Milwaukee tools customer Servce. OMG!!!

[UncleJoe]

Back in May of 2015, thanks to the Milwaukee tool thread and someone on this board pointing out a sale on Milwaukee at zoro tools I bought one of the big 18 volt combo sets that included a circular saw, grinder, light, reciprocating saw, drill and impact driver. I also picked up the cordless bandsaw. I have used these tools a lot and have always been very happy with every aspect of them.

Last fall I was using the impact driver to mount some plywood to the wall and driving lag bolts. In the course of mounting some equipment to the plywood I dropped the impact driver from about 4 feet onto a concrete floor. When I went to use it I noticed a rattling sound. Upon close inspection I found a crack in the metal housing and now all the inner gears were not held perfectly in place, hence the rattling.

I set the driver aside and figures I could buy the parts and rebuild it. When I found the parts diagram I figured I had about an 85% chance of never getting this back together correctly. So I set it aside and would deal with it later.

I searched on Amazon and other places to just purchase a bare tool so my kit would be complete again but depending on the model I would be spending $120 and up for a replacement I have the Fuel brushless system and want to stay with that.

For some reason I wandered over to the Milwaukee site and found the support area. They have a nice support portal and I was able to enter my information, they had check boxes for what was wrong and I check the box marked broken housing and then they had me print out a prepaid Fed Ex label. I figured I would send it to them and they would email me back and tell me how much to have it repaired and if it was less than a new one I would do that.

Now this tool has a 5 year warranty but in my mind that means if their part failed under normal use they would replace it. I figure if I drop the tool then it is my fault not the manufacturers.

Well a week later a box arrives at my door and in it is a brand new Impact driver and it is a Fuel and it has new features that were not on my old gun like a button for self tapping screws in sheet metal.

I was never contacted and asked to pay money for the repair they just sent a brand new tool.

Well, they got me now. I will be hard pressed to buy any other cordless tool after this experience.

If you are thinking about tools give Milwaukee a hard look

 

[Higgins]

It's nice to know that customer service is not dead!

 

[UncleJoe]

It's nice to know that customer service is not dead!

Yes it is, Especially when you have about $1000 in Milwaukee tools. I liked em before now I love them LOL

 

[trackwelder]

They are great. I sent six lights in to be retrofitted to use 12.0 batteries. They sent me three new lights and upgraded the three tower lights. And they paid for the shipping both ways.

 

[freudianfloyd]

Glad I just made Milwaukee my new platform.

 

[mikeasis]

Alot of the guys at work are buying these and the feed back has been nothing but positive. They were 2 pretty ********* snapon guys that were so impressed they bought the Milwaukee tools.

 

[MikeF2316]

I wonder if there's a business lesson for any other companies here?

I, too, have a good experience about replacement of a defective tool when one of the dozen I own failed.

 

[Tallpilot]

Some guys on here get flack for being Milwaukee fanboys. Others just hate that they make their stuff in China. The simple fact is they make good tools for reasonable prices and stand behind them. They also have the deepest bench of mechanic oriented tools.

That isn’t to say other manufacturers aren’t good as well but you can’t go wrong with Milwaukee. Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[thefoobag]

same thing happened with my m12 ratchet, gears stripped out after 2.5 years of hard use, sent it in and they sent me a brand new one. phenomenal service. They have even sent several hog ring kits for my m18 3/8 impact no charge. Ill never buy anything else cordless from here on out.

 

[Formula]

I wonder if there's a business lesson for any other companies here?

I, too, have a good experience about replacement of a defective tool when one of the dozen I own failed.

That's so true. That would definitely make me keep buying their products.

 

[Ign]

I've had several experiences like this.

Their turnaround has gone from 1 week exactly to 2 weeks plus though.

I fear they'll eventually have to cut back something as people abuse the system (NOT saying the OP did!). But I mean anyone can print a prepaid label and send in a tool for any reason.

There was a thread here with a video of a mega-DB who sent in a heavily used impact or impact driver and expected a warranty repair because the rubber overmold was coming off the grip. He raised a huge stink and Milwaukee finally just replaced the tool to shut him up.

It'll only take a few bad apples to ruin it for all of us.

 

[ChrisLS8]

Some companies understand the loyalty a small gesture to their customers can bring. That in itself can bring a whole seperate revenue stream

 

[ChrisLS8]

I've had several experiences like this.

Their turnaround has gone from 1 week exactly to 2 weeks plus though.

I fear they'll eventually have to cut back something as people abuse the system (NOT saying the OP did!). But I mean anyone can print a prepaid label and send in a tool for any reason.

There was a thread here with a video of a mega-DB who sent in a heavily used impact or impact driver and expected a warranty repair because the rubber overmold was coming off the grip. He raised a huge stink and Milwaukee finally just replaced the tool to shut him up.

It'll only take a few bad apples to ruin it for all of us.

Link to thread ?

 

[Dagny]

Had a surge quit first day I used it sent it in back in a week all is good

I expect one of these days a group of investors will buy it up and start to lower quality till it's all **** milking the good name for years an ruining it all.

 

[Ign]

Link to thread ?

This guy sums it up (I didn't make this video)

I couldn't find the original vid any longer BUT I'm not exactly adept at searching YT (specifically I couldn't figure out how to search WITHIN a user's videos). Maybe he took it down for receiving so much heat?

Searching GJ for Donyboy73 also garners a decent amount of hits but the thread didn't jump out at me.

 

[Ign]

Had a surge quit first day I used it sent it in back in a week all is good

I expect one of these days a group of investors will buy it up and start to lower quality till it's all **** milking the good name for years an ruining it all.

ah, ala Skil, Rockwell, Fowler, SPI et al

I hope you're wrong. At least for now TTI has Ryobi as its punching bag

 

[Ign]

Oh and I'm not such a fanboy I'm suggesting their warranty service is beyond reproach.

I had them deny a warranty claim on an M28 battery within the warranty period and I even had POP from Zoro which I included.

They emailed a notice of the denial and I responded as instructed explaining my side and requesting clarification.

Nothing.

I sent a second email thru their main Contact Us which specifically said "we'll get back to you within 48 hours (or whatever the timeframe was)".

Nothing.

Ok, being ignored pisses me off.

I searched the web and found the names of all the corporate officers. I figured out their email address format, eg first.last@milwaukeetool or whatever it is.

I took my two ignored correspondences and hit all of them.

I had a PHONE CALL from THE head warranty guy within a couple hours.

He agreed my denial was in error. He apologized for that and for me not receiving a response within the allotted time frame.

He sent me a new battery.

He's VERY competent and helpful. I keep his email and direct line saved in my phone.

I feel bad for him because I can tell he's the rare employee who actually gives a **** and so he gets an unfair amount of work dumped on him because people know he'll actually do it and do it well.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Milwaukee and Hitachi have always provided me excellent customer service with their products, which is why 95% of my cordless tools are from those two companies. Milwaukee has been especially quick in replies and shipping times.

What I really love about Hitachi is that when I call I'm not on hold for an eternity. Last time I called the phone rang maybe twice and a real person answered right away. She was easy to understand, knew the tools and the parts, and she knew what I wanted right away before I finished explaining it. Very friendly and no nonsense questions or rehearsed lines.

 

[ZRX61]

I expect one of these days a group of investors will buy it up and start to lower quality till it's all **** milking the good name for years an ruining it all.

Chinese owned company.

 

[matt_i]

I had an M18 impact tool from work stop on me, I didn't know about the warranty process until I called around a bit. I sent in the tool, they sent it back repaired, no further issues. I was impressed at how little documentation it took, just the tool's serial number and click thru boxes and fill out text fields on the website, it generated the paperwork including prepaid shipping label. I just handed it to the FedEx guy.

My Dad had an M18 LED handheld swivel light, it stopped working. He had already bought a replacement bare-tool but I told him about my experience. They repaired the LED light and sent it back, all no charge.

Very happy with this, as others have said hopefully it will be a directional thing to improve their base-quality thus leading to reduced warranty costs rather than a pure financial decision to improve the bottom line by slicing the service or length of warranty. If anything its giving them great feedback on specifically what needs to be improved as I would bet they are collecting detailed records on what's wrong.

 

[Ign]

^^they have sent me a couple surveys on my E-service experiences, I always give 'em high marks.

I just received FedEx tracking a few moments ago in fact that an M12 3.0 compact is en route back to me. It was just flashing red/green error on charger.

 

[Wamsutta]

Milwaukee is good people.

 

[Tallpilot]

Chinese owned company.

Sorry, no. Hong Kong isn’t China. Maybe it will be someday.

https://ir.ttigroup.com/en/cg/group_executive_directors.php

Have a gander at those pictures.

Joseph Galli Jr. is the CEO. I’m no expert but that doesn’t sound very Mandarin to me.

I get it. I wish they made their **** somewhere else too. But they are as Chinese as Bosch.

 

[Revere Cycles]

While the current line of tools made under TTI ownership may have excellent warranty and support, older USA made tools are no longer serviceable or rebuildable. I brought my Magnum to my local Milwaukee dealer for a repair because it would short out under heavy loads. My dealer said that since TTI took over, all the old parts are NLA. The new Magnum made overseas may look similar, but shares no internal parts with the old one. As a long-time Milwaukee customer and fan, it is disappointing that the Milwaukee USA tools cannot be serviced anymore.

 

[UncleJoe]

I do not worry about if my favorite tool company will be bought out and run by someone who sends all the manufacturing to China or Timbukto. There is very little a publicly traded company can do when a corporate raider starts buying up all the stock. The financial pressure can be intimidating.

Today, no company can guarantee who its ownership will be in 10 years. Even a private family owned company has issues when the founder dies and the kids would rather sell and take the cash than continue to work hard to compete in the market place.

Your favorite tool company today may well be selling junk from who knows where tomorrow and there is nothing you can do about it.

For me I will just buy the best I can afford today and hope the company has the same standards over time.

Sure I wish that at least one good company would stay, then again I wish I was younger, smarter, in great shape and had more money.... Hey it could happen

 

[DFB]

Ya I remember the guy with the grip wether it was caused by some chemical was up for debate .

Milwaukee CS has been good to me they replaced my heated hoodie with one with a better shell after it ripped 3 times on the job in just 2 weeks of use.

One of the Reps working with ACME sent me out a brand new 2361 light when I just asked to purchase the bar upgrade to use a 9.0

And strangely both my High Torque and my Fuel slide switch grinder both quit working back to back in just a couple weeks time about 4 years old each, both sent out thru E Service warranty, repaired at N/C and sent back in 2 working weeks time max.

I'm good with them

Even one day I found a pristine almost never used cordless circ saw at the Flea Mkt for a great price

But wasn't quite sure it was right for my Red Lithium M18 batteries and with just one cell phone call on a Sunday morning to the SAWDUST number and tech service got me straightened out to what model it was and what batteries it used. Saved me from getting burned if had just bought it instead.

 

[Supergumby5000]

customer service is a big reason I've went with Milwaukee. On two occasions now, I've had M12 tools break (motor burned up in one, electrical trigger issue in the other). Both times there was a Milwaukee rep in my local HD. Both times they handed me a new, current version of the same tool.

With that said, I was a little hard on my M12 stuff. I'll be going all M18 this year.

 

[rsanter]

I wonder if there's a business lesson for any other companies here?

I, too, have a good experience about replacement of a defective tool when one of the dozen I own failed.

There is but it is not being listened to by most companies.
Costco and amazon seem to know this. Snap on does as well.
Most other companies have takes the attitude that the customer is there for them and not the other way around

 

[cajunfirehawk]

Yes, they have outstanding customer service and generally the service centers are throughout the us and close to you location, mine is just one day via mail, awesome.

 

[KDoug]

Uncle Joe, what are you doing with your old impact driver? I'd be interested if you are looking to get rid of it. I didn't understand if you actually mailed it in or not.

 

[Ign]

Well I sent in my 2135 tower light for 12.0 retrofit (they told me to although some here have been successful in just getting the parts shipped to them).

I packed it well. I got it back in a flimsy box today with the handle having busted through at least once.

But hey, nothing was broken so I was over it until I discovered the (-) dimming switch does not work. At all. No. Matter. What. I banged, tapped, pushed, shoved, turned on/off, R&R'd battery.....nothing. That switch is 100% nonresponsive.

I sent off an email to "my" warranty guy.

The light's already been gone over 2 weeks and looks like I'll have to send it back again. Fortunately I don't really NEED it - it's just the principle of the wasted time, boxing, shipping labels, tape, fuel to have it go back to the South again, etc

First world problems sure, but wasteful is wasteful

Oh and FWIW looks like it's an entirely different light, they don't actually retrofit anything, at least not right away. My same serial # had been printed on a small clear sticky label and stuck to an otherwise blank ID tag

 

[UncleJoe]

I mailed it back for warranty work and they sent me a new one. Sorry if that was not clear

 

[jd_1138]

DeWalt, Makita can also take a ton of abuse. I've dropped them from way up -- no damage, though I think they fell on dirt.

But it's cool they took care of you, but DeWalt (American co. and has some manufacturing here) also makes great tools. I have to counter all the Milwaukee fan boys. lol. But Milwaukee, DeWalt, and Makita are all great tools. Milwaukee Fuel's the most powerful.

 

[Ign]

Well I sent in my 2135 tower light for 12.0 retrofit (they told me to although some here have been successful in just getting the parts shipped to them).

I packed it well. I got it back in a flimsy box today with the handle having busted through at least once.

But hey, nothing was broken so I was over it until I discovered the (-) dimming switch does not work. At all. No. Matter. What. I banged, tapped, pushed, shoved, turned on/off, R&R'd battery.....nothing. That switch is 100% nonresponsive.

I sent off an email to "my" warranty guy.

Follow up: Milwaukee was responsive and apologetic. They say I'll be receiving a new 2135 today retrofitted for 12.0s and emailed me a label to return this one.

All in all I feel they're making it right and I'm completely satisfied.

 

[Ign]

Follow up: Milwaukee was responsive and apologetic. They say I'll be receiving a new 2135 today retrofitted for 12.0s and emailed me a label to return this one.

All in all I feel they're making it right and I'm completely satisfied.

More follow-up: I did in fact receive a replacement 2135 yesterday as promised. It was VERY well packaged this time. They sent it FedEx overnight which couldn't have been inexpensive.

Great service