Matty F wrote:

No I don't know who Pete is. I think most of New Zealand would agree
that Makita badly stuffed up their handling of that case.

Not having seen any of the public comment I don't see that I can
comment. However I understand the legal situation in NZ is different
from most places. It may well be the Makita could have handled the
situation better, I am sure they are not immune from lame PR in some
circumstances. However I would not expect them to take responsibility
or accept any liability unless they had to, and especially if the user
was not using the product in accordance with instructions.

Do some of you guys sell or work for Makita?

Personally, no.

I only got involved in
this because of comments such as these:

"I won't buy anything but Makita from now on, it's just so good and
'does exactly what is says on the tin'."

"Its certainly a safe way to know you will get something that is at a
minimum "good" and will last (and I have never been disappointed with
any of my Makita kit)".

To refute that completely I refer you to some of Makita recalls. I
suggest that everybody check for recalls for all of their power tools.

-----------------------------
PRODUCT RECALL: Makita 7-inch Angle Grinders

TITLE: CPSC, Makita U.S.A. Inc. Announce Recall of Chain Saws

Makita Circular Saw Recall

That does not in anyway "refute" either of the comments made above.

All manufacturers will have problems with specific products from time to
time. The fact that they do issue recalls when problems are found only
helps strengthen their reputation.

The sander in question I note had sold 350,000 units in the US over a 11
year period and they had received 13 reports of problems with the pad.
This does not sound like a particularly high failure rate.

--
Cheers,

John.

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