I have a Werner fiberglass ladder, and as I climbed up I heard a snap/crackle/pop. I stepped back down and saw that the fiberglass cracked fairly substantially. It's time for a new ladder, but first I contacted Werner customer service to see if they would do anything for me, considering that that is pretty much a structural failure of their ladder- a ladder that gets used around the house, not every day for work. The Werner ladder website says they "do not have a written warranty on their products. However, we do stand behind the quality of our products." I wrote an email, describing the incident, the product, offered photos and asked if they would do anything to stand behind their ladder. I said I didn't expect a new ladder, but I was open to whatever they were willing to offer. I received a respose back that the engineering folks would like the photos, and I sent them. They made no offer of anything to me back as a consumer, no coupon, nothing. I waited for almost 2 weeks and wrote them a follow up to see if they had determined the failure, if it was an individual ladder or if it was a whole run of ladders; and were they going to offer anything? This time, there was no response at all. Companies have the opportunity to do right by their customers. They state that they stand by the quality of their products, but where the rubber meets the road, Werner Ladder Co. doesn't stand by a damm thing. They choose to hide, pretend there's no problem and ignore the customer. The ladder was only $150 or so, but you can be assured I won't be replacing it with a Werner; and based on the poor quality and worse response I hope none of you buy from them, either.
Should have worded that letter like this. Your ladder failed and caused injury. Where do I send my medical bills? Or you can replace the ladder, and I will take care of the bills. Your call. Bleeding profusely, Volkevin In all seriousness, that ladder looks pretty faded. Looks like it spent some considerable time outside. Maybe the sun made it brittle? Regardless, I woulda expected a response also. Buy a Louisville next time.
I have given up on werner. I HAD a 24 footer that split like that on the first day! I've also had 8 footers from werner split out. Now take a Louisville ladder.....I've never had issues except when the wind blew one down in the sub zero temps. My fault there.
Could be a design flaw. I believe Home Depot carries Werner, maybe a letter to corporate HD could give Werner a little heartburn from bad press. I'm pizzed I really wasn't mad that the ladder failed. I had it for a few years, but again it was used at the house and not used for commercial purposes. I'm surprised at the failure, and thankful that it didn't have a catastrophic failure while I was 6 or 7 feet up. My anger stems from the way they as a company handled the situation. But, after reading about some of the other failures that some others have seen and experienced, I'm just done with Werner. I do have a Louisville ladder of a different height that has been trouble free for going on 10 years, I'll replace my Werner with the Louisville.
We have bought and used a lot of ladders over the years. Thats a light weight ladder. I have seen them broken like that also. I think Werner should have given you some kind of response. But in their defense, the back-side rungs are bent and the ladder looks a little abused. Throw it out and invest in a better one.
I have about 12 different ladders most are high quality ones...there are a couple of wooden step ladders that need to go in the kindling pile though. I did buy one of those Little Giant Extreme ladders...and I love it. I used it for 90% of my projects while building my house a couple of years ago...it was a little pricey, but worth it to me...and it is a heck of a lot safer in my opinion. It won't replace my dedicated extension ladders, but it meets more of my routine needs...be safe.
based on the snap/crackle/pop sound you described, I would contact Kellog’s Rice Crispies customer service.
So sorry to hear about your ladder woes. I had a similar situation wit levitron electrical outlets. I had an outlet that just suddenly caught fire. Luckily Katie was there and killed the power. I took it apart and was surprised that it DID NOT have a loose wire. It had started inside the outlet. I brushed it off until a month later another one lit up. Same thing. The company would not do anything about it either, sending me a generic response that wires should always be secured tightly. Trust me, I wished they were loose so I had something to blame it on. I promptly removed the rest of the outlets in the house. (They were Home Depot specials bough in a bulk-pack, but only the GFCI type)
Check out Bauer Ladders. USA made. Good stuff. We sell them at my work. Never seen one brought back with a problem in 17 years. Not the cheapest, but you shouldn't expect quality and low price in the same product. Home page
No problem. I love to support and promote US manufacturing...especially when it's in my home state. I have nothing bad to say about Werner, but it doesn't sound like they are looking out for their customers very well. Not sure if shipping will be a deal breaker or not? Dunno if there would be a local distributor near you or not.
If you want a truly SOLID versatile ladder, consider a Featherlite Jaws. I have been using them for about a year now and feel more secure at the very top of one of these fully extended than I do half way up any other step ladder. I can also put it in several configurations. I work for a company that does strictly skylights so these ladders get a real workout.
Looks like another take on the Little Giant design. I have used this type before and they are quite handy. A bit hefty to carry around, but very versatile.
Actually, the ladders are telescopic as well as multi-angle which extends their usefulness (pardon the pun). Agreed on the heft comment, But I got used to it to the point that I can carry one solo up a spiral staircase without any dings
Looks like your brace(s) are bent a little, that will do it. Also, any fiberglass ladder left in the sun will start to break down due to oxidization. In no way am I saying this is what happened, or the cause.. I have just sat thru thousands of hours of safety classes and only know from what Ive been told.
