AEG Drill warranty Beware !!

[Martop]

I am passing this on to those who may have any AEG power tools, beware of any warranty claims or repairs under warranty. My trust AEG cordless

18 volt drill has a faulty chuck, its only 6 months old so I returned it to toolstation for a repair or replacement, the sales person was ready to just exchange it but for some reason the computer he used told him I need an AEG RMA number before he can swap it out.

So yesterday I tried calling AEG uk but the phone was always busy, I then fired off a polite email requesting a RMA and described the fault and included the serial number.

I received a replay this morning stating that the chuck is not covered under warranty but as a good will gesture they will replace it if I send the faulty chuck to them.

It seems AEG power tools are serviced by Ryobi Technologies UK.

I would have thought that a power dill was useless without its chuck and the chuck, being an integral part of the drill was in fact covered under its warranty.

I wonder if there is any way of dealing with this problem, the drill cost 199 quid so its not as if I cna say sod it and buy another.

[The Medway Handyman]

Your contract is with Toolstation, not AEG.

Sale of goods act etc.

[Invisible Man]

If you bought it as a private consumer for non-trade use then you have a claim under the sale of goods legislation against Toolstation or under the terms of any warranty issued. Also possibly a section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 claim or Visa chargeback if you bought it with plastic.

If you bought it for commercial purposes you are probably stuck with the trading/warranty conditions of Toolstation and AEG.

Personally I would send back the chuck on the understanding that it is evidence that remains your property and must be preserved until you have received a replacement.

[Martop]

I bought it for home use as we just moved home at the time, talk about jump through hoops for a warranty, tool station wont deal with it, I called them today and they refused stating some restraints AEG imposed on the warranty.

I tried removing the chuck and I got as far as removing the screw but the chuck wont come off, its seized tight, I don't want to go any further with removing it in case it gets damaged. If I could get it off I would just replace it with a new one from a different company as its a peacock chuck and was never very good.

I guess I will have to pass it on to trading standards or consumer advice as tool station and AEG refuse to deal with it, maybe they can offer some advice and help sort it out.

At the time of purchase there was an offer to extend the warranty to 3 years from its standard 2 years by registering with the Milwaukee tool club, it offers home collection for repairs, or it would do if I could log on with the details the site sent me :-(

If I would have known how hard it was to repair this dam thing I would have bought an el cheapo and binned it if it went faulty, paying out for a good make seems to be fraught with problems.

[Dave Liquorice]

So that means you bought it as a "consumer" your contract is with Toolstation. I'd push for a replacement failing that a full refund, under the Sales of Goods Act.

[The Medway Handyman]

I have to say my experience with Makita has been the exact opposite. Bought a Makita DF010DSE 7.2v drill driver. After 3 months it developed a minor fault, called Makita & they said to take it into a local agent.

Took it into the agent on Tuesday who said it would have to go back to Makita. Friday morning they phoned to say it was back - Makita had replaced it with a brand new one.

I shall avoid AEG after your experiance.

[Martop]

After a few phone calls and reading a few of the replies here I 'may' have found a way to resolve it thanks to my cc company. Its a last resort, stuff AEG and tool station, passing the buck to each other just to piss off customers and wriggle out of their responsibilities :-(

[Martop]

I mentioned that to the lady who I talked to at tool station, she suggested I take it up with AEG as I seemed know enough about the sales of good act.

I really don't want to resort to that, from memory its tool station I deal with as a customer.... 'no sir its AEG, they impose the terms ect' I tried politely to push the point but it fell on deaf ears, though she did give me the phone number of AEG that I already had tried in vain.

--

[Invisible Man]

The answer for the rest of us seems to be clear. If Toolstation seek to evade they legal liabilities and give wrong information don't buy from them.

[Cash]

Martop,

Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended), then as it was a retail sale (not business to business) then Tool Station is responsible for rectifying defective goods and *NOT* AEG - that is the law and she is wrong!!

See the fact sheet using the link below:

if there are problems with the link, use this tinyurl one though, after around 30 days from the date of purchase, you cannot demand a refund or replacement automatically and after six months, you have to prove that the fault was inherent and caused by a material or manufacturing defect.

If Tool Station still persist in their response, simply contact the Trading Standards Officer at your local council and he/she will assist you.

Cash

[John Rumm]

Toolstation have got zero wiggle room here. It is their responsibility to resolve ultimately. They may well have an agreement with TTI/AEG/Ryobi to handle warranty claims and after sales service, and in many cases this may be the easiest way to proceed. However, since you have no contractual connection to AEG, and there is no agreement that TS can enter into with a third party (i.e. AEG) that will alter your basic rights of remedy as a consumer, its TS where the buck stops!

If you can't get TS to play ball, then you can force the situation by either getting the cc company involved - they will force their hand by issuing a chargeback against them, or by suing them. The latter is pretty straightforward online through the small claims court. It will cost you £30 to do, but you can add that to the amount you seek to recover.

[John Rumm]

AEG are one of the many TTI owned brands including Ryobi. The tools are better generally, but the level of service may be questionable.

[Martop]

After this experience I wont be gong anywhere near tool station for anything that has a warranty on it !

[tony sayer]

Ere tis;)

Used a few quotes from this to bring a car retailer inline earlier this year:))

Interesting site .. some real olde stuff on there, magna carta fer instance!..

[Martop]

> Or if there are problems with the link, use this tinyurl one

Thanks for those links, its on my to do list tomorrow morning, tool station are not interested that I bought as a home user, they wont deal with it full stop. I will soon get to the bottom of this mess one way or another, Trading standards and the CC company should be able to help. I just find it bewildering that tool station are behaving in this way, I thought they where a pretty decent company :-(

[Martop]

Thanks for that, its easier to understand when someone else simplifies it :-) I dont know whats worse, doing a charge back or going to court, both seem very daunting when the matter can easily be resolved with a simple repair or exchange, I thought that was the idea of offering a warranty. I will have to wait till tomorrow and see how this pans out.

The most stupid part of this is I bought a good make and it cost me a fair bit as I never had a expensive drill before, thinking it would outlive me for all the use its had, all the time the lady of the house was behind me suggesting 'I wont use it that much, get a cheaper one', I should have listened :-( < insert red face here >

[chris French]

In message , Martop writes

I've had this sort issue occur with a computer retailer. This was regarding a computer monitor. They had a similar arrangement (which is quite common) where the manufacturers dealt with the after sales and warranty claims if there is a problem.

I've no problem with that in principle, but they had a similar lack of understanding as regarding this arrangement and the responsibilities under the SOG legislation.

Unfortunately the manuf. after sales was useless (I forget the details, but it was one of those situations where they forget phone calls, lose details, couldn't find the model (!) etc. ). After about a week of faffing about I went back to the retailer. after fruitless phonecalls and emails over a day or so, I just sent an e-mail (backed up with a registered letter) notifying them that I'd be taking action in the small claims court. They soon replaced the monitor then.....

[John Rumm]

Neither need be that daunting... One phone call to the cc company will usually sort the first. They may ask you to forward copies of letters you have sent etc, plus the invoice to them. The small claims action can be done via:

need to actually go to court etc, its all done via correspondence.

You took the entirely reasonable step IMHO of going for a better quality tool. One of the usual reasons for doing that is you also get better support! Also for occasional use you normally find the decent one has better batteries that hold a charge longer etc - so there is some juice left when you take it out of the box in a few weeks time.

I am a bit surprised by TS not being more helpful. I suspect if you sent them a letter you may get a better response. I am less surprised by Ryobi though. I find it hard to understand why they think a chuck is not a warranty item. In the first year (without any arguments, and as a part of your statuary rights) - all of the drill is a warranty item I would suggest - you have an expectation of it being free from defects in manufacturing and materials, and for it to last a reasonable time. Where "reasonable" has no solid legal definition, but is typically at least one year, and can be as many as six.

(My experiences dealing with companies like Makita, has been they usually bend over backwards to exceed your expectations on support and service).

[Matty F]

AEG and other manufacturers should be aware of the power of Google. Always Google the name of a company before buying their products. I see that this thread is already No. 3 in the results for a search for [AEG Drill warranty].

[dennis]

Really helpful as AEG have nothing to do with the SOGA. A minor point.. if its more than six months old you have to prove the fault existed when you bought it, less than six months they have to prove it didn't.

Take it back and tell them its their responsibility in law no matter what terms AEG has put on them, they are nothing to do with your contract with them. At the very least they should send it back to AEG for you and deal with AEG on your behalf, even currys would do that.