Hi All,
Has anyone in Europe (or maybe US) have any experience of Auer Packaging. I stumbled across them on Pinterest and their storage boxes look pretty interesting:
https://www.auer-packaging.com/gb/en/Assortment-boxes-40-x-30-cm.html
No, but that pricing looks great for what you get. I’m interested now too!
I found this ‘review’ which is very promising
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-and-tanos-systainers/systainer-clone/
I’ve emailed the company to see what the best way of getting a look at one is. They appear to be made to order. Ideally I’d like to check one out before buying ~20.
I can give you a pretty comprehensice review on the whole system, I came across them last year and have quite a few now.
Firstly the boxes themselves: They are pretty good, with some downsides. The closest alternative is Systainers, and obviously the price is great in comparison. They also have more sizes and some of the sizes are slightly larger (in height) than the equivelant Systainer which can be a bonus- for instance my circular saw will fit in the next size down to the equivelant Systainer because the Auer box is about 20mm taller.
The lock system is extremely fast to open and close, but is also very easy to open accidently, though having dropped a couple now by accidently releasing one from the next I can say they’re pretty tough. Not quite as sturdy as Systainers, but neither box sustained damage other than a bit of scuffing. The 60cm wide boxes release themselves under their own weight, so I wouldn’t pick two of them up together, or at least pick them up by the bottom box if you do.
Organisationaly they are great, and you can multi-tier them inside. The “choose your own” organiser bins are dirt cheap and you can then stick an internal divider on top of the bins to create a second level. That said, the dividers, foam inlays and ply liners are very expensive. I bought one internal divider and used it as a template to make my own foam and ply inlays and it saved me a fortune. The divider is thick enough to use as a template for a router to cut your own. Also they don’t have all the ridges and things inside like Systainers have, so making a foam inlay when you’ve got your template is literally a two-minute job and it’s very easy to go beyond this and make real custom organiser inlays because they’re pretty much square inside.
The drawer units have no means of locking the drawers in, so pretty much useless for anything other than static workshop use, and the dedicated organisers (the ones linked to in the OP) don’t lock to other boxes, but you can just use the smallest standard tool box as an organiser (that does work out a bit more expensive and the box will be a bit taller overall, but internally the storage capacity is the same and at least they lock together then).
The cart is very expensive, but on the plus side Auer will sell the carrier from this on its own if you ask them (and it isn’t expensive), which means you could use the carriers to kit out van or workshop racking.
So yeah, overall I’m very happy. There’s definitely areas for improvement but on the whole the pro’s outweigh the cons.
Now to the company: Worst company I have ever dealt with without a doubt. My advice would be don’t buy anything that doesn’t say “ready to ship within 5 days”- this essentially means they have it in stock, and in those cases they tend to ship very quickly. When it says “ready to ship within 2 weeks”, they don’t have them in stock and this lead time is purely fictitious. I ended up waiting 11 weeks for one order, and Trustpilot is full of similiar tales going back as long as 4 years. In this instance they won’t commit to dates, give you vague promises that they then don’t keep, don’t respond at all if you actually complain, and by all accounts (though I never got to this point) refuse to give you your money back. I would say pay by PayPal where possible to give you a bit more protection.
Also the packaging they use is dire. I haven’t had an order yet than wasn’t recieved with the outer packaging absolutely trashed. That might be even more testament to the quality of the boxes, but I’m sure it is only a matter of time before something arrives damaged. This may open up another problem, as I’ve seen responses to Trustpilot reviews from Auer basically absolving themselves from all responsibility for damaged items because it wasn’t logged there-and-then with the delivery driver, but depending on your circumstances this isn’t always possible. Again I would say pay by PayPal.
My first and third orders arrived without issue, it is only the second one that had problems but that’s when you realise how bad the company is. On the back of that experience I wouldn’t buy from them ever again, but unfortunately I’m now committed to the system. And not to take anything away from the product, it is a good system. It’s just a shame the company’s stinking attitude lets them down.
If you stick to only ordering items showing as “ready to dispatch within 5 days” and pay by PayPal you should be all right.
Thank you Rob (?)
I now 100% agree with your experience! I did buy $40 of their assortment boxes so I could check them out before making an investment. The order was ready in about 10 days, so that part was great.
But I have spent 3 weeks trying to get the boxes shipped! DHL just refused to pick up the box and Auer didn’t really help me. I had to call them at midnight my time four times to finally get some progress! My solution was to send them to my brother in the UK and he’ll post them to me in Seattle! I’m hoping I don’t have a packaging issue like you because I had to pay them using a bank transfer! That gives me no recourse…
I didn’t see an option to pay by PayPal, that would be better…
Anyway, I get them in a week or so, and I’m planning to do a ToolGuyd post one way or another.
Ben
Ah interesting. If I use the site with my US address then I have to pay in advance. If I change everything to the UK I can pay with PayPal but I also have to pay 19% tax because it’s no longer an export…
I guess I’ll just wait and see what condition it arrives in.