DeWALT: fake reviews, no support, meaningless warranty
I recently moved to a house with less than a 1/2 acre flat, suburban grass. I had to buy a new mower, so I bought a DeWALT self-propelled gas mower. Model number 12A-O1T9739.
This article is split into the below sections:
- Problems
- Fake reviews and the “Seed Program”
- DeWALT support
- Conclusion
Problems
I think it was the one of the cheapest self-propelled gas mowers at Home Depot at the time, but why would I need anything heavy duty? I only need to mow less than 1/2 acre once a week.
The mower had problems almost right away. This isn’t an exhaustive list but:
- Mower couldn’t finish front yard without failing to start at some point. I have to change the bag, so it needs to start more than once. Perhaps overheating protection, but it’s Virginia in the mid to high 80s, it should be able to mow 1/4 acre no problem.
- Mower isn’t powerful enough to cut suburban grass about 4 inches tall. It will just stop. Can get around this by angling the mower up or down, but shouldn’t have to.
- Oil seems to leak from this mower. I put in fresh oil out of the box and had to replace it after the 2nd use.
- Bag falls off constantly, even when empty.
Now, it won’t start most times I try to pull it. If it does start, it spews thick smoke as seen in this photo. My wife and I think it’s due to oil mixing with the gasoline, since we suspect an oil leak somewhere. But neither of us know much about engines.
Fake reviews
After the 2nd mow, I tried to return this mower to Home Depot, which has a 30 day return policy for gas powered equipment. I purchased the mower just over 30 days before I got to returing it, so I was stuck with it.
I decided to write a review on Home Depot’s website.
Here is the review distribution at the time of writing.
To me, it already looks like a fake review distribution and it’s weird that there are so many positive reviews but only 48% recommended. Although, if we discount this entirely and look at some of the positive reviews, we can see how this is organized.
There are the classic 5 star reviews with broken English, no pictures, and sometimes no description or name. These reviews really sway the distribution and are the most suspect for being fake reviews.
Then there are these “Seed Program” reviews:
Without knowing what the “Seed Program” is, a few things seem off to me about this review. This is a pattern across “Seed Program” reviews.
- The date is months before the product was available for purchase.
- The product is spotless in all of the photos.
There should be specks of grass attached all over the mower, even after a single use.
Here’s the Home Depot page for their “Seeds Program”: https://www.homedepot.com/c/home_depot_seeds_program
The important parts I took away from that page are:
- Vendors provide these products for free to people who write “accurate and insightful reviews” on Home Depot’s website.
- Reviews are not compensated directly, but rather, get to keep all of the review units
To me, this means “Seed Program” reviews are not to be trusted. It is likely that reviewers are selling review units after writing their reviews. It is also likely that reviewers are incentivized to write positive reviews, or else they will stop getting review units. Even if the requirement for positive reviews doesn’t exist anywhere, reviewers may get that impression.
DeWALT Support
In my Home Depot review response, I was told to call 1–855–971–2271 for further assistance. I called this number on Tuesday July 23rd at 9:45 am ET, but I was on hold over over 20 minutes and nobody picked up, so I hung up. My conclusion is that there is little or no staff servicing this number.
I then decided to see if I could contact DeWALT support directly. I found two form submission for this:
Originally I would have been fine with a repair, but partway through the below process, I only wanted a refund. In my opinion, the product is designed so poorly that if the thick smoke were to be addressed, the other flaws, like failing to start when it is hot, would be considered “design decisions” and not defects. Design decision or not, if it can’t mow less than 1/4 acre for the front yard without needing a few hours break, it’s not worth keeping around. Here’s one of my email responses to my ticket:
I want a refund for this mower. It is not up to the task of mowing a tiny suburban yard. The lack of ability to start consistently and heavy smoke after about 4 months of light use give me confidence to say that this mower isn’t worth “servicing” for via the warranty. Can you help me get a refund?
I submitted both of those forms with my request. I got back one response that told me to talk to a “specialized team” at craftsmansupport@mtdproducts.com or the phone number I already called. I was also told this “specialized team” would reach out to me directly.
I reached out first, I copied that email address on the thread with the same context and request. I would never hear back from “specialized team” and they would never reach out to me.
After more than a week, I emailed back the support@dewalt.com address, which is the only response I’ve received. I received a copy of the same response I got the first time, but this one appeared to come from a different support representative and contained more typos.
I sent a few more follow up emails and opened new tickets hoping for a response, but do not have any expectations. I have received 5 emails back from support@dewalt.com all of them are a variation of the same template with varying levels of typos. Every template is the same; telling me about the “specialized team” that does not seem to exist.
Conclusion
DeWALT appears to be wholly unconcerned with customer support or their brand’s reputation outside of online reviews. It seems to me they have more people servicing the review section on Home Depot than they do customer support agents willing to engage with customers.
From my experience, it seems DeWALT has a template for customers who they do not want to deal with. It tells them about a “specialized team” that appears to not exist. Any follow up responses are the same template over and over.
The fact that my the mower often failed to start and began spewing unacceptable levels of smoke after the 2nd mow is a strong indication of fast-acting planned obsolescence. A similar review posted right after mine literally had the engine partially exploding and blowing part of the mower apart. Given my experience with the mower, I’m not surprised and I’m glad this did not happen to me.
This seems to be a hallmark of a big business these days. Focused solely on acquiring new customers and sales. All the while the same business is churning out products with near immediate planned obsolescence and ignoring those who have already paid. I would like to see a future with better consumer protection laws.
