I have the Milwaukee 28 V cordless drill/hammer drill. Have owned it for under a year and the gearbox has given out. The warrantee center claims that the tool had been dropped to cause the cracked gear box… although I have never dropped the drill in a manner that I would consider a problem in comparrison to other drills I’ve owned over time.
Long story short, the cost to repair is up to $120… not warranteed.
I’ve had Craftsman 18v drills that I’ve subjected to FAR more “abuse” than this Milwaukee has come close to seeing. And the Craftsman drills cost less than this repair will.
Just thought I’d let you all know how dainty a tool Milwaukee is, apparently. If you want a real contractor’s tool, buy something else.
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I refuse to accept that there are limitations to what we can accomplish. Pete Draganic
Replies
I'd call Milwaukee directly and if need be email them a link to the Bosch site where they show a video of a Bosch 18 volt brute drill being dropped 50' onto concrete. The battery falls off, but they put it right back on and continue drilling with it.
That's BS - if they can't design em to take a few falls than they should not consider them contractor tools.
I had the fancy Panasonic 14.4 volt impact gun - gets great reviews from everyone. Dropped it 3' from my belt to a basement floor and both battery retaining tabs broke off of it!
JT
They ran magazine ads showing the drop as well. dropping the tool onto "cement". I emailed them a couple of times and told them that if my kindergarten aged twin girls knew the difference between cement and concrete that their high priced marketing agency should know the difference too. A few months later the ads were changed to concrete.
Hot water heaters are next!
Have a good day
CLifffy
Had to laugh cliffy...as a structural engineer you may be sure my kids know the difference between concrete and cement! I remember a final examine in a graduate course on precast concrete structures. The question was "Two workers on a jobsite say they are waiting for the cement truct to arrive. What do they really mean?" The correct answer (20% of the final exam) was "the concrete truck." The other questions were just a whisker more complicated! Funny thing is that some other students got it wrong with answers like "the ice cream truck" etc.
That is funny. One of my best friends growing up went on to be a structural engineer and made sure early on that all the group knew the diff. Odd too though that students in my classes don't know the diff but I make sure they do when they are done.
Have a good day. I may borrow your test question in one of my upcoming tests.
Have a good day
Cliffy
My water heater heats water to about 140. Temp drops to about 120 and then it heats it back up to 140.
Sounds like a hot water heater to me.
I think you are in danger of scalding somebody. Tell a plumber about your hot water heater, you'll get the look.
Have a good day
Cliffy
I'm a little slow this week too. LOL
I am a plumber, and the number of water heaters that I find turned up to the max is scary. I always try to convince the homeowner why it should be turned down, and I show them where it should be set. What happens after I leave.....
Ok, I'll bite.
What's the difference?
Cement is what you make concrete out of, add sand, water, and aggregate. So dropping the tool on cement would be no real test. Like a bag of flour for landing zone.
Or did I misunderstand your question?
Bob
Nope, you understood correctly. Now I know the difference, too.
Thanks :)
To take Cliffy's response a bit further...concrete is a material formed by the coalescence of several materials, typically a binder and aggregates. "Portland cement concrete" uses portland cement as the chemical binder to create this material from sand, water, stone etc. "Bituminous concrete" uses bitumen as the binder for the aggregate.
I'm slow to respond this week.
Why do we still call a guy who places concrete and smooths it nice and level a cement finisher? I don't know why.
Have a good day
Cliffy
I'd also consider doing some self-induced warranty work exchange on that drill...
Buy a new one and switch out the gears...
No problem with doing the warranty work that the manufacturer ought to be doing themselves.
JT
Bean counters have limitations, go around through or over them.
Fronter justice as a last resort if you know your correct.
They are basically stealing from you. Stand up and smack em.
But if like me the drill endoed off a roof welllllllllllllllllllllll maybe contributory negligence.
Which is exactly the reason I won't but Milwaukee ... they won't stand behind their product.
I went through this with my first - and last - Milwaukee drill. I mean, I'm willing to accept that any manufacturer can have a bad day - but when the lemon breaks on the second hole you try to make, I expect them to say "oops" and fix it. Instead, all I got were irrelevant reasons as to why it wasn't their fault, and some insinuations that I must have been abusing the tool. Cost of repair? $60.
The very job that defeated a 1/2" Milwaukee corded drill I now routinely perform with a 9.6v cordless DeWalt impact driver.
Since then, I've purchased top quality tools: an angle grinder, the impact driver, a reciprocating saw,a large right angle drill, a saber saw .... and my starting criteria was the same in each case: anyone but Milwaukee.
For a variety of reasons, I'm not the DeWalt fan I once was. Fair enough; there's Makita, Bosch, Hilti, Metabo, and a legion of others out there.
As far as I'm concerned, Milwaukee is just another Chinese junk maker - except Harbor Freight has actually honored their warranty - with NO questions asked!
Total cost was $129.32 ..... How nice of them. I'm fuming.
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I refuse to accept that there are limitations to what we can accomplish. Pete Draganic
"just another Chinese junk maker " ................Fwiw Milwaukee has changed hands several times- From US based Amstar to Swedish based Atlas Copco to Hong Kong based current owner TTI. Not so sure TTI has been good for Milwaukee; quite a bit of product is now made in the Far East. In my neck of the woods the Milwwaukee rep is also the Rigid rep.
If you sensed a bit of ire in my comment ... you are correct! After all those boasts, all those claims of quality over the years ... I was most disappointed by their responses.
Sad to see PC/Delta going downhill too thanks to Black and Dorker ............ Model 310 and 100 routers, 126 planer, 503/504 belt sanders- all gone. Plus new product like their drill presses that don't seem to exist except in brochures.
Thats real dissapointing to hear because lately Ive been considering the milwaukee li-ion stuff. I guess Ill stick with bosch just wanted to step up to li-ion Im sure bosch will someday, Ive been very happy with all the 18v nicad stuff even had to use the warrenty once and it was no questions asked really.
Sorry to hear that Pete.
I have had the polar opposite experience. I have the Milwaukee 18v drills and they have been to hell & back with my use well over 5 years now. I have dropped them or they have fallen many times from 3' or more (I install a lot of kitchens), and they have always been unaffected.
The batteries have been normal as batteries would go, I get a little over 2 years with each set. Next one, I'm switching to the Li ion.
I have the 6" circular saw and the sawzall as well and they perform fine.
I use this tool(s) every single day.
If you're going to switch, I would recommend the Makita. They've always made good tools.
Curious - where were your Milwaukee's made?All the new stuff is made in China. I know, so what - the new Makita LI stuff is all China made as is all that great panasonic stuff everyone raves about.Odd thing is - this is not the first time I've heard of crappy service at Milwaukee. In fact, I specifically heard thru someone else (maybe here) of Milwaukee's service centers denying what would be warranty service (for any other major tool brand) because of stupid causes or excuses. (Like the OP referred to) Like a bad switch in the first year and them saying it is a "wear" item and not covered under warranty!What the heck good is a 5 year warranty if they pull this #### on people. Someone should forward this thread to Milwaukee CS and see what they think about it...Like the Ridgid "lifetime" #### - anyone ever hear of a sucessful warranty replacement from Ridgid?- I've not.The service behind these tools is what makes the diff thruout the warranty term. I will say that I have had OUTSTANDING service through Bosch factory service centers.I wonder if the service center the OP went to was a factory or independent SC?Might be wise to buy the major tools of a brand that operated factory service centers.I know that Bosch has an instant exchange Pro-vantage service in which they overnight you a new tool and you send the old one in the replacement's box.Wish they'd get on the stick and create a LI kit to compete with Makita....Seems like they've had enough time to see what others have done and innovate from there.JT
Like the Ridgid "lifetime" #### - anyone ever hear of a successful warranty replacement from Ridgid?- I've not.
Gotta say that I have.
About 7 years ago when I was in Home Depot I was looking at the new (at that time) portable table saw stand. The rep came up to me and started bragging up the saw. I explained that I already had the saw, and was looking at the stand. He wanted to know how I liked the saw. Told him it was very nice except for the fact that the blade seemed to creep down a little bit over time as it was being used. He reminded me of the lifetime warranty and asked if I had the saw with me. I told him it was out in the van. Brought it in covered in sawdust and received full cash refund of purchase price. Didn't even have a receipt with me.
A year or so ago, had the motor on my Ridgid 13" thickness planer go. I admitted I was pushing it a bit hard, but the repair center said since it was the old gray colored one that it had a lifetime warranty. They put a new motor in - no charge.
Just last month I had the motor go in my portable table saw - one I bought to replace the first one I owned, after having tried the Bosch. Brought it in to the shop and got a brand new motor put in at no charge. That saw was about 6 years old and had been well used.
Pleasantly surprised.
That's the first success story I've heard of with Ridgid - mostly have heard of 6 month waits for parts, etc.Sounds good to hear - I've got a few of the grey Ridgid stuff - OSS sander, bandsaw and planer and let's hope I'll not need to try out the warranty.JT
I was totaly supprised.
Free replacement of motors. No receipt. Thought it was my abuse that killed them - the table saw motor died after two large Pergo floor jobs, thought it was dust in the motor. Back to me, no charge, in about three days.
I have a new favorite repair shop.
Did you call the main office in Brookfield, WI? I would do that and tell them that it wasn't abused. The service center may be contracted by them but not actually their place.
I like the idea of buying a new drill, swapping the guts and returning it... Very good!
In today's age of China-made ####, sometimes the best alternative to arguing with some useless customer service rep is to take the matter in your own hands.Either way, they are gonna be gettin the broken tool back from you and getting a new one in your hands. We should stop just accepting ####-#### quality.It's all about how much of a hassle it is for you and how long you have to wait (or not).JT