AHP information needed

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My friend is thinking of buying one and asked me what I thought of the AHP 200x tig welder. I have no experience with one or do I know anything about the company, I said I would post it on WW and I'm sure someone knows more about this welder/company than I do. He also want's to know if they stand behind their welders and will they repair them if and when it stops working? Are they made here in the U.S. or over seas?Thanks everyone,
Reply:Look here http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ght=AHP+owners
Reply:Wow that was long. It started out promising but toward the middle and end things didn't look so good. Good Customer service and talking to nice people mean a lot to me, several years ago I bought a Hobart 210 MVP that didn't work out of the box. I called Hobart and they were the nicest people/company to deal with on fixing my welder, two days after dropping off my welder I receive a phone call from the Hobart representative in my area telling me it will be fixed in a week with no cost to me. I now own three Hobart welders because of the great customer service I received. I don't own any foreign welders so I can't say anything about their customer service, if I was one of the people that had to play run around trying to find out why I wasn't receiving the welder and the Mickey Mouse business on the warranty I most certainly would be an unhappy customer. I will buy where I get great customer service. I will have my friend look this over so he knows what to expect when buying a foreign welder along with the fine print on the warranty. Thanks 7A749 for the good information.
Reply:For me, and me personally, it's all about customer service. I don't care where it's made, although if try to buy USA whenever possible and practical. In today's global manufacturing market, it is unavoidable to encounter some overseas components in just about anything.Again, the company that designed and supports the product is what is of concern to me. A solid company with good post sale service is going to take care of you, not make excuses and point fingers. They're going to make it right, even if it means taking a small loss doing so. The companies that are clearly revenue driven will not. They'll fight you tooth and nail, to the bitter end before taking even the smallest loss making something right with a customer. That, or their warranties are so full of exclusions and loopholes that it reads more like a court document than a straightforward explanation in writing of how they plan to take care of you in the event of a problem.We have seen this firsthand with some of the importers discussed on this message board. Their reputation for customer service will tell you how they handle their customers. A company can make all the claims about long warranties and great prices, but when problems arise, you generally see their true colors.I have no direct experience with AHP. I can't make any claims one way or the other, but taking a look around at what those who do have to say is always the best route to go. You can make an informed decision from there.IMHO of course
Reply:In the tool world there are 3 basic business models:a) design the tool to last forever, protect that reputation, maybe have a lifetime replacement warranty, charge a hefty price (happy customers promote your brand, and also may buy your other lines of tools)b) design the tool to have a reasonable warranty, but also design it to not last much longer than that so you get repeat business (harder to pull off than it sounds)c) design the tool as cheaply as possible, don't bank on repeat business, expect high failure rates, no real warranty, don't care about reputation, just appeal to as many people as possible due to the lowest priceBased on the price and reputation you can usually figure out which model a tool is made under.But more recently I think there is a 4th model:d) design the tool as cheaply as possible, expect high failure rates, but charge a medium price and have a medium warranty. Replace the tool under warranty with a new one (since they are cheaper to build than fix)It's not clear that AHP is in this last one, but I think one of the other importers is.Hobart 210 MVPHTP Invertig 221 + coolerEverlast SuperUltra 205