Milwaukee battery update

[Mobuck]

I'm less than satisfied with Milwaukee at this point. Actually PO'd beyond description.
After winning a Milwaukee tool/battery/charger combination as a door prize at a local customer appreciation meeting, I bought two additional batteries--brand new in factory packaging with all the papers. Six months later, those 'new' batteries that came with a 3 year warranty wouldn't charge. Son took them to a factory service center where they were checked out as genuine and still under warranty but would have to be sent to another facility for final test and replacement. If he left them there, someone would have to drive the 150 miles back to pick them up. Better to just request return labels, send them back to the other place, and have replacements returned directly to my home.
Two packages just arrived this morning by FedX. IT WAS MY OLD BATTERIES BEING RETURNED!!!!!!!!!! Forms inside stated that 'batteries are either "modified or counterfeit" and therefore not Milwaukee's problem. HUH??? The batteries had been 'inspected' at the place Son took them and deemed legit and genuine--that was one reason I asked him to take them to the Des Moines service dealer. WTH, something stinks.
Looks like I have to decide whether to spend $200 for new batteries or just sell the angle grinder and impact wrench with the single battery that's still good.
If Milwaukee can't police it's own products to prevent counterfeiting, maybe don't buy any more of their products???

 

[WAYNO]

Battery counterfeiting is a big problem for all the manufacturers.

And I have found, it's a toss-up buying a whole new tool including batteries, as opposed to buying replacement batteries which are extremely expensive, as well as taking the chance they are legitimate.

I will not blame DeWalt, Milwaukie, or anybody else for the Chi-Coms being the big cheaters they are. .

 

[DGW1949]

I don't know if this will help or not, but I've learned that a lot of power tool batteries will seem to be defective when in fact, it's the charger that needs energized so it will begin charging. In other words, if their is not an x-amount of current remaining in the dead battery, the charger will not energize and begin charging it....there's a bunch of Youtube videos on how to deal with that particular problem.

Hope this helps.

DGW

 

[WAYNO]

further...
I had quite a few DeWalt 18v tools. One by one, my batteries needed replaced. The replacement batteries, labeled as DeWalt, from Amazon, went bad in short order. I will never know if they were counterfeit, or just defective. And for awhile, DeWalt batteries were reasonable at Home Depot. Once they became 75-bucks, not so much. It became cheaper to buy all new 20v tools with the included batteries.

I think, bottom line, the manufacturers have created such planned obsolescence in their tools and batteries, it is just expected we will replace their tools while they are still serviceable.

I have two B&D Firestorm drills that I keep in my RV to raise the jacks, many 18v DeWalt tools, a Makita drill, and a Skill cordless screwdriver, all of which are no longer made and the batteries very difficult to find and/or ridiculously expensive.

This all makes for a ripe market for counterfeiting.





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[Jeepnik]

I'm fortunate. My local Home Depot has a Milwaukee rep on site 5 days a week. I time my purchases to his work times. We have discussed the battery issue. Milwaukee does the best they can but folks never learn "if something seems too good to be true, it usually is".

 

[Dan in MI]

As mentioned it is often cheaper to buy the "on sale" bundle with new batteries. I use Makita, for a while if you bought some of their 36v tools (2x18) you would get 4 batteries. I have had such great results with Makita since the early 80's I have no issue filling my shop with their tools.

This topic was discussed not long ago. I almost fell for some Amazon copies. Instead I now have a handheld router.

 

[P89'er]

I bought two additional batteries--brand new in factory packaging with all the papers.

Where were the batteries purchased? Just curious, because I am a Milwaukee M18 fan.

 

[GasGuzzler]

Kick the brand to the curb and move on. Certainly you already have stuff from another brand that is fine. Trust them I guess. I have mostly Mikita since they were first and I have been doing this forever. I have some newer Milwaukee stuff too but I am not loyal to them yet. The 18V impact and battery of theirs I have is junk and was junk new. The three 12V ratchets I have are good and always have been. The 12V batteries are good for a year. They're $40 each on Amazon, $80 at Home Depot, $95 off the truck.

 

[Mobuck]

Seems pdd that one dealer inpected the batteries and declared them genuine and the other (whose responsibility it was to actually process the replacement) said the opposite.
Certainly not like RIDGID warranty replacement which is: drive to the service center (which is the same distance as the Milwaukee dealer), lay the malfunctioning item on the counter, counter guy looks it over and maybe waves a circuit tester at it, says it's buggered, and hands a new whatever back across the counter.

 

[Mobuck]

"Where were the batteries purchased? Just curious, because I am a Milwaukee M18 fan."
NOT from a store front dealer and I'm fairly certain this has some bearing on the final outcome. I didn't provide a legitimate OTC receipt and even though a purchase receipt is not required, Milwaukee is balking. The serial numbers must be legit or the first place that checked them out would have said something.
I can see something like this if the batteries had come in unmarked/unlabeled packaging w/o the typical package inserts and such but these were exactly like what one would pull off the rack at Home Depot or FleetFarm.
My advice: if buying anything Milwaukee, go to a store front business, keep your reciept, and maybe have a store employee sign/date that receipt.

 

[P89'er]

My advice: if buying anything Milwaukee, go to a store front business, keep your reciept, and maybe have a store employee sign/date that receipt.

I almost purchased some large ah M18's because the deal was just good enough to seem like a good deal. I ended up passing and always wondered if they were fakes. So many scammers out there. I learned the hard way on a Sandisk SD card last year. Who would've thunk someone makes copy cat SD cards!!!

 

[Mobuck]

Yes, there are some quite obvious fakes--mis-spelled words, hyphens (or lack of), slightly off color in packaging, or as in the case of many ebay sellers, the words 'FOR' Milwaukee or 'for' M-18.
Those are not difficult to pick out as knock offs but when the serial numbers fool a company employee, that's quite different.

 

[magpouch]

Honestly, I just buy the fake batteries and I've been happy...

 

[P89'er]

Honestly, I just buy the fake batteries and I've been happy...

We have a local Battery Outfitters. I bought two "new" batteries for my old Dewalt drill. I don't know if it was the batteries, or the drill wasn't wanting to go back to work, but it smelled horrendously and let out the magic smoke not long after I got them. I thought well heck, I should've got the elcheapos off ebay!