Eskimo’s warranty and customer service sucks

Kentucky Windage

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I have a Eskimo shark. This was my second season with it. I use an electric 2/3 of the ice season, so this auger has had light use. A month or so back, I’m cutting holes, and all of a sudden the side handles come apart mid hole. There are 4 bolts that hold the handle assembly together. If one comes out, the handles will come apart. This puts an end to my trip.

I call eskimo customer service and ask for a replacement bolt (an 8 cent bolt). The C.S. rep says to me that that bolt is a wear item and not covered under their 5 year warranty. I’m told I needed to inspect the auger for things like this prior to use. After a pointless argument, they ship me the bolt. I find out that the bolt actually broke off up in the head. I call back and have to have the same argument over them fixing their defexctive product. I also mention the leaky gas tank. I’m told the cause behind that is a wear item as well. I asked the rep if they expected their vehicles gas tank to leak 2 years after initial purchase. I also asked if they check their lug nuts every time before they drive their vehicle (in reference to the broken bolt). I was a strike master guy prior and never had any problems I mentioned. The one time I called SM, they promptly sent me a replacement at no charge.

Heres my rant at the end of all of this. Why sell a product offering a industry leading warranty to then not stand behind your product when issues arise? If you’re going to make crap, don’t offer a 5 year warranty you’re not willing to stand behind. I’m officially done with Eskimo. I had nothing but great things to say about it until this. What a great way to destroy a relationship with a customer.
 


MuleyMadness

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I feel your pain. But at the same time almost everything that has a warranty does not cover wear parts. Warranties and insurance are always a way of the devil for most. Once you order it and recieve it or walk out of the store with it no one has any proof of what happened after in your possession. You did your best to let Eskimo save face with you and they failed. Sounds like you are done buying their brand which is the same thing I would do. Just sucks that you had to get burned first. These situations make my blood pressure spike.
 

BBQBluesMan

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I’ll never buy an Eskimo auger again. Had nothing but problems with it and was not happy with their customer service either.
 

Brian Renville

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Well I guess that gives me less to think about in the future, sorry you guys had to pay the price though, literally.
 

reddevilwoodsman

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I've got an older Eskimo and it just keeps going and going and going without ever missing a beat. It's 20 years old or so and I've never had any kind of a problem with it other than normal wear items.
 


KiYi

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I had the bottom cast piece on the gas Rocket flighting break, called them, they had replacement parts and a new set of blades on my door step 2 days later. The CS guy I talked to was great. Great experience for me.
 

Kentucky Windage

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I feel your pain. But at the same time almost everything that has a warranty does not cover wear parts. Warranties and insurance are always a way of the devil for most. Once you order it and recieve it or walk out of the store with it no one has any proof of what happened after in your possession. You did your best to let Eskimo save face with you and they failed. Sounds like you are done buying their brand which is the same thing I would do. Just sucks that you had to get burned first. These situations make my blood pressure spike.

I classify wear parts as blades, bearings, bushings, tires, etc. A bolt tasked with its job in my case should not break. It was either over torqued at the factory or a larger/higher grade was needed in the design.
 

watson

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I've had nothing but great luck with mine auger and always had great service anytime I called. Did you call at 4:59 on a Friday or 7:59 on a Monday?
 

gr8outdoors

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I have a Eskimo shark. This was my second season with it. I use an electric 2/3 of the ice season, so this auger has had light use. A month or so back, I’m cutting holes, and all of a sudden the side handles come apart mid hole. There are 4 bolts that hold the handle assembly together. If one comes out, the handles will come apart. This puts an end to my trip.

I call eskimo customer service and ask for a replacement bolt (an 8 cent bolt). The C.S. rep says to me that that bolt is a wear item and not covered under their 5 year warranty. I’m told I needed to inspect the auger for things like this prior to use. After a pointless argument, they ship me the bolt. I find out that the bolt actually broke off up in the head. I call back and have to have the same argument over them fixing their defexctive product. I also mention the leaky gas tank. I’m told the cause behind that is a wear item as well. I asked the rep if they expected their vehicles gas tank to leak 2 years after initial purchase. I also asked if they check their lug nuts every time before they drive their vehicle (in reference to the broken bolt). I was a strike master guy prior and never had any problems I mentioned. The one time I called SM, they promptly sent me a replacement at no charge.

Heres my rant at the end of all of this. Why sell a product offering a industry leading warranty to then not stand behind your product when issues arise? If you’re going to make crap, don’t offer a 5 year warranty you’re not willing to stand behind. I’m officially done with Eskimo. I had nothing but great things to say about it until this. What a great way to destroy a relationship with a customer.

So do u have a thermal Eskimo hub house u want to get rid of for CHEEP? If u do, I'll take it!
 

Kentucky Windage

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So do u have a thermal Eskim o hub house u want to get rid of for CHEEP? If u do, I'll take it!

Yes. I have a fatfish I’ll let go for only 6 easy payments of $99.99, but wait there’s more. PM in the next 20 minutes and I’ll subtract one of the payments. That’s only 5 payments of $99.99. Get yours today!
 


Sum1

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Not sure if you got a lemon or what and yes bad customer service sucks. Luckily in the twenty plus years I have owned mine the only thing
i have done to it is change blades. This is after hundreds of holes drilled.
 

Kentucky Windage

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Update: I received a brand new powerhead after an authorized service center supposedly broke the easy out in the powerhead while attempting to fix it. Eskimo informed me that it was possible to remove broken bolts. I said I knew that, but why would I attempt that knowing the obvious risk that the service ended up encountering.

At the end of the day, I’m happy with the outcome, but I’m still upset with how the company chose to handle the situation. I think it would be in their best interest to modify their policy, or the person answering their phones, or both.
 

Sum1

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Not sure if you got a lemon or what and yes bad customer service sucks. Luckily in the twenty plus years I have owned mine the only thing
i have done to it is change blades. This is after hundreds of holes drilled.
I also put gas in it
 

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