, he will either spew out as many excuses as he can, or not answer your calls at all. There is an excuse for everything because nothing is ever his fault!

Save yourself the frustration of dealing with a half-wit that won't return your calls; buy from anyone else. Donny and the crew of drooling idiots he employs don't deserve to have jobs in the equipment business. If he has the nuggets to step in my shop again, I will personally rearrange his jaw with a torque wrench.

Submitted by ucp on Fri, 08/09/2013 - 18:40

BlueMobster wrote:
He's not a bad person, he's just a Blue Ribbon Moron who has the business management skills of a toddler.

I've been waiting since March for the King of Incompetence to get me all the pieces to my dryer (which arrived with a shorted-out control panel that we had to splice together with parts from our old dryer). He sent me the damned thing without the belt extension we needed and we're still waiting on it. If he wasn't such a cheapskate, he could have just paid for an extension from M&R and we would have had it within a week.

If you must buy something from him, don't pay him until 30 days after your equipment is installed to make sure it is working thoroughly and you have every part you need. If you give him money on good faith that he will deliver the rest of what you need in a reasonable amount of time, you are kidding yourself. If you try to get any information from him, he will either spew out as many excuses as he can, or not answer your calls at all. There is an excuse for everything because nothing is ever his fault!

Save yourself the frustration of dealing with a half-wit that won't return your calls; buy from anyone else. Donny and the crew of drooling idiots he employs don't deserve to have jobs in the equipment business. If he has the nuggets to step in my shop again, I will personally rearrange his jaw with a torque wrench.

I must say your assessment is not only factual, but also eloquent!
"drooling idiots":D

Submitted by riotprinting on Sat, 08/10/2013 - 12:29

Amazing and accurate. I would never recommend him to any printer for service OR sales.

Submitted by mrkaine on Thu, 08/15/2013 - 09:45

I am soooooooooooo glad someone made this post. I HAVE BEEN WAITING ON THIS ******* SINCE JANUARY. He won't return my calls and I have to create Google numbers to call him, so that he will call back. He only calls back because he thinks it's a potential new customer. I thought he was just being an ******* to me but now that I see these other posts, I know it's him, not me. I am so ****ing sick of this dude man. I am learning that there are ALOT of fake techs in this industry. Guys with wrenches calling themselves techs aaaaand have no business skills. Its a damn shame man.

Submitted by buster161 on Thu, 08/15/2013 - 21:29

I have delt with Donnie many times and found him to be honest and he stands behind his work. You seem to forget to leave your name and phone number for you slimbags who hide behind the internet and *****. Show me you have the balls to crawl out from your E mail address

Any takers Steve Vermillion 626 644 3825

Submitted by ucp on Fri, 08/16/2013 - 20:47

buster161 wrote:
I have delt with Donnie many times and found him to be honest and he stands behind his work. You seem to forget to leave your name and phone number for you slimbags who hide behind the internet and *****. Show me you have the balls to crawl out from your E mail address

Any takers Steve Vermillion 626 644 3825

Donnie knows who I am, I have been dealing with him since December on a deal gone bad. He would not return any calls or emails for over the last 3 months. It was the post on this forum that got his attention and he finally emailed me this week wanting to resolve our situation. He has given me his word that he would give our money back and pick up the printer we bought from him by the end of this month. I will post back on this forum (if the thread is allowed to continue) if Donnie is a man of his word.

Submitted by buster161 on Sat, 08/17/2013 - 16:49

Dave I know who you are to. Your the guy that begged Donnie to get you a jumbo printer not realizing that they dont print faster than 350 to 400 an hour.The arms are longer the pallets weigh more the machine is slow. But you used the machine made product and sold it for a profit. Now that you got an education you want all your money back. WHAT PART OF STUPID DONT YOU UNDERSTAND.

Submitted by ucp on Sun, 08/18/2013 - 00:42

buster161 wrote:
Dave I know who you are to. Your the guy that begged Donnie to get you a jumbo printer not realizing that they dont print faster than 350 to 400 an hour.The arms are longer the pallets weigh more the machine is slow. But you used the machine made product and sold it for a profit. Now that you got an education you want all your money back. WHAT PART OF STUPID DONT YOU UNDERSTAND.

you are a Donnie shill
I don't know if you are replying to my post or not ( no Dave here) if you are, why all the hate? My posts are directed directly towards Donnie (unless your just a Donnie shill) I will let all who may be interested whether or not Donnie keeps his word to returns my money and picks up the printer We couldn't do that if we had sold it.
Submitted by BlueMobster on Mon, 08/19/2013 - 18:06

Here’s my full experience to add to the mix:

In March of this year, we decided to replace our M&R Sprint dryer since it had a warped blower shaft. We were referred to Donny who had just procured a same-year same-model dryer from California. We decided to do a trade to bring down the price a little. Donny and his crew bring the dryer to our shop within two days and helped us install it. We hand him the check (big mistake) and he takes off. Within 15 minutes of his departure, we try to fire it up, and nothing happens. We bypass the main control panel and the blower starts, but it refuses to heat and goes to alarm very quickly. We inspect everything only to find out that every button, the temp controller, and the speed controller had been prodded with a screwdriver and shorted out. Donny didn’t bother to reassemble and check the dryer once he bought it. Turns out, the previous crackhead owner was so upset about the bank repossessing the dryer, that he thought he’d show them by shorting out all the components.

We got in touch with Donny and he came back the next day with only a power switch, which clearly wasn’t enough as we had informed him the day before that we needed EVERYTHING. So, I have to give up another day of production so his dumb *** can go back to SC and bring ALL of the components back down.

After hours of work and troubleshooting, we finally get the dryer up and running, but with all the instruments slightly off. The temp controller is inaccurate to about 30 degrees and the speed readout displays garbled text and letters, not numbers like it is supposed to.

For losing multiple days of production due to his negligence, we made a handshake deal with Donny that he would provide us an extra 4-foot extension, as well as get to work on ordering replacement temp controller and speed displays. He proclaimed that he would be back in 2 weeks (the end of March) with the requested parts.

Excuse after excuse after excuse is relayed to me and finally, at the end of June, some Duck-Dynasty looking mother****er rolls up and drops off the metal frame (which has no electrical components and is missing one of the feet), and a belt section that has the wrong zipper sewn on. I try immediately to get in touch with Donny, lo and behold, he won’t answer his phone.

Fast forward to August, Donny will still not return my calls, and it takes Sieggy harassing him on my behalf day in and day out to get him to shape up. He promises a new belt section, but ends up sending me two “adapters” that have the correct M&R zipper on one side, and the bastardized zipper on the other. They must have been sewn on by a blind man with hoof-hands and a severe cranial injury because the zippers were warped on one side, and the other had the zipper broken and one half was right-side-up, the other was upside-down. IT TOOK OVER 3 HOURS TO COMPLETE A 1 HOUR JOB, USING 3 ZIP LINES JUST TO CONNECT 1 ZIPPER.

To put icing on the cake, once the shoddy side of the zipper heats up, it starts to come loose and the pins drag and catch on the inside of the dryer, causing the belt to bounce and hang up, even stopping on occasion. So we spent another hour stopping and starting the dryer so we could clip those off. I doubt the belt will last more than a couple months.

After Sieggy went up to Donny’s place personally and raised hell about it, something finally is happening, and you won’t believe it. That moron Donny is using the SAME PEOPLE who created the shoddy belt twice TO MAKE ME ANOTHER ONE! I can’t trust these people and neither can he, why would he do this? I have called him and left him messages to get in touch with Action Engineering, (a reputable business that puts out quality products 100% of the time) to get me a belt section. I had already contacted Action and given them the exact specifications that I needed. All Donny has to do, is pay for the belt, and they will send it straight to me, and he can go **** off to California or do whatever he does when he’s not mismanaging his shop. End of story.

In classic fashion, I am still waiting to hear back.

srimonogramming's picture
Submitted by srimonogramming on Fri, 08/16/2013 - 13:45

Since we're all about full disclosure, why doesn't everyone tell us all the nature of their relationship with Donnie. Did you buy something from him? Do you do business with him in another way? Do you work together?

I think I will start a thread that will allow Brokers to introduce themselves and tell us whatever they'd like to tell so that the members here can have more info. I'll will post some rules and there will be no negative posts made about the brokers in that thread but we'll get the rules out in the open at that time. If someone has something negative to say about a broker then you can start a new thread and you can explain what happened and don't bother posting if you don't put your real name on the post. Let's all get honest and transparent and make the used equipment industry a better place where people don't get ripped off.

I know of some good equipment brokers and some bad ones, and I think if this site is going to be a good place for industry people to buy and sell equipment then we need to weed out the dishonest guys and I think it's time to start doing that.

Submitted by riotprinting on Mon, 08/19/2013 - 14:18

srimonogramming wrote:
Since we're all about full disclosure, why doesn't everyone tell us all the nature of their relationship with Donnie. Did you buy something from him? Do you do business with him in another way? Do you work together?

I'll be more than happy to share my full experience with Donnie. It all starts with me trying to a roll around 18x21 single phase quartz Flash Tec flash from him. I was told by many people who have those flashes that they were very good quality and comparable to M&R quartz flashes.

This might be airing some dirty laundry but I'm going to put out all the facts. Here is a detailed timeline of my near 6 month long communication (or lack there of) with Donnie.

March 28th Invoiced for Flash. To be Shipped IMMEDIATELY
April 5th Email Still Waiting For Shipping (Supposed to ship next week)
April 12th Email Still Waiting For Shipping (Supposed to ship next week)
April 19th Email Still Waiting For Shipping (Supposed to ship next week)
Donnie Goes AWOL for a bit..
June 11th Donnie finally emails back and re-verifies the Phase of Flash
June 13th (Thursday) Says it will be HAND DELIVERED the following Monday
June 17th No Call No Show, Emailed. Called he said he would delivery it that friday (21st)
June 21st No Call No Show, Won't answer calls, or emails.
Donnie goes AWOL again
Between June 21st and July I called him probably 4 times a day never getting an answer. Finally his Daughter Answers I leave a message with her
July 3rd I email Donnie AGAIN to determine the status of my order. Donnie's daughter replies saying flash will be delivered next week He was out of town and will be back in town Saturday.- I replied asking to know a specific delivery date - No reply.
July 8th I email them essentially saying they have a strict deadline of July 10th ti have it to me. If they can't deliver it by then the deal is officially terminated. - No Response.
July 10th I email to confirm the lack of response and delivery of flash unit for accountability purposes. THIS EMAIL he actually responds to, His response: "I'm in California we do have a flash for you I have been a little behind but I will get it to you along with extra bulbs if you still want it let me know"

Needless to say my response was "No I do not still want it" and I went on to explain to him exactly why I no longer could trust a word he says let alone how i could not bring myself to do business with a person like that. The last line of that email was "If that's not a clear enough answer let me reword it. I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT STILL WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU OR YOUR COMPANY."

Aug 9th (completely I receive a completely unsolicited email from Donnie)
"I know that I need to send you a flash . I have been out of town trying to build my company back up I did not mean to leave you on the back burner . I would like to make this right
Thanks Donnie

Sent from my iPhone"

I did not reply.

Aug 18th I receive an MMS (emailed) from Donnie asking me to call him. I replied via text "We have nothing to discuss"

Submitted by bensdman on Sun, 08/18/2013 - 04:35

Who uses "tech's" in screen printing?
My first question would be to where a tech received there experience.
unless they worked for one of the few manufacturers, than there skills are limited anyway. my advice to any shop owner, is to just do it yourself. after all it is your investment, and your responsibility. buy equipment from a reputable manufacturer, and you shouldn't have any problems with support. if you do decide to go with used equipment, you'd better really know what you're doing, or hire someone that does. used screen presses, even the best brands out there have questionable history as to how they were handled. do diligence is crucial in all aspects of this trade.
good luck, do your homework, and don't waste your money, or time.

Submitted by danlilsade on Sun, 08/18/2013 - 17:09

I use independent "techs" for installations and "after the sale" service. The first question when using a tech should be "where were you trained?" Second question "who are your references?" I have used most every independent tech in the country and most are able and fast at what they do. Ink & mesh sales people are a good place to ask about a local tech's history.

The newer Servo/AC machines have sensitive & expensive components, factory training should be a big consideration. This is not a place to try to save money by hiring a inexperienced person. You want someone with strong references and a good working knowledge of what is required to troubleshoot and repair your machine.

Returning phone calls is just common courtesy. Take your medicine and resolve the problem (man up). You may not make money on every deal (if you are honest), sometimes unforseen issues crop up and the resolution costs more then your slice of the deal.

My big issue is paying a technician to stand around on the cell phone for $80.00/hour. When I buy an an hour, give me what I paid for. Use voicemail or tell the caller you will call them when you are finished. (sorry off topic here)

Seritech Inc.

ch54panel@yahoo.com

srimonogramming's picture
Submitted by srimonogramming on Mon, 08/19/2013 - 17:58

It would be hard to dispute those allegations against Donnie. That's the type of timeline and information that is really hard to argue against. I wish everyone had a detailed list of communication with the broker they had a problem with, it would make things a lot more clear as to what kind of broker they really are.

srimonogramming's picture
Submitted by srimonogramming on Tue, 08/20/2013 - 09:21

Has anyone had a good buying experience with this Donnie broker? Does anybody have anything positive to say about him besides his business partner?

Submitted by ol man on Tue, 08/20/2013 - 09:40

Alan - i think a tech thread is a good idea.......

Submitted by BlueMobster on Thu, 08/29/2013 - 08:39

If anyone is curious as to the quality of products that Donny "personally inspects" before he sends out to customers, look at this dryer belt.

I picked it up to inspect it and just a gentle tug ripped the belt that far. It's rotten and the alligator zipper is barely sewn in. You can pull it slightly and it unhinges. Can you imagine getting this thing on the dryer and then trying to track the thing? the pull of the rollers would rip the thing instantly.

What a piece of ****. This is the third belt from him that has been wrong. I don't know why he has still refused to just have someone else do it. Him trying to save money is going to end up costing him in the long run.

I'm already ****** that it has taken since March to get this far, and he has the nerve to send this crap that he assured me before it shipped was "just right."

F.uck him!

Submitted by Printficient on Thu, 08/22/2013 - 16:50

Nothing to see. actually bumped this accidentally. I know Donnie as a vendor not a customer. Hard to get a hold of sometimes but outside of that paid for what he ordered.

Submitted by dgtees.com on Fri, 08/23/2013 - 13:32

He done good job for me and call him, he done the job I asked to do. Dennis

Submitted by ucp on Wed, 08/28/2013 - 09:36

To anyone who may wish to know definitely if Donnie Blackwell is a man of his word... I will be going by his shop this Friday in order for him to "make it right". He has given me his word that he will return our deposit on a printer that is not what it was supposed to be. I will post here the results of the meeting Monday.

Submitted by Printficient on Mon, 09/02/2013 - 11:58

ucp wrote:
To anyone who may wish to know definitely if Donnie Blackwell is a man of his word... I will be going by his shop this Friday in order for him to "make it right". He has given me his word that he will return our deposit on a printer that is not what it was supposed to be. I will post here the results of the meeting Monday.

What was the outcome?
Submitted by BlueMobster on Wed, 09/04/2013 - 09:12

So, after I got that dry-rotted belt from ******* Donny, I did manage to get a call from him. He couldn't believe that the stupid upholsterer that had screwed me twice already, would screw me again. After he personally inspected the belt!

He then spewed out all this horseshit about how he would finally "make it right" by calling Action Engineering and purchasing the belt section from them. I told him that I wanted to hear from them confirming that he had purchased the belt. I hadn't heard anything for almost a week, so I decided to call Action today. ****ing surprise surprise, he never called them!

To put icing on the cake, his phone is disconnected.

I hope all the bad things in the world happen to him and nobody else. I hope that his next birthday cake has **** for icing. I hope that every load of laundry he does gets cat **** on it. I hope every morning he starts his car only to find that he has a dead battery. I hope every nickel he tries to pick up off the sidewalk is super-glued down. I hope his toilet clogs every time he uses it.

If anyone will provide picture proof that they have beaten the living **** out of him and removed the last of his remaining 4 teeth, I will buy you dinner at a 5-star restaurant.

Submitted by ucp on Wed, 09/04/2013 - 22:06

Printficient wrote:
What was the outcome?

He asked for one more week

Submitted by Printficient on Wed, 09/04/2013 - 20:58

This is sad. There is enough business out there for every one. Saving time by not following up can cost in the end more than the time was worth. i wish the best for all in this crazy industry and am truly sorry for every bad deal that goes on. Hopefully this is a temporary setback for Donnie and he will return and make all things right and be a better person for it.

Submitted by Riess33 on Mon, 09/09/2013 - 05:13

For are of you people that think Donnie is a great guy why don't you call him and have him return the $7,000 he took from me back in May for a press and will not return or answer my call... Yes he took my money and will not return any of it!!! I call and leave message and never hear anything back. If there is anyone else out there he owes money to please let me know as we are building a case :) for all of you that know Donnie so well why don't you tell hill to give me back my $7,000 that I payed for a press I never got...

Submitted by BlueMobster on Fri, 09/13/2013 - 13:32

Good luck with that update. A good night of hookers and blow for $7000 sounds about right. It's all gone bro.

Submitted by ucp on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 11:49

It appears we too are going the legal route...

Submitted by Printficient on Mon, 09/16/2013 - 13:09

Truly a shame. I hope all works out for you guys. On a side note need any supplies? Call me.
Sonny
404-895-1796
678-412-1395

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