Router purchase

[Justloadit]

This type of fault, is a bitch to correct. If you can not identify the fault in the workshop, then it becomes a night mare, and to correct is to play it by the numbers. the only solution is to replace one item at a time. Unfortunately in this situation, it is a brand new machine, and does not warrant that the customer has to go through the heart ache of accepting the time required to figure it out. My feeling is that they should have issued a new unit, and then taken the time to find the problem. Once found, correct it, and then sell the unit as a demo price with a marked down price. The loss of the replacement would be minimal, but would have boosted customer relations.

There is no better advertising than by word of mouth.

[Didditmiself]

You said "it's quite sad considering there is supposed to be quality control checks before the product leaves the factory". There probably are the required checks but as is normally the case, worldwide, only a few out of each batch of most things today are checked randomly and based on the law of probabilities, if say 5 out of 100 are 'OK' then it is assumed that the other 95 are also 'OK'. It's just unfortunate that you may have got one of the 95. Because of various factors eg production targets, costs of production and of course quality of the raw materials to begin with, a lot of the stuff you buy now might have the German logo, look like the German product and have a manual with 56 different languages but in reality, the product is Chinese, made under licence. If you look at practically every brand of cellphone today, even the all all time favourites, the RIM Blackberry and Apple, the battery is Chinese and wrt the rest of the phone it probably says "assembled in China". I think one of the few true German electric tools / products still made totally in Germany is Metabo. Even Bosch of which I've sworn by, (which I now swear at) is now made in China. But there are still excellent products on the market but then be prepared to pay a lot for them. Never ever buy cheap hand tools. Most of what I have in my workshop cost me an arm and a leg. Marples wood chisels, Record 'G' clamps and bench vises, Stanley tape measures and planers, to name a few. But they will be used by my grand-children long after I've turned to compost. Buy the best you can afford. Even if it means having to wait a little longer to save up. I'm not saying you didn't go for the 'best', by the way. My point is that you may have got one of the '95' and that is just unfortunate.

[ians]

I agree i must have got one of the 5 % dud units, my concern however is that i have spent a lot of money on this brand and cant say that i am impressed, 2 out of the 3 routers i purchased of this brand had to be returned due to some fault found when i took it out the box, for example the "1 hand bit changing operation" of the one router doesnt work and still doesnt work even after returning to the distributor, their response to the problem, if the bit is tight you have to use both spanners...mmm, the other problem was the machine had to go back to the worshop to tighten nuts and bolts, which apparently come loose during "transportation".

The drilling machine chuck works loose after a couple of holes and the bit falls out, no matter how tight you make it, i was told it is a "safety feature" funny i have never had this problem with my 14.4 volt nor my 22 volt hilti cordless drilling machines. This brand is the only one which doesnt have a battery indicator on their lithium batteries.

For the record these products are not DIY, they are industrial rated in other words designed to run a full 8/9 hours day continuosly.

The only reason i havent already moved over to festool product is because one of my suppliers indicated that if your festool product does go faulty or requires replacement parts due to wear and tear, you wait for spares, so it looks like a no win situation.

[Didditmiself]

OK so let's see; Green is usually Metabo or Bosch. Blue is usually AEG or Bosch Industrial. Orange/black is normally deWalt. Ryobi is Blue/black. Hitachi (I think) is blue.
Metabo: highly unlikely to be anything but perfect. deWalt, AEG and Hitachi likewise. So it's either Ryobi or Bosch. My moneys' on Bosch. Now made in China. Junk.(you mentioned the colour in your first posting) So don't buy it again. By the way, no powertools were harmed in the making of this assumption........

[Blurock]

So which one is the son of a b!#ch that we should avoid? Who gives such poor service?

[ians]

Makita...very sad, considering i have been using this product for so many years and like most things have always trusted it as a good quality product. I sold all my older machines and been upgrading to the newer models, i should have held onto the older stuff.

I have always rated Makita for woodworking, the older mitresaws LS 1013 which had the slides under the platform, the 3612 router had one for years never had a problem, the old "industrial" belt sander still works to this day, and as for the old 800 watt hammer drill, that machine was unbeakable.

Hilti for concrete and brick work, one thing i can say about HIlti if it wasnt for their shocking service from the reps and rep turnover rate they would be my first choice with any machine as their backup service speaks for itself when it comes to repairing old and new machines (yet to have a return) They have a repair warranty in place which makes them the leaders in the construction industry.They put their money where their mouth is when it comes to backing up the quality of their product. The only bummer is the service centre is in JHB and they dont do all the wood working tools.

and fluke for test equipment, their newer products come in "plastic", so i am glad i still have the older equipment which like the fluke 435 comes in a military spec pelican case. The only problem with fluke equipment is it normally gets stolen before it breaks.

[Blurock]

My experience is that it is often the agent or distributor that lets the brand down. If the agent in this case replaced the item without a hassle, you would not have a problem with the brand. Have you tried to escalate the query?

[ians]

In this case it is the brand which is faulty out the box (shouldnt be) then having to deal with the distributor. If the product is any good, you shouldnt need to be takin it back.

I am learning slowly which products work the best from which supplier, for example, if i wanted a 10.8 v cordless impact driver, i wouldnt even look anywhere other than bosch, if it is cordless drill in the 18-22 volt range, Hilti would be my first choice.

When it comes to small chipping machines, i have to give makita credit for the small chipper, we hammer it all day long and never had a problem.

For dustless chasing, i have both the makita and Hilti sets, the makita vacuum is absolutley useless for masonary work after the second time on site it burnt out, i no longer use it on construction sites. The Hilti vacuum has been on site since 1996 and it is still working, but i had to use the Hilti in the wood working side of the workshop, within a couple of hours the Hilti cut out because the filter was blocked even though the base was not full, i have never had this problem with the makita vacuum it runs in the wood side without a problem, so at the end of the day you need to find what works for the application.

It is just very dissapointing when you buy something and have to take it back out the box.

[Didditmiself]

And the dealer was?

[ians]

Rutherfords

[Dave A]

For dustless chasing, i have both the makita and Hilti sets, the makita vacuum is absolutley useless for masonary work after the second time on site it burnt out, i no longer use it on construction sites. The Hilti vacuum has been on site since 1996 and it is still working, but i had to use the Hilti in the wood working side of the workshop, within a couple of hours the Hilti cut out because the filter was blocked even though the base was not full, i have never had this problem with the makita vacuum it runs in the wood side without a problem

Out of idle interest, does the Makita vacuum use a paper or material filter? I'm guessing the Hilti clogged because it has a material filter and the sharp nature of wood shavings and saw dust would tend to snag in the fabric and not be shaken off by the beater.

I have to endorse what you say about the Hilti vacuum cleaner - for masonry and fine dust it's an absolute marvel.