Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Slim chance here, but if you used a credit card for the purchase maybe the CC company could provide some help. I know a lot of cards provide extra warranty protection of your purchases. I never used the benefit myself but it might be worth a shot.

I used my Home Depot credit card, which extended the normal return period from 3 months to 12 months on tools. Unfortunately, I purchased that saw 14 months ago. So, Home Depot was happy to wash its hands of my problem.

I have been buying Ryobi products from almost 20 years now, and I really think the Ryobi tools have been a good deal for me for my DIY needs. In all that time, I have only had a couple of tools fail within the warranty period and Ryobi replaced them with no problem.

Something happened during the COViD-19 period, and customer service at both Ryobi and Home Depot has never recovered. They are just not the same companies as they were prior to the COVID period. I don't mean they were the only companies that have changed their policies negatively, but they are the companies that I have a long relationship with and the ones I personally know about when I have problems.

For what I hear, all the tool brands and many retail stores have similar deficiencies with current customer support. TTI, the parent company of Ryobi, also sell the brands Milwaukee and Ridgid. I have heard similar stories if you have problems with their tools.

I am not so naive that I think tools will never fail and need to be replaced. I am just upset about all the obstacles these companies are putting into place - robotic online processes that cannot think or respond to issues - that they require you to go through to wear you down and make you want to give up. Back in the day, you called customer service, talked to a real live person, and they helped you work out a warranty issue repair or replacement.

If Ryobi drags their feet on this warranty issue, I might go out and buy the inexpensive Tool Shop 10" Sliding Compound Miter Saw from Menards currently on sale for $89.00 after rebate....

Would that be as good as my $300 Ryobi miter saw? Probably not. Would it be good enough for my pallet wood projects? Probably so.

Honestly, I am not a big fan of Tool Shop brand tools. However, in this specific case, the reviews I have been able to find online for the Tool Shop miter saw were positive with mention that it was built with the same parts as more expensive brand tools at the same Chinese factory, just rebranded as Tool Shop for Menards at a lower price. Menards will warranty the item, in store, for one year with free replacements. And perhaps the biggest thing for me, is that I have enough Menards Rebate checks from prior purchases to cover almost the entire cost of this purchase. Essentially, no money out of pocket for me.

I'll be checking out that Tool Shop miter saw later today when I go to town for a medical appointment. Depending on what I hear from Ryobi, or what I don't hear, I might pick up that Menards saw. I need to get back to work...

 

[Sally PB]

@gtaus, I hope you get some kind of (positive) resolution to this issue!

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus, I hope you get some kind of (positive) resolution to this issue!

Thanks. It's a $300 Ryobi saw, so I will continue to press my point on the warranty issue. It's just all the lost time I am now upset about. Just when I started up the shop to make more pallet projects for the spring. I almost finished my new table saw workbench, and next Dear Wife wants me to make more pallet wood raised beds. It's just a bad time for one of my main tools, my miter saw, to fail.

 

[Molpet]

Thanks. It's a $300 Ryobi saw, so I will continue to press my point on the warranty issue. It's just all the lost time I am now upset about. Just when I started up the shop to make more pallet projects for the spring. I almost finished my new table saw workbench, and next Dear Wife wants me to make more pallet wood raised beds. It's just a bad time for one of my main tools, my miter saw, to fail.

So sorry this happened to you
Time and energy and frustration.

 

[Molpet]

 

[gtaus]

Well, I heard back from Ryobi customer service. They want me to disassemble the motor on the miter saw and send it back to them to check it out. I am not opposed to doing that, but it means a longer delay before I will get the unit repaired or replaced. I was hoping they would just send me out a warranty replacement. That would certainly have been better for me.

Turns out, taking off the motor head is not as easy as they suggested it would be. All I managed to do was remove the cover before I realized that would not be enough. So, I had to write them back and ask for detailed instructions or guidance on how to remove the motor head like they want. Last thing I want to do is destroy the saw trying to get the motor off to send it to them. Then they might say that I caused the damage!

Patience is a virtue, but I'm not very virtuous at the moment. I had to get another saw to keep working on my projects. One thing you learn from gardening is that you cannot dial back the clock, and if you miss your marks on planting and such, you can lose the season.

Anyways, it was another lost day of productivity running around looking for a replacement saw...

Hope to have some more positive news to post soon. I'm almost done with the new adjustable height workbench for my new table saw but have not done anything for the past 2 days in the shop.

 

[Smokerbill]

@gtaus , could it simply be worn out motor brushes? Replacing them would be easy, but if they wore down too much it could've damaged the commutator.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus , could it simply be worn out motor brushes? Replacing them would be easy, but if they wore down too much it could've damaged the commutator.

Sounds like you know a lot more about this stuff than I do. Thanks. In this case, however, it's an 18v Brushless Miter Saw. I am assuming therefore that there are no brushes to get worn out. Also, I'm only 14 months into a 36-month warranty, so Ryobi needs to correct the problem.

One of things I really liked about this new 18v Ryobi miter saw is that it so much lighter than my older electric miter saw that I bought 30 years ago. You got to love the longevity of those old - all steel - saws, but man did it get heavier over the years! That is one of the main reasons I bought a new, lighter, lots of plastic in it, miter saws that I can move around on my own without throwing out my back.

Same thing with my old metal Craftsman table saw I bought 30 years ago. It's just too heavy for me to safely move around on my own. That's why I bought the much lighter benchtop table saw from Menards a few months ago.

Are the new saws made with plastics as good as the older all metal saws? Probably not in terms of longevity. However, I'm at an age where I work alone, have no one to help carry or move things, and it was just getting to be too much of a problem to move my old heavy saws into place to use them. So, they were not getting used anymore.

When I replaced the old saws with newer lighter saws, I actually am using them in the shop/garage again. Since I don't have a dedicated shop, I have all my tools and workbenches as portable as possible to move them into storage when I need to park the cars in the garage.

At the same time, I have been downsizing lots of my tools. Using pallet wood for most of my current projects, for example, I don't need the biggest, strongest saws anymore. I rarely need to cut anything larger than a 2X4 these days.

In general, using pallet wood for most of my projects, I really don't need the best, most expensive tools. I think many people can get into pallet projects without having to spend much money at all. That's a big advantage of this hobby.

 

[Smokerbill]

My chop saw has brushes, but yeah, yours wouldn't have that problem.

What exactly is it doing/not doing wrong? Mechanical or electrical?

And Ryobi should fix it, but if it's something like a loose/corroded electrical connection it might be an easy fix for you, and less hassle than sending it in.

 

[gtaus]

My chop saw has brushes, but yeah, yours wouldn't have that problem.

What exactly is it doing/not doing wrong? Mechanical or electrical?

And Ryobi should fix it, but if it's something like a loose/corroded electrical connection it might be an easy fix for you, and less hassle than sending it in.

The other morning, I went out to the garage and wanted to cut some 2X4's with the miter saw. The saw would initially spin up, but then immediately stop. It did this a number of times. The battery was still at half charge, so it should have had plenty of power.

This has been a problem with that saw that has getting progressively worse. It started about 6 months ago, but then it only took 2 or 3 false spin ups before the saw would run continuously. So, not a big deal.

However, the other day, I had to swap out 5 or 6 different batteries before the saw finally would run continuously. Then, it worked fine with all the other batteries I had previously tried. Something is wrong with the saw and it's just getting worse. It took me about 10 minutes just trying to get the saw to run. Even so, it stopped a number of times when cutting the wood under a full load. It was not that way when I first bought the saw. So, I decided to file a warranty claim.

I explained all this to Ryobi in my email exchange. They offered no troubleshooting advice. They just want me to send them the motor.

I suppose it could be a loose or corroded electrical connection. But there is nothing that I know how to fix. Since it's still under warranty, I was hoping they would just send out a warranty replacement unit. But life would be too easy that way, I guess.

I cannot imagine it is worth their time to ship it back to a repair shop, spend time diagnosing the problem, and then either replacing or repairing the unit. They might want it back for other quality issues. Like to find out why it is failing. It's their dime on all these costs, but it's my loss of time and productivity. So, I had to get a different saw to continue my work.

Since Ryobi has chosen not to simply replace the unit under warranty, I am looking at weeks, if not months without that saw. I am building new pallet wood raised beds for this spring planting, so I don't have time to waste. I had to get a replacement saw.

Unfortunately, most of the tools and equipment I own these days are not worth fixing up after the warranty period ends. The cost of repair at our local shops often exceeds the value of a new tool. I used to replace my gas grass trimmers every 2-3 years because the carb would get mucked up and the repair shop guys would just tell me it cost less money to buy a new unit than it would cost them to fix the old one. I switched to battery grass trimmers about 15 years ago and they are all still running fine. So, I'm a big fan of electrical equipment over gas in most cases for my use.

In the past, with Ryobi, they just sent me out a warranty replacement for the few tools that did fail within the warranty period. But this is a $300 dollar saw and maybe they want it back for some other reasons that they are not sharing with me.

I have been buying Ryobi tools for about 20 years now, and this is only the second item that has failed within the warranty. That's a really good record in my book. It's just unfortunate for me that this saw died just when I was starting up work for the springtime. The timing sucks, but I hope Ryobi will make it right.