Skil 20v PWRCORE RS5884 reciprocating saw dies after 6 months

[elric]

Tale of woe snipped. 30 minutes into happily cutting Honeysuckle, I laid my saw down, applied Gyphosate, picked up my saw, pulled the trigger. Nothing. Checked the safety cross-bar, nope. Three bars on battery pack. Swapped in fresh pack with 4 bars, nada. No light up front, no shaft movement, no motor noise. Motor was barely warm, battery similar, not thermal cutout [I've had it pretty warm last year, no issues].

Skil has a support phone number, no email. IIRC, the Red Chinese [Chervon?] bought up Skil in addition to making the saw itself...

What a thrill. $150 plus for the kit, another 4AH battery for $50 or so... Blades, whatnot... I really don't want to use a chainsaw to cut Honeysuckle, much easier to pull the trigger and release it, rather than pull start a chainsaw, cut, then turn it off. No flailing chain to worry about...

Contact Us:
For service in the United States and Canada, please call for live customer support:
1-877-SKIL-999 (1-877-754-5999)
Monday – Friday, 7am – 7pm (CST)

 

[elric]

Got through to customer support, the rep agreed it needs repair, it is under warranty. I pay to ship it to Brookfield [next to Milwaukee], Skil pays to return it. The rep said I could take it in, but that's about 45-60 minute drive, plus I bet that they won't be able to fix it while I'm waiting. Maybe... maybe not...

Got the receipt from Amazon ready to be printed, add a short description, put the fully charged pack on, use Spee-Dee Delivery to ship.

Oh, thanks to the blessings of Al Gore's internet, the trigger switch is a Jiaben DPK-21001SR, http://jiaben.com/article/332.html The RS5884 is a brushless model [good power management when it works], so the controls are digital. The individual wires look to be 28AWG or finer... Also, the actual switch is not exactly shown in the catalog, but is a mix. Look at the 21-SR, add the extension for a lever on top like the "KS" model, and there you go. I would bet that this particular switch is a OEM for Skil.

 

[elric]

Well, a good sign, someone at T&A Industrial [Brookfield, WI] signed for it. SpeeDee Delivery, it arrived the next day for $13. Included the shipping box as well.

 

[elric]

Called Skil. Interesting, for equipment under 500-700 dollars, they usually have it sent back to them, not a repair center. Why I was told to send it to the repair center is not clear.
If the repair center opened the saw up, they would have billed for time. No billing at Skil. If the saw model is older, and no parts available, then Skil should have been notified.

Service rep was going to have to unravel it. If nothing was done because no parts available, then the Skil support rep can generate the replacement.
Plus there was no description of the total failure, no light, sound, or heat from the saw.

Maybe... if Skil used email to communicate... I could have CCd them the letter to the repair center... but who am I fooling? Such a preposterous idea... Now where did I hang my buggy whip?

If you are looking for power equipment for yourself, just mull over the comedy of errors that I'm going through. Just saying...

 

[elric]

Replacement order was placed with a dealer, when it ships, I will be notified. Not sure why I feel this feels like mañana, stretched to eternity. Squeeze my eyes shut, click my ruby red slippers together, and say "There's no place like home..."

 

[elric]

To my suprise, the replacement WHAT is in transit, due to arrive 27 May. No idea, it might be saw plus battery...

This whole replacement thing started when the saw died on 18 April. So flash to bang, 5 weeks?

Lessons learned: Commercial grade products might not be worth sending to repair center, that just slows the replacement down. Contacting Skil twice a week to find out status is sensible - at first it seemed excessive, but prodding them keeps things moving. Skil is Red Chinese.

 

[elric]

"the replacement WHAT is in transit, due to arrive 27 May"
Got back from a quality running session for my Brittany, UPS truck rolled up less than an hour later. Box was smaller than the saw...

Well, I now have two 4Ah batteries again. Now for a reciprocating saw to insert these into... Oh, maybe a saw to insert a R-300 Zetsaw blade into.

 

[elric]

Called Skil today, tech guy said some activity on "Oracle", I should call the dealer. I described my feelings to being like that of a Pinball bouncing off the bumpers, thanked him [the bizarre support configuration ISN'T his fault], then called T&A Industrial. The tech guy there had the replacement in-hand, due to ship out today or Wednesday. Jeesh... In the perfect world of the future, users can log into their account and find the status of their item. I wonder if we'll still use our feet to walk anymore?

The guy from T&A said it was not the same model [not a RS5884]. Which to me is good, because it was an older model that had no parts available. Plus, maybe the Red Chinese re-worked the control circuits for the brushless motor so they didn't FAIL... If wishes were fishes... I was interested in the 20v compact saw [sans oscillating mode], but it is brushed. If the compact saw had a BLDC motor, it would be just fine for extensive Honeysuckle cutting. I have never noticed any difference between straight vs oscillating modes when cutting HS... Battery life on the BLDC motor is very good, power to the saw is very good.

Since the compact does not have the [unused] mode switch mechanism, it would be pounds lighter....

 

[elric]

Sitting in the back, nice shade, nice steady breeze, sun is dropping behind the hickory trees, and a nice lady comes up with - A - Skil saw, I thank her, she leaves. Not her fault, might as well have someone think things are going just fine.

RS5825B one hand saw... Now, I cut 10-12 foot high Honeysuckle with single trunks up to 4" across. Even better when the trunks are twisted together. I switched over to a 12" blade because the 9" is not quite long enough. And here I sit with a -one- handed saw. Reminds me of a Wendy's commercial where the waiter puts a big plate in front of Dave with a entree about the size of a grape and says "Enjoy!"

Called Skil, support dude is sending out a like saw -AND- generating a return label for the RS5825B.

The T&A Industrial guy was right, it sure didn't look the same. I just didn't imagine HOW different.

 

[elric]

Called Skil. -A- replacement saw is due to arrive Thursday [or Friday]. No shipping notification or tracking number in my email.

So. We will see.

 

[elric]

And the replacement died today, same lack of reaction, no LEDs, no movement, no sound.

 

[elric]

Just got off the phone with SKIL. Nice customer support individual. They didn't have my original receipt from Amazon, the previous support individual didn't add it, so they actually sent me a working email and I forwarded a copy. They had to escalate my case as they didn't have a replacement saw there. Expecting another replacement in under a week.

I had cleared up some mature Common Buckthorn earlier. Tip - the Bosch "Edge" pruning blades, RP125, seem "duller" than my Zetsaw R-300. Plus, the RP125 reminded me of a banana by the time I finished these up.