Just to vent, picked up a new Wet Steam pressure washer off of ebay this week, from Northern Tool, it was a refurb, but the deal was sweet. It was delivered on a pallet with cardboard around it and the gun was on top attached with packing tape. Gun casing was cracked (it happens, not that big a deal), opened the cardboard and there was no lance. Sent an email about missing lance and they say it was all zip tied to the machine but they will attempt to send me a lance. So I figured I would fire it up and adjust the burner for altitude so I could atleast play with it, checked the stubby dipstick and there was residue on it and the only notes on the machine were “As is, Tested Works” and " Attention, Automotive 12v battery required, do not start machine without battery". Fired the rig up and the burner would not ignite, still not sure why, but all of a sudden the engine stops, and of course the rope will no longer pull. So I take a real dipstick and test and there is no oil in the machine, engine seized.
I spent 25 minutes on hold and never spoke to anyone, then sent an email asking them if it was their policy to ship used products with the oil drained and no tags informing that they had drained? Their response was that “It is not Northerns policy, it is the Department of Transportation’s policy”. Really, that is your customer service response??:mad: I am aware of shipping policies and such but it is also a fairly universal policy to tag engines that have all the oil drained out of them, they tagged the importance of a battery!
This was like selling someone a car “as is” and then draining the oil out of it and handing them the keys, but letting them know the vital info is to make sure the battery is charged!
I took the engine apart and freed the cylinder and let it soak, but I won’t be holding my breath on receiving that lance :rolleyes:
