Posting as a warning for future prospective Echo Chainsaw buyers...
I bought a CS-520 chainsaw from a Echo equipment dealer in the same town (Lake Zurich, IL) as Echo corporate office.
Since then and within the warranty period:
- 3 of the screws on the cover vibrated out (no locking washer or Loctite used at the factory).
- half the slotted screw head on the bar oil adjustment screw snapped off (clearly a metalurgical issue with Echo's screw supplier... who ever heard of half slotted screw heads snapping off?!?!?!)
These are no-brainer issues that should have never occurred in the first place.
Echo's customer service policy is that the owner needs to:
- take the saw back to an Echo Dealer,
- pay the $40-$50 for the Echo dealer to look at the missing screw or broken screw,
- wait 4-6 weeks for the Echo Dealer to file a warranty claim, get a response and fix the saw
- hope that Echo warranty dept approves the claim (Note: it better be within the warranty period to the EXACT day)
Even a phone call to Echo Customer Service found that Echo Customer Service Supervisor "Christine" was adamant in following Echo's Corporate Policy and would not simply drop the oil adjuster screw in an envelop to me (thereby saving the $40-$50 + repair labor Echowould otherwise have to pay the Echo Dealer).
So it is not just bad enough that apparently Japanese Echo saws have the same assembly or parts quality as all the Chinese junk that is flooding the US (aka, Harbor Freight, Big Box Store private label, etc.), but Echo owners also need to pay out of pocket for the Echo Dealer to look at the saw (without taking it apart) and then wait 4-6 weeks!!!
I can't imagine Stihl and Husqvarna treat customers this way or have such shoddy parts/assembly.
Any Stihl or Husqvarna owners with better quality or customer service experience?
This Echo saw is proving not much better than the Poulan PP4620AVX I previously had (which was a bit of a junk saw).
I bought a CS-520 chainsaw from a Echo equipment dealer in the same town (Lake Zurich, IL) as Echo corporate office.
Since then and within the warranty period:
- 3 of the screws on the cover vibrated out (no locking washer or Loctite used at the factory).
- half the slotted screw head on the bar oil adjustment screw snapped off (clearly a metalurgical issue with Echo's screw supplier... who ever heard of half slotted screw heads snapping off?!?!?!)
These are no-brainer issues that should have never occurred in the first place.
Echo's customer service policy is that the owner needs to:
- take the saw back to an Echo Dealer,
- pay the $40-$50 for the Echo dealer to look at the missing screw or broken screw,
- wait 4-6 weeks for the Echo Dealer to file a warranty claim, get a response and fix the saw
- hope that Echo warranty dept approves the claim (Note: it better be within the warranty period to the EXACT day)
Even a phone call to Echo Customer Service found that Echo Customer Service Supervisor "Christine" was adamant in following Echo's Corporate Policy and would not simply drop the oil adjuster screw in an envelop to me (thereby saving the $40-$50 + repair labor Echowould otherwise have to pay the Echo Dealer).
So it is not just bad enough that apparently Japanese Echo saws have the same assembly or parts quality as all the Chinese junk that is flooding the US (aka, Harbor Freight, Big Box Store private label, etc.), but Echo owners also need to pay out of pocket for the Echo Dealer to look at the saw (without taking it apart) and then wait 4-6 weeks!!!
I can't imagine Stihl and Husqvarna treat customers this way or have such shoddy parts/assembly.
Any Stihl or Husqvarna owners with better quality or customer service experience?
This Echo saw is proving not much better than the Poulan PP4620AVX I previously had (which was a bit of a junk saw).
