Buying an industrial floor scrubber or sweeper for your business is an expensive proposition. We get it! But don’t be tempted by that suspiciously cheap floor scrubber you find online. FCE’s president Rick Schott shares one horror story he recently encountered:
Unfortunately, more and more we are involved in floor cleaning machine deals that go like this…
A local customer calls looking for a new floor scrubber. Generally, we head out to do a survey at the customer’s location. We tell them exactly how their machine should be configured as well as offer a free demo & price quote. (This is what we like to call the “unpaid consultant phase”!) In many cases the person we are dealing with understands the value of a quality piece of equipment. They also understand the value of having a relationship with a local service and parts provider that they can count on. But occasionally we have a potential customer who only cares about the original purchase price. That’s when the fun begins!
Recently the CFO of a large Chicago-based manufacturer decided he was going to scour the globe for the best price on a battery-powered floor sweeper scrubber just like we quoted him. Multiple leads started coming in from our partner companies, vendors, and other sources - all from the same person. He was going to leave no cyber stone unturned until finding the cheapest scrubber on earth. We followed up with quotes on refurbished floor cleaning equipment and other less expensive alternatives. Eventually the customer went dark on us. We had lost the deal.
Fast forward 6 months. We get a call from the poor maintenance manager who is now the proud owner of a brand-new ride on floor scrubber from a large e-commerce site that’s based overseas. The CFO of his company saved himself close to 75% by buying this gem that you see pictured here in the post. They only had one problem - It didn’t work right out of the crate. The plant manager asked us if we serviced “Oriental Industrial” brand floor scrubbers. Apparently when they contacted the seller of the equipment, they were informed that no service was available in the U.S. Troubleshooting manuals were also unavailable. Now for the punch line… For $3,500 Orient Industrial would be happy to send out a technician from China! We decided to take on the challenge and see if we could help them out.
Troubleshooting an electrical problem without a wiring diagram is never much fun. However, after about 4 hours of going through it wire by wire, we discovered that the scrubber was simply wired wrong. Unfortunately, this nightmare is just beginning. The overall construction of this machine is extremely light duty. Parts will certainly be very difficult to get. From watching it run here in our shop it is obvious that the machine probably won’t even clean very well. My guess is that this machine will soon find its way to a dark corner in the plant. Here it will live out its days and collect dust.
I hope this story saves even one company from making a costly mistake like this. I realize that paying for quality brands like Tennant, PowerBoss, and Factory Cat can be a tough pill to swallow, but buying a cheap floor scrubber online could come with the following risks:
- Shoddy construction
- Limited (or no) user manual
- Poor cleaning results
- Difficulty finding parts
- No reliable service technicians
My advice would be to consider a reconditioned floor scrubber from a reputable dealer instead of a cheap imported scrubber. Or consider renting a floor cleaning machine for a short time to get the job done. At FCE, our experienced floor cleaning experts frequently work with companies to identify options that will fit their budget. Even buying nothing at all is better than wasting dollars on a cheap scrubber - at least you won’t have to look at the mistake you made for the next five years rotting away in the corner of your facility!