OK, here's the saga so far. I burn lots of wood for heat. During the winter every week or so, I grab 4 or 5 clean pallets before they end up in the dumpster and cut them up for supplemntary firewood. Great stuff for getting the stove going. Anyhow, needing a reasonable way to cut pallets into stove sized pieces, about 18 months ago I bought a Milwaukee worm drive saw (model 6377). A bit heavy, but great for my purposes. I am the only one who has ever used it, and only for cutting pallets about once a week during the cold months. I figure that this saw has maybe 20 or 25 hours on it, tops. Using it a couple of weeks back, I end a cut, pick the saw up off of the wood, the blade guard snaps shut and the the little rubber stop for the guard snaps off and gets shot out of the front of the saw by the coasting blade. I figured that it just came loose and fell out, but on closer inspection see that the aluminium post on which it mounts (which is part of the saw body casting) has snapped off. Lacking this stop, the saw is very awakward to use and perhaps a bit less than safe as it now always requires you to manually pull the guard up with your left hand to start a cut.
This tool has a 5 year warranty. So I bring it to the local Milwaukee authorized service place. They call me a few days later and tell me that the Milwaukee rep is refusing the warranty repair because there are "scratches" on the bottom of the blade guard that suggest that it was dropped. I counter that:
a) It was not dropped, I was using it.
b) The overall appearance of the tool is near new. It has clearly not spent its life on construction sites. He agrees that it is very obvious that it was never dropped from a roof or a ladder or otherwise abused.
c)Whenever one sets the saw down, the design is such that it rests, at least partially, on the blade guard. As the saw weighs in at 16.8 lbs, I don't think it is surprising that it is scratched and dinged up a bit.
d) it is enough that a $235.00 "pro-grade" tool with the reputation of Milwaulkee Electric behind it would have parts flying off of it, but seems silly to then have the company refuse to repair it. I know nothing is perfect and that stuff breaks, it's the second part that I find most bothersome.
e) I know nobody will believe this, but if I broke it, I would just fess up and buy the casting (which costs 37 bucks, not outrageous, IMHO) and change it myself. That's just how I am. But I DID NOT break it!
As I am only talking to the bench guy at the repair place, and it is not his decision to make, I politely ask if he could please refer me to the Milwaulkee rep to ask him to reconsider. He said that he would pass my complaint along to the rep, along with my phone number. I have not yet heard back from the rep. I have a call in to the regional manager as well, am awaiting a call back. To be fair, I just called the reigonal guy this morning, so it is still early on that front.
Have any of you guys had this sort of experience with Milwalkee? I own lots of their stuff, and love it all. I have never had occasion to seek a warranty repair, so I found it rather annoying that I get this sort of thing for the one time in 25 years that I do.
Am I being unreasonable here?