Mark, I was looking at the tanaka website and was reading about the warranty, and under the "does not cover" points: 5. Repairs made by unauthorized parties and/or with unauthorized parts what exactly does that mean? does it mean you void your whole warranty, or ony failures caused by that part? if a failure is caused, how do you proove that the aftermarket part/dealer caused the failure? example: say I put a echo speed feed head on a tanaka trimmer, and the gear case failed. what would happen here? would the gear case be replaced no questions asked, or would I have to prove that my trimmer head/not running short enough line caused the failure, and premature wear? my other question, is about taking parts OFF. example: say you took the guard off your trimmer, and the gear case or engine failed under the warranty period, would the engine still be covered, or would the whole warranty be voided, and I would be stuck with a bad engine? or would you have to prove that removing the guard caused a failure? and then lastly, what if an autherized tanaka dealer removes the guard? just curious. :blob3: chris.
Good questions. At Tanaka we take a lot of pride in our product and its support. Our warranty rate is low and it affords us the opportunity to remain flexible on warranty issues. In answer to your specific questions; Like any company warranting a serviceable product, we have to have some assurance that a warrantable repair is properly executed. Equally important, we must have a way to reimburse the dealer for the repair. This is a function of the Tanaka dealer network. Having said that, we leave it to the discretion of our service advisors to authorize repairs under a multitude of circumstances. Occasionally even sending parts direct to customers who have reported easily remedied problems. Unauthorized parts generally leave a very visible trail as to what happened. Often they go hand in hand with an inferior repair job. Both of which are usually obvious to a qualified technician. Such an unfortunate instance would not void the product warranty except directly relating to the mis-guided repair or unauthorized part. Using your example; installing a competitor or aftermarket cutting head could definitely impact your warranty. We have not tested or evaluated the performance of those items on our products. However, it is the responsibility of the Tanaka dealer or Tanaka directly to determine cause and effect in warranty situations. Fortunately, Tanaka offers a complete range of attachments and accessories that cover anything you're likely to encounter. Removing a safety guard; even sounds like a bad idea if you say it out loud. Not only does it dramatically increase your liability as an employer, it greatly increases risk to operators and bystanders. These are potentially dangerous machines if misused, and we all need to err on the side of caution. Accidents happen in the blink of an eye and their impact can last forever. Additionally, running a string trimmer without the guard allows the line to over feed. This leads to increased clutch wear and premature clutch failure. To sum it up; we at Tanaka take a common sense approach to the issues you raise. If you need more assurance - contact one of our more prominent dealers and get their perspective on warranty policy, reimbursement, refusals and turn around time. Sincerely, Randy Haslam Technical Services Manager
well that is the best answer that I have heard in a while. this is why I was asking about the guard. I am not sure if you are familiar with shindaiwa trimmers, but the guard covers about 160 degrees around, and weighs about 4lbs. not only can you not see what you are doing, but the wacker will still throw the stuff out front. all the guard protects is the operator. so I have found it safer with it off. 1. because I can see where my line is at all times. 2. because the head area is lighter, I have a quicker response time to pull it away from something.
