Rutlands Warning!

[phil p]

Awful company to deal with (Rutlands)
I bought a sander from them years ago, plugged it in, pressed the start button and it went “Bang”.
I returned it to them as requested as they would “repair it”, which I wasn’t having as it had literally taken out of the box and just turned on for the first time and I requested a replacement, which they refused.

Load of hassle and emails later, and the M.D. eventually got involved, think his name was Mark, he was terrible, rude and very sarcastic and totally non customer service focused, however in the end I settled for a refund.
Haven’t used them since, never will.

 

[Hpps]

..

 

[Hpps]

they post fake 5 star reviews on their website, I think they need to be more transparent about this, it makes everything look like people have already bought it and are happy, it wouldn't surprise me if they delete negative reviews as well.

Old thread, sorry.
But thetyreman is completely correct with this statement.

I bought one of their sliding mitre saws a couple of months ago as a rough site saw because it came up on one of their daily offers and seemed cheap enough to take a punt. All the rest of my stuff is Makita, but in comparrison it was awful. For not much more money, I wish I'd bought the Makita version. I left a review on their website, I was honest with my opinion and didn't say it was terrible, but that it could be better and was a little dissapointed, giving it 3 stars.
The review was up, then the next day had vanished. Assuming it was an error on my part, I posted another, again with 3 stars. This too dissapeared soon after.
I contacted them asking why they were taking down honest reviews if they didn't give 4 or 5 stars and pointed out it was misleading and unfair for potential customers looking at buying one. They replied with something along the lines of it being an automated system and sometimes takes a while for the reviews to go live - they never did go live. I left a review on Trustpilot instead.

Their parallel jaw claps are good, I will give them that!

About a month ago they had their router table/motor/lift combo on offer, £750, £300 off the regular price. I was in the market for a new one so took the plunge thinking how much I was saving.
The instructions were awful, barely readable. The screws they said to use to hold the top to the table frame were too long and cracked the surface of the phenolic top, leaving little humps. The fence was a bit of a faff and not the nice to use, but better than my previous one.
While running some long lengths through it with a roundover bit, I noticed it was taking more off at the start and finish of the pass, so I checked the top with a straight edge for level to find it had almost a 2mm sag in the middle. I contacted them and sent photos and they sent a replacement. I checked this one as soon as it arrived, only to find the same problem. Contacting them again, they offered an upgrade to the cast iron top for a discount, which I took. It still cost me £400 + post for the bloody thing though!
Anyway, it arrived today, over 3 weeks after I originally bought the router table, only to find it's bent more than the phenolic ones were! Unbelievable, pee'd off doesn't describe it!

Luckily I live about 5 miles from their shop, so I'll be taking it back in person tomorrow and asking for an explanation. I'm glad I didn't pay full price, but even at the price I paid I feel it's not worth it. And theres not even any point in leaving a review because they'll delete it!

 

[Noel]

Old thread, sorry.
But thetyreman is completely correct with this statement.

I bought one of their sliding mitre saws a couple of months ago as a rough site saw because it came up on one of their daily offers and seemed cheap enough to take a punt. All the rest of my stuff is Makita, but in comparrison it was awful. For not much more money, I wish I'd bought the Makita version. I left a review on their website, I was honest with my opinion and didn't say it was terrible, but that it could be better and was a little dissapointed, giving it 3 stars.
The review was up, then the next day had vanished. Assuming it was an error on my part, I posted another, again with 3 stars. This too dissapeared soon after.
I contacted them asking why they were taking down honest reviews if they didn't give 4 or 5 stars and pointed out it was misleading and unfair for potential customers looking at buying one. They replied with something along the lines of it being an automated system and sometimes takes a while for the reviews to go live - they never did go live. I left a review on Trustpilot instead.

Their parallel jaw claps are good, I will give them that!

About a month ago they had their router table/motor/lift combo on offer, £750, £300 off the regular price. I was in the market for a new one so took the plunge thinking how much I was saving.
The instructions were awful, barely readable. The screws they said to use to hold the top to the table frame were too long and cracked the surface of the phenolic top, leaving little humps. The fence was a bit of a faff and not the nice to use, but better than my previous one.
While running some long lengths through it with a roundover bit, I noticed it was taking more off at the start and finish of the pass, so I checked the top with a straight edge for level to find it had almost a 2mm sag in the middle. I contacted them and sent photos and they sent a replacement. I checked this one as soon as it arrived, only to find the same problem. Contacting them again, they offered an upgrade to the cast iron top for a discount, which I took. It still cost me £400 + post for the bloody thing though!
Anyway, it arrived today, over 3 weeks after I originally bought the router table, only to find it's bent more than the phenolic ones were! Unbelievable, pee'd off doesn't describe it!

Luckily I live about 5 miles from their shop, so I'll be taking it back in person tomorrow and asking for an explanation. I'm glad I didn't pay full price, but even at the price I paid I feel it's not worth it. And theres not even any point in leaving a review because they'll delete it!

I wouldn’t be asking for an explanation………….

 

[Jake]

It's like groundhog day has been forever.

 

[NosamLuap]

Old thread, sorry.
But thetyreman is completely correct with this statement.

I bought one of their sliding mitre saws a couple of months ago as a rough site saw because it came up on one of their daily offers and seemed cheap enough to take a punt. All the rest of my stuff is Makita, but in comparrison it was awful. For not much more money, I wish I'd bought the Makita version. I left a review on their website, I was honest with my opinion and didn't say it was terrible, but that it could be better and was a little dissapointed, giving it 3 stars.
The review was up, then the next day had vanished. Assuming it was an error on my part, I posted another, again with 3 stars. This too dissapeared soon after.
I contacted them asking why they were taking down honest reviews if they didn't give 4 or 5 stars and pointed out it was misleading and unfair for potential customers looking at buying one. They replied with something along the lines of it being an automated system and sometimes takes a while for the reviews to go live - they never did go live. I left a review on Trustpilot instead.

Their parallel jaw claps are good, I will give them that!

About a month ago they had their router table/motor/lift combo on offer, £750, £300 off the regular price. I was in the market for a new one so took the plunge thinking how much I was saving.
The instructions were awful, barely readable. The screws they said to use to hold the top to the table frame were too long and cracked the surface of the phenolic top, leaving little humps. The fence was a bit of a faff and not the nice to use, but better than my previous one.
While running some long lengths through it with a roundover bit, I noticed it was taking more off at the start and finish of the pass, so I checked the top with a straight edge for level to find it had almost a 2mm sag in the middle. I contacted them and sent photos and they sent a replacement. I checked this one as soon as it arrived, only to find the same problem. Contacting them again, they offered an upgrade to the cast iron top for a discount, which I took. It still cost me £400 + post for the bloody thing though!
Anyway, it arrived today, over 3 weeks after I originally bought the router table, only to find it's bent more than the phenolic ones were! Unbelievable, pee'd off doesn't describe it!

Luckily I live about 5 miles from their shop, so I'll be taking it back in person tomorrow and asking for an explanation. I'm glad I didn't pay full price, but even at the price I paid I feel it's not worth it. And theres not even any point in leaving a review because they'll delete it!

Are you 'Rich M'? There's a 3 star review from a Makita user on the Rutlands website for the sliding mitre saw? What they do is default to 'highest rated first', so you see the 5 then 4 then 3 star reviews, and unless you change that order (which you can), or scroll right to the bottom, you don't see the poorer reviews...

 

[alan895]

Rag N Bone Brown on YT uploaded a video last week about a table saw of theirs and how the blade guard shattered when it unexpectedly contacted the spinning blade. He explained what Rutlands did about correcting it (will probably raise a lot of eyebrows), addressed briefly the "selective review publishing" query that he asked them, the best bit though is the comments is crammed full of incidents from dissatisfied customers.

 

[graduate_owner]

I have bought from Rutlands an oscillating bobbin sander and a chisel morticer. Both were on special offer (which is why I bought them) and both are clones which are available under several other brand names but at higher prices. I haven't used them much to be fair, only one job, but so far they seem OK. If things go wrong then I suppose I will get the same sort of hassle as others here, but until then things are OK. Delivery was prompt too.

My experience, for what it's worth.

K

 

[Jake]

That's everyone's experience until something goes wrong. Then you get stiffed, lose money, and realise what the other half were banging on about.

 

[Hpps]

Are you 'Rich M'? There's a 3 star review from a Makita user on the Rutlands website for the sliding mitre saw? What they do is default to 'highest rated first', so you see the 5 then 4 then 3 star reviews, and unless you change that order (which you can), or scroll right to the bottom, you don't see the poorer reviews...

Thats me, yes. Thats only recently gone up then, because I've checked a few times to see if it was there, last time there were only 5 or 6 reviews visable