Black&Decker strimmer trouble

teedy23

I have searched and found no other comments about this topic so will share my experiance with you all.
I bought a new black & decker strimmer from Argos around the end of April, product No.315. My garden is small but is on a hill so it makes it difficult for me to use a regular lawnmower. I used it twice and had noticed the line was feeding out at an alarming pace, it ran out pretty quickly, so bought a replacement line. I followed the instuctions on how to rethread the spool carefully, but again noticed it was feeding out too quickly. On the second use of this product the cap which holds the spool in place, I can only describe as, exploded. It blew into two halves giving me a nasty slash on the bottom of my leg, despite the fact that I was wearing trousers. I returned the product to Argos who were very good and gave me a new one. The same thing happened again, line feeding out blah-blah. I decided not to continue using it incase the cap exploded again, and emailed Black& Decker to tell them about this, thier response was that I should take it to be repaired at a certain shop, I dont think this is good service and have told them so. Also the plastic cog inside has broken so the line just all came out in one long strand in the end. I,m taking tis back to Argos to see if they will exchange it for another brand. I,m posting this as a warnung to o/p to avoid this product

steveeeee

I can't help much with your strimmer warranty issues, but when I worked as a groundsman for a summer there were several very steep banks I had to mow. My boss told me to stand at the top of the bank with a lightweight Flymo mower on a length of rope and swing it back and forth to cut all the grass. Worked a treat!

Blacksheep1979

But it sounds like you are using the product for a task its not designed to do ie cut a lawn - they're designed to trim the edges.

Aldeney

I got a Black & Decker strimmer free when I bought one of their lawn mowers & it was nothing but trouble. I didn't have the problems you experienced, thankfully, but found the line kept breaking every few minutes & wouldn't feed out on it's own. The line cartridge was also extremely difficult to remove so I gave up using it after just 3 attempts at using it.

Their mower on the other hand is fantastic.

teedy23

yes steveee, some of the people on my street do this, usually men as it,s a bit hard on the arms also dont want it to fall off the wall at bottom onto road.
Blacksheep, I would imagine that it,s harder on the machine cutting edges, as you would be cutting into dirt, round poles ect. I,m only skimming across grass.
Aldeney, this was the initial problem with mine, but I persisted with it. Perhaps I shouldnt have
The upshot is, I returned the strimmer again to Argos, who refunded my money onto a gift card, as I had lost my receipt, and I will purchase another brand.

lokiman

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

But it sounds like you are using the product for a task its not designed to do ie cut a lawn - they're designed to trim the edges.

Yes, I agree. It sounds as though the use for which you have the product is far too intensive, and way beyond the intended purpose. Strimmers should work fine for trimming edges and the like, but not for mowing lawns.

Aldeney

teedy23 wrote: »

Aldeney, this was the initial problem with mine, but I persisted with it. Perhaps I shouldnt have
The upshot is, I returned the strimmer again to Argos, who refunded my money onto a gift card, as I had lost my receipt, and I will purchase another brand.

I'm glad you got a refund on yours teedy. I didn't bother as it was free with my mower. Will stick to garden shears in future :rotfl:

C_Ronaldo

Ive got a balck and decker strimmer, granted its some years old but it still works

teedy23

C_Ronaldo wrote: »

Ive got a balck and decker strimmer, granted its some years old but it still works

probably the fact that it,s some years older is a good thing. Just shoddy now, the line didnt know I wasnt on the edge when I started using it, the problem started straight away folks:rolleyes: