Today I returned a garden watering wand brand marked Rona for the third time.
When I originally purchased the wand it came with a money back lifetime guarantee.
I usually don’t keep receipts and I don’t return things unless they’re brand-new and over purchased, but in this case, because of a “quote unquote” money back guarantee, that is so prevalent on garden tools. I decided to keep track of this tool and see just how long it would last in service.
According to Rona, this model with extendable handle, brass fittings and what appeared to be plated zinc castings and adjustable shower head retails for $37.77.
I purchased it on July of 2006 used it for about one hour and packed carefully away for the winter in my basement.
When I attempted to use it on May 19 of 2007. The cheap plastic head flew off and I was not able to use the wand anymore.
I returned and purchased a second unit.
Today I returned that one broken in the same place and asked for either my money back or an equivalent replacement, but not the same unit again.
I use this one carefully until late fall and packed it away or use the following spring.
The employee that I looked after the return (Roseanne) seemed rather than a annoyed that I had returned this and said in a loud voice “you certainly got to use out of this one didn’t you? ”
She was referring to some white paint that clung to the handle, where I had attempted to use it yesterday to dilute some paint I was putting through an airless sprayer.
Surely she did not think I would return it because of that paint on the handle?
Rather she was inferring that I had for one reason or another not taken care of the tool as it is intended.
She begrudgingly wrote out my credit, and I replaced the Rona wand with a Gardenia brand top-quality wand.
She wrote on my bill the following msg for the next drone; ” Second return in less than a year”
Actually it would have been third return in less than 2 years. <g>
From now on, I am sticking with Gardena brand and I will refuse to buy anything with made in China on it or private labeled by Rona, which apparently means made in China as well. These things are poorly engineered and made from the crappiest materials they can lay their hands on.
It behooves large chains such as Rona to look into customer complaints and returns as if a customer may have actually used the product in a substantially correct
manner and that the product itself was either poured the poorly designed or poorly produced.
As for the lifetime guarantee well, I suppose according to Rona time is worth nothing!
I urge you to complain and to expose this unsatisfactory marketing practice of offering an ad on service they are unwilling to honor.
Unless the Chinese take a serious look at what they are doing to the market they will be hard pressed to maintain any customer base in the future.
Because of the way the season splits you can almost never get a one year guarantee because your product is layed up for nine months!
Bob
-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B
11 comments so far
Damocles
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793 posts in 265 days
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posted 60 days ago
But…the Chinese don’t deal with you, they deal with the Big Box stores, who are only too happy to sell the cheap junk to unsuspecting customers. If you complain to the store, you get blank stares from the zombie at Cust. Service. My point is that nobody from the factory in China to the Big Box store in your neighborhood has any actual motivation to change.
I’ve been burned by this bureaucracy myself…it’s not just that you get what you pay for, but also that you get junk when you buy from junky stores. I share your pain with sprayers, I’ve been through a bunch of them myself.
-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit
Bob
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posted 60 days ago
Damocles, I pass the info on beacuse it may help other find a way of evading the huge money grab these people are playing on us.
They have a choice:
They a can either take off the “lifetime guarantee” or sell the product at a toss away price.
I bought a couple of discount store wands for around $6.00 and they are still working after two years in the greenhouse. At that price I will just by new ones when the time comes.
At $40.00 a pop I expect Gardena quailty.
Bob
-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B
MsDebbieP
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2985 posts in 411 days
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posted 59 days ago
it’s a good point to keep the receipts and return the item if it breaks. How often do we just accept it and say it’s not worth the hassle to make the return.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
Bon
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1224 posts in 191 days
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posted 59 days ago
I have this problem all the time with the watering guns too.They work fine for a week and then they start leaking all over the place.The higher price ones usually last me maybe a month.For a laugh I bought a metal one at the dollar store. Would you believe it worked for a month too.Then the soft meatal where it connects to the hose gave way. (lol) But who cares for a buck.
-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more
Bob
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500 posts in 159 days
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posted 59 days ago
As a footnote to the rant above re quality and pricing:
I went back to Rona today to buy some caulking and thought I would cruise by the clearance counter.
What to you suppose I found?
Three more , just like the one I returned all broken at the same place.
I can’t imagine what the store manager is thinking when he allows this sort of shoddy merchandising to go on.
My thought wenty back to the rathe condescending and rude remarks the clerk handedme yesterda—- “you certainly got your use out of this one didn’t you? ”
I wonder if she told all these other people that?
Bob
-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B
GrandmaT
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2574 posts in 289 days
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posted 59 days ago
It wouldn’t surprise me Bob if everyone did not get some sort of rude comment out of that clerk. I have decided people like that are totally oblivious to “reality” ... and have no idea what common courtesy is.
-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b
Damocles
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posted 59 days ago
The big box stores are simply not geared for customer service…just for moving massive amounts of merch. Therefore, they’ll hire anyone with a pulse. The lesson of “caveat emptor” applies just as much these days as it ever has (if not more).
Hey, Bob, maybe the snarky clerk had a crush on you? LOL…you know, pulling the hair of the girl you like on the playground and all that…
-- Living on the square...Metro Detroit
Bob
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500 posts in 159 days
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posted 59 days ago
Damocles, we have to stick together now as consumers.
As you correctly point out they do have our backs against the wall when it comes to quality and service but I always felt the an informed consumer is a good shopper.
One of the ways these forums help is to give us a voice to spread the word when service or goods are not up to standard.
As for the clerk, she must have a crush on herself the way she was handling me.
I expected her head to start spinning around and swear words . <vbg>
Bob
-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B
MsDebbieP
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2985 posts in 411 days
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posted 58 days ago
gotta remember, also, that people return items that have been put through the wringer and then want their money back… I can only imagine what customer service sees in a year! —not that each individual shopper should be grouped into this category and treated as such…
store manager may not even be aware of multiple returns of the same item. Who knows.. he “should” but may not. Maybe he needs a letter/phone call to inform him of what you saw and to suggest that he send that information up the corporate ladder to people who can do something about it.
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)
Bob
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500 posts in 159 days
hardiness zone 3b
posted 58 days ago
Deb, you would think that would make a difference but I have my doubts. The only thing that the borgs react to is decreased sales. They hold staff meetings each morning and say nothing about customer service. It’s all about which department made the best sales for the previous day.
Apparently the buyers for these chains have the same mentality. Crap like they sold me three consectutive times would not get into an institution that has quality control in place. It would have gone to their testing area before they put thier private label name on it.
At least, that’s what I have done all my career.
Cheers
Bob
-- I am a strong believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. Alberta Canada Zone 3A or maybe 3B
MsDebbieP
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2985 posts in 411 days
hardiness zone 5b
posted 57 days ago
that’s a good point.. and so once again we the people need to think twice about our purchases. We do have the power!
-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)