Instrument company broke my torque screwdriver!

[Selfmade]

More of a 'sound off' than a question here.

I put my 8 month old Wera torque screwdriver in for calibration a week ago. Three days ago the company I had put it with phoned to say it was faulty and implied it was beyond repair. When I got it back I discovered they had broken the blade release ring (this was most certainly not broken when I handed it in to them, and indeed they signed for it without noting any faults).

To add insult to injury, they wanted paying for it's return! I grabbed it from them and told them I would make them pay for the damage. They said they'd get the police involved if I took it off the premises without paying! I'm looking forward to that! When they have committed criminal damage and attempted extortion!

I'd like to name the company concerned (a multi-million pound business), but suspect it would be moderated (any comments on this from the moderators?)

As an aside, the small, friendly, helpful firm who calibrate my MFT each year said they haven't invested in the equipment to calibrate torque screwdrivers as they only see one other besides mine! Which rather suggests I am in a minority having one!

 

[Geordie Spark]

More of a 'sound off' than a question here.

I put my 8 month old Wera torque screwdriver in for calibration a week ago. Three days ago the company I had put it with phoned to say it was faulty and implied it was beyond repair. When I got it back I discovered they had broken the blade release ring (this was most certainly not broken when I handed it in to them, and indeed they signed for it without noting any faults).

To add insult to injury, they wanted paying for it's return! I grabbed it from them and told them I would make them pay for the damage. They said they'd get the police involved if I took it off the premises without paying! I'm looking forward to that! When they have committed criminal damage and attempted extortion!

I'd like to name the company concerned (a multi-million pound business), but suspect it would be moderated (any comments on this from the moderators?)

As an aside, the small, friendly, helpful firm who calibrate my MFT each year said they haven't invested in the equipment to calibrate torque screwdrivers as they only see one other besides mine! Which rather suggests I am in a minority having one!

That bit in red got me wondering about how you feel about that.

Do you feel like it's a case of "Hey!! Look at me .. I have one of these things & you don't. That make me feel great!"

Or do you feel "What a Mug I am. Spent all this money on something I don't need and all these other folks are managing to do the same job as me without one." ?????

It's a genuine question with no malice intended.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

We bought one 18 months ago. It's still in the box on a shelf in the office. It's unlikely to require calibrating I would hazard a guess.

 

[gnselectricals]

One of my mates had the wera and it broke in the same place the first time he used it so had one back of wera under warranty. Bit crap tho

 

[Selfmade]

That bit in red got me wondering about how you feel about that.

Do you feel like it's a case of "Hey!! Look at me .. I have one of these things & you don't. That make me feel great!"

Or do you feel "What a Mug I am. Spent all this money on something I don't need and all these other folks are managing to do the same job as me without one." ?????

It's a genuine question with no malice intended.

Depends who I'm talking to, lol! If it's a customer i'd be like; "don't trust anyone without a torque screwdriver"!

But seriously, I bought mine because the industry interpretation of "follow manufacturer's instructions" (soon to be changed "take account of…" or words to that effect), combined with recommended torque settings in said instructions, seemed to be that a torque screwdriver was required. However having used one, I'd probably buy one again, as it saves me a lot of time thinking 'is it tight enough?' or 'too tight?', and means I can sleep easy knowing I've done the job properly and won't be causing any 'statistics'.

But if others are confident they have the experience to get the torque right without one, that's fine by me, as long as they are aware the onus could be on them to prove the torque was correct. It's just down to the individual's own judgment. For me, owning one seemed like the right decision, and is probably the decision I'd make again.

No malice taken Geordie, you've helped me out on here before after all!

 

[Selfmade]

We bought one 18 months ago. It's still in the box on a shelf in the office. It's unlikely to require calibrating I would hazard a guess.

Maybe, maybe not. The instructions in mine do say to set it to the lowest torque setting if it's out of use for some time. So presumable otherwise it could go out just sitting there. And without a current certificate it probably wouldn't give you any legal protection. As I said in my reply to Geordie Spark, it's down to individual judgement whether to use one or not, in my opinion at least, but it seems a lot to spend on something you are not going to use...

 

[Selfmade]

One of my mates had the wera and it broke in the same place the first time he used it so had one back of wera under warranty. Bit crap tho

Bit of a b*mm*r. So maybe a week point. But S*otia I*str*menta*ion should still pay for damaging mine. I broke someone's bathroom light a while back. I bought a new identical one and returned the same day to fit it free of charge. And just the other day I took a light switch off to inspect the wiring and it broke in my hand. It was old and probably knackered, but it was working when I arrived. I had a replacement in my hand ready to fit for free before the customer even knew the old one was broken.

 

[Marvo]

I think it's probably something of a grey area, I'd be surprised if this event wasn't defined in their terms and conditions although I'd suggest you read the area toward the end where the print usually gets smaller. From their side there's a good possibility of many items they receive having been abused or having latent defects that aren't obvious until work has commenced so I can understand they'd want to cover themselves but not like this which from the customer side it's always going to result in unhappiness and dismay when an item is returned like in this instance.

From a business point of view them just taking a stand that it's your problem and you owe money regardless is poor form and points to poor business practices and possibly ethics, there's many ways to handle this type of situation that are far better than that and there's many ways they could avoid this scenario entirely with a little effort and some appropriate systems in place.

**edit**
I personally would self calibrate the tool against a known good one or a very recently calibrated one and use it as normal if it's within acceptable tolerances.

 

[123]

Why not return it to where you got it from as faulty, and get a brand new one as a replacement under warranty?

 

[Knobhead]

I broke my wrist years ago, it still goes “click” when a I’ve screwed enough.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Depends who I'm talking to, lol! If it's a customer i'd be like; "don't trust anyone without a torque screwdriver"!

But seriously, I bought mine because the industry interpretation of "follow manufacturer's instructions" (soon to be changed "take account of…" or words to that effect), combined with recommended torque settings in said instructions, seemed to be that a torque screwdriver was required. However having used one, I'd probably buy one again, as it saves me a lot of time thinking 'is it tight enough?' or 'too tight?', and means I can sleep easy knowing I've done the job properly and won't be causing any 'statistics'.

But if others are confident they have the experience to get the torque right without one, that's fine by me, as long as they are aware the onus could be on them to prove the torque was correct. It's just down to the individual's own judgment. For me, owning one seemed like the right decision, and is probably the decision I'd make again.

No malice taken Geordie, you've helped me out on here before after all!

Good answer!!

I can see you'll go far in this sparking lark!

 

[Geordie Spark]

I broke my wrist years ago, it still goes “click” when a I’ve screwed enough.

Can't you get a replacement under warranty or is it too old??

 

[ferg]

I think you would struggle getting one that old replaced even under a lifetime warranty.

I imagine it would fall foul of the fair usage policy or something similar.

 

[Selfmade]

I think it's probably something of a grey area, I'd be surprised if this event wasn't defined in their terms and conditions although I'd suggest you read the area toward the end where the print usually gets smaller.

Now you mention it I wasn't given any Ts & Cs. Maybe they are on their website but I certainly wasn't pointed to them. The only paperwork was a covering letter I handed to them with the tool, they copied it, stamped and initialed the copy, and returned it to me. Now for a company that size I think that quite astonishing given that I routinely email Ts & Cs along with all my quotes, and I am just a self employed jobbing spark!

From their side there's a good possibility of many items they receive having been abused or having latent defects that aren't obvious until work has commenced so I can understand they'd want to cover themselves but not like this which from the customer side it's always going to result in unhappiness and dismay when an item is returned like in this instance.

Fully appreciate that but there's no way they wouldn't have seen this fault if it had existed when I left it with them. When they returned they had put a rubber band on holding the ring in place, without that it would have fallen straight out!

From a business point of view them just taking a stand that it's your problem and you owe money regardless is poor form and points to poor business practices and possibly ethics, there's many ways to handle this type of situation that are far better than that and there's many ways they could avoid this scenario entirely with a little effort and some appropriate systems in place.

Or maybe they were just hoping I wouldn't bother to return for it and they could sell it on.

**edit**

I personally would self calibrate the tool against a known good one or a very recently calibrated one and use it as normal if it's within acceptable tolerances.

Interesting idea. I'm not sure where I would find such a thing as no-one else seems to own them, but I might look into the options for calibrating it myself.

 

[Charlie_]

I give all my stuff to the guy in the snap-on truck but not sure if they do other makes, will ask him next week