I bought one of these from the local hardware store, with the orange case, quick release, and numerous attachments for about $450 including tax.
I’ve returned two of them so far. I used both of them for a total of 5 minutes.
The motor stated oscillating and bogging down to point of not cutting at all.
Supposedly, Fein hasn’t issued a recall, but are aware of the problem.
Anyone else having issues with this tool?
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Replies
In my area they have all been recalled. Something to do with a switch over heating at least thats what they told me.
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http://www.drawingwithlight.smugmug.com
I presume you're talking about one of the new generation MultiMasters. Fein recalled all unsold MultiMasters (see the link below) due to a problem with the motor bogging down in low temperature conditions.
I purchased one in July and am sending in to the online retailer I bought it from for replacement with a new one.
Fein is aware of the problem:
http://www.feinus.com/p/pdf/MUMA_Reshipping_Letter_071220.pdf
They are offering two options:
1. You can send the tool into them for repair. If you call in and ask, they will send you a tag (and maybe a box) for shipping to them for repair. They told me if they will need less than two business days to fix the tool and send it back out.
2. There are limited numbers of new, unaffected MultiMasters. You can ship yours back to the company you purchased it from, and they will send you a new one. This is the option I chose.
Of course, they should be notifying all registered owners of the issue (and all owners should register as it extends the warranty) and make them aware of the issue. But they've elected to try to save money by waiting for owners to complain. Customer service, if not dead, is at best seriously wounded.
Thamks for the link and the heads up you two!TFB (Bill)
Yes, I'm talking about this tool.The quick release feature is what made me choose this over the older model, but my dealer hasn't mentioned anything about a 2 day turnaround.Thanks for the informative post. Maybe I'll have to contact them directly. Thanks
not much info in that letter.
looks like fein had some distress over having to admit their tools weren't holding up.
This kind of customer service on defective items is becoming too commonplace.
The companies will hide behind saying all units are not necessarily affected. Of course, some people may use their MultiMasters in warm climates for now, and only experience the problem later. Others may not recognize the problem or think to complain about it. Fein simply wants to avoid the cost of purposefully replacing or fixing all existing units.
This is, in my opinion, inexcusable. But I've read too many posts in various forums (for many different types of products) in which people sympathized with manufacturers in situations like this.
I bitterly argued this issue with the Fein represtentatives I've spoken with. I told them it is ridiculous to take the brand new, improved units and seek to sell them to new customers before replacing the defective units already sold to existing customers. I told them they should be shipping the new units to existing customers along with prepaid boxes for return of the defective units. They didn't see it that way.
By returning the defective unit to the distributor I purchased it from, I will at least get an entirely new top package with the various blades and sandpaper pieces. I've used up most of the original ones, so this represents some compensation for this headache. That's one reason I think it's better to return the defective unit to your retailer for a new one. The other reason, of course, is that you will have a brand new unit instead of a repaired one.
This type of thing should hurt a company's reputation, but I doubt it will. I can only say that I will be much less likely to recommend the MultiMaster to others.
Like with most corporations it's only about the size of the silver dollar.