Who has the best warranty and customer service?

[sparkeyjames]

Hmmm I think the results of this poll are going to be somewhat skewed. Not everyone here owns tools from every one of those makers. Also not everyone is going to have the same results from dealing with one company. 1 person may have a bad experience while 3 others may have good to great CS experiences. Some companies view CS as a black sheep department and others view it as good customer relations leading to more sales. The tale of one bad experience travels farther and faster than the 20 good ones before it.

I own a plethora of different brands some not even on that list. I have never had to have service or warranty work on any of my power tools. Fingers crossed. I did have a busted craftsman socket wrench part and one craftsman screwdriver that broke but of course they were replaced immediately with no questions asked.

The only way I guess that a companies CS can be graded top notch is when you call them and describe the broken part/problem and they say whats your address we'll get the part shipped out today. No referring to the fine print, no call to the legal department. Just do it. Keep your customers happy and you have a customer for life. Screw up badly just once and you have lost them.

[ragswl4]

The only one of the list I have used is Craftsman, it was acceptable. However the best CS I have experienced in the tool arena is Kreg and Rikon which didn't make the list. While HF sells some crap at times, their CS has also been good.

[RAFlorida]

I see Ridgid is in the lead with no comments.

Anyway, I voted Ridgid also because they will replace the chuck, gears, even the 18 volt battery for life of the tools. I have their vac as well as their power tools and their warranty is out standing.. BTW, does any other manufacture warrant their batteries? Just wondering.

[phrog]

DELTA Good: RIDGID Bad

DELTA I voted for Delta. A few years ago I bought a Delta Table Saw at Lowes. I plugged it up and the second board I cut was greeted with a wall of smoke coming from underneath the table. I called Delta/PC and told them the situation and that I thought the motor was defective. They sent me a new motor, no questions asked about proof of purchase, etc. I've been very pleased with my tablesaw ever since. This was before B&D bought Delta. I hope there CS is still as good.

RIDGID On the flip side: my mother bought me a Ridgid flip top stand for Christmas. The second time I used it, the locking lever broke off as I locked it. (And I can only lift about 50 - 60 pounds so I didn't exactly over power it.) Ridgid's customer service would not send me a new lever and told me I would have to take it to the nearest repair service, a number of miles away, to have it fixed and show proof of purchase. The warranty was still well within date, but I have no proof of purchase since it was a Christmas present. Chalked it up to bad experience and will NEVER AGAIN buy a RIDGID product. Remember that a warranty is only good if the issuer honors it.
Richard

[cwsmith]

I voted Ridgid, as I believe they're the only power tool manufacturer that offers a "Limited Lifetime Service Agreement". Although free, you must register your purchase in order to qualify for it and in many instances, this very minor effort (IMHO) appears to cause a great amount of trepidation with many purchasers.

As mentioned by an earlier poster, I suppose there's some "skew" in the survey as many of the brands mentioned aren't familiar, easily available, or owned by many of us. I know my purchases in the last few years have been restricted somewhat to what's immediately available to me. But, the warranty does sway heavily on my decision. So well known brands like DeWalt, Bosch, Porter-Cable, Black & Decker, Skil, and Craftsman (I'm sure I left someone out) are as available to me as Ryobi and Ridgid, my tendency has been to go with the latter two.

However, those personal choices were the result of initial purchases that turned out to be very happy and thus, I remained loyal... at least to the point where my needs are met.

Decades ago, I made a lot of Craftsman purchases and were happy with them at the time. My Craftsman RAS is still the prime cross-cut machine, although I use by BT3100, for almost every other cut. But the problem I have with Craftsman today is that their 1-year warranty pales in the light of Ryobi's 2-year and Ridgid's 3-year warranties; and of course, I haven't found any brand that offers Ridgid's LLSA, with it's free battery replacement.

Ridgid however, does have some serious problems with repair time, mostly due to part supply problems. So, if one is patient and willing to put up with a month or two of waiting (in some cases), then Ridgid is okay. But if you need it NOW... well, all the warranty time in the world isn't going to make you happy.

CWS

[rnelson0]

I have no horse in the race as I have never had to call anyone for customer service. If anything I have has broken, it has always been because of me and I will not abuse CS like that.

I do have to give a nod to Ryobi, though, on the "prevent me from calling CS" front. I dropped my portable hammer drill - twice - from on top of a 40' ladder. Both times, it landed smack on the battery. There is a bright blue line across the bottom of the handle where the battery attaches, where the plastic flexed, and no other damage. While working on the same job, another guy's DeWalt power drill fell off a 6' ladder and broke. Estimated repair was over $100. The next day, he had a Ryobi and stopped ragging on my power tool choices