Mac Disaster

[dom]

I don't work for Makita and have no connection with them other than owning a couple of pieces of kit from them with which I'm very satisfied.

Comparable manufacturers, Bosch and Dewalt also have product recalls - on at least as serious safety-related defects:

guard may stick open on circular saw)

circuit may cause fire on reciprocating saw)

Your issue with Makita seems to be both the quality of the tools and that they didn't pay adequate compensation in respect to an incident in NZ.

Quality is on a par with other pro tool manufacturers - I would think (from seeing what people around me use) Makita have about 50% of the pro cordless drill market. They wouldn't have that unless those tools had proved themselves safe, reliable, durable and effective in the long term with large numbers of professional users.

As far as the compensation issue goes, there seems to be some aspect of NZ law that is distinctly different "ACC", that many of the posters on the original thread referred to - can you explain what this means?

[:Jerry:]

Are you related to the idio... sorry, chap, who wasn't wearing his safety goggles?

[John Rumm]

Not having seen any of the public comment I don't see that I can comment. However I understand the legal situation in NZ is different from most places. It may well be the Makita could have handled the situation better, I am sure they are not immune from lame PR in some circumstances. However I would not expect them to take responsibility or accept any liability unless they had to, and especially if the user was not using the product in accordance with instructions.

Personally, no.

That does not in anyway "refute" either of the comments made above.

All manufacturers will have problems with specific products from time to time. The fact that they do issue recalls when problems are found only helps strengthen their reputation.

The sander in question I note had sold 350,000 units in the US over a 11 year period and they had received 13 reports of problems with the pad. This does not sound like a particularly high failure rate.

[John Rumm]

This would be true if "DIYers" as a class only wanted something that will get the job done as cheaply as possible and don't care what the quality of the results or the experience of use are like. While in some cases this may be true, in many it is not.

[:Jerry:]

With respect, in this day and age of people knowing the cost of everything but the value of nothing, I would suggest that your comment is a*se about t*t - you have the words 'some' and 'many' transcribed!

[Pete C]

I was even more suprised when I bought some *GOOD* blades for my fairly modest jigsaw, saved me spending =A380 odd on a Makita etc ;)))

I expect most peoples experiences are of crap blades in a cheap jigsaw...

cheers, Pete.

[Andy Hall]

I agree with John. DIY does not equate to cheap.

[Andy Hall]

Good blades certainly do help, expecially in jig saws and circular saws.

However, in the case of a jig saw, the quality and engineering of the blade holding mechanisms etc. are key to the ability of the saw to maintain the stability of the cut.

There is a world of difference between the sub £50 jigsaw and the £100 products of Bosch, Makita et al.

[John Rumm]

Perhaps you are right, I don't have any figures to confirm one way or the other. The only safe thing to say is that "DIY" implies different things to different people. For me it is about doing stuff to a standard that would be hard to buy, about making furniture, and doing the occasional bit of building work. If I save money doing it then that is nice, but it is not the main motivation.

[A.Lee]

I've started up self-employed myself this week, and have been round the various builders merchants getting prices and seeing what they keep in stock. A mate works in one of them, and told me to open an account with him, and I'll be getting full discount immediately. So I did.

Next day, another chap I know wanted a few slabs putting down, would I go round and lay them for him. OK I say, let me know the sizes, and I'll get them ordered for delivery next day if poss. He told me not to bother ordering them, as he had an account at Travis Perkins and always gets trade prices, OK, no problem, it's less for me to pay out.

2 days later, he's really pleased as he only paid £1.54+vat for each slab - they are normally £1.74. I hadnt the heart to tell him they are £1.49 inc vat at my mates place, with a discount as well if I ordered them. So DIY is not always the cheapest way definitely. Alan.

[:Jerry:]

But then niether of you are what most would call 'the average DIYer', if the average DIYer only bought "the best" places like B&Q would not offer lines that don't sell, but what do we find stocked - plenty of cheap (some would say) crap but the more expencive (and some would say) better tools are noticeable by their absence - go into a true trade outlet and the opposite is the case...

My point is, people buy the best tool for what they will be *doing*, not simply the tool with the best build quality. There is little point in someone who is only ever going to put up the odd shelf in buying a DaWalt drill, OTOH their is little point in someone who is (re)building their own house buying a 19.99 ukp own brand special. The problems occurs when people buy on price rather than on what the tool will be asked to do, on the one hand they have expensive tools that get under used and last until the cows come home (no real problem with that, assuming that they haven't mortgaged the kids to buy the tools...), but on the other hand we get people buying the cheapest and then knackering the tool within a couple of months after having used them constantly 12+ hrs a day - it's these people who then claim that the tool is crap and should never be on sale!

As for the OP's problem, I've known 20k motor cars that have had a failed bearing within the warranty period, faulty bearings can be installed in anything - sounds to me that it missed the lubrication prior to being sealed...

[Andy Hall]

Who is the "average DIYer" though?

I think that most people who frequent places like B&Q for everything just buy the cheapest thing because they don't know any better.

Actually, the B&Q warehouse in Reading has quite a range of professional tools as well - Bosch blue, Makita, Metabo, DeWalt.

Exactly.

Also true.

Engineered and manufactured to a price rather than a level of quality.

[Doctor Drivel]

I know of no cheap budget Impact Drivers.

[:Jerry:]

That would be why even Rolls-Royce's also breakdown then....

Faulty manufacturing can happen to anything - remember Apollo 13?...

[Doctor Drivel]

Yes. Loss of an eye.

[Doctor Drivel]

made:

>>>>> Looking at the original thread,

Matt, should he wear body armour as well?

[Andy Hall]

yes, but duct tape fixed that as it always does.

[Andy Hall]

As you know, unfortunate things happen when people don't read and follow the instructions.

For some reason, they think that it is then the manufacturer's fault as opposed the person who should have known better.

[Andy Hall]

made:

>>>

For this one, no.

For the Techtronics Ryobi radial arm saw, possibly.

[John Rumm]

Well neither are the majority of regulars on this group, I am sure that between us we have a fairly fearsome idea of just what is DIYable!

That is beginning to change a little I have noticed. Our local B&Q has a reasonable range of high end kit as well as the own brand badged stuff and mid range kit... blue Bosch, Makita etc. Wickes have started doing Hitachi, and I don't go in Homebase enough to know what they do. It would seem as the general populous gets more DIY savvy they are obviously creating a market for the higher end tools. This is perhaps not surprising since it seems quite common to buy something cheapish to see if you get good use from it, and then trade up to something better when you find you do.

There are relatively few tools that I would place in the truly crap category, although for many people buying just on price will prove to be a false economy since they will often end up buying it again.