About to blow my top.

Bought a Lincoln square wave 200 back in January

Thing quits making an arc after a couple hours of use. Alright, send in for service

A month after I get the thing in, I get a call that they can't get the repair part so Lincoln has sent me a new welder. Ok, so I drive into the city and pick it up, ecstatic.

Get my welding table all cleaned off, prep a couple pieces of aluminum for a test weld. Getting prepped to weld up an overflow tank that I just got the fittings in from summit for.

Plug in new welder, hear it gas, think that's a little strange, unabated I grab the torch, I grab the tungsten to adjust stick out, shocks the ever living shit out of me in a lovely pulsing manner. Set the torch on the table and see it trying to arc. Look at the display and its just pulsing on and off.

Unplug the tig stuff, plug in the stinger to see if it will function in arc mode, same thing.

Figure something is up with the 220 receptacle so I grab the 110 volt cord and plug it in. Exact same behavior.

Are you kidding me, this is supposed to be top of the line as far as hobbyist welders go, and in the three months I have had it its actually been in my possession for about a month, and this "brand new" welder is dead as a damned rock.

Now what the hell do I do. This was a huge investment for me. It needs to start paying for itself, I have client work, plus my own crap that I need to be busting out.

So now what? Do I take the thing back to the welding shop, they send it back to the city, I get put in the end of the diagnostics queue, then after a week or two they will get around to it, then a month later Lincoln sends me a new one? so I can be without a brand new $1400 piece of equipment for another month? Then it performs the same as these two and it cycles back. I just can't be without this tool that long, and am tired of the gambling. I am going to lose clients over this...

/end rant.

I want to say lots of not PG things, but forum rules prohibit it. I will just say I feel really disillusioned. Lincoln used to be a great brand, I have yearned to have one of their welders for a long time. This is not what I expected.

 

That straight up SUCKS! Will the shop work something out with you?

I've never owned a Lincoln. My Miller 130 MIG is about 20yrs old and no issues besides maintenance. TIG is a Miller Dynasty 200,also no probs,but nowhere near the hours that the MIG has seen.

 

My 110 Hobart has hundreds of pounds of wire through it, it was a factory refurb 22 years ago. Never once even offered to hiccup. Even the alpha tig I had lived a fairly productive life.

Hopefully whoever I talk to at Lincoln can offer some sort of solution.

Would have liked a Miller, but even used they have great resale, it was everything i could scrape together at the time to make the Lincoln happen, maybe that's why it feels a little personal.

Can't be personal, just a machine.

Figured I would vent on the forum and sleep before I called customer service, whoever that person is doesn't need an angry, difficult customer. It acheives nothing.

 

I'd damn sure plug it in at the shop before I left again.

 

That's another thing that sucks about the deal. I don't even go to a shop, I take it to the airgas in my little town, they ship it to the airgas in Denver, they send it to some other repair center. That's why I want to call Lincoln direct and see if anything can be done.

 

I am sorry to hear this. I was very lucky I stumbled appon a used synchro wave at a good price (at least I feel good about it) . It's older and hugh but hopefully those things come with durability. I am still trying to learn how to tig. I want a plasma cutter but I feel the same way the good used ones are not cheap and I am worried a cheaper one with not last.

 

I had a cheap lotos plasma, it lasted long enough to justify buying another one when it croaked. Hard to justify a 5000 hypertherm when the lotos does the job.

I am going to see if I can get a demo welder while they fix mine.

 

I got off the phone with Lincoln, it ended up being a sort of a mess, told my story a few times. I was as gentle and patient as I could be. Once I got through the hold queues Customer service was very nice, empathetic, kind and patient. I damn near broke into tears on the phone trying to control my frustration... better alternative than yelling at strangers though. My norm would be to reach through the phone and grab someone by the throat. That's a bad habit. It doesn't help that I've got $3000 worth of work that has been sitting since January and a client who is grown impatient. Once I was speaking with the right guy he got my number, called the local dealer, setup the whole thing, called me back with instructions.

They are direct shipping a new unit to my local retailer. Once it arrives, they will call me. I will take down the broken one, trade it straight across, they will restart the warranty period on it. I am not paying any kind of shipping or service fees.

Their service is very good. Can't really fault the product, bad stuff rolls of the line periodically. I can only imagine what this would be like dealing with some Asian company through amazon. Displeased with the product experience, pleased with the company.

I am glad I vented here instead of raging at the guy on the phone, no one needs that.

Thanks for the support forum! Looking forward to dusting off my TiG gloves.

 

Very good to hear!