American Arborist Supplies

February 8, Response from retailer:At the time of purchase, customer was provided an Operators Manual with his new chainsawAdditionally, the retailers employee showed customer the proper start procedure Point of purchase start demo is by no means complete training on “proper use” of a chainsaw as customer stated in his complaintThat information is covered in more detail in the Operators Manual.Operators Manual page shows the same ?nish to the start procedure demonstrated to customer Speci?cally “Pull the starter handle with your right hand and pull out the starter cord slowly until you feel a resistance (as the starter pawls engage) then pull ?rmly and rapidly until the engine starts As the chain brake is still engaged the speed of the engine must be set to idling as soon as possible, this is achieved by quickly disengaging the throttle lockThis prevents unnecessary wear to the clutch, clutch drum and brake band." Emphasis added.From the customers account of events and visual inspection of the chainsaw, we can ascertain the following: Customer started the saw with the chain brake engaged properlyHe then neglected to bring the saw back down to an idle (improperly.) Then walked away from the running chainsaw for some period of time, massively improper and extremely dangerousThe wearing of metal parts described as "wearing of clutch, drum and brake band” in the Operators Manual continued for an extended time , continuing to build heat until ?re beganThe customer claimed knowledge of chainsaws and stated that he owns others currentlyAny saw the customer owned or has used that is of a recent vintage (late 1990's forward) would likely have a chain brake, and a mechanism for setting a higher start speedLeaving any of these saws running unattended with the chain brake on and the engine running at the higher start speed would cause excessive metal wear and heat build up and likely result in ?re given sufficient time.Also from the customers account, his intent in allowing the saw to run so long unattended was to “get the fuel out of it.” We suggested that removing the ?ller cap and pouring it out of the saw, preferably into an approved container was a much safer approachA number of operator errors caused very substantial damage to the unitAmerican Arborist Supplies sees no issue justi?ying replacement by retailer or manufacturerDuring evaluation our mechanic did make a phone call to the manufacturer asking if there was anything at all that they could “do for this customer”The manufacturers response was no.Should you have any questions regading this matter, pleae contact: Dave F*s at the address or phone number above, or at ***@arborist.com