November 2010

Monthly Archive

Dear Ryobi - your recall process needs to be recalled

Posted by Office-Bob on 10 Nov 2010 | Tagged as: Rants

I was recently made aware of a product recall for a specific model of Ryobi cordless drill due to problems with overheating; according to the CPSC notice Ryobi was replacing all drills at no charge - all you had to do was call a toll-free number to arrange a pickup of your affected drill.

I like my Ryobi drill; it was recommended to me by a friend who builds sets for a living and it’s never given me a spot of trouble but since I prefer to err on the side of caution, I called the number and arranged for a pickup on November 3rd. All I had to do was box up the drill and leave it out for FedEx to pick up – once Ryobi got the drill, they’d ship me a replacement.

I carefully packed the drill up, left it outside my front door in my carport on the 3rd…

…and it wasn’t picked up.

I called Ryobi on the 4th to ask what had happened and CustServRep #2 told me the following:

  • There’s a 3-day window for pickup;
  • FedEx was only picking up on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which meant that the drill could be picked up on the 4th (Thursday) or the 9th (the following Tuesday).

    • It would have been nice if this had been explained to me the first time I called, but whatever.

    So, I dutifully put the box out on Thursday – nothing.

    I left the box out on the following Tuesday – still no pickup.

    I called Ryobi on the 10th to let them know that the window had passed without the drill being picked up…and was told by CSR #3 that the number I called didn’t handle the recalls within Canada and that I’d need to call a different toll-free number.

    I called the new number and, after navigating the voicemail tree, was told by the recording that in future I should be calling yet another number, but they’d transfer me to said number.

    I spent about 10 minutes on hold, spending that time looking up the serial number for my drill because, despite CSR Number 3 (aka “Larry”) telling me that I wouldn’t need the s/n to arrange the pickup, I correctly suspected it would be needed.

    Finally I connected with CSR #4, aka “Jane,” who expressed confusion at why I was told I needed to call a different number but took down my information yet again. My new pickup is scheduled for the 18th, which means that I’ll need to wait until the 23rd to call again if the pickup doesn’t happen…but if that happens, it may be Executive E-mail Carpet Bomb time.

    Further bulletins as events warrant.

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