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weisyboy
1st July 2012, 09:29 PM
i dont know about any one else but i think that the customer service at lucas has really gone down hill in teh last few months. its disapointing because it used to be so dam good, better than anyware else i dealt with.

my old lucas 8-25 has had a buggered muffler, rusted threw for about a year or so, i had welded the holes up a few times and more had appeared, it got so bad it had started to melt a hole in my water bottle, and i had seen on allans mill (10-30) that his muffler was down the bottom out of teh way of throttle adjustments.

so last year in november i ccracked the ##### and rang lucas, i was told that the new style muffler would fit i would just have to tap the corner in a little to miss the oil cooler. so i ordered one, it arrived promptly, i was working down teh coast with allan at the time, and i drove home especialy to get it.

when i tried to fit it, i definetly had to tap teh corner in, i had to flog teh #### out of it, i even rang lucas back to make sure i was suposed to hammer it in. i did as much as i dared, i recon any more would have torn teh metal. even so it was touching the oil cooler and was within an inch or 2 of teh filter.

after running the mill for a day or so the mill seamed to be running a lot hotter than usual, after a few days of using it and it seams just not right, i checked the oil, it was cooked, burnt, ####ed really.

i rang lucas about it and was told that this had never happened before and to replace the oil. so i did and have been using it ever since but replace the oil about once a month. now since the end of last year i havent done a lot of milling i think i might have put 50 hours on teh mill.

the muffler has broken, the welds that hold the muffler to teh exhaust pipes has completely broken, teh muffler rattles around on teh end now and is really quite noisy and blows exhaust back at teh motor.

i rang lucas , it was more of a call to let them know that it had happened so they could check the mufflers to make sure they werent faulty, but beffore i could finish i was told that i had only had 1 belt on it for a period of time (about 10 hours on the hour meter) that it caused vibration and broke the welds and it was my fault it broke.:roll: now i dont know how having 1 belt, not a buggered belt a goood one, could cause vibration, :doh: but i was shocked and really a bit offended at this response. i was not asking for a new muffler i was going to weld it upmyself as i want to move it a few inches away from the oil cooler and motor.

as well as this instead of ringing up and talking to someone that can help straight up, i have been told that i will be called back, never to receive that call, this has happened a few times now and its getting a bit disappointing.

anyway my rant is over.

Sigidi
1st July 2012, 09:48 PM
Geese, thats a bit disappointing Carl, I havent had issues and Warren seems to go out of his way all the time, but I know the trouble we went through at the time fitting the muffler. A bit surprising cos I recall when they replaced some stuff on my 6-18 when I was out of warranty....

eli szoko
1st July 2012, 10:08 PM
No surprise the thing fell apart after the flogging it sounds like you had to give, it would have weakened all the spot welds inside.I would go back to the old one and make it back up using sum car body.
Eli Szoko

tassietimbers
2nd July 2012, 10:43 PM
I have been pushing a Lucas mill for many years now, and can't fault their service. On the few occasions I've needed some part they have had it to where ever I have been working in no time at all. And their over the phone advice is great, Ian has pulled me out of the poo a few times. Dudley even drove out to help me on a Sunday afternoon on his day off a few years ago when we were having trouble with a slabber, then gave the old mill a quick service while he was there. You can't beat that.

Maybe when they said 'tap' they meant it in the way of 'tap and die', i.e. drill out to fit or something. Who knows, maybe the person in the office had just had a really bad day, like got a flat tyre, spare was flat also, kids had borrowed the car jack to make a bike jump and they left the wheel brace in the boat trailer on the weekend! :doh:

I would not let one disappointing experience tarnish a business reputation that has been built up by dedicated team over many years.

Cheers
James

weisyboy
2nd July 2012, 11:05 PM
there service had always been second to none, even thow i didn't buy the mill off them, that is why i was so disappointed with this saga. the customer service has always been sompthing that i have commented to everyone on how good it has been.

they did mean tap with a hammer cos i was told to just hammer it in till it fits.

anyway i got an email from warren today (left my phone at home and am 500km from there). apologising and offering to send out a new muffler and oil cooler.:2tsup: