kinda feel let down....

[Envious Eric]

I have been using the griots garage 6" DA for quite some time now, roughly 5-6 years.

I have had many stop working while under use, carbon brushes need to be replaced....no biggie, its a simple swap and takes less than 5 min and the machine fires right back up and works until they go out.

When you run through the installed set of brushes, and then replace them with the brushes that come in the box (apparently you are not allowed to swap otherwise it will void warranty, strange), you are left with a machine that wont turn on until the brushes are replaced. Try giving a call to Griots and you will get the reply "we don`t sell the brushes here, and you are not allowed to change them yourself".

"OK fine, Ill send in the whole polisher so you guys can do it. "

after my first return, I realized you send in your old one to be fixed, they just send you a brand new complete unit. They don`t just replace the carbon brushes. A $8 part is all it takes, but they send you a $150 machine...???? Whatever, I got a new machine and an extra set of brushes that I wanted in the first place.

Fast forward to last week...

while using the DA, it starts sparking inside the maching like the 4th of july. Turn it off, get my other one, continue working. I sent an email over to Griots asking for a return label and I get a reply stating "you are no longer able to return your equipment due to excessive returns". I ask why is that, explain the only problem with the machines Ive sent it was due to needing the carbon brushes replaced, but griots doesn`t sell them, nor give you a place to buy them, so they require the machine to be sent back instead and a new one is given back, not my fault"

The lady proceeds to tell me "the machine is probably not the best fit for my business, so they will not honor a lifetime warranty anymore"

So let me get this straight. The polisher says "professional machine" on it, but is meant for the DIY person using it on the weekends only? A professional business cannot use a professional machine for daily use? My lifetime warranty (big reason why I chose these machines) is no longer honored?

For a simple fix that takes 5 min to do, but takes 2 weeks to get a machine back, its very silly that it has come to this...Ive been sent on two occasions a few years back new sets of brushes, but now the people at griots tell me "we cannot sell you or give you any brushes, you have to send the machine in"

Rupes, I guess Ill be making the switch once these things crap out! Two griots went into the trash last week after two straight years of use since they burned up, wont turn on with new brushes, and my "lifetime warranty" isn`t honored...

[Ronkh]

Wow !

That stinks.

[Migue]

wow , thank you for sharing this.

[JBM]

Forget that noise. Will they pull that with the Boss machines?

[The Driver]

I hope they don`t pull this with the boss series. If they did that to me, they`d never hear the end of it.

[tropicsteve]

how many machines did they replace before the last one? i only had one go out in over 5 yrs of use , not the machine`s fault when my parrot chewed through the cord, and it was replaced with a new one, no problems, when i was just going to re-splice the cord. i often wonder how they can stay in business with that lifetime warranty. i know they boss machines are not lifetime warranty.

[Ronkh]

how many machines did they replace before the last one? i only had one go out in over 5 yrs of use , not the machine`s fault when my parrot chewed through the cord, and it was replaced with a new one, no problems, when i was just going to re-splice the cord. i often wonder how they can stay in business with that lifetime warranty. i know they boss machines are not lifetime warranty.

They don`t say who`s or what`s lifetime......

[Pats300zx]

I`m sure the Griots Rep on the forum will chime in on this issue.

[RaysWay]

For the hundreds of people who I`ve heard have amazing experience with Griots Garage customer service, this would be the first negative I`ve heard regarding their lifetime warranty tool policy.

I have been using the griots garage 6" DA for quite some time now, roughly 5-6 years.

I have had many stop working while under use, carbon brushes need to be replaced....no biggie, its a simple swap and takes less than 5 min and the machine fires right back up and works until they go out.

About how many have you had stop working? 2? 6? 25?

After X amount of warrantied polishers, is this the first time they told you this?

I`m just trying to get more information before jumping to any conclusions.

If I owned a professional detail shop in California and after "many" warranty replacements for a ~$150 tool, I don`t think I`d personally feel too bad about having to purchase another $150 tool to run my business. I just had my headphones warrantied and they let me know a warranty replacement can only be used once. I think the fact that Griots will stand behind their tool so many times is amazing and 99.99% of the world will never have an issue with their policy. But for a pro, you have to figure any tool is going to eventually break.

Rupes, I guess Ill be making the switch once these things crap out! Two griots went into the trash last week after two straight years of use since they burned up, wont turn on with new brushes, and my "lifetime warranty" isn`t honored...

The fact that they won`t turn on with the new brushes may be the reason why Griot`s wants the entire polisher shipped back instead of just sending out brushes. Also, I don`t think the fact a $150 polisher died after two years is a big negative from a professional detail shop. I bet it made a lot more money for you than $150.

Keep in mind most of RUPES tools are under warranty for 1 year...

I don`t want to come off like I`m disagreeing with you that this situation sucks, but just giving you my perspective.



The statements and opinions expressedherein are solely those of Vega@Autopia anddo not constitute official statements orpositions of Autopia Car Care, Autopia.org, orany of its subsidiaries.

[RaskyR1]

5-6 years out of a $100 tool sounds pretty good to me, especially when you factor in how much money its made you.

[RaskyR1]

FWIW I have two of my three gen 2 tools I could have just sent in for warranty (slight play in bearing) but I just spent the $100 and bought new ones instead as I know I`ve beaten the piss out of them and I`ve more than gotten my moneys worth. In fact Jeff has insisted in having me get them replaced and I have repeatedly said no.

[Medicscott]

FWIW I have two of my three gen 2 tools I could have just sent in for warranty (slight play in bearing) but I just spent the $100 and bought new ones instead as I know I`ve beaten the piss out of them and I`ve more than gotten my moneys worth. In fact Jeff has insisted in having me get them replaced and I have repeatedly said no.

Have to agree here with Rasky. Jeff is a stud and goes out of his way to make sure we are all happy. I`m sure when he sees this he will make it right. But with that being said it sounds like Griots has gone out of their way to keep you happy in the past. There`s no other company that I know of that just keeps sending out new after new like Griots. I understand your perspective, they should of communicated with you better, but you`ve definitely gotten your $$ worth.

[JBM]

If they sold brushes this would have been his first warranty claim.

[Ronkh]

IMHO

I can see both sides here. First they do have a "lifetime warranty". Second, I can completely agree that pro use, kinda beats a machine. So maybe they should have a "limited" warranty for commercial use?

[grungy]

This makes no sense why they would supply a spare set of brushes, not allow the user to change them (plus they don`t even work!) and then replace the entire machine. Somethin` not adding up here.. just my $0.02