Things that don't work

[Wokman Profile Website]

I had one of these delivered today:

http://wms-trading.de/product_info.php/ ... 0b00423b90

Unfortunately it won't start. I only paid £43.- for it on Ebay (which included £20.- postage & packaging) and it is brand new supplied directly from the company in Germany.
It will probably cost me £20.- to send it back, but then I don't know if the replacement will be any good either, so that would cost me another £20.- to send that one back.

I'm wondering if I should cut my losses and try and get it repaired here in the UK for about £20.- because if I get a refund I will still be out of pocket sending the thing back.
What would you do?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

You can barely get a pair of shoes repaired for £20 - certainly you can't get a repair done by a competent engineer

First thing to do is contact the seller, today, so put on record it arrived non-functional, and ask them what they suggest. Have to be by email now, but at least otday's date will be on it.

It may get you no joy, but as I say - making it clear it never worked from the first minute puts you in a (slightly) stronger position

[Wokman Profile Website]

First thing to do is contact the seller, today, so put on record it arrived non-functional, and ask them what they suggest. Have to be by email now, but at least otday's date will be on it.

It may get you no joy, but as I say - making it clear it never worked from the first minute puts you in a (slightly) stronger position

Thanks Sue,

I just sent sent them a polite email so that they know it didn't work from the word "go". I did try to phone them earlier, but of course they are an hour ahead of us so the office was closed.

I was just so annoyed that I didn't even think rationally in order to resolve the issue........but that's where you came in

[Joanbunting Profile]

Hi Wokman

I think I am correct in saying (I'll check later) that consumer laws regarding mail-order good hold throughout the EU. So if it is unfit for purpose the seller must do something without further cost to you.

I bought a coffee machine from Germany a few years ago and it did not work - I contacted them and they arranged to have it picked up and refunded the money into my account fairly swiftly. I could have had a replacement but decided not to.

[Sakkarin Profile]

Maybe it's like those dummy security cameras, intended just to scare intruders off, not actually dismember them. It would do it for me!!!!

[Joanbunting Profile]

Hi again Wokman

Have you had a reply?

If there are problems this might help:

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/sh ... dex_en.htm

[Wokman Profile Website]

Hi Joan,

Thanks for the link. I did get an email back from them and they told me which type of fuel to use (the same as I told them I was using) and told me to check the sparkplug to see if it sparked (which I had already checked and told them in my email that the sparkplug was fine).
So now I am back to square 1.
If they had read my email correctly they wouldn't have replied by telling me to do everything I told them I had already done

I sent them another email telling them that everything had been checked so I am now waiting for a second reply.

[jeral Profile]

Do you know anything about the carburettor? Someone years ago said that he had to tweak it a couple of times at first until it settled down, although from memory that was for smooth running rather than starting. Sorry to be so vague as I don't know about them. I don't suppose it's anything to do with the ambient temperature is it, like a car engine can flood in hot weather. I'm probably talking rubbish, so I'll just wish you good luck.

[Wokman Profile Website]

Hi Jeral,

Thanks for the thought, but there isn't a lot that can be done with the carburettor other than adjust the idle speed, although I am convinced that the problem is fuel related rather than electrical. It seems like there is no fuel getting through to the carburettor and there is no primer on the machines these days.

I was thinking of baking a loaf of bread sometime in the near future so I want to try and get it working before then as my bread is like a log

[Wokman Profile Website]

EUREKA!!

I just spent a couple of hours in the garden taking the whole thing apart and 2 neighbours came to have a look to see if they could help solve the problem.
It turned out that after removing the whole casing and getting to the engine there are 2 screws which regulate the fuel control, a bit of tweaking and hey presto the beast fired up!
I am a happy bunny tonight, but the factory setting was all wrong. I'm glad that I don't have to send it back to Berlin and at the same time I am disappointed with the supplier for not having shipped the item in working order.
Thanks for all your help and advice, it's nice to know that people on this board can be relied on to help each other no matter what the problem

[Stokey Sue Profile]

EUREKA!!

Yippee!!!!!!

[jeral Profile]

Yey!

It's interesting though as the person I mentioned earlier also thought his was leaking as a small amount of fuel oil dripped from it, which apparently transpired to be normal - or maybe shouldn't have been if a tweak can set the fuel screws to "optimum"? Trial and error? Perhaps that's why the screws were too tight on the factory setting if people had complained that it leaked? Only guessing.

Dunno about your bread but some pastry I once made would have been good for hard core.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Hi Wokman

Great news! Well done.

We bought a pressure pump for spraying the weeds and try as we might it just wouldn't work and the instructions didn't help. We took it back and the V helpful young man informed us that the pressure screw is always kept on max for shipping - one quick twiddle and it worked

I would have saved much time and effort if the instructions had simply pointed this out.