Matco lithuim ion battery recall

[Toolhorder]

Got a notice in the mail today about my Matco cordless impact batteries needing to be sent in for a recall.
Second time now I've had to deal with a cordless gun issue with them. Starting to get annoyed. First time caused my dealer to never show up again after we got into it and now I have no dealer for warranty and Matco says give it to the dealer.. Awesome.

Got a district manager's number and he texted me then emailed instructions on how to get them taken care of but come on...
The 18 volt battery I've had 18-19 months but the 14 volt battery is brand new and came with the new and improved gun I just got maybe 5 months ago. The company that makes these needs to get their act together.
I'm ready to sell all of them on Ebay, pay off my account and buy all new SO cordless guns.
Tired of the problems.

 

[wafrederick]

What I read on their facebook page is they got the problem fixed.One Cell phone company had the same problem which has been fixed

 

[Toolhorder]

What I read on their facebook page is they got the problem fixed.One Cell phone company had the same problem which has been fixed

I get they are taking care of it I'm just ranting about it. The first 3/8" cordless had a flaw and I was down like 2 months before I finally had enough of the excuses why I didn't have a gun to work with everyday and I went all the way up the chain to the CEO of Matco before they got the ball rolling for me. 3 weeks later I got a new "updated" gun in my hand (almost 3 months later) Keep in mind I'm paying interest on this gun monthly so I'm not too happy I can't make money with it.
My dealer got pissed at me and stopped coming around over this gun and now it needs a battery replacement already 5 months later. The letter just made me think "oh great, cordless gun part 2" How long are my batteries going to be down for now, 2-3 months?

 

[daveblank]

What I read on their facebook page is they got the problem fixed.One Cell phone company had the same problem which has been fixed

That was I that responded to the post there. If you remember a year or two ago there was an issue with cell phone batteries that got real hot during use & there was a potential for fire. I don't remember if any caught fire..did they? It's the same problem with the cells in these batteries. The new cells are supposed to resolve the problem.

Y'all should look at it this way. Your older battery packs are being rebuilt/replaced free. That equals longer use for the money.

 

[rlitman]

Y'all should look at it this way. Your older battery packs are being rebuilt/replaced free. That equals longer use for the money.

That's true, but it's pretty sleazy to leave him with no tool to work with for months, while he's still paying interest.

There have been MANY laptop lithium battery recalls over the past few years. Often they were bacause defective batteries caused fires, or exploded.
I HIGHLY doubt Matco is the one who manufactured the batteries, yet it's their reputation that suffers with these sort of issues.

 

[daveblank]

That's true, but it's pretty sleazy to leave him with no tool to work with for months, while he's still paying interest.

There have been MANY laptop lithium battery recalls over the past few years. Often they were bacause defective batteries caused fires, or exploded.
I HIGHLY doubt Matco is the one who manufactured the batteries, yet it's their reputation that suffers with these sort of issues.

The time he was without a tool for months was a different issue. They have promised us a speedy return on the batteries. I personally have a 18v sent back, so I can understand not having a tool to use. Would it have been nice to get a loaner battery? Sure. I think despite the inconvenience, Matco & whomever the supplier of the cells did the right thing. It would have been easier & much cheaper for them to only address the issue if a warranty cituation arose.

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

I had my 14.4 volt Milwaukee batteries recalled several years ago. I had 2 totally dead batteries, and 4 worn out batteries and I got 6 new batteries. Cordless battery recalls are awesome.

 

[daveblank]

Here's an update on the time frame to get my batteries handled.

I created a UPS call tag on Thursday September 29TH for pick up in Friday the 30TH.
UPS picked them up on Tuesday October the 4TH. Why is anyone's guess.
The batteries were delivered back to me yesterday , Thursday October the 13TH.

That's 2 weeks. A pretty good turn around time if you ask me.

 

[Hammer1963]

I agree with the fact of getting new batteries is a great deal.

It seems to me that most claims to problems with any tool truck issues are actually issues with the Dealer themselves. Granted, all maunfactures/suppliers can have issues with service or quality. It's just the nature of the beast.

Guess what, my Matco dealer came in one day, took my NON-HO 3/8" impact out of my hands and walked back in with the new MCL144IWHO impact gun. That is customer service at work.

I'm about to take the plunge on the MCL144DDSL cordless drill. Having 2 new 14.4 volt coming from Matco, just made the decision easier.

 

[Toolhorder]

I agree with the fact of getting new batteries is a great deal.

It seems to me that most claims to problems with any tool truck issues are actually issues with the Dealer themselves. Granted, all maunfactures/suppliers can have issues with service or quality. It's just the nature of the beast.

Guess what, my Matco dealer came in one day, took my NON-HO 3/8" impact out of my hands and walked back in with the new MCL144IWHO impact gun. That is customer service at work.

I'm about to take the plunge on the MCL144DDSL cordless drill. Having 2 new 14.4 volt coming from Matco, just made the decision easier.

You can thank guys like me who complained about the non-ho 3/8's that sucked for getting that replacement!
I had to email the CEO to get mine. I think after that they just swapped everyone out.

 

[Toolhorder]

Here's an update on the time frame to get my batteries handled.

I created a UPS call tag on Thursday September 29TH for pick up in Friday the 30TH.
UPS picked them up on Tuesday October the 4TH. Why is anyone's guess.
The batteries were delivered back to me yesterday , Thursday October the 13TH.

That's 2 weeks. A pretty good turn around time if you ask me.

Dave,
Are they the same batteries? Just curious I have the number for anyone without a dealer that needs the contact info. I was suppose to mail mine today but I missed the UPS guy.

 

[daveblank]

Yes, your batteries are rebuilt & returned.

 

[Toolhorder]

Yes, your batteries are rebuilt & returned.

Wonder what they do to them.

 

[daveblank]

Wonder what they do to them.

They replace the defective cells.

 

[mrshaun]

dave do you have the serial numbers of the batteries that are involved? one of my customers who does not have a matco dealer wanted me to look into this for him
shaun

 

[daveblank]

Model numbers with affected batteries include; MCL144LB, MCL144IWK,
MCL144IWKIT, MCL144DDSLK, MCL144IWHOK, MCL144DEMOK, MCL18LB, MCL18LBD,
MCL18IWVSK, MCL18IWVSKIT, MCL18DEMOKIT, and MCL18DDKIT.



Serial number prefixes that are affected by this notice include:



14.4V serial numbers affected:

All batteries beginning with serial prefix JNJ, JNK, and JNL



18V serial numbers affected:

All batteries beginning with serial prefix JFJ, JFK, JFL, KJJ, KJK and
KJL.