I have a Ryobi Scarifier which has died after a few years.
I took it to my local Bunnings last night and they have told me to take it to a mower shop to confirm it’s broken.
I can’t see any reference to this process on the Ryobi site, wondering if anyone has heard of this before?
I will get in touch with Ryobi on Monday but interested in any other experiences like this?
Battery scarifier? That should be a replacement first 4 years. Extra 2 years if you registered it. All bunnings responsibilities
I legitimately thought “scarifier” was some typo
I have one. It's an amazingly useful tool in the raised garden beds.
Is it because it's lighter in weight than petrol powered?
Yeah I have read through the warranty wording and checked under the product and there’s nothing about taking it to an unrelated shop first. I was a bit taken back when she came out with that
Go back and ask for manager? That’s not on from Bunnings
I took it to my local Bunnings last night and they have told me to take it to a mower shop to confirm it’s broken
Time to go all Karen on them and ask for a manager!
Assuming this doesn't work full stop, take a battery or ask them to plug it in to confirm.
I took batteries to show them what it does, it starts and stops and just constantly cuts out, something has gone pear shaped with it
She said yeah thats no good, here, call this mower shop in town, they need to check it and will confirm the process from there
I was like whaaaaaattttt?
That’s ridiculous. That person has zero idea. Definitely go back and talk to someone else.
I took a hedge trimmer back. They made me take it outside and try to trim some hedges to ensure it was broken. They just want some sort of proof it doesn't work, especially on tools that someone might buy, use once then try to return.
Yep did that, i dont think she was trying to be unhelpful, i just think the store has the wrong understanding
Bunnings hasn’t been helpful lately, I have a 6mo aeg sub compact drill that’s slipping and Bunnings told me I need to print out my invoice before I can drop it off at the tool shop for service, why the option for sms only receipt then.
Opposite of my experience with them. I think it depends who you get behind the counter.
Depends who you get as a rep really…. It sucks but keep hassling them, a manager preferred.
My cordless ozito paint sprayer stopped spraying liquid after 1 month, even though I cleaned it properly. Even changed the nozzle with brand new ones and nothing.
Took it back and said it wasnt spraying, it doesn't even spray water.
Rep said to talk to ozito first and I said, I did and they told me to go back to Bunnings for a replacement.
Rep looked confused and she has to speak to another rep and the rep just approved it on the spot. Wasn't a manager but he took me to the back desk to swap it.
I told them they can test it with water and they said no, apparently they can't test it due to safety or something. They just had to trust me it wasn't working.
Yeah think some staff are just completely out of the loop. The warranties are replacement only they don’t repair anything
Did you buy it from Bunnings?
Sure did, she didn’t even ask for the receipt, found a local mower joint in town and told me to call them first! Haha. Hell no
Local mower place won’t want to look at it, if they do they will want to be paid for it.
Yeah I challenged her with that when she said it, she did say they’ve been having trouble with other people they have been sending there lol, wonder why!
Complete BS. Bunnings offer exclusive products with long warranties and then come up with all kinds of stalling tactics in the hope you will get tired and go away.
Don't go back send a request to your state Small Claims. They will sort it out quick smart.
Don't go back send a request to your state Small Claims. They will sort it out quick smart.
Most state fair trading departments have backlogs of several months. Going back and speaking to someone else will definitely be the quicker resolution.
I recently had to return my mower which was a little over 5 years old as something inside the deadman switch broke. Woman on the desk initially said it's only a 3 year warranty and the other one next to her said the box needs to be returned. Obviously both incorrect but they called someone from power gardening without my prompting who came and had a look, grabbed a trolley and off we went to collect a replacement. Like most business, there's employees who simply don't know about everything so you just need to speak to the right person. If they hadn't called someone to take a look I would've asked to speak to a manager, not just accepted their obviously wrong response.
Yeah taking it back to a different store today, she’ll be right!
Keep us informed, want to see how your local Bunnings handles it.
Second store the garden gear guys gave the girl at the counter the nod and said go pick a replacement or something different, sorted. Grabbed a pole hedger instead with some store credit, wasn’t using a scarifier enough to warrant another one. They said they are finding the other store I initially went to didn’t know what they were doing in this space…
Great outcome, just goes to show it depends on the rep, manager and store. It's annoying but gotta keep trying different people.
I had an AEG reciprocating saw that my husband said stopped working. bought 3.5 years ago, showed it to the Returns counter and they gave me the newer model which was $30 more as mine was discontinued already. Thought that was a pretty great warranty experience.
I am wondering how much money is Bunnings losing over warranty claims in such cases.
Probably not a lot. It woukd be factored into the supply agreement for manufacturer to foot the bill. If it was coming oht of bunnings pocket itd be a lot harder to get warranty.
Absolutely nothing, it's all passed on to the supplier. That's why they're generally so free and ready with their refunds and returns. Great for the customer, tough for the supplier, especially as if you don't agree to their terms you simply don't get stocked and few business can't afford to not be in the largest retailer in the country.
They will lose money for out of warranty claims and for those people giving the ACCC reasonable warranty clause etc…. There will always be people that try to push as much as they can, some justified some not.
I can also see alot of people claiming warranty for user fault too.
As I said, all put back on the supplier. Source, I worked for a company that supplied into Bunnings.
@apsilon: How is it all back to the supplier? That's just the item itself.
The time and wages dealing with these lengthy complaints if Bunnings stood their ground and said no.
Then if the customer complains further, other parties are involved and that's more time and money wasted following up.
Is the supplier footing the bill for that if at the end of a lengthy warranty complaint gets accepted?
@hasher22: Bunnings don't do lengthy complaints though, they just accept 99% of returns as long as you have a receipt. Occasionally you'll run into someone clueless like OP did here but for the most part staff just process the return.
I've done a lot of returns over the years for faulty, wrong size, change of mind etc and have never had a return questioned. The mower I mentioned above was the longest one and even that was under 10min. You'll wait in line to be served longer than that.
I've even returned a door that I cut the edge off. The size I needed was out of stock so asked about ordering one and the person who helped me told me to get the next size up and assured me I could trim off the amount I needed to. Of course as I expected I couldn't as it exposed the hollow core. Took it back, no questions asked refund. They would've claimed it from the supplier as faulty.
Don't feel bad for Bunnings, they're making a mint at everyone else's expense.
I have a faulty Oztio mower with a date stamp of 2020/09, Bunnings and Ozito agree its in the 5 year warranty window, but neither will do anything without proof of purchase (it was a gift, broken over a week now with no luck finding any type of proof of purchase). Without proof of purchase you can't do much, tried ACCC and NSW Fair Trading, both said the same thing, even though only Ozito make it and only Bunnings sell it, noting can be done.
I had a similar problem. id bought my ryobi mower second hand. They asked if i had any bank statements to check. I looked up bunnings in my card records and they were able to cross reference the date/amount etc and say "sorry, that wasnt for a mower". I made a few excuses that i may have paid with gift cards. the girl inisisted on proof of purchase for an item of that value so i didnt get warranty. Was a long shot anyway.
Complete BS, take it back and speak to someone else that ha a clue. Bunnings is the sole retailer, they can't fob you off somewhere else.