Inverter stik welder problems

[arrow]

I attempted to avoid bad mouthing any company being advertisers here. But let me say there might be only one of the two inverter companies that really care about their customers. And that company is not Longevity in my opinion.
I have been dealing with them for a month trying to get an answer about one of their inverter stick welders I purchased in 2014. It was used 3 times over a period of a year and a half. It was kept in a Samsonite sealed piece of luggage (the one that the gorilla tried to beat the snot out of) and in the garage. The last time it was used (Sept.), it was cantankerous to start a weld and the output was no where near it's digital read out (this was true from new). I have emailed them 9 times. Have called them 6 times. I have gotten 2 emails back along with the same number of phone calls. All correspondence from them was to the tune of "we need to figure out what we can do since the warranty is up" Apparently this "figuring" is beyond them as 30 days later from my first correspondence, I am in the exact same place as when i started. Today I was simply ignored when I called once more.

Any product can go bad. It is of utter importance for the company however to make an honest effort to resolve customer or product issues. This "effort" to my mind was minimal at best from Longevity.
Customer service is what maintains a company in the public eye of being an entity one would care to do business with. Avoidance to resolve tends to have the opposite effect.

 

[FredH]

I have a Longevity migweld 200S that I purchased a couple of years ago, BUT it was at a 50% discount or similar . It was from a contest on Their website forum , Likely would not of purchased otherwise . Has Been kept in my shop , unheated in the open air without any covering since purchased .

Temp's during winter easily get down to teens many times through out winter months although humidity is lower here than in costal areas . One thing I do though if going to use in winter is to plug in welder , turn it on an let sit for at least 15 minutes before using . This allows things to " Heat " up before use , rather than turn it on and and hit the juice . Did that once with another inverter type machine and it fried several circuits inside and it was not even a welder or cutter !!

If I was to do it all over again , I would most likely of went with a Everlast model from Mark . He Always seem's to be here and His Knowledge / Help is always Appreciated . :thumbsup:

Fred H.

 

[arrow]

[QUOTE

If I was to do it all over again , I would most likely of went with a Everlast model from Mark . He Always seem's to be here and His Knowledge / Help is always Appreciated . :thumbsup:

Fred H.[/QUOTE]

I feel without a doubt you are entirely correct judging from my experience with Longevity. Heck, Mark went so far as to offer to straighten this out without knowing I wasn't complaining about his welders.

 

[Big Barn]

Just want to add my vote for Mark also. I was unable to purchase from him, but he referred me to Everlast Canada who looked after me well.

Terry

 

[k0ua]

Just want to add my vote for Mark also. I was unable to purchase from him, but he referred me to Everlast Canada who looked after me well.

Terry

Mark is a good guy, always willing to help, even if it has nothing to do with his equipment.

 

[arrow]

I've gotten to the point of not wanting to even look at anything that says "Longevity" on it's side. The welder was used 3 TIMES and Longevity's attempt to resolve the issue was "it's out of warrantee, it's gonna cost more than the welder to fix". If I used it 3 times a week, dropped it, kept it outside or found some other way to abuse this welder, I would certainly reconcile it was my loss.
I feel to lean on the crutch of "it's out of warrantee" for such minimal use along with such a short time frame and not stand behind their machine for what could be a design flaw, is rather reprehensible to me.

Very irresponsible customer service in my mind. I am thinking they could possibly be over run with welder complaints and have dug their heels in to mitigate the possible money hemorrhage of constant replacement. After all, I did only buy their "least inexpensive" box and not a multi thousand dollar one. I must be like a cockroach to them.

 

[Big Barn]

Obviously I can't say for certain but my guess would be storing in that suitcase was the problem.

Regardless, it seems Longevity's customer service kinda sucks from your experience.

Terry

 

[arrow]

Obviously I can't say for certain but my guess would be storing in that suitcase was the problem.

Regardless, it seems Longevity's customer service kinda sucks from your experience.

Terry

I cannot say for sure but I was told the machine could be kept in an unheated garage at time of sale. I put it in a sealed suitcase (they're even called "suit case welders") that could float if thrown in water to battle any moisture differences and was offered the option of purchasing one of their cases to keep the welder in. As I thought what I had a more superior encasement, I did not opt for theirs. I think the bulk of the problem has to do with the tech Longevity commissioned to build the welders with. They used mosfets where Everlast uses IGBT connections. The latter being more stable.

It doesn't matter to Longevity that my welder crapped out after 1.5 years with minimal use. That's the most disappointing thing to me: I did business with a company that can give a rat's tail of what happened to my welder. Longevity has started using IGBT technology in some of their stuff but I would no longer consider doing business with them even if they used diamonds and gold inside their machines.

 

[Shield Arc]

When Longevity was more active on this welding forum, there were a couple members who had their Stickweld 250s. Member Furu brought his welder to my shop for some one on one help. The machine ran great, but it took way more amps to run a rod compared to my other welders. Over a very short period of time the welder just kept losing power. Same thing for a kid who lives in British Columbia. Longevity replaced both welders. But Furu's new welder did the very same thing! So he bought a Everlast PowerArc 300.

 

[yomax4]

Higher end and considered " brand " name machines can be a little different in how they dip and bake the PC Boards. Many are to military spec. In that, You can store them like you did and as long as they don't fill up with dirt and mice nests, They will handle it.