I bought a lidl pressure washer last year, the Lavorwash 160. Recently
in use, the bayonet end snapped off which connects the gun to the lance
- firing the lance across my drive.

The item was described as guaranteed for three years, so I tried to get
Lidl to honour the guarantee - they refused, suggesting that only the
main unit was covered. They did though offer a £40 refund, if I
returned the entire unit.

As the unit was basically a pretty good one for the price, I decided to
see if there were some way to repair it. The actual coupling is solid
brass, but the lance is retained by a rather delicate plastic bayonet
part of completely inadequate design. To make it even worse, the play
within the bayonet was such that the brass parts were only partially
engaged and much of the strain being taken by the plastic sleeve of the
bayonet - basically the last inch of the plastic snapped off leaving it
with nothing to hold the lance into the gun against the pressure.

I managed to find some alloy tube of exactly the right internal
diameter to be a perfect fit over the plastic coupling, then pinned
this with bolts drilled and tapped for the gun end and a couple more to
pin the broken off end in place. The whole thing is now much stronger
than before.

I'm certain that if others on this NG have bought these, they will
suffer a similar failure and the price of a replacement gun (they will
not sell just the bit which breaks) is only a little less than Lidl's
price for a complete new unit.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
I bought a lidl pressure washer last year, the Lavorwash 160. Recently
in use, the bayonet end snapped off which connects the gun to the lance
- firing the lance across my drive.


There's a lot of duff power washers out there but the hose and jets are
still intact.
The lances are almost identical fittings for all brands.
Try visiting some car boot sales on a sunday.

George submitted this idea :
"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
I bought a lidl pressure washer last year, the Lavorwash 160. Recently
in use, the bayonet end snapped off which connects the gun to the lance
- firing the lance across my drive.


There's a lot of duff power washers out there but the hose and jets are
still intact.
The lances are almost identical fittings for all brands.
Try visiting some car boot sales on a sunday.

This one is (was) a rather good one - nice long hose which winds up
onto a built in reel, plenty of cleaning pressure - just let down by
this weak bayonet fitting. I managed to find an old hose and gun which
fitted, but the only lance I had to fit that gun was one of those brush
types.

I must say I was very disappointed with Lidl's attitude to 3 year
guarantees.

Point of the posting was simple to warn others of the potential problem
with the gun.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
George submitted this idea :
"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
k...
I bought a lidl pressure washer last year, the Lavorwash 160. Recently
in use, the bayonet end snapped off which connects the gun to the lance
- firing the lance across my drive.


There's a lot of duff power washers out there but the hose and jets are
still intact.
The lances are almost identical fittings for all brands.
Try visiting some car boot sales on a sunday.

This one is (was) a rather good one - nice long hose which winds up
onto a built in reel, plenty of cleaning pressure - just let down by
this weak bayonet fitting. I managed to find an old hose and gun which
fitted, but the only lance I had to fit that gun was one of those brush
types.

I must say I was very disappointed with Lidl's attitude to 3 year
guarantees.

Point of the posting was simple to warn others of the potential problem
with the gun.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk


Maybe yours was just a weak stress area in the plastic?

Lidl don't set the guarantee,the manufacturers do.
If you're not happy about the riff with Lidl,get in touch with the
manufacturer...post a pic of the broken lance and send an email in with the
snail mail letter.
You can be sure they'll send you a new lance.

George presented the following explanation :
Maybe yours was just a weak stress area in the plastic?

I don't think so...

There were marks of the two sections where it parted company. It showed
indications of having gradually parted with use, until eventually it
just snapped completely. It is just a very weak design and bound to
fail.


Lidl don't set the guarantee,the manufacturers do.
If you're not happy about the riff with Lidl,get in touch with the
manufacturer...post a pic of the broken lance and send an email in with the
snail mail letter.
You can be sure they'll send you a new lance.

I tried the manufacturer first, the guarantee said 'manufacturers
guarantee'. They said we only guarantee the main unit, accessories not
included - why didn't the guarantee say that? They offered a
replacement gun (it was the bayonet on the gun which failed) at only a
pound or two less than the cost of a complete identical unit.

Then tried Lidl who just said basically 'tough', but after a bit (lot)
of pushing offered £40 towards another.

Either way, it would fail again - so I looked at improving on the
manufacturers original weak joint.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On 2008-05-16 17:17:56 +0100, "George" said:

Maybe yours was just a weak stress area in the plastic?

Lidl don't set the guarantee,the manufacturers do.
If you're not happy about the riff with Lidl,get in touch with the
manufacturer...post a pic of the broken lance and send an email in with the
snail mail letter.
You can be sure they'll send you a new lance.

The contract of supply is with the retailer and not the manufacturer.

It doesn't matter whether Lidl are selling King Edwards or Kaercher,
they still own the problem.

Andy Hall has brought this to us :
The contract of supply is with the retailer and not the manufacturer.

It doesn't matter whether Lidl are selling King Edwards or Kaercher, they
still own the problem.

I agree and tried to raise the issue with our local Trading Standards.
They were of the opinion that if Lidl made any level of offer of
recompense then that was the end of the matter so far as they were
concerned. They suggested that if I felt that amount was inadequate I
should take it to court myself.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

In message , Harry
Bloomfield writes
George presented the following explanation :
Maybe yours was just a weak stress area in the plastic?

I don't think so...

There were marks of the two sections where it parted company. It showed
indications of having gradually parted with use, until eventually it
just snapped completely. It is just a very weak design and bound to fail.


Lidl don't set the guarantee,the manufacturers do.
If you're not happy about the riff with Lidl,get in touch with the
manufacturer...post a pic of the broken lance and send an email in with the
snail mail letter.
You can be sure they'll send you a new lance.

I tried the manufacturer first, the guarantee said 'manufacturers
guarantee'. They said we only guarantee the main unit, accessories not
included - why didn't the guarantee say that?

If the guarantee didn't specify the "only the main unit is covered" then
you have every right to make a claim against Lidl.

Write them a letter stating that you consider them to be in breach of
contract by not honouring "their" guarantee which formed par of the
original contract. Contact your local Trading Standards as well.

They'll soon back down!

You could also pursue "not durable" as it clearly was not up to normal
use without failing.
--
Gordon