HOME DEPOT and LSA REPAIR BEWARE (READ THIS BEFORE YOU SEND IT IN)

[UTILITYMETERREPAIR]

If you are considering taking your Ridgid LSA Lifetime warranty tool to Home Depot to repair, BEWARE.

they may or may not repair it using your LSA warranty. you are going to Roll the Dice in the hands of a home depot repair person to determine if your repair is covered or is the result of "neglect"
in the fine print you sign, you agree to pay them 18.95 for evaluation, and it says, "if a customers tool repair is fully covered under a manufacturers warranty, home depot shall credit customer the upfront charge of 18.95 plus tax at the time of the tool pickup.

my mistake was assuming when i read it, i had my LSA. they even took my LSA info when i dropped off the tool.

when i went in to pick up my tool, it was fixed, but was told im not getting the 18.95 back because it was not a warranty repair. i explained i had the LSA, but it didnt matter, they said it wasnt covered with no extra info.

finally i got in contact with Home depot corporate and asked if they could look into this, i suspected the home depot employee didnt contact Ridgid for warranty recovery. they immediately called the store, while i was on the line with corporate and talked to a manager, the manager agreed to credit back my 18.95. i went in later, met with a manager and the problem was discussed in detail. we talked to the actual employee who repaired the tool and he said the chuck was jammed up because i didnt lubricate it, he said that's why the repair not covered by LSA. it was suggested i use something like WD-40 to keep the chuck lubricated. even the store manager said that he had never personally lubricated his chuck.

they said the 18.95 refund was a courtesy, not because anyone did anything wrong.

you also sign a 100$ pre approval, agreeing to pay up to 100$ for repair. so my 18.95 repair could have come back as potentially $99.95 repair (NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY)

so as a summary, if you decide to send in your LSA Lifetime tools to home depot repair, you may end up paying up to 100$ for a repair "NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY"

my advise, unless you can 100% confirm the repair they do is going to be covered, dont take it to home depot, send it to an Authorized service center. i have never had any problems with authorized service centers in all the years i have had LSA warranty, i was just trying to save a trip to the post office one night i was at HD shopping.

this is not hate on home depot, home depot is a great store and i shop there often, even picked up a bunch of new Ridgid 18v tools in the last few months and added them to my LSA. I just want the Ridgid LSA community to be aware of what they might run into if they take their tool to HD.

if you have any HD repair experiences, please reply to this post with your experience.

[CWSmith]

I have seen recently a number of complaints regarding Ridgid-brand tools being taken back to Home Depot for repair. Perhaps I've missed something in the last couple of years, but where did the idea of returning tools to Home Depot, even come from? I bought my first few "Ridgid Tools" in 2003, soon after the new "orange" line was introduced with the LLSA. Not then and certainly not over the following ten years did the idea of Home Depot acting as a middle-man ever come into thought.

"Authorized" Ridgid Service Centers must have to pass some criteria I would think (maybe NOT?) and to have somebody, not authorized, like a guy at the local HD store do the repair make me wonder what is going on. Does Ridgid or TTI even authorize or allow for that to happen? Does that in any way violate the "authorized" agreement of the LLSA, and what happens to your LLSA or Warranty if somebody NOT aurthorized sticks there 'fingers' into it?

I would like to hear what Ridgid has to say about this kind of service (or lack thereof) from your local Home Depot store. Is this even a good path to follow?

No thanks, I will continue to keep Home Depot the heck out of my tools. It's bad enough that I am forced to buy from them to begin with.

CWS

[BadgerDave]

They being TTI, did allow HD to start doing the LLSA exchange for batteries a couple of years back but AFAIK that's all HD was/is allowed to do at no charge under the LLSA. As you correctly pointed out CWS only "Authorized" Service Centers can do no charge repairs under the LLSA. Anyone taking their tools into HD expecting to receive no charge repairs done fall victim to the P.T. Barnum Rule #1. Don't blame HD for peoples lack of ability to read, understand and follow(thanks Norm) the guidelines of the LLSA.

[Gary 1]

I have never heard of a warranty scam more talked about than ridgid's. Is this a coincidence? It's so difficult to register and implement that it's not worth the time.

[CWSmith]

Well I do agree that the LLSA is a point of contention with far too many people. Personally though, I have not had a single problem with it, EVER!

I don't know if purchasers just don't read the rules, or what their problem is. I do think that too many employees at Home Depot don't understand the rules either and in all too many stores today I think employees feel that 'If a customer asks'... never tell them that you don't know.... tell the anything that comes to mind instead. I've heard everything from "Home Depot gives every tool it sells (regardless of brand) a lifetime replacement guarantee... just bring it back to me (personally) and I''ll give you a new tool"; to "Oh yeah, Home Depot owns Ridgid, that's why those Ridgid tools are orange!"

None of that is true of course.

I've registered about 20 tools into the LLSA and not one of them ever missed getting properly registered and posted. I've only had to send in two Ridgid tools for repair and both were done promptly and returned to me within two weeks time. I pay to ship via UPS to the authorized Service Center and they do the repair and return it too me without any further cost on my part. (How can you beat that, with only then minutes invested in properly registering the tools.)

Essential to this process is that you read the rules, send in all the necessary data requested about your purchase, keep a copy of everything, (Don't send in the original receipt, but a copy of it, and do send in the original UPC code cut from the product carton.) and then follow up with a phone call, if you don't see it posted to the website within 4 or 5 weeks.

Now, that's not much of an effort to gain Lifetime Service and battery replacement, IS IT?

Merry Christmas,

CWS

[cactusman]

I agree with CW Smith 100%

The majority of issues are split between TTI-Ridgid, Home Depot and the consumer.
TTI-Ridgid is vague in providing the LSA process. Home Depot supporting the product's LSA program
is also unknown and vague....The store does not support the LSA program You must go
through the TTI-Ridgid registration....and then follow their instructions in the fine print!!!
The consumer needs to precisely follow the registration instructions....which more times than not are followed!
Thus voiding the process and irritating the consumer!

Home Depot is the only retail seller of orange Ridgid tools that can be registered for the LSA program!

If you buy a new orange Ridgid tool elsewhere you will get the 3 year warranty only if you register the tool.

If you don't register the tool you simply have a 90 day warranty! If you buy a "refurbished tool" you get 30 days or maybe 90 days depending upon the selling business. Home Depot does offer a 30 day return no questions asked.

Even E-Bay purchased orange Ridgid tools and even if new will often only get the 3 year warranty.

Remember the "REBATE OFFER"???? you send in a card and documentation and you can receive a
cash rebate???? Well how many times did that fail? Marketing figures a very small percentage
of consumers would bother with the process..meaning more money for them!

Think about all the orange Ridgid tools sold without the LSA registration? more money for TTI!!!!

If they do have to honor the LSA program they do not make it easy....to where a consumer
will say "forget about it" and go buy a replacement tool..typically of another brand, although
TTI makes a large number of known brand names and many many non brand name products....
that are sold at auto supply stores and other outlets, so TTI is not too concerned.

Many folks here actually read the manual, understand how to go through the LSA registration
process and have even had successful experiences with the LSA program.

In Glendale AZ there was a lawn mower repair service that was recognized as a "licensed
Ridgid LSA service center". They lost so much money, time and had so many delays in
getting repair parts they said bye-bye to TTI and Ridgid.

I believe some larger Home Depot stores have tried to pick up the slack and offered some
limited LSA support within their tool rental area. They initially focused only with batteries
as so many people complained about the process. You had to bring in the bad battery,
The battery charger, and the tool! Then their serial numbers had to match your LSA registration.

Often the entire set ...battery, tool, and charger had to be sent to Ridgid....before you
received a replacement battery.....

Bottom liner here....the LSA is simply "MARKETING!!!"
The orange Ridgid tool line is still an excellent product. I have Ridgid 18V tools since they first came
out. In fact I even have a few of their dual voltage models that would run on 18V or 24V.
I bought my first orange Ridgid 18V tool in mid 2005...none of the tools have ever failed!

My old nicad 18v batteries have gone away long ago..and even though I could have had them replaced with LSA covered nicad batteries I opted to forgo the process and upgrade to the newer Lithium-Ion batteries....Besides getting 7 plus years from a nicad battery is pretty darn good!


Cactus Man

[Gary 1]

What I don't understand is that if this process is so great, why are we hearing so much complaining about it. It's very simple. If the process is filled with glitches, many will not bother and walk away, thus another tool that is not covered. This greatly benefits Ridgid/HD/TTI. There are whole strings on this issue, at least one of them continued for years with many many pages. And strangely (or not so strangely) it keeps coming up again and again.

I read many that defend Ridgid on this and I have to wonder who is working either directly or indirectly for those mentioned above. I find that in many cases it's the same people and in most cases those same people just assume that nobody followed directions like they are the only ones that can.
I know there are many that claim to have never had a problem. Is this true? I don't know. I can only refer to my experience.

I did follow the procedure exactly, yes I can read and just gave up. I could have perhaps continued with relentless calls and responses but it got to the point where it just wasn't worth the time anymore. As a contractor I have many, many tools. I did like the Ridgid brand but will no longer buy them just on principle, nor will I allow Ridgid tools to be claimed on my employee's tool allowances. Funny thing is that 2 of my employees stated that they already wouldn't buy them for the same reason. These are tradesmen that constantly buy tools as I do unlike homeowners or hobbyists.

Bottom line is the marketing/scam (whatever you want to call it) is costing them business.

[Gary 1]

Forgot to mention that I won't buy at HD anymore for the same reason. There are choices out there

[CWSmith]

I understand your frustration, and I do agree that the whole process COULD be made easier. Surely, it's a marketing scheme... actually everything is, with every brand, it's ALL about marketing... price, warranty, color, placement, service, etc. Each brand has their ploy to bring in and keep customers. In the case of the "Ridgid" branded, orange tool line, one might be interested in the whole history of the thing. At one time, Emerson Electric-owned "Ridgid" made some stationary woodworking tools. They were painted gray, with a red-orange trim. At first they were made here in the U.S., but later in Taiwan. Then a Hong Kong-based company, TTI, bought the rights from Emerson to make those tools under license to use the "Ridgid" brand name, and at the same time they introduced a series of hand-held tools and the new "Orange" color scheme. These were introduced in the fall of 2003; and part of that new introduction, TTI introduced the LLSA program. It was part of the introduction of a brand new tool line and its marketing purpose was to attract new buyers who might not otherwise have confidence in buying a new tool line.

The LLSA was originally only a temporary plan and in fact it went away at the end of 2004, IIRC. For about a year, "Ridgid" brand tools only had the 3-year and no LLSA. But, as I understand it, sales tapered slightly and so the LLSA was re-introduced.

Unfortunately, the confusion was never straightened out and over the years, the "Authorized Service Centers" have come and gone faster than weather changes. Problems with proper investigation of these independent repair shops, slow parts shipments, and even slower reimbursements have been reported. The whole confusion between what is really covered and what "Ridgid" product is really part of the LLSA system has been dramatic. This web site is a good example, where we have a variety of "Ridgid" tools...from different manufacturing, differnet management, different outlets, and different warranties.

The TTI-manufactured "Ridgid" tool line is an "exclusive" of Home Depot. Sure you can buy on E-Bay, etc. but those sources are sort of a black-market in that they are not officially recognized by TTI and thus are not covered or even registerable for the LLSA... you MUST have a Home Depot receipt!

Further problem with the TTI-"Ridgid" branded tools is the "exclusive" agreement with Home Depot, whose sales people don't understand any of it, and certainly don't promote the product line as it should be. In my two local stores, DeWalt gets a much higher exposure. Worse still is that Home Depot decides what tools it will carry. Neither of my two local HD's will carry any of the stationary line and all of the portables are kept high on the shelves where you really can't examine them. That is absolutely no way to retail a product, much less 'market' it to prospective buyers.

Unfortunately, I think the "Ridgid" brand of tools will never reach it's full potential until it breaks with Home Depot, makes it available from a variety of sources, and straightens out it registration and service center support problems. While I do like the "Ridgid" tool brand, I can't stand to go into Home Depot any more. It's service totally sucks. Sales people are rarely helpful and in my local store there is only one live cashier with everything else being self-checkout. I refuse to use a machine where a good person should be employed. Lowes now gets just about all of my business that a few years ago would have gone to HD.

However, I have never worked for Emerson, Ridgid, TTI, or Home Depot, nor do I have any stock or other financial attachments to them. I'm a retired technical illustrator/writer that did a lot of freelance work for top manufacturers in the Northeast, and I'm retired from a major compressor manufacturer after 30 years of service, with the last ten years of service in marketing support.

CWS

[cactusman]

Gary said:
"I did follow the procedure exactly, yes I can read and just gave up. I could have perhaps continued with relentless calls and responses but it got to the point where it just wasn't worth the time anymore. As a contractor I have many, many tools. I did like the Ridgid brand but will no longer buy them just on principle, nor will I allow Ridgid tools to be claimed on my employee's tool allowances. Funny thing is that 2 of my employees stated that they already wouldn't buy them for the same reason. These are tradesmen that constantly buy tools as I do unlike homeowners or hobbyists."

Well there, you said it ....."I just gave up"
So CW-smith gave you the Ridgid history....and a well written history! Now you know the truth.

If you still like the quality of the Ridgid orange tools....I have an idea for you....

Keep buying them, rely upon them, they are indeed good tools, quality tools, and simply forgo
the LSA registration and simply register them for the 3 years..that's not too difficult.

Besides as a contractor etc..I'm sure you simply replace other worn out tools every three years or so.

Most other tool brands have a similar three year warranty more or less...

Finally I'm a Ridgid tool owner..I do not work for or own Ridgid stock or have any
business ties with Home Depot.

When you read those on this reflector complaining...notice how many posts they have
submitted....how often, and if their complaint is their only posting....Do they ever return?

There are many more success stories than the one post complainers.

I also know that none of us "regular Ridgid tool users" can change your mind
about Ridgid tools so time to move on and quit whining.....


Cactus Man

[Gary 1]

Sounds like you've got this all figured out. Everyone that agrees with you is a regular ridgid too user and everyone that doesn't is a whiner. I so realize that your opinion is more important than everyone else's but I was hoping that maybe, just maybe somebody else was on this site and not just you.
You are entitled to waste as much of your time with registrations and scams as everybody else does doing whatever the hell they want.

[pesciwasp]

Gary, i have a hundred Ridgid power tools, i have registered all of them, had 1 repair on a drill, and had about 10 batteries replaced, (mostly old 18 and 24 volt ones when they had bat cell issues) no scam! Ive had no problems and need i remind you a battey is at least $99, do the math, its worth the so called hoops everyone whines about. There is no scam. Also i have never sent in original copy of recpt, or sent certified mail. Make copies they cant dispute it

[allpurpose]

I dunno folks, if I have to rely on Home Depot to fix anything EVER life just stopped being worth living.
I prefer finding a small fixit shop that's run by a little old guy wearing coke bottle glasses. Sure he's hard to find, but worth every minute of the search.

[anf]

I just received a reply stating that I have to send a registered letter to Rigid to verify for my warranty. This leaves me in a quandary. Do I waste a trip to the post office and the approximately 30 dollars (in Canada) to arrange that?? and then pray that they accept it after waiting "up to 8 weeks" as they say in the email or do I simply suck it up and take the tool back to HD? BTW I am a big fan of HD, but my carpenter friends all avoid it like the plague. They say it's more expensive. Not my experience.

I am not a pro, but I do understand the value of good tools as I am a retired pro pilot and the maintenance PPL I worked with always used the best tools available.

However this registration process seems bogus and designed to get you to keep the tool and say to heck with the registration, however I feel that I was ripped off by being forced to go through this nonsense. Interestingly all the folks @ HD don't even make a big deal about the warranty or if they do, they mention the hoops that you have to jump through.

I bought a Rigid corded hand drill and had no probs with the warranty registration, although I am not particularly happy with the drill as it has two speeds, 'dead slow' and 'full tilt boogie'.

So back to HD I go taking my drill/driver combo.

Cactusman,
Thanks for the history. Looks like nothing comes from North America anymore.

Gary1,
Gotta say that I agree with your assessment. I told a contractor friend about the great Rigid warranty, and now I have to tell him about the downside.

[CWSmith]

anf,

Yeah, I got such a request with a tool that I purchased earlier this year (a JobMax). Funny part of it was that I made the purchase of the JobMax which consisted of the motor-part and a sander head (both pieces had to be registered). Within a couple of weeks, I also bought a couple more accessories for it; the jig saw head, recip saw head, and the right-angle head. I registered all of them within a few days of each other.

So while the later purchased items got registered into the system along with the driver motor unit, the sander portion that came with that original purchase did NOT... and I received an e-mail requesting that I send the original receipt so they could verify the information. That was sort of a "what the hell" trigger for me... like you accepted the receipt to register the motor part but questioned the same receipt for the sander head.

That didn't make a lot of sense to me, so I called. As it was explained to me, apparently different people handle different parts and thus one person questioned it. Doesn't sound right to me, and I told the rep that was sort of dumb and perhaps they need to spend a little more education, or else screen who's having a problem and why. But, I sent in a copy (I never send the original) and within another two weeks everything was properly registered. Just sort of ignorant, in my opinion, but I saw no sense in arguing beyond my question.

Nice part about my purchases this year (the JobMax, accessories, and, earlier, a framing nailer) is that I never had to send anything in (other than that "registered" request. You simply have to provide the transaction number that was on the Home Depot receipt. Simple and quick in the case of the nailer and the JobMax accessories... a bit more problematic with the JobMax tool though.

Registered mail down here in New York State was only $3.50 and I drive by the Post Office several times a week anyway. But I'm retired, and I can imagine that if you're a busy working stiff where 'time is money', you don't want to screw around with such things. And of course up there in Canada, it appears that your postal "registration" cost are rather absurd.

The whole thing boils down to what the problem was in the first place and why should such a verification be necessary, when as I've experienced it could have just been passed under someone else's eyes.

CWS

[anf]

I just received a reply stating that I have to send a registered letter to Rigid to verify for my warranty. This leaves me in a quandary. Do I waste a trip to the post office and the approximately 30 dollars (in Canada) to arrange that?? and then pray that they accept it after waiting "up to 8 weeks" as they say in the email or do I simply suck it up and take the tool back to HD? BTW I am a big fan of HD, but my carpenter friends all avoid it like the plague. They say it's more expensive. Not my experience.

I am not a pro, but I do understand the value of good tools as I am a retired pro pilot and the maintenance PPL I worked with always used the best tools available.

However this registration process seems bogus and designed to get you to keep the tool and say to heck with the registration, however I feel that I was ripped off by being forced to go through this nonsense. Interestingly all the folks @ HD don't even make a big deal about the warranty or if they do, they mention the hoops that you have to jump through.

I bought a Rigid corded hand drill and had no probs with the warranty registration, although I am not particularly happy with the drill as it has two speeds, 'dead slow' and 'full tilt boogie'.

So back to HD I go taking my drill/driver combo.

Cactusman,
Thanks for the history. Looks like nothing comes from North America anymore.

Gary1,
Gotta say that I agree with your assessment. I told a contractor friend about the great Rigid warranty, and now I have to tell him about the downside.

OK, Does anyone have some crow out there??? ; )

Long story but I ended up getting not just the drill/driver combo back but also a sawzall and a larger battery and a jigsaw. The jigsaw was part of a promotion that was hard to say no.

I spoke with a guy @ HD and they said that the deal is to wait a week or two before registering because there is some sort of delay in the receipts making it to the US from Canada, which triggers the dear Alan letter (having to send in the receipt.)

Here is the details: so I tried a Milwaukee drill driver set and didn't like the sloppiness of the switches and the fact that the bit wouldn't pop out of the driver like the Ridgid. To me that was very important and a very cool feature.

Then I repurchased the DD. A week later I had some pruning etc to do so I got the recip saw. Then a week or so later they had a promo at HD for 10% off and I needed a larger battery and there was a deal where it was just a bit more for the jigsaw so I got it. To get the promo I returned/repurchased the previous purchases which had the registration process started, so this confused the registration folks and they said I had to send in the receipt... so I called them to verify what I needed to do and the nice gal who answered brought up my file and after I explained what I had done that made it so confusing she simply got me to scan and email the receipt and bingitty bing it's now registered.

Bottom line, the folks @ Ridgid in the registration office are very nice and helpful and

If you are a Canadian (Cannuck) wait a week or two before registering online.

[miamicuse]

OK I just had a similar experience as the OP, but different.

I have an X4 impact driver under LSA, and it was wobbling. In other words if I use a real short bit it works fine. If I have to use a bit extender the wobbling at the end is too much. I have since purchased a gen5 impact driver hammer drill combo and have used the same long bit with both drivers side by side. The gen5 is straight, the X4 is off.

My local HD is a "repair center". I took the X4 in, said its cover under LSA and it needs to be repaired. The tool desk said I need to put down a deposit of $20. They don't do the repair at HD. He said they send it to Atlanta. If the repair is covered under LSA it will be repaired and I get the $20 back. If it is not covered under LSA, they will contact me with an estimate and whether I accept or decline the repair I lose the $20.

so what would NOT be covered under the LSA? He said if the customer didn't maintain the tools, or if it was subjected to abuse, tool fell off the roof, if they deemed it's performing within acceptable tolerances, or it's just normal wear n tear etc etc etc it's not covered. It will take six to eight weeks to get an answer.

he showed me a drill that one customer had declined repairs on. A cordless drill that the pilot light isn't working. They said the repair center deemed it was over abused and not covered, and gave an estimate of $75 repair, the customer declined - of course, you can get a new kit for $69 with a charger and battery now. So he lost $20.

I asked him if this is HD or Ridgid. If I go to a repair center or mail it in will there be a $20 fee? He said yes it's not just HD.

I then asked if my impact wobbling is covered he said only Atlanta can determine that. He said so far it's been 60/40, 60% of the tools get repaired under LSA and 40% were not covered. Out of the 40% not covered, be can't remember a single case of a customer authorizing the repair. They gave up and lost $20.

I must say this was a surprise and a major thumbs down. A $20 deposit, a 6-8 weeks wait, a 40% decline coverage record, is probably enough hindrance for me to not bother. To me at least this put Ridgid's advantage of LSA (except for batteries) out the window.