What constitutes reasonable wear (cordless drill)

[Grunff]

I bought an 18v Erbauer drill from Screwfix about 15 months ago. It has been a superb tool. I've used it almost every weekend for the past 15 months.

It's recently developed significant play, not in the chuck, but in the motor-case mounting. I can't see anything broken, looks like it has just worn loose.

When I bought it I paid ~£160, and it's now available for £140.

Other than this play, the drill still performs perfectly. I don't think I've abused the drill, and I don't think it's been dropped hard. It has had a lot of heavy use.

My dilemma is this - given that I've had lots of use from it, can I reasonably expect it to be repaired/replaced under the two year warranty?

I'm not asking whether they would - there's only one way of finding that out. I'm asking if I would be reasonable to ask, it's kind of an ethical thing. I don't believe in taking the piss with my suppliers.

So, what do you think? How long should a £150+ cordless drill last with heavy use?

TIA

[stefek.zaba]

So, definitely not heavy Trade use, though it's pretty much a premium price item (150 quid, right)? And it's not been kicked about, carried in the bottom of overladen cloth toolbags, or the like.

I think for an Erbauer at that price it's reasonable to ask (but would be unreasonable to raise an enormous fuss if they turn you down). For a Ferm it'd be taking the Michael; for a Makita, Atlas Copco, or similar with the "less than a couple of days a week" usage and kind treatment it'd definitely be a premature failure.

HTH, YMMV, OITMMBCTTA, etc - Stefek

[Grunff]

Yeah, I paid £160, but they're at £140 now. Definitely not trade use, just me at weekends, and definitely well taken care of.

Thanks.

[tim]

As IME the battery will probably be the weakest part, if anything else breaks before the first battery is knackered it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to expect a warrenty repair (you are still on your first battery?)

tim

[Andy Hall]

Presumably this is Screwfix 71776?

On the web site, and the catalogue, they use the description "high performing". I think that that would be good enough for me to invoke the warranty. If this were a

[Peter Crosland]

What you describe is not heavy use. My suggestion would be a polite letter to Screwfix stating your case and asking for a repair/replacement. Let us know what you do and how you get on.

[Grunff]

Yes, first battery - well, pair of batteries, which came with the drill. They've lasted pretty well, which I think is largely to do with the very good 1hr charger that came with the drill.

Thanks.

[Grunff]

That's the one - except mine was before they had a side handle.

I do have it, and I'd spotted the definitions, which are very helpful. But thanks for repeating them in case I didn't have the catalogue.

Which may well be my replacement for the Erbauer.

And as much as I'd love to have a 'proper' one, I just can't get over the mental hurdle of paying quite that much for a weekend-only tool, not just at the moment anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Grunff]

Due to the high-spend I've had with Screwfix since buying our current property, they've upgraded my account to a VIP account. Since this happened, things have changed somewhat. They are accomodating to the point of silliness, and routinely replace items/resend orders without question. They were always good before, but the account upgrade made them even better.

I recently posted about the little table saw which I burnt out - again, not my fault, honest, it just had a poor motor. They refunded it no questions asked.

I don't think I'll have too much trouble getting a repair if I ask for it, I just wanted to get consensus on whether I was being reasonable.

Will post followups.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[stefek.zaba]

[Grunff]

I tend to use my DeWalt SDS for almost all wall drilling, my Bosch mains for most metals/other general, and my Erbauer cordless when I need to be cordless. The last few weeks I've been completing my shed project, which has involved a fair bit of cordless hammering, all be it into soft Thermalites.

I bought a £50 Clarke pillar drill many years ago, and would highly recommend it. Despite the appalling lack of precision, I still find it a lot better than a drill in a stand.

Or stables/pump house/shed/etc. The cordless is pretty indispensable for me.

I took the Erbauer apart tonight, and what's happened is that the motor-gearbox mount, which is a very poorly designed plastic bayonet fitting, has developed a lot of play. I suspect that this is largely due to hammer action. Since I can't think of a fix, I will be contacting Screwfix tomorrow.

[Andy Hall]

Another direction you could consider if you don't specifically need the hammer action is the Makita 6228DWE. I had one of these with three batteries as a deal from Axminster. Frankly, it is OK with two during almost all jobs, swapping battery packs with the 1hr charger.

It has a very good speed and torque control which does a good job with slow driving of screws at high torque.

I've used mine solidly for (I guess) two years and it remains very solid as a trade rated tool.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Grunff]

Hmm..While I don't use hammer on the cordless that much, there have been several occasions where not having hammer would've been very inconvenient - necessitating making up 100m+ extension leads.

I suppose one possibility is that if Screwfix won't replace/repair, I keep the Erbauer and use it only when I need cordless hammer, and get myself a non-hammer Mak.

[Dave Plowman]

I've got one stage worse - the B&Q 39 quid jobby. Several years old now. I did take it apart and have the 'keyway' properly machined which allowed the slop adjustment to be set to something approaching reasonable. I also changed the rear pillar for a slightly longer one to allow taller objects to fit in the vice.

What makes it head an shoulders above an electric drill in a stand is the slow speed and much lower noise being an induction motor. Excellent value.

[dg]

It has a 2 year warranty, and is marketed as a tradesmans tool.

I would expect repair, rather than replacement with a new unit though.

dg

[PoP]

Providing it is used for the purpose for which it is designed and sold, then it should reasonably last for the period of the published warranty as a minimum.

Without reading the terms of the warranty it would seem to me that during the first 12 months the drill is covered by ScrewFix, thereafter by Erbauer. However you'd need to check that (with ScrewFix initially).

Overall I would think you are on reasonably safe ground with respect to a claim on warranty, so you should have nothing to fear from contacting ScrewFix. Both they are Erbauer ought to be interested in this because neither would want to gain a reputation for selling goods which fail within the warranty period.

However look out for the clause in the small print which serves as a general get-out clause.

PoP

[Andy Jeffries]

And remember that a warranty is supplemental to your consumer rights. If you wanted to kick up a fuss (which you apparently don't) you would kick up with ScrewFix and have them return it to Erbauer. Obviously it would make more sense for you to return it to them yourselves, however if it subsequently fails ScrewFix could say "this isn't the drill we sold you nor an authorised replacement and it hasn't been repaired by/through us".

Anyway, I think they'd be happy repairing/replacing it given your VIP status, just wanted to remind people that the warranty is additional to your consumer rights which covers you for up to 6 years from purchase.

Cheers,

Andy

[IMM]

[Gnube]

6 years? I'm all ears if you've got the time; sounds fascinating. I could see a year or three fairly easily, but 6 years, gosh! Presumably diminishes a bit along the way?

Take Care, Gnube {too thick for linux}

[Andy Jeffries]

It's fairly straight forward. Neither the Sale of Goods Act[1] nor any other applicable act (e.g. the Sale and Supply of Goods and Services Act [2]) mentions anything about a limited amount of time that goods should last. The Sale of Goods Act does have provisions that a product should be reasonably durable.

The maximum length of time you have to claim is up to 6 years.

Basically the guidance I have been given is that if a reasonable person would expect a given product to last X months/years then it should. If you buy a 20 GBP drill and use it on a building site every day for 7 hours/day a reasonable person wouldn't think it would last long.

There is a leaflet downloadable from the Which? web site[3] which you may find interesting and there is a report somewhere on the net from Which? that shows how they went back to high street retailers after the year warranty and asked for a repair. Only a couple of retailers (out of those tested) admitted they were liable.

It's getting easier! ;-)

Cheers,

Andy

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