DeWalt 20V Lawn Mower--repair nightmare

[SAK]

First, sorry that my first post is a complaint. I have been reading the forum for years and always appreciate the information that is here.

I have no specific brand loyalty when it comes to tools, however, I do have about a dozen of DeWalt power tools and that is my cordless system. Last year we moved into a new house and ordered their mower, trimmer, and blower. The tools performed well and with all of my batteries we never struggled with the battery life.

The mower died after about 20-25 uses (disappointing). DeWalt sent us to their repair center in Denver. The initial estimate was two to four weeks to receive the parts and fix it. Now, we have been told an additional three weeks before they can expect the parts. That is two months to repair a lawn mower. I am very disappointed in DeWalt and I am wondering if this is a typical warranty experience.

 

[KBATN]

cutting wet ankle high grass probably didn't help the poor thing.....

 

[SAK]

I wish...

 

[kctyphoon]

That is BULLSHIT.
I’d demand a replacement..

at the very least, go buy another one, and return one of em when yours comes back. (If you dont have the old gas one laying around) You should not have to wait 2 months, and get NOTHING for it.

Milwaukee sent me a product that retailed for $249 - cause i told them I RETURNED one of their jackets cause i thought it wasnt as good as the older model.

 

[Handyandy23]

Do you know what part it is they've ordered? Could be an uncommon failure and the part is back ordered. Could so be that the repair shop misdiagnosed it, installed the first part, and realized it didn't fix it and ordered another part.

It's an inconvenience for sure, but I'm also not shocked. The warranty process for most companies seems cumbersome. Couple that with a 3rd party repair facility maybe misdiagnosing it, which DeWalt has no control over, and it seems like DeWalt's dropping the ball.

 

[kctyphoon]

Regardless of who dropped the ball, either Dewalt on their own if you contacted them and informed them of this (i would assume you would do that), or their authorized repair center not stepping in to do this for you (weather it be their fault, or Dewalt’s, cause ultimately its their business that gets reflected on).

“Somebody” should do “something” about this.. i mean - how hard is it to say “we have a customer thats has a 2 month wait to get his mower repaired, we need to do something for this guy”.. i would contact dewalt directly and talk to somebody. Youd be surprised what spending an hour on the phone as a nagging customer with a legitimate gripe can do.

I spent an hour and 20 min on the phone with amazon cause they ended an “all day sale” hours early - and then relisted the item the next day (both sold and shipped by amazon) with a big price increase. I didnt get them to honor the sale price, but i at least wound up with a $50 credit after 3 levels of people saying “sir theres nothing we can do”. It was a small victory. Lol

 

[like2wheel]

Similar experience with that 20v string trimmer. Burned up 3rd use in the spring, got the replacement some time around thanksgiving.
After reading the pattern in the 1 & 2 star reviews on Amazon, been afraid to use it much.

 

[like2wheel]

Similar experience with that 20v string trimmer. Burned up 3rd use in the spring, got the replacement some time around thanksgiving.
After reading the same pattern of failure in all the 1 & 2 star reviews on Amazon, been afraid to use it much.

 

[xin]

Warranty covers defects in materials/craftsman ship. So I would expect the parts are back-ordered making the time window 2-4 weeks.

Just a guess, but one has to remember on all of these hi-tech batteries they require STRIP-MINING and it is all in CHINA and other RARE Earth Metals. As they will not allow that here and the environmentalist deem it STRIP the land in another country. Really contradicting the 'green' farce movement.

I would just buy a GAS one and be done. It is eventually going to have a screeching halt on these batteries once they start becoming TOXIC. As this is going to be like the ingenious fluorescent light-bulbs that had mercury.

What do you have against a GAS lawn mower?

 

[Handyandy23]

^ Agreed that complaining to DeWalt is likely a good bet to get some kind of satisfaction. Might as well try.

At the end of the day though, most warranties are a pain. Generally easy things like hand tools that are just a replacement warranty you can get on the spot. Anything that requires diagnosis and repair is going to take some time. Appliances usually take quite some time to get warranty resolution as well.

 

[Skin]

Typical when you're waiting for parts on the slow boat from China, yes. A lot of that stuff is assembled in Mexico too so there really isn't much dedication to US parts storage as cordless stuff just needs to make it out of the warranty period then it breaks and goes straight in the landfill vs something nicer that is actually worth repairing and has a repair network setup.

 

[MattT]

Couple that with a 3rd party repair facility maybe misdiagnosing it, which DeWalt has no control over

They have plenty of control over who they contract to provide warranty service. And if the contractor isn't performing cut them loose and hire a different one, or bring the work in house.