Disturbing Trend?

[bigtiller]

And on the flip side...I buy all RIDGID brand tools because they have a lifetime warranty on the batteries. Once registered online, all I have to do to warranty a battery is to login, select the battery from all of my registered tools, and they ship me a new one.

No emails to go through, no receipts to find, he’ll, I don’t even have to leave my house.

I find this method super efficient.

Well, that's new. Finally, a change for the good.

After registering my Ridgid drill/driver/ect. few years ago, I was told to bring the battery, charger and drill to an authorized repair center for them to decide if the battery was bad. And that repair center was about an hour away from home.

That is when I switched to Makita.

 

[gsganzer]

My wife works for a large retailer. You'd probably be very surprised at how much of our info is monitored and used to market things to us. Especially through the use of apps.

With many of these retailer apps, they're able to then track you through the store and map what products you look at, how long you dwell at certain products and then direct coupons and ads to you regarding that product.

 

[riptides]

Get a disposable email account or an alias. Get a disposable credit card.
Most registration problems solved.

 

[Frankenkubota]

And on the flip side...I buy all RIDGID brand tools because they have a lifetime warranty on the batteries. Once registered online, all I have to do to warranty a battery is to login, select the battery from all of my registered tools, and they ship me a new one.

No emails to go through, no receipts to find, he値l, I don稚 even have to leave my house.

I find this method super efficient.

Me too re rigid except i found some of their stuff made in virus land so no go for me. My rigid circle saw was made in vietnam so i bought it.

I used to be able to get customer service from rigid but i'm having trouble right now.

I bought their top of the line chop saw, only to find it's made in china! It came with minor damage to a couple of simple adjustment screws and the stand was bent. Both bought online. I quickly repaired the stand. The adjustment screw on the saw is bent. I bet it's not 50 cents.

I've sent rigid e mails and spent boo koo time on hold on the 800# they force you to call.

You are right about their batt replacement program, just a quick call, love it!

it seems now, If you have a problem with an item received you have to call some 3rd party customer service co.

That trend is bad news. Outsourcing customer service. Seems to me companies want to outsource all the dirty work and focus on the profits. I know, that's what they do, profits. The first thing I say whenI call Amazon.....are you a direct employee of Amazon? They can tell you 5 different ways what they do but will not admit they work for fred's customer service co, contracted to Amazon blah blah blah.

Just more BS.

 

[PILOON]

Just this AM I finally located the website of a manufacturer from which I needed a part.
Took forever to find their help/contact us link.
Filled in all requested data and clicked to send, yep, you guessed it.
They did not activate that link!
Nothing like independent companies.

 

[kf4uda]

A lot and probably most companies now are in two businesses. One is selling their product(s) and the other is selling you. You buy their product and they collect your information for marketing use for themselves and/or selling it.

 

[Oaktree]

A lot and probably most companies now are in two businesses. One is selling their product(s) and the other is selling you. You buy their product and they collect your information for marketing use for themselves and/or selling it.

Yeah, I've always figured that "registering" a tool (or any other product for that matter) is strictly a ploy to get your contact info for marketing purposes. Not far removed from having to mail in the warranty card in the old days. I never bother.

After registering my Ridgid drill/driver/ect. few years ago, I was told to bring the battery, charger and drill to an authorized repair center for them to decide if the battery was bad. And that repair center was about an hour away from home.

That is when I switched to Makita.

They never make it easy do they? And what happens when you need a new battery, but it's an older style that's not made anymore? I really doubt they're gonna keep a stock of obsolete batteries on hand forever.

That's why I've pretty much stuck with Ryobi for cordless tools...current batteries still fit older tools. Quality is as good as any other brand as far as I can see.