Lidl tools cost effective..?

[Robert Cracknell]

I know that many of you have bought and used Lidl tools in the past, as have I, and have found them to be of good quality. This, however, is only one side of the coin.

 

About 4 years ago I bought a cordless multi tool (Dremel like) and have had good use from it. The charger sadly passed away early last year and all attempts to gain any contact with the manufacturer has failed. The website of the manufacturer is on the tool label and they have an email address for UK spares, Getting a response now that is a different matter! I won't regale you with the number of attempts and in case you were wondering this started pre Covid lockdown. 

 

Has anyone else ever tried to get spares/service from Lidl...?  I hope the new repairability/spares availability legislation also cover goods like this.

Edited August 4, 2021 by Robert Cracknell
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[Mitchell Howard]

You must have a rating label on either the drill or the adapter - this is the blueprint for the replacement.

[john davidson 1]

I see that Which will not in future report on appliances  which  are not repairable , about time too, the throw away game has to end!

Edited August 4, 2021 by john davidson 1

[SIMON CRAGG]

I think they just have limited run on items.....once they are gone, they are gone. And that includes any back up!.

[Don Fry]

Have you tried Lidl. My experience has been, fast response, no, but positive response, they get there. 

[Bob Bertram]

Try Solent Tools, they carry some Lidl and Aldi spares and give very good service. I have used them in the past.

[Robert Cracknell]

Mitchell

Yes, I can charge the batteries using a model charger and some crocodile clips but this is not the point. The battery 'sits' in a shaped receptacle so is a dedicated unit. Being low cost is not an excuse for poor service, backup or lack of spares. We shouldn't have to improvise when the manufacturer is out there. I can get spares for my 11 year old car so why not a 4 year old multi-tool....?

[Trevor Crook]

Hi Robert. Is this the charger you are after?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254877155042

[Robert Cracknell]

Trevor

 

Unfortunately not - mine looks like this...  atmo I am using my D100 V2 with crocodile clips to charge the 9.6v NiMh.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Robert Cracknell
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[Lima Hotel Foxtrot]

It's funny how people always think things are a bargain until they start having to sort the thing out. 

 

Buy cheap, buy twice. 

[Mitchell Howard]

1 hour ago, Robert Cracknell said:

Trevor

 

Unfortunately not - mine looks like this...  atmo I am using my D100 V2 with crocodile clips to charge the 9.6v NiMh.

 

Is the charger built into the base or is the base simply a holder with terminations for the drill?

 

I guess I'm asking if you could simply replace an AC-to-DC charger at the wall.

[Robert Cracknell]

Mitchell

 

There is a mains adaptor block that goes in the 13A wall socket but there is also a PCB with components inside the battery cradle.

[Trevor Crook]

I still think those tools are good value. We bought one for my father in law 2 Chrismases ago, it was £16.99 and is still working fine. Whilst I agree with Robert that spares should be made available, as the item was so cheap I would be pragmatic after 4 years and put up with using an alternative charging method if the tool itself still works.

[Martin Dance 1]

My experience of Lidl tools is that they are of decent quality as long as they are not intended to cut stuff. Drill bits, end cutters, pliers etc tend not to work well Clamps hammers etc are fine as are power tools. I speak from experience of buying Lidl stuff for hobbies other than modelling.

[Fun Flyer]

I've always found Lidl tools to be very good value for money, except for their soldering irons!  The bits just disolve after very little use. 

Always regret dumping my Weller soldering gun.

[Cuban8]

I think that you must accept that cheap tools can be useful for certain simple jobs, maybe a one-off, but for anything more serious, then a decision has to made whether to pay out for quality. The question then becomes whether paying for an item that might be ten times the cost of a cheapy and that after a couple of uses just sits in your tool box for years, unused, is actually good value.

The latest worry over throw-away items and the intention that in future, stuff will be required to be repairable is interesting. Easier said than done IMHO, because quite simply UK labour costs will wipe out most people's good intentions to have their stuff fixed - it will remain uneconomic for some products.

An example......a friend's washing machine, cost £300 new a few years ago and now needs a set of four drum dampers to stop the thing vibrating out from under the kitchen worktop. Local company quote £15 each for the spares and an estimate for total labour and call out of £175. So around £230  to get a £300 four years old machine working, with the distinct possibility of another failure within a short time.............or a brand new machine for £300!

 

[Zflyer]

Re Cuban 8's response,

Yeah no doubt expensive but what happens then is the items go to a recycling centre where they are repaired and serviced by the appropriate people and then put back on the market at a reasonable price. I can remember repairing toastesr back in the 60's at an Electricity Board workshop. (When we had Electricity Boards and proper apprenticeships) I remember repairing a Hoover Keymatic (washing machine) for a lady whose husband had a terminal illness and couldnt afford a new machine or repair. The parts were donated and we worked on it out of hours.

[Trevor Crook]

Yes, it seems terribly wasteful to throw away items that are repairable because it's not cost effective. 

 

Even worse is having to junk a perfectly good p.c. because Microsoft have stopped supporting the O.S.

[leccyflyer]

We're just replacing some white goods, which have a few issues, which came with the house, with better quality components from our previous home that have been in storage. Getting rid of the old ones is something which needs to be considered- taking them to the local recycling is one option, but there are others. The chap who is doing the job took away the tumble drier, which we've never used, the other day. Interestingly, he recycles as many parts as possible for repairs, then dismantles and separates out the scrap metal, which also goes for recycling. My understanding is that manufacturers are increasingly going to have to make spares available to repair  such items, but will also include a levy for recycling the non-repairable appliances.

[Cuban8]

On 06/08/2021 at 17:48, Zflyer said:

Re Cuban 8's response,

Yeah no doubt expensive but what happens then is the items go to a recycling centre where they are repaired and serviced by the appropriate people and then put back on the market at a reasonable price. I can remember repairing toastesr back in the 60's at an Electricity Board workshop. (When we had Electricity Boards and proper apprenticeships) I remember repairing a Hoover Keymatic (washing machine) for a lady whose husband had a terminal illness and couldnt afford a new machine or repair. The parts were donated and we worked on it out of hours.

I can see that such an arrangement could work if done on a voluntary or not for profit basis to help out people in financial trouble, but commercially and paying decent wages to professional repairers, workshop, transport and testing overheads is another matter entirely. We are so good at mass-producing stuff in large quantities, quickly and at rock bottom prices that as nice as it would be to improve matters, repairs will remain uneconomic and simply not worth while on many low priced, mass produced goods. The retailers love it.......pile it high and sell it cheap, go around the cycle again in three or four years...££££!

As an example, G-Tech do not offer a repair service or source of spares other than certain consumables - I needed a belt for a cleaning head on our cordless G-Tech and was told by their customer services that I needed a whole new cleaning head - motor, beater brush the lot! Luckily, they sent me a new unit under warranty and I repaired the old one with a standard Gates toothed belt from Ebay £5 delivered! A minute to change it at most, so I've got a spare, but a mad situation.

G-Tech's response when I questioned their policy, was that the public couldn't be trusted to fit their own parts and in any case very few customers either had the inclination to bother themselves with it or any sort of basic idea of how to even change a simple toothed belt, even though just a single hex key was needed to remove a cover (one screw) and the belt simply slipped on with no need to adjust tension/alignment or whatever.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Cuban8

[Don Fry]

When I was a copper, I went to a house, where an ambulance crew was unable get into a house. For some reason their boots can’t open doors. The casualty was inside. So I opened the door.

Inside, was a bloke, doing some work on a head of a vacuum cleaner, still plugged in, and guess what went wrong. It broke a finger, and said digit was stuck inside. Can’t remember the details, long ago. But don’t assume practical skills in folk.

 

So his balance sheet for the day, broken finger, cut up vacuum so he could fit in ambulance, new door, repairs to hall wall and wallpaper, where door went through the plasterboard. Not happy.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

On 06/08/2021 at 10:12, Fun Flyer said:

I've always found Lidl tools to be very good value for money, except for their soldering irons!  The bits just disolve after very little use. 

Always regret dumping my Weller soldering gun.

I’ve still got mine (scarily, I’ve had it for over 50 years!) and use it regularly. However, the modern plated tips have a short life before failing at the swaged end.  Anyone know a source for the old plain copper type?