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I bought a Rockwell Sonicrafter, the F30 so not the top of the line. I didn't think I would use it much and I was right. I bet it doesn't have 4 hours of total run time on it. I registered it which extended the warranty out to three years.
I recently did a complete bathroom gut and rebuild for a couple and used it to cut out the fiberglass tub and some other odds and ends. Towards the end of the project, the switch began acting weird. It wouldn't start and moving the switch would get it started but by the end I couldn't shut it off, I just had to unplug it.
I contacted Rockwell. I registered it on Dec 21st 2014. So, it was four months over the limit. They informed me that it was out of warranty but they could give me 20% off of a new one or send me the part for free. I told them to send me the part but I did on more than one occasion point out that it was only FOUR months over and a company that was interested in good customer service would over look those four months. Rockwell said they can't make any adjustments.
Should I have been miffed or were they being reasonable?
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IMO they were being reasonable. A three year warranty is already pretty generous as far as power hand tools goes. With such low hours one wouldn't expect the switch to go South already but they did offer to send you the part for free which they were not obligated to do. Personally, I'd be satisfied.
John
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Makes me wonder, who the heck is Rockwell, really. Just a brand of questionable quality, I imagine. I see Bell & Howell advertised on TV, all sorts of products. At least HF names its products with new names to sell their chinese lower quality stuff (some of which is worth the small amount they ask for them). I honestly don't know a brand that I would consistently trust, other than Veritas or LV. Rant over. My apologies for wasting the bandwidth.
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(05-07-2018, 03:04 PM)jteneyck Wrote: IMO they were being reasonable. A three year warranty is already pretty generous as far as power hand tools goes. With such low hours one wouldn't expect the switch to go South already but they did offer to send you the part for free which they were not obligated to do. Personally, I'd be satisfied.
John
I agree completely.
Larry
Larry
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(05-07-2018, 03:04 PM)jteneyck Wrote: IMO they were being reasonable...
The way I see it.
Wood is good.
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3 year warranty on a lower end tool brand is pretty good. Milwaukee is 5 years and they pay for shipping and only take a week but you pay allot more to get that warranty.
Most likely it's just fine dust in the switch. Try some CRC electrical cleaner. It works well at getting gunk out.
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Where should they the line? After all, four months is only slightly past the end of the extended warranty. But then 5 months is just a little longer than 4 months; and 6 months would be just a tad beyond 5 months. Can we stretch it to an extra twelve months? I would say Rockwell was interested enough in good customer service to offer the option of a 3 year extended warranty instead of the 90 days that some manufacturers provide and they were gracious in offering the repair parts free. Time to smile and say thanks.
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(05-07-2018, 08:22 PM)wood2woodknot Wrote: Where should they the line? After all, four months is only slightly past the end of the extended warranty. But then 5 months is just a little longer than 4 months; and 6 months would be just a tad beyond 5 months. Can we stretch it to an extra twelve months? I would say Rockwell was interested enough in good customer service to offer the option of a 3 year extended warranty instead of the 90 days that some manufacturers provide and they were gracious in offering the repair parts free. Time to smile and say thanks.
+1 I agree
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(05-07-2018, 02:38 PM)iublue Wrote: I bought a Rockwell Sonicrafter, the F30 so not the top of the line. I didn't think I would use it much and I was right. I bet it doesn't have 4 hours of total run time on it. I registered it which extended the warranty out to three years.
I recently did a complete bathroom gut and rebuild for a couple and used it to cut out the fiberglass tub and some other odds and ends. Towards the end of the project, the switch began acting weird. It wouldn't start and moving the switch would get it started but by the end I couldn't shut it off, I just had to unplug it.
I contacted Rockwell. I registered it on Dec 21st 2014. So, it was four months over the limit. They informed me that it was out of warranty but they could give me 20% off of a new one or send me the part for free. I told them to send me the part but I did on more than one occasion point out that it was only FOUR months over and a company that was interested in good customer service would over look those four months. Rockwell said they can't make any adjustments.
Should I have been miffed or were they being reasonable?
I know it can be hard to do, sometimes, but you really should use the heck out of a new tool for the first month or two. That way if there is a factory defect that will result in an early death, you kill the tool while its still in warranty. I, too, had an issue with my first Sonicrafter. Something in the head area broke and it stopped oscillating after only an hour or two of use. Luckily, I had bought it in the middle of a project that I needed such a tool for and was able to put it through its paces early on. I exchanged it for a second one and have had that one for about 5 years, now and its still going strong. Its not a tool I use daily or even very often, but it does come in handy when I do need/use it.
Paul
They were right, I SHOULDN'T have tried it at home!
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(05-07-2018, 03:04 PM)jteneyck Wrote: IMO they were being reasonable. A three year warranty is already pretty generous as far as power hand tools goes. With such low hours one wouldn't expect the switch to go South already but they did offer to send you the part for free which they were not obligated to do. Personally, I'd be satisfied.
John
(05-07-2018, 08:22 PM)wood2woodknot Wrote: Where should they the line? After all, four months is only slightly past the end of the extended warranty. But then 5 months is just a little longer than 4 months; and 6 months would be just a tad beyond 5 months. Can we stretch it to an extra twelve months? I would say Rockwell was interested enough in good customer service to offer the option of a 3 year extended warranty instead of the 90 days that some manufacturers provide and they were gracious in offering the repair parts free. Time to smile and say thanks.
+1000
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