Why I prefer Bosch and Makita Tools

Bosch Power Tools has an extensive company run service network in India

Nowadays the Indian market is flooded by power tools from a variety of manufacturers both foreign and Indian.  Five years ago when I began woodworking we had nowhere near these choices.

The choice is exciting and prices often tempting but I have come to the conclusion that not every power tool brand is a good choice in the Indian environment. The main reason is service.

The vast majority of power tools sellers today offer little to no service support or else provide this through service franchisees who do little but fleece the customer.

To my knowledge only two manufacturers today provide company owned and run service centres: Bosch and Makita.

Bosch has the best service network in the country, run by professional company employed personnel. Makita has fewer but run by equally competent mechanics.

The best thing about company run service centres is that the employee has little to no incentive to cheat the customer who comes in to service a power tool.

Prices of spares also are fixed and the service centre provides a proper receipt of the charges applied.

Power Tools will develop problems - you need good service

Technicians and mechanics in company run establishments are properly trained and qualified to carry out repairs. Dealers offer "jugaad" based services and often employ local mechanics who have no qualifications whatsoever.

Servicing by Bosch and Makita are far from perfect and I have had complaints in the past but they remain the best bet.

I have often visited the Bosch Service Centre in New Delhi's Rishyamuk Building and had my power tool problems resolved.

I cannot say the same for other manufacturers.

Hitachi used to have a company run service centre in Delhi but they seem to have closed it down and appointed a few dealers as service providers.

This is a complete disaster as the dealers have made this another albeit and lesser line of business activity. Their primary aim of running a service centre for repairs and parts is to make money and not the customer happy.

This means customers are often overcharged and the quality of the servicing/repairs is extremely poor.

I had an excellent Hitachi belt sander that developed an alignment problem. I took it to two dealers who kept it for weeks and then claimed they had fixed the problem and charged me for labour and parts. The damned sander never worked properly for more than a week and finally I have had to junk it.

So be warned: power tools will develop problems and will have to be serviced at some point or the other; or else you will need spares like carbon brushes, belts, bearings and so on.

Buy from a seller who can offer company support.

Companies like Hitachi, Ferm, Dewalt, Black & Decker, Stanley, Metabo, Einhell and so on do not offer company run service support. Buy only if you have no other option. No Indian company offers such support either to the best of my knowledge.

Power tools companies are rushing into India to skim the market but are not investing in any support infrastructure. Some of them might make great tools but without support that means very little.

Indranil Banerjie
25 January 2016

Comments

  1. My drill is from Bosch and my impact driver is from Makita. Other than that, most of my tools are either Skil (circ saw,sander), B&D (plane,hot air gun,cordless screw driver) or Ferm (HVLP sprayer, Bench drill press).
    Not a very good picture if what Indranil says is true :(
    Is getting regular wear and tear items like carbon brushes a problem too?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carbon brushes might not be a problem unless they are of a particular size but belts and other parts are a problem. There is also an issue of quality of spares. It is disruptive to kerep changing a part of visiting the repair centre.

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  2. Well Indranil, Those Bosch parts finally arrived and I fixed the motor. This gave me an opportunity to completely strip the table saw and service it. Now everything is working fine. All tools in my shop are serviced by me and I only order the parts. Most of the Knowledge base is available on the Internet. Ofcourse you need the right servicing tools. You can find almost all Bosch drawings and spare part list from this sight http://www.powertoolspares.com/tool/bosch/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Bala for the very useful information. I wish I was as mechanical proficient as you are. The thought of stripping down a machine even as simple as a sander unnerves me. Your kind of skills are a terrific asset and perhaps essential in today's day and age.

      Delete
  3. Bosch service centre services skil circular saw too.....I am planning to buy skil saw..pls advise

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Bosch Service centre will service Skil as well as dremel tools.

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete

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