Ryobi is not the company they once were, avoid. very poor quality tools now and appalling customer service
I have had many Ryobi one plus tools over the years but the summer purchase of a ryobi lawnmower has finished off my relationship with Ryobi products. the mower did not work properly from the outset, repeatedly cutting out rendering it unusable. There was a crack across the battery housing (which I took a photo of). The overly complex forms to be able to set up a warranty repair did not function so a phone call had to be made for them to manually book in a collection. I did not have the original box (who has room to keep a lawnmower box)? so I returned the mower in a box that a garden sofa had been sent in. two weeks later the mower was returned in the same box and with them having reused the same packing tape, which obviously had no adhesive left. The carrier called me to have a look at the box as it was open and damaged as they had not adequately sealed it. the mower still did not function, repeatedly cut out and the crack remained in the housing. I contacted Ryobi again and arranged for the mower to be returned to the same repairers. this time they lost my mower for a month. after two fraught calls with an absolutely appalling 'customer service' representative, who couldnt be bothered to actually do anything about the missing mower and did not want to accept any repsonsibility on behalf of ryobi, I actioned a formal complaint,( which initially and without any rationale, ryobi insisited was to be made in writing and sent by snail mail, clearly compounding the situation). Eventually it transpired that they are perfectly capable of accepting a complaint by email. the following day they had miraculously located my mower, tried to shift the blame on me for 'inadequately packaging' the mower, even though it was the same packaging that they had returned the mower to me the first time. They claimed there was no crack across the housing and that it was a 'cosmetic scratch' despite me having supplied them with clear photos of a substantial open crack to the flimsy plastic battery housing. Eventually they did concede that the mower did not function and continued to cut out. I have been offered a refund or a replacement. I will no longer be purchasing any more Ryobi tools. the quality of components and especially the plastics used in Ryobi products has significantly deteriorated in recent years and their customer service/after sales service is appalling. whilst i will recieve a refund, i am left out of pocket with prices having risen since i bought this mower that i have not been able to use and the length of time it has spent at the warranty repairers or lost in transit, the time i have spent on the phone, filling in forms and emailing their customer services only to repeatedly be lied to and dismissed (how can a repairers twice deny a substantial crack to the main body of the mower- it's obvious!) Ryobi is not the company they once were, avoid.