I got 20 minutes of use out of mine and customer service was awful. Ever since DeWalt merged with Black and Decker, and Craftsman, etc they have gone downhill.
B&D acquired the somewhat moribund and âone-trick-ponyâ Dewalt in 1960. So your âever sinceâ comment would represent a 62 year downhill slide. My take is that B&D and now SBD (after Stanley & B&D merged) has done very well with Dewalt - taking a RAS manufacturerâ brand name to now represent a wide-ranging professional power tool brand. Thatâs not to take issue with the bad experience that you had with their service which sounds atrocious. Having been associated with the purchase of many hundreds of power tools over my working lifetime, I know that some do fail prematurely (sort of infant mortality.) Manufacturers know this - and usually their warranties (even 30, 60 or 90 day ones) usually cover this issue. Sad that they did not do better by you.
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Thank you Fred! You are right, I have many DeWalt tools which Iâve used for many years. This one was a poorly designed I suppose, and I think they knew it; as soon as I gave them the model and timestamp on the tool they said they were going to send a new one.
Customer service is super important, especially when things go bad. For them to say they are sending a new one and then to say never mind after a month and me having to reach out again infuriates me. Honor your commitment! If they would have said go to a repair center a month ago, I wouldnât have had to wait an additional 3-5 weeks. By the time I get it back a tool I use every week will have been out of play for basically the entire season I use it. Iâm forced to buy a new one and then even if itâs fixed I have an extra tool I donât even need any longer and have to spent several hundred dollars more to do it.
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Well, just stumbled across this thread. May 20th 2020 i bought a dewalt 20v weed trimmer. Just this week the unit would only click, click, click spin 1cm then go back to clicking. I took it all apart thinking it was stuck vines or grass. Nothing in thereâŚchanged batteries etc click click click. Called dewalt, said 3yr warranty on factory defects. By the looks of this post over the past 7 years it seems its a factory defect with the magnets in the motor head. Brought it to local dealer today, printed the receipt i found, they bagged it up and sent it back to dewaltâŚhopefully get a new one? Ill keep you updated
Iâm trying to justify the about $200+/- for an ego trimmer. Actually I donât have but maybe 30 minutes of work for it weekly. Itâs the small amount of use that keeps me from buying gas: gas has to be used up, the tank run dry, and there can still be problems. And Iâd love to have an edger and a bush trimmer too. Egoâs combo tool/powerheads have very mixed reviews and start at $300. My ryobi gas powerhead died after ~4 hours of actual use. I have 4 or 5 attachments that are now useless to me. Thus tti/ryobi is out of contention*
I like my woodworking and general use dewalt tools (20v), and tought a string trimmer would extend that. But it comes close to $200, or passes that with a good battery >= 6ah. But I see a lot of consensus that these trimmers donât last, that dw doesnât stand behind them well at all, and that the heads are tricky to load string and also have issues. Granted fewer people pipe up about grat experiences, but the enough negative chatter that I donât get much confidence for their outdoor lines.
OTOH, ego gives a 3 year warranty on the batteries and the more recent ones seem to last only about that long. The batteries can be scarce and pretty costy. The tools seem to ladt well most of the time, from a distance they far surpass dw in quality, features and longevity. Aside from the higher price, the problem is only about half the people who do experience a problem with ego products have a good customer service experience: they get no help or blown off - kinda like dw. The other half rave. Canât argue with egoâs features, but they have so many models itâs hard to select. With more on the way.
*I strongly believe that a lot of engineering is applied to make battery tools last only so long. The business seems to think that consumer tools should break after 4-6 hours of use, then half or more of consumers are âre-entrantâ or buying the second or more of a given tool as a replacementš. Re-entrants are more likely to pay for more features. Iâd rather buy a better tool that would last than deal with flaky customer service because of minimizing engineering!
š tti/ryobi seems to be the master of short-lived tools, outside of hf stuff
I have the DeWalt 922 unit. Bought it in June 2020 and used it a couple times each summer and now after some light use yesterday the head quit moving. Nothing is jammed in the head and tried different batteries. I donât have a receipt since I bought it at a store and not online. Not sure if DeWalt will warranty it. First DeWalt tool to just up n die on me. Wonât spin or make any clicking noises. Just dead. After reading other comments on the internet seems to be a common problem. Might buy a replacement bare tool and add the $25 two year warranty
Stronk, one thing you might consider is the modern premixed gas for power equipment. It is expensive on a per-gallon basis so it doesnât make much sense for heavy use. But for infrequent use itâs amazing because it lasts for ages without going bad. I learned about it about 5 years ago when I purchased some new Stihl OPE. They offered a promo where if you bought one gallon of their premixed fuel along with a tool you would get double the warranty length on the tool. That was a no-brainer for me so I ended up trying it out. I continue to be impressed with how well it lasts without gumming up the carburetor. You donât need to worry about using it up, you donât have to run the tank dry. Last weekend I took out a hedge trimmer which I hadnât used in nearly a year and the last time fuel was put in the tank was probably close to 2 years go. No joke it started on the first pull, I was absolutely shocked.
Youâd go bankrupt in a hurry using that kind of fuel for frequent use but for something youâre just using a little bit now and then it makes a ton of sense because it seems to completely eliminate the hassles of worrying about fuel freshness, carb gumming up, etc.
I second the premixed fuel for tools that arenât run all the time. The only gas tool I have right now is a Ryobi 20" chainsaw. I bought it around Christmas 2013, used it a couple of times, then let it sit. When I moved in December 2015 I primed it, set the chine, and it started with a couple pulls before going into a storage unit. Finally took it out three years later, and easy start again. I think I might have mixed the first tank myself, but premix is all Iâve run since.
As for the DeWalt trimmer, I guess Iâm just lucky. I bought mine when Loweâs was getting rid of 20v OPE in early 2016. Over six years later itâs still going. The only problem I have is that itâs underpowered for my ditch, so the Ego sees more use now.
I remember when dewalt had 36 volt tools. We used 1 battery for several days before months on end cutting 2-24â pvc sch 80 for months 1O hours a day 6 days a week with no issues using reciprocating saws. I had a 2Ov burn up the second day recently. I have 30 year old electric drills. I too am breaking down my dewalt. Weed eater. It too has metal falling from motor +_ terminals came up with 20.25 amps.gears are fine. To the gasser my mom canât lift or pull my stihls, but sheâs has a 40v torx . 1 string. 1 battery. I acre. For 8 years. And you can ârecharge â dead lions. I donât recommend this to anyone but we shock them with welding leads. Liquifies crystals
As of yesterday, Iâm on my third DeWalt 20v trimmer. The last two I got just for bringing the dead one in for an exchange. I am content.
The second one died the same way as the first, got something wrapped around the head and it wouldnât do more than click after that.
Just like the first time, I took my trimmer by the DeWalt repair center across town (Houston) and they gave me a new one on the spot, no questions asked. They just looked me up in their system and then handed me a new one (or a refurb, not sure but it was in a new DeWalt box).
I would rather have a tool that doesnât break, but I I really like this tool, and I can keep taking them back when they break as long as DeWalt keeps replacing them. Bad design, great support.
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i also had problematic gears, overheating, are not a result of misuse or external factors. You can Contact Dewalt customer support and explain the full extent of the issues youâre facing to determine if the warranty covers the necessary repairs.