Milwaukee Tools customer service rant
I have quite a few Dewalt tools, but have become so angry with the customer service from Dewalt have decided to buy any other brand when I need a new tool.
About 6 weeks ago my impact driver died. Read as many reviews as I could and decided on the Milwaukee. The closest place that had it was Homedepot. I try to buy from a local dealer instead of a box store because if there is a problem the local guy will stand behind the product.
What I didn’t notice at the time was that the batteries were what they call “compact” 18v which really means short run time. Went back to get larger batteries but was told only the “compacts” were aviable- bought a spare battery. Now comes the rub.
Forgot the reciept in my pants, DW washes pants. Next day I go the use the battery, nothing.
Go back to Homedepot- sorry no reciept, no exchange. As I’m leaving there is a Milkwaukee rep walking in. Great I can talk to him & get a new battery. Guy says yes it looks brand new but he can’t give me a replacement until it is tested because they only guarentee them for 2000 charges. I said they’ve only been selling them for a couple of months how could it have 2000 charges! No dice- take it to our service center where they can test it & they will give you a replacement right there.
Today I leave work an hour early, drive the service center where the guy tells me they don’t have a tester there because they are so new & I’ll have to ship it to California to be tested. Not he would give me a new battery, take my info & cc# incase I wasn’t being straight. Not that he would ship himself & call me when it was ready. No I was to pack it up & take it to the post office myself.
I told him before I did that I would put it up on Craigslist for whatever I could get, & never buy another Milwaukee product.
Tomorrow I’m going to get a Festool driver. It will cost more but I won’t get jerked around.
Replies
Don't want to stand in the way of the rant, but I don't think Festool makes an impact driver. Couple of drills, yes, but no impact.
Maybe try Makita or Panasonic?
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I wonder if Milwaukee is having problems with their Li-ion batteries. Recently I bought a combo kit to replace some stolen tools and much to my surprise one of the batteries were dead. So, I took it to the Milwaukee service center an hour away, once they tested the battery they replaced it free of charge.
I think you have put enough time into the battery that it isn't worth it to waste anymore.
BUT just in case the principle is worth it...
My brother has a tendency to be absentminded and somehow walked out of home depot without half of his purchase which the cashier had put in a second cart.
He realized after getting home what had happened and it was after the store closed so he didn't call. Several days passed before he had a chance to go back to the store. He went to customer service, explained what happened and they asked him what day he made the purchase and what register he was rang up at. It turns out they were able to pull up the videotape of his transaction and verify he had walked out without his entire purchase and they gave him a refund.
If you want to sink more time into this you could ask them to pull up the video of the night you purchased it and they could verify you did. Furthermore I suspect they have records of everything we purchase on credit/debit cards and they keep it in a database for marketing purposes and they could pull up all your recent purchases if they were motivated to.
Karl
Try another HD, and if the returns cashier gives you grief, speak to a manager. Make sure you state right up front you're looking to exchange it, not return it. Or, just find another MW service center you might be passing by...they only show 1 in Seattle, but 16 or so elsewhere in WA.
I recently scored a few 18v Li-Ions on clearance at Lowe's. 2 are perfect, 1 went bad quickly. I stopped by a local MW service center last week and they plugged it in: 14 charges, 1st charge on 7/?/2008, 3 bad cells.
They handed me a new battery and I was on my way.
Sounds to me like you've been jerked around by someone at HD that would get reamed if the boss knew what happened, and some local shop that just got the nod to do MW service. Neither of which make MW tools a bad co. that makes bad products.
HD can reprint your receipt.
Go back to Homedepot- sorry no reciept, no exchange...
If you paid with a credit card, they can find a record of the purchase just by giving them the card. I do it all the time. I don't know if they can find the receipt if you paid cash, but I don't think so.
"If you paid with a credit card, they can find a record of the purchase just by giving them the card. "
One of the main reasons that I always use the HD CC when buying there. I can never keep my receipts organized enough so I can find the one I need, so I can just tell the nice lady that I bought it on my HD card, and she can scan it and the sale pops up. No problems. Works for, IIRC, purchases within the last 6 months.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I was able to track down the purchase of my 12" DW slider. I bought it in June, and at Tax Time I couldn't find the receipt. I used a Visa, not an HD card.They tracked it down right away, but it took about a week for them to get a hard copy to my local store. That was OK. I had the exact amount for taxes, just needed hard copy in case I ever got audited.AitchKay
Cool -- it works with other cards too, then. But I use my HD card to keep track and pay it off every month, so that works better for me.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
So the lesson here is
Never ever let your wife wash your pants again!
;)
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
I have carbon copy checks & have gotten same day receipt copies faxed to me with the info I have given over the phone. We also have a big box store in the midwest called Menards, they have a computer next to the customer service desk & a person can look up all purchases made with you checking account & it will spit out a receipt for you.
No one should regard themselve as "God's gift to man." But rather a mere man whos gifts are from God.
Welcome to the club!
I've bored others here with my similar experience with Milwaukee, and I don't plan to repeat it now.
I'll just make the observation that, after countless recommendations, I bought a Milwaukee product ... which failed. The circus that followed at every level ... vendor, repair center, factory rep, factory itself ... and all I can say is that the Devil will be on Ice Capades before I buy another Milwaukee product. Indeed, the only circumstance I can see myself ever buying Milwaukee is when no one else makes the product.
The lesson: 5 minutes of bad service can undo decades of advertising.
Does a big firm really care about a single customer? Well, they ought to. Pick any big firm that had / still has contempt for their customer, and they're no longer the giants they once were. Some are even begging for a 'bailout' these days.
buy another one, put this one in the box and return it.. you tried to play fair, now you need to be sneaky
Ravz, Best idea so far. What a simple time saving solution for all involved.Karl
agree!
Be sure not to embarass yourself if the serial number on the box doesn't match the serial number on the tool. Don't know about HD, but local Lowes verify's that (i.e. old tool, old box, new receipt).
Good point, but most of the time batteries dont have serials.. just the tools themselves..
Here's another option. Return it to Home Depot anyway. Without a receipt, they'll give you store credit (at least that's what one of their employees told me). Just use the store credit to buy another one.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
When I started to focus on Homedepot and not Milwaukee it occured to me that one of my tennants works at Homedepot. I'll have him print up a copy of the receipt for me.
i don't know if you guys see this in your hd or not. they have tools that have been returned and repaired and set back out for sale. i always have to take a look and grin at some of this stuff,airless sprayers that have to be 4 yrs old and painted 50 house's, air compressors that look worse than my 20 year old emglo,on and on.
i'd like to know the secret handshake to get this done.if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?