[TheForge] Re: 1/2" electric hand drill

[Mike Spencer]

> I took it in , to the factory store here in MILWAUKEE and was told
> it was a non stock , obsolete handle and I should buy a new drill.

One strategem, when buying something new that is likely to require
maintainance, is to:

    * get the model number from the prospective purchase and

    * go home and call the store/shop asking for a couple of parts for
      it.

If you get any one of the several possible runarounds -- have to order
it from $DISTANT_PLACE in a "week or 10 days", part costs 1/2 as much
as the whole thing, sorry but you have to contact the service center
on the other coast, part is in a container on a wharf in China -- then
you don't want that.

Vaguely related strategem: Circa 1995, my wife bought a used laptop
computer that was really nice.  So I entered an on-line contest from
that company.  Predictably, after the contest was over, I got email
suggesting that I buy a new one of their products.  So I emailed back
and asked for the names of their repair service people in any of
several places within 100 miles of me.  Their reply was that I should
give them a phone number and someone would call me.  After three
exchanges that produced the same result, I knew I wouldn't buy their
machine.  Non-responsiveness to potential customer who is waving money
implies even less responsiveness to customer waving problem.  It was a
good test.

I now have another brand of laptop.

And BTW, last year, Black & Decker had the parts list for my mid-70s
4-1/2" grinder on their computer but didn't stock the bearing for the
output shaft.  A general bearing & seal shop had it for $8.  With a
new bearing, the mid-70s grinder is still going fine.  Only complaint
is that the output shaft thread size isn't the current conventional
one so various attachments don't fit.


- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^