On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 20:13:11 +0100, "IMM" wrote:
"Andy Hall" wrote in message
.. .
On 11 Aug 2004 05:06:47 -0700, (Kevin) wrote:
What are people'e opinions of De Walt tools? My right angle drill
packed up 1 day inside the 1 year warrenty period, thank god. I took
it to the service agents who suggested that DeWalt were rubbish and I
would have been better off buying something else.
For a drill to seriously overheat within a year of purchase seems to
suggest something amiss, especially as this was a right angle drill
and hardly got much use anyway.
Kevin
Generally I've had good results with their drills and screwdrivers,
not with a biscuit jointer which had a design fault.
Personally for drills I like my Makita rechargable angle and normal
drills. Then I have a large Bosch SDS which is pretty good.
BTW, don't be hoodwinked by warranty periods. They are a convenience
for the retailer and manufacturer only and sometimes used as a
marketing tool. If you have paid for a DeWalt or other branded
tool and used it as specified, then it is reasonable to push statutory
rights.
You jest of course. A one year guarantee packs up after 2 years and they
will totally disown you. A 3 year guarantee packs up after 2.5 years and
they either fix, replace or money back.
I never jest about things like this.
I have successfully pursued issues like this with retailers by
pointing out to them the statutory situation and making it quite clear
that I will pursue them in the courts if I need to do so.
Shop assistants may not be aware of consumer legislation, but a branch
manager or owner of a business certainly will generally be.
I have never yet had to issue a summons with respect to a faulty power
tool, but have certainly made it clear that I do not mess about.
One of the main principles of consumer law is reasonableness, and for
that a comparison is made. If I were to buy a cheap tool costing
£50 when the average price across the market for the tool type is
£150, then I can't expect to get the same redress as I would have done
had I bought one costing £200. If I buy a professional product and
it fails with less use in comparison with all day, every day use, then
clearly there is a design or manufacturing defect. It gets replaced
or refunded. For this purpose, redress *can* be as much as 6
years. Obviously the balance tilts over time, but warranties are not
an alternative for statute as you seem to believe.
Typically I press for some level of compensation as well and usually
get it. However, to put a scale on this, the occasions are few and
far between, because to me the waste of time and effort is the most
important issue, not the purchase cost.
I wouldn't expect to pay for a repair for three years at
least and would push the point. Remember that if you are spending
north of £100, always use a credit card, then the card company is on
the hook as well.
If a power tool is about 4 years old and needs rep[air, a Makita or DeWalt
will be just as much as a new one.
This is not true in my experience.
This begs the question whether it is
worth buying high priced tools at all, and using them only for DIY is
ludicrous.
It doesn't at all. I look for good quality, well reviewed products
that are going to give good results and be pleasant to use as well as
the likelihood that I will not have trouble and that if I do there is
easy redress. With a good degree of consistency, that comes from
the major globally branded manufacturers. One pays extra for that
and I choose to do so. This does not necessarily mean buying the top
of the range item because the price differential to the second product
in that manufacturer's range may be a feature that I don't need rather
than a basic reduction in quality.
I don't buy into the notion that something that is "only for DIY" has
to be bought on low price and does not need to meet the criteria
above.
You may feel that your main criterion is one of low cost and that DIY
applications don't require anything more than cheap OEM tools from DIY
stores. Clearly others share your view because the stores seem to
do a good trade in them. I'm not going to lose sleep over that, but
it doesn't alter my view that DIY can equally equate to using top
quality tools, which in the right hands give outstanding results.
If that costs more, as far as I am concerned, so be it.
..andy
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