Another win for Capitalism (a WTF moment)

Campbell · Fri, 29 Jun 2012, 10:01

So my company (policy forbids me from saying who but it rhyms with Hears) sells a weedeater that cost $53 to manufacture and has a defective clutch right off the production line. Manufacturer refuses to acknowledge that the clutch is bad and keeps producing the unit.

Now we charge the manufacturer 64.99 To fix their product so the manufacturer issued a blanket order of do not fix, IW replace because it is uneconomical. So now we get these very new trimmers with defective clutches coming in and we IW replace them. Thats right, the maufacturer is making a product that is off the shelf defective and being IW replaced with ANOTHER of its kind which is then also replaced with yet another one because the manufacturer refuses to acknowledge that the clutch is defective and they keep churning these cheap trimmers out.

I speculate that they make money because for every customer that complains the clutch is bad, quite a few probably don't. I'm sure they are selling the thing for at least $80.

The pure waste involved in this process is mind boggling. It gets made in China, pollutes their environment, gets shipped to the US where it is sold, polluting the evironment along the way. Customer gets it, it is automatically broken so customer sends it to the repair center where we set it up as IW replacement and then it gets shipped back to China where some children getting paid a dollar a month get to disassemble the thing and recycle the aluminum from the motor and carburetor, further polluting the environment with the plastic that just ends up in a landfill in China.

Cavadus · Fri, 29 Jun 2012, 10:38

Who's the manufacturer? I was actually heading down to Lowe's to pick up a weed whacker this weekend.

Campbell · Fri, 29 Jun 2012, 11:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cavadus

Who's the manufacturer? I was actually heading down to Lowe's to pick up a weed whacker this weekend.

MTD. Stay away from Troy-Built. MTD makes their stuff much the way it makes a lot of Craftsman logo stuff. I recommend the Hitachi trimmer because it is both an awesome weedeater and it has a 7 year manufacturer warranty. Their Husqvarna stuff is OK as well, though bear in mind the cheaper you go the lower quality of product you will get with Husqvarna.

Hitachi Curved Shaft Trimmer

This one and its straight shaft variant (more expensive) are decent engines, biggest problem you will immediately have is that the intake fuel line seems to get brittle and leak very quick after you start using it. Thats about all I have to say negatively about this model. A ver easy fix. "Hears" sells this one too so I've seen a few of em in for that. The Troy Built's I looked at on the Lowes site are mostly MTD garbage. Avoid at all costs unless you can prove it is not MTD.

If you see any Poulon brand, thats a subsidiary of Husqvarna but its their el cheapo brand, they dumbify down their Husqvarna brand and sell it for cheap. Some are OK, most aren't. The highest cost Poulon are simlar in quality to the Cheapest Husqvarna labled products.