Screwfix Returns Policy?

akira181

I was fitting some laminate flooring at my mothers house last weekend and needed something to undercut the door frames with.

I saw Screwfix have a 30 day Money Back Guarantee so I ordered an oscillating saw online, collected in store, and went to my mothers house.

Unfortunately, I don't think the saw is fit for purpose. It's rather underpowered and struggles with hardwood. Blades just gum up, the tool struggles to make the cuts and gets very hot. I cut one door frame and the blade was burnt out. I even got paranoid and checked youtube on how to use the saw in case I'd randomly forgotten how and was doing it wrong.

So unsatisfied that the tool is not fit for purpose, I want to return it but the fine print says tools must be returned unused. How am I supposed to know if I'm satisfied with an item if I cannot use it first? The 30 day money back guarantee is just a con then isn't it?

bxboards

Screwfix are fine for returns.

I had an Impact Driver / Drill set and the impact driver failed.

I took just the impact driver in, and they would have been happy to exchange everything for new, in the end they pulled out the impact driver from a new set and swapped. This was after about 6 months usage.

You'll have no problem with a return.

shaun_from_Africa

akira181 wrote: »

The 30 day money back guarantee is just a con then isn't it?

It's not a con in the least.
The T&C's for their return policy are clearly shown before you make your purchase and enable you to return something should you decide that you no longer need ot before using the item concerned.
No high street store has to allow change of mind returns so allowing 30 days for this is very good on the part of Screwfix.

If you don't think that the saw you bought is for for purpose then you still have the legal right to reject within 30 days from purchase using your consumer rights:

FREE RETURNS with our 30 Day Money Back Guarantee

Though we hope that you will never need to return anything, should you need to do so, we aim to make it as quick and easy as possible to exchange or refund your purchase. This page tells you all you need to know, please note your statutory rights are not affected by this guidance

and return it for a full refund but it's possible (although unlikely) that Screwfix will ask you to prove that it's faulty or unusable.

akira181

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

It's not a con in the least.
The T&C's for their return policy are clearly shown before you make your purchase and enable you to return something should you decide that you no longer need ot before using the item concerned.
No high street store has to allow change of mind returns so allowing 30 days for this is very good on the part of Screwfix.

True, they don't have to allow it but is good customer service too much to ask for when people spend considerable amounts of money in your store when cheaper online alternatives are available?

I consider anything that says "money back guarantee" then smallprint that covers pretty much every situation to negate the money back a kind of con. Might as well say money back guarantee as long as you don't leave the shop. I done a quick google before posting here and saw people get refused refunds despite items being unused because they'd opened the pack.

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

If you don't think that the saw you bought is for for purpose then you still have the legal right to reject within 30 days from purchase using your consumer rights:

and return it for a full refund but it's possible (although unlikely) that Screwfix will ask you to prove that it's faulty or unusable.

I will take it back tomorrow and see if they're willing to accept that it lacks the power to cut hardwood even though it claims it can.

tonyh66

did you use the right blade? were you putting too much pressure on the blade rather than letting the blade do the cutting? Im not familiar with the screwfix tool but were you cutting at the right speed?
I cut out the bottom of 2 doors and all the skirting board in my kitchen no problems with a worx sonicrafter using a semi circular blade (with teeth).

I doubt the door frames are hardwood, but I don't know when your mothers house was built and to what standard.

shaun_from_Africa

akira181 wrote: »

I done a quick google before posting here and saw people get refused refunds despite items being unused because they'd opened the pack.

What's wrong with that?
If the pack has been opened then the store staff might not be able to ascertain if the item has been used or tampered with and so might not be able to resell it until it had been tested or inspected.
Look at the returns policy for many stores and you will often find the same or similar terms when returning unwanted goods. They generally state goods must be unopened or returned in an "as new" condition to allow them to be resold.

What do the instructions state about the saws cutting capacity for hardwood? Most doors are normally about 3.5cm thick and this thickness of oily wood can be quite hard to cut using DIY grade tools.

akira181

All the specs say is that it's 300W, suitable for wide range of materials, and has a hardwood cutting blade with a 67mm cutting depth. Although that's the blade length and probably not a max limit for the unit iteslf.

The door frames I cut were around 40mm but being a very old house, some of the door architrave's measure up to 60mm. Either the saw body will burn out or I will go bankrupt buying new blades before I finish the job.

shaun_from_Africa

Personally, I can't see that any saw that's only 300w will ever be any good for cutting hardwood that's up to 60mm.
Could you post a link to the saw in question, or if you can't post links, just state the model number.

Jackmydad

tonyh66 wrote: »

did you use the right blade? were you putting too much pressure on the blade rather than letting the blade do the cutting? Im not familiar with the screwfix tool but were you cutting at the right speed?
I cut out the bottom of 2 doors and all the skirting board in my kitchen no problems with a worx sonicrafter using a semi circular blade (with teeth).

I doubt the door frames are hardwood, but I don't know when your mothers house was built and to what standard.

That's what I think. The blades make a big difference.
I've had two. A Parkside (Lidl) which worked fine, as does the blue Bosch I have now.
Cutting deep into hard wood (whether it's "hardwood" or "softwood" is going to test any of these tools because the waste clearing action isn't great.
Good quality blade, and "let the tool do the work" by not applying too much pressure.

GDB2222

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

and return it for a full refund but it's possible (although unlikely) that Screwfix will ask you to prove that it's faulty or unusable.

It's possible for the saw to be fit for purpose, but not fit for the purpose the OP wanted to put it to.

My own experience with oscillating tools is that the blades wear out rather quickly. They are a consumable item. I'm not surprised that the tool had some difficulty with hardwood, which is after all hard. You can get blades specially designed for hardwood, and the standard wood blades may well struggle, as they are probably intended for softwood.

Jackmydad

GDB2222 wrote: »

It's possible for the saw to be fit for purpose, but not fit for the purpose the OP wanted to put it to.

My own experience with oscillating tools is that the blades wear out rather quickly. They are a consumable item. I'm not surprised that the tool had some difficulty with hardwood, which is after all hard. You can get blades specially designed for hardwood, and the standard wood blades may well struggle, as they are probably intended for softwood.

I'd agree about the blades.

Just to be pedantic though, "hardwood" and "softwood" are defined by the type of tree, they're not a description of the timber's characteristics.
Generally "hardwood" is taken to be from a deciduous tree, and "softwood" from a conifer.
Extreme examples would be balsa wood (extremely soft), which is technically a "hardwood", and yew (very hard) which is technically a "softwood".

Softwood tends to be resinous, and old timber can be hard, making it hard to cut with anything.