Your position sounds logical to me. I don't buy my tools from the
internet or from the box stores. They may cost an extra 5%, but I
buy through a commercial construction supply house. I expect them
to hand me a fresh tool and let them fight with the manufacturer.
They have some pretty good clout. I needed brushes in the
Milwaukee core drill (long out of warranty). He did not have any,
took them out of brand new machine to get me running and replaced
them in his tool when the replacements arrived.

You might contact someone through the Milwaukee Heavy Duty club:
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/us/en/h...Index?OpenForm

I'm wanting my battery stuff to die to justify getting into the
V28 volt stuff. But then, I'm still waiting for some of the cord
tools to die to justify getting a battery version.

(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Al A." wrote in message
...
OK, here's the saga so far. I burn lots of wood for heat. During
the
winter every week or so, I grab 4 or 5 clean pallets before they
end
up in the dumpster and cut them up for supplemntary firewood.
Great
stuff for getting the stove going. Anyhow, needing a reasonable
way to
cut pallets into stove sized pieces, about 18 months ago I
bought a
Milwaukee worm drive saw (model 6377). A bit heavy, but great
for my
purposes. I am the only one who has ever used it, and only for
cutting
pallets about once a week during the cold months. I figure that
this
saw has maybe 20 or 25 hours on it, tops. Using it a couple of
weeks
back, I end a cut, pick the saw up off of the wood, the blade
guard
snaps shut and the the little rubber stop for the guard snaps
off and
gets shot out of the front of the saw by the coasting blade. I
figured
that it just came loose and fell out, but on closer inspection
see
that the aluminium post on which it mounts (which is part of the
saw
body casting) has snapped off. Lacking this stop, the saw is
very
awakward to use and perhaps a bit less than safe as it now
always
requires you to manually pull the guard up with your left hand
to
start a cut.

This tool has a 5 year warranty. So I bring it to the local
Milwaukee
authorized service place. They call me a few days later and tell
me
that the Milwaukee rep is refusing the warranty repair because
there
are "scratches" on the bottom of the blade guard that suggest
that it
was dropped. I counter that:

a) It was not dropped, I was using it.

b) The overall appearance of the tool is near new. It has
clearly not
spent its life on construction sites. He agrees that it is very
obvious that it was never dropped from a roof or a ladder or
otherwise
abused.

c)Whenever one sets the saw down, the design is such that it
rests, at
least partially, on the blade guard. As the saw weighs in at
16.8 lbs,
I don't think it is surprising that it is scratched and dinged
up a
bit.

d) it is enough that a $235.00 "pro-grade" tool with the
reputation of
Milwaulkee Electric behind it would have parts flying off of
it, but
seems silly to then have the company refuse to repair it. I know
nothing is perfect and that stuff breaks, it's the second part
that I
find most bothersome.

e) I know nobody will believe this, but if I broke it, I would
just
fess up and buy the casting (which costs 37 bucks, not
outrageous,
IMHO) and change it myself. That's just how I am. But I DID NOT
break
it!

As I am only talking to the bench guy at the repair place, and
it is
not his decision to make, I politely ask if he could please
refer me
to the Milwaulkee rep to ask him to reconsider. He said that he
would
pass my complaint along to the rep, along with my phone number.
I have
not yet heard back from the rep. I have a call in to the
regional
manager as well, am awaiting a call back. To be fair, I just
called
the reigonal guy this morning, so it is still early on that
front.

Have any of you guys had this sort of experience with Milwalkee?
I
own lots of their stuff, and love it all. I have never had
occasion to
seek a warranty repair, so I found it rather annoying that I get
this
sort of thing for the one time in 25 years that I do.

Am I being unreasonable here?