The SHOCKING Truth About Counterfeit Power Tool Batteries

Since 2020, counterfeit power tool batteries have become increasingly common, posing significant risks to users, their tools, and distributors and manufacturers. These fake batteries--often sold by third-party sellers on platforms like eBay, Amazon, and Facebook groups--are dangerous, poorly made, and lack warranties, making them not only an unsafe choice, but even more costly in the long run. Brands like Milwaukee and DeWalt are fighting back by limiting authorized sellers and offering more affordable, reliable battery options to combat counterfeits, but how can you tell when or if you've got the real deal? Check out our video for some things to look out for and what to be careful of when making your purchase!

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#milwaukeetool #milwaukee #dewalttough #dewalt #opt #ohiopowertool

[IppiopaidFEEDBACK]

Home Depot was selling a Christmas kit of Milwaukee batteries about three years ago. You got 8.0 Batteries plus rapid charging. So I purchased it about eight months after Christmas when it was on Clarence for about $125. It was one of those boxes that was sitting up in the overstock where you have to look for it, because they didn’t put it down on the shelf Because there’s no room for. Well, I purchased the last two they had in stock, sold one of them, and when I went to open the other one, it had counterfeit Milwaukee batteries, and a Milwaukee charger.

Moral of the story, if you ever see something in a Home Depot that has tape on the box, open it up right in the store before you leave to make sure it’s the right thing.

This also happened to me with the Milwaukee GEN 2 18 gauge Brad nailer, The box at tape on it, I didn’t pay attention to it until I got it home and it was the GEN 1 in the box.

[Greenskycity]

I just spent $300 on 2 18v 5.0 and 2 12v 3.0 only because I've seen a lithium fire and I want nothing to do with that. I don't care about performance, warranty or lifespan, if it weren't for the possible extreme fire/injury hazard, I'd have a dozen counterfeits on standby. it's only legit distributors for me from now on. It's the price i have to pay.

[saulgoodman]

Maybe if the batteries didn't cost so much, it would put the counterfeiter's out of business.

[SaltyTubers]

wreaking havoc -- thanks for the great info on batteries!!!

[BlueHeron]

One way to tell if a battery is fake is by holding down the power button. It will have a series of blinks that tell you have many times that battery is used. The fake batteries won't have this option

[peacefrog]

Just dropped $99 + tax on on a DCB2108.

Hope it’s at least a genuine Dewalt and not a knockoff 😂🤞🏽
But knowing there are counterfeits out there, and seeing your and other videos, I don’t hold out much hope. 😢

[BurtTMacklin-fbi]

How do you deal with customers who buy from you but return a counterfeit? Where in the supply chain is this being detected? At the retailer or back at the manufacturer?

[Depth_of_Cut]

I don't know why the big 4 power tool manufacturers don't get together and class action sue Amazon for allowing all the counterfeit items on there site. Don't tell me it's not worth it because I know smaller companies that have sued in similar situations. Nobody has taken on Amazon yet so far as I know. But if 4 of them got together I'm sure they could take on the juggernaut. What should the outcome be. It should be that companies can report to Amazon that counterfeit items are being sold and Amazon should immediately remove them! I'm not so much talking about counterfeit items that look similar work similar but have no brand on them. I'm talking about the counterfeit items that have the logos serial numbers ect made to trick the consumer into thinking there buying a genuine item when there not!

[mysticjedi]

Scratch a number on all your batteries . This way you can know if you have issues from recent purchase.

[phicun]

That have physical tools on amazon for milwaukee, I assume they are legit tools that have either been broken out of kits or reconditioned

[BuddyAmericafirst-nhms]

Not all counterfeits are junk. Have been using them for years & they have performed flawlessly. At 1/3 the cost can't go wrong.

[jehugarcia]

Can counterfeit batteries be scanned by Milwaukee Service Center. I bought a 6.0ah battery in Home Depot and took it Milwaukee to have it serviced, the rep told me without even hold the battery that it was fake. Said something about the internals are gonna be different and he compared it to a 2024 model mine was a 2019 model but I had purchased it in 2021. He takes it back to “look” at it then comes back and connects the battery to his computer than says that the battery was first used in 2020 and does not match my receipt. Every time I purchase a tool/battery I link it to my Milwaukee account. Long story short I took it it HD and they replaced my battery without giving me any trouble

[keysautorepair]

Every single battery I buy now is taken apart and checked sad world.

[harlanborders]

Keep your receipt for your warranty cause Milwaukee goes off made on date. Sitting around warehouse store shelf’s a year or more. That is part of the warranty gone so keep your receipt or take your chance .

[oliknow]

Good idea. exclude a huge Platform like Amazon from selling your genuine product for a fair price. that's sure one way to do it but it is lazy and not very smart overall.

[richardharris]

Some people bitch about the cost of batteries. Rare earth minerals are hard as hell to get and cost a lot to do so. Thus, why they are called rare earth. Rare earth is used to make the higher end batteries such as Lithium-Ion. If you want prices to go down then encourage mining rare earth here in the U.S through writing your congressmen. Not to get political but we pay for it through the nose on these because we can't mine for it ourselves very much if at all.

Also just know that the main reason when your forge 6.0, 8.0 or 12.0 do finally go bad why it can't be recycled or fixed reasonably is because the cost of recycling it is WAAY more for the companies than to just make a new one. until there is a safe automated way to do this that is cheap and profitable then it just won't happen.

Milwaukee does warranty batteries, but please know that the ACTUAL battery inside is not reused. it is just too expensive. They might use everything else. I dont know. I know they are not recycling cells though and I dont blame them.

[parabot]

I can buy 10 knockoffs for the price on 1 genuine in Australia , sorry they are way to expensive so it's ebay for me .