Lidl Pressure washer fault!

I bought a lidl pressure washer last year, the Lavorwash 160. Recently in use, the bayonet end snapped off which connects the gun to the lance

- firing the lance across my drive.

The item was described as guaranteed for three years, so I tried to get Lidl to honour the guarantee - they refused, suggesting that only the main unit was covered. They did though offer a £40 refund, if I returned the entire unit.

As the unit was basically a pretty good one for the price, I decided to see if there were some way to repair it. The actual coupling is solid brass, but the lance is retained by a rather delicate plastic bayonet part of completely inadequate design. To make it even worse, the play within the bayonet was such that the brass parts were only partially engaged and much of the strain being taken by the plastic sleeve of the bayonet - basically the last inch of the plastic snapped off leaving it with nothing to hold the lance into the gun against the pressure.

I managed to find some alloy tube of exactly the right internal diameter to be a perfect fit over the plastic coupling, then pinned this with bolts drilled and tapped for the gun end and a couple more to pin the broken off end in place. The whole thing is now much stronger than before.

I'm certain that if others on this NG have bought these, they will suffer a similar failure and the price of a replacement gun (they will not sell just the bit which breaks) is only a little less than Lidl's price for a complete new unit.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield
Loading thread data ...

There's a lot of duff power washers out there but the hose and jets are still intact. The lances are almost identical fittings for all brands. Try visiting some car boot sales on a sunday.

Reply to
George

George submitted this idea :

This one is (was) a rather good one - nice long hose which winds up onto a built in reel, plenty of cleaning pressure - just let down by this weak bayonet fitting. I managed to find an old hose and gun which fitted, but the only lance I had to fit that gun was one of those brush types.

I must say I was very disappointed with Lidl's attitude to 3 year guarantees.

Point of the posting was simple to warn others of the potential problem with the gun.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

Lidl don't set the guarantee,the manufacturers do. If you're not happy about the riff with Lidl,get in touch with the manufacturer...post a pic of the broken lance and send an email in with the snail mail letter. You can be sure they'll send you a new lance.

Reply to
George

George presented the following explanation :

I don't think so...

There were marks of the two sections where it parted company. It showed indications of having gradually parted with use, until eventually it just snapped completely. It is just a very weak design and bound to fail.

I tried the manufacturer first, the guarantee said 'manufacturers guarantee'. They said we only guarantee the main unit, accessories not included - why didn't the guarantee say that? They offered a replacement gun (it was the bayonet on the gun which failed) at only a pound or two less than the cost of a complete identical unit.

Then tried Lidl who just said basically 'tough', but after a bit (lot) of pushing offered £40 towards another.

Either way, it would fail again - so I looked at improving on the manufacturers original weak joint.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

The contract of supply is with the retailer and not the manufacturer.

It doesn't matter whether Lidl are selling King Edwards or Kaercher, they still own the problem.

Reply to
Andy Hall

Andy Hall has brought this to us :

I agree and tried to raise the issue with our local Trading Standards. They were of the opinion that if Lidl made any level of offer of recompense then that was the end of the matter so far as they were concerned. They suggested that if I felt that amount was inadequate I should take it to court myself.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

In message , Harry Bloomfield writes

If the guarantee didn't specify the "only the main unit is covered" then you have every right to make a claim against Lidl.

Write them a letter stating that you consider them to be in breach of contract by not honouring "their" guarantee which formed par of the original contract. Contact your local Trading Standards as well.

They'll soon back down!

You could also pursue "not durable" as it clearly was not up to normal use without failing.

Reply to
Gordon Hunt

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.