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Their FB page is for advertisement not for dealing with customer service. I don't blame them for taking it down and banning you. Obviously you got a lemon, why didnt you take it up with the company and get a new auger instead of fixing it 5 times?
Did you try calling strikemaster and explain what all has happened in 3 years? They may take it and honor the warranty if you be nice and courteous. Then when they replace it you can sell it and buy a jiffy if you want. Telling them their product sucks, you are going to spread the word to not buy their products, and flaming on their FB page will get you absolutely nowhere. Call them Tuesday and see what happens.
I think you'll find that all of the big auger makers quality has dropped in the last 10 years and they are all built over there.There are a couple of exceptions like Husky and the Tanaka mentioned above.I have an older Strikemaster with 3hp Tecumseh engine and it is almost all steel.Yes it's heavy but I trust it much more than the rebranded Eskimo Mako I bought a year and a half ago.That auger with all of it's plastic is much more fragile and it was broken by the time I snowmobiled 5 miles to my fishing spot.That's right it was broken before I ever drilled my first hole!!!! It now sits in the shed as a backup to my Strikemaster that I know can take the abuse I give it travelling over rough trails.I also know that it will always start as well.It's not light, it's not bullet proof, bit it can take a beating and still do it's job day in and day out.
I feel for ya. After working on, building, and repairing engines as a certified wrench from small to V-8's since the 70's, nothing out there is much good anymore. (That's made in China) Try to tell people that the Solo is NOT made in Germany, and look at the reactions. (see some of the posts!) My Viper is made in China; so is yours, so are Jiffy's...there are a few out there that have not gone that route. Even the Briggs and Tecumseh engine's on snowblowers and mowers are all Chinese; my friend owns a dealership/engine business that sells and fixes these, in his opinion, all junk, he can't even rebuild the engines anymore. I've been lucky; my 6 yo Eskimo has been faultless for me from day one. The advice I give people is if you can find an auger in great shape over 10 years old, buy it, or go electric.
I loved the ol "My Solo engine was made in Germany bilge water.". I always said Jiffy should advertise their auger motors as being engineered in America and it seems they now do.
This type of thing happening doesn't help this old coot either. Maybe that's why I hang onto my Jiffy with a Tecumseh on it. Kind of like a security blanket.
Same with my old Model 30 Jiffy.Heavier than a dead body, but always runs even though it's got 41 or 42 years of hard running on it.Another thing about Strikemaster customer service, when the clutch snapped the first month I owned it, they actually questioned the warranty guy how old the unit was because my receipt was hand written from the hardware store I purchased it from.**censored**? All they had to do was check the serial number to see the manufacture date and verify. Of course, that's assuming that they even bother to record them to begin with.
I had a bad clutch on my 2 hp steath and the auger turned whenever the engine was running. After four years I emailed them and they sent me a UPS shipping label and I returned it. It was back in a week with no charge. Maybe he heard me when I said it was a safety item and if it ever injured me someone would have to swallow the darn thing. Otherwise it has been flawless.
THAT'S customer service and standing behind a product.These jokers hassled me on an auger that wasn't even a month old when it took it's first major dump.It's all good though...I've been badmouthing these clowns on every ice fishing site I can find, and about 20 guys were standing with me the other day when it imploded....so if I can prevent them from selling a couple more pieces of junk to some other fisherman, all the better.A few years ago, a guy bought a lemon car from a local dealership up here and got nothing but hassled, UNTIL he made a big sign saying "this lemon bought at ________________Chevy, and parked it (and the sign) out in front of their dealership. The dealership decided to have "second thoughts" about blowing the guy off and took the car back.I live right on a main road to a bunch of ice fishing grounds...gives me an idea for a sign, a statement, and a few pics for facebook and ice fishing sites...think I'll send Rapala one as well...
Huh. Just spoke to the authorized repair center in this area for Strikemaster augers, and he's had THREE of the Solo powered augers come in the past week , all for the same imploding transmission/gears in the plastic housed cases.As soon as I began to describe what it sounded like before it died on the ice, he described what it did to me, all three of the ones brought in did the exact same thing, mine makes #4 in a week.Hope Rapala knows what a trash outfit they acquired last year.
Is he going to do something for ya???
He told me the casing for the chinese gears on that POS is 144 bucks alone, and thats not with any gears and such that probably are going to need replacing, let alone the labor to take it apart and put it back together.Therefore, tomorrow I'm buying a can of bright yellow spray paint, painting the entire unit that same color and making my sign and putting it out by the main road, with the "STRIKEMASTER" name in big red letters, and posting it on EVERY ice fishing site I can find, and a few social media sites as well.Strikemaster can kiss my a**.
Too bad this type of thing has to happen. Hope ya find something better to replace it. I was looking at a Nilsmaster power auger this winter, but the old Jiffy doesn't seem ready to die yet. lol
What is the location of these augers?
Just curious as to the date of manufacture of your auger?
