Anyone have a good experience with Black & Decker lately

I'd forgotten about the drill, my mom has one of those pieces of crap, I'm always cursing at it whenever I end up having to use it over there because I can't drill through anything without the drill bit spinning in the chuck.

Reply to
James Sweet
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Cheap keyless chucks are junk. OTOH, if you buy a $200 drill, they are excellent.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

At about the time of 12/4/2004 11:04 AM, James Sweet stated the following:

A co-worker of mine bought a very expensive B&D coffee maker. After 1 cup it shorted out.

As for power tools, I have a Makita angle grinder. Works great with no problems. I'd buy another Makita power tool if I needed it.

Reply to
Daniel Rudy

At about the time of 12/5/2004 5:04 AM, Edwin Pawlowski stated the following:

Just goes to show you, you get what you pay for...usually. I'll spend the money to by a quality peice of equipment that will give me years of trouble free service vs. spending

Reply to
Daniel Rudy

You were lucky to buy your Ryobi when you did. These days Ryobi does not exist except in brand name only. The Japanese company closed down their power tool manufacturing business around 1999 (I think), and sold the brand name to Techtronic Industries in Hong Kong. Prior to that they made a general purpose range of tools and also a "Tradeline" series. All of the Tradeline tools I had were excellent value for money and would give many years of troublefree service.

It was shortly after Techtronic bought the name that all the junk tools with the Ryobi brand name appeared on the scene. I had several problems with their handyman belt sander and also a cordless drill so much that I was eventually reimbursed for the cost of the sander (which I put towards a Makita), and Ryobi "gave" me one of their newer so-called "professional" or trades series cordless drills as a replacement for the junk drill. I had to direct my complaints directly back to management in Hong Kong before this occurred though.

I suspect you will find that B&D is no longer the original company (much like Ryobi) and consequently their products are now largely "junk". I remember using one of their compact aluminium framed Holgun drills back in the 1960's, and boy, could these drills take a hammering without any problems for year after year. That was when B&D was really a good power tool.

Reply to
Ross Herbert

Which ones do you have?

Reply to
Fred

Don't know about their tools, but I like their posters. B^) "Daniel Rudy" >

Reply to
Fred

Ditto. Mines "cordless". Holds a charge for 45 seconds.

Reply to
Fred

I haven't found out whether this is the case or not as yet but I suspect it is. The sad thing is that B&D also own the DeWalt brand as well, so you can guess where the quality of this once proud power tool range will end up.

Reply to
Ross Herbert

Reply to
chris

Ross Herbert posted for all of us....

You will note that this same company has bought Milwaukee Tools. Can't wait to see what they do to them...

Reply to
Tekkie

Which is why, I mentioned what the nature of the repairs were - I may have unintentionally caused the first mishap (freewheeling motor which did not drive the blade) by occasionally using the mower to mulch small amounts of brush (very small - generally less than 1/2 inch brush).

The second time it failed only the brushes needed replacing. If I knew it was not under warranty I would have tried to troubleshoot better and probably have discovered it myself. Assuming it was under warranty I did not bother to troubleshoot at all. Two years for a set of brushes on a mower is not really that bad. Incidentally, before I bought this mower I shared a B&D electric mower with a friend for about 5 years. It did two yards of less than 5000 sq ft for that length of time and is still in use at my friends home (now going on eight years). Over that time, the deadman switch became a bit iffy (had to pull it way past the natural stop to get the mower to run). The same service center diagnosed this problem when I took my new mower in and sold me a $10 part for the repair of the old mower). I had a generally trouble free eight years and avoided breathing gas fumes which alone is worth it to me. I seriously doubt anybody with a gas mower could have a more trouble free experience.

Based on my experience I really believe at least their corded electric mower is a good product (for smaller yards) and hope my second one continues to perform as well as the first.

The service center I went to was a DeWalt service center and they were nothing but ultra professional - did not ask me to produce a receipt, verified warranty status based on serial number, gave me a courtesy discount on other stuff, threw in a new blade on the mower. All these steps engender customer loyalty - they acknowledge the product should not have failed and make small gestures in recognition of this. So despite the torrent of negative press I am quite happy to defend Black and Decker on at least this product and their after sales service as it relates to this product.

Yes but the price reflects this. If a Panasonic or Makita drill cost $150- $200 + and a B&D costs half to a third or a fourth as much it is silly to expect a premium product. If people shelled out equivalent dollars their complaints would be more credible.

Roland

Reply to
Joe Doe

Try using a rubber strap wrench to get it tight, better than scrubbing your palms. Or at least use a shop rag wrapped around it.

Or simply replace it with a quality keyless chuck from a tool shop or good hardware store. I've had fair luck using Jacob replacement chucks.

Reply to
none

Ditto. My B&D coffepot's heating plate rotted out after 9 months or so, and the little valve thing on the basket that allows you to get a cup while it's brewing leaked like a sieve after 2 months.

Reply to
JW

On 12/6/2004 11:51 AM US(ET), JW took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

My B&D coffee maker's LCD readout became very dim and couldn't be read. I called B&D and they told me to cut off the power cord as close to the machine as possible and send it to them. I did, and they sent me a new coffee maker. I saved the old pot and other parts for spares.

Reply to
willshak

*sob*
Reply to
JW

I tried calling them, and the rep stated that if it still was functioning there was nothing they could do. I told him that it was the last B&D anything I'd ever buy. Like he cared...

Reply to
JW

On 12/7/2004 9:52 AM US(ET), JW took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

My B&D was bought just after B&D bought out the GE line of small appliances. It had replaced a similar GE coffee maker and the only difference between the two was the B&D label. Perhaps they still had the GE mindset at the time.

Reply to
willshak

Should have called back the next day and said it was completely broken, likely they'd never even check.

Reply to
James Sweet

Black and Decker bought Porter-Cable earlier this year.

Reply to
J Kelly

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