I just sent this letter to Black & Decker:
April 11, 2006
Black & Decker 101 Schilling Circle Hunt Valley, MD 21031-1110 To whom it may concern:
I am writing to complain about the quality of your DustBuster Cordless Wet & Dry Hand Vacuum, models CWV3630 and CWV4830.
I purchased model CWV3630 in March 2003 for $49.08 ($41.00 plus tax and shipping). It worked for less than six months before the battery stopped being able to hold a charge. It hung unused on our wall for about a year before I finally found the time to bring it to a service center; they replaced it with a model CWV4830 in November 2004. Shortly after the replacement arrived, a ball bearing in its motor went bad, and it, too, stopped working. It has hung on the wall since then, waiting for me to find the time to do something about it.
Finally, last week, I discarded the second broken DustBuster (except for the battery, which I will eventually drop off somewhere for recycling) and replaced it with a “Shark” cordless vacuum.
As a result of this experience, I will surely think twice before purchasing any Black & Decker appliance again.
Sincerely, Jonathan I. Kamens
i will never purchase black and decker products again if this is not resolved. i will also discourage anyone else from doing so as well. i would hope a company would try to save customers rather than have someone buy from the competitor. i would imagine this is how companies go out of business eventually.
i have purchased a rechargeable b&d weed trimmer. i paid over $50.00 for this. i charged it for a full 24 hours before using it. the run time was approximately 15 min. in just trimming around the walk way. battery totally ran down. charged it again for 24 hours. this time it lasted a full 10 min. i charged it another 24 hours. i lasted a full 8 min. this time. this thing is not even worth giving away. it is more of a pain than i can stand. what can you do about this lemon weed trimmer?
Nah, I didn’t bother to do anything further. It was enough of a waste of my time to reach out to them the first time to give them the opportunity to stand behind their products. They screwed that up, so it really isn’t worth another attempt.
Did you follow up with them any more?
Maybe if you email their customer support they’ll suggest writing a letter and sending it to Consumer Service…
I got a useless reply from Black & Decker:
In other words, “We can’t be bothered to take the time to read your letter or respond in a meaningful way, so instead we’re going to send you a form letter that doesn’t actually address your complaint.”