Alko 2500R Shredder

Only shreds straight sticks/branches. Doesn't pull material in. Fills up with short, unshredded material and clogs up.

Takes an age to shred very little.

Waste of money and time. AVOID.

I cannot comprehend how such a useless machine has got to market. Powerful motor spins flat disc with two blades that quickly push the material you are trying to shred up into a totally pointless cavity above the blades and spends the rest of the time trying to polish it. A few dribbles of mashed (not shredded - mashed) material dribble out of the shoot It simply does not work. Mine is off to the dump. I'd take AlKo with it if I could. AlKo - If this is typical of their products, and why wouldn't it be - are rubbish.

It works reasonably well with long straight pieces of wood and it chops them into really small pieces of wood (much smaller than many other shredders). However, it does not pull things through -- you have to push each single piece of wood. Pushing short, soft, curved, or branched pieces of wood does not work: they get stuck above the knife and it takes a long time to get the machine working again. As I seldomly want to shredder long straight pieces of wood, the AL-KO Power Slider 2500R is useless for me.

Completely useless machine that is incapable of doing the job. Endless blockages, doesn't pull the material through. Small pieces of wood get stuck. Hopeless.

Al-ko Power slider 2500R garden shredder

Good points

If it cuts it cuts fine

If you have something straight and dry it is fast until the last 6-7"

Bad points

Other than that it is dreadful

Items need to be straight with no leaves or small branches to cut.

Green branches and leaves clog the blades and they need removing and cleaning many times per use.

The shoot is the wrong shape and does not funnel items to the blades resulting in having to open and clean it every couple of branches.

The distance between the top and the blade is larger than the cutting area and as there are cavities either side above the blade if you do have the ideal branch once it is in the machine it falls over an obstructs the blade again resulting in having to open the machine.

If the branch does get small enough to touch the blade the last bit bounces on the blade resulting in the plastic top getting hit with the branch an getting slightly damaged.

I do have a large over grown garden and trying to cut items back machines do get a lot of work but I have only had the Alko Power slider 2500R shredder 5 months over winter with 3 weekends use the case has been so battered it is now unsafe to use as it has a hole where a branch went through it and it throws bits out of the hole.

I did not miss it as it was too much hastle trying to keep it working and I have borrowed a ryobi shredder whilst it has been gone as alko can not supply the spares. The borrowed shredder is nearly half the price runs a little slower but i have not had to open it or tamper with it to make it work and it is not picky about what it is fed it is just relentless.

Unfortunatly I had to give the al-ko power slider 2500R garden shredder a star, this machine is a total waste of money as you spend nearly aslong maintaining and cleaning it as using it.

Product supplied by Mowers 2 Go /aclegardenmachinery August 2013. Faulty switch,sent back for repair after one hours use. Returned with the same fault, stating blades damaged,not really the point. Blades are cheap the fact that the shredder never worked properly was the point.

Our complaint is that the shredder is not fit for purpose.

Secondly Mowers 2 Go do not answer emails or letters.

They have accepted the product back without responding and have not returned the £195 paid.

We are currently indispute via our credit card provider.

We will go to the small claims court if needed.

Shredder is not fit for purpose.

We would never buy from Mowers 2 Go/aclegardenmachinery again due to extremely bad service.

The product is not, in our experience, fit for purpose ie shredding garden compost.

I agree with previous review - the Alko 2500R shredder is useless. Do not buy it is a waste of money. It is difficult to feed garden materials into properly, does not pull through the feed in material and only shreds straight twigs or small branches - anything with a bend gets stuck.

"WHICH? Consumer group should be ashamed for giving this a "Best Buy" recommendation - what did they test it with thin strips of cheap pine wood???

What a waste of £210!

Item purchased new on 29/5/12,cost £215,from local garden centre.Used four times since purchase due to inclement weather. Easy to assemble, reasonably light, and mobile due to large-ish sturdy wheels. First impressions were good, it seemed well built with two good blades, and fairly compact. When plugging power socket into machine and using it for the first time,the two pin plug did not fit vey well and repeatedly came loose resulting in the shredder stopping.The motor has plenty of power though.

Where the material to be shredded is fed is shaped like a small pair of 'Mickey Mouse' ears and is really difficult to feed material in, I understand the need for a small feed hole to prevent half wits putting their digits in and then sueing the company.

Upon feeding the shredder with 5mm diam., on average, twigs they bent when inserted and failed to feed into the blade. The only twigs that would shred were long,straight and of thicker diameter. Any twigs with off shoots were impossible to feed and when they did finally go in they bent and jammed and I spent a GREAT DEAL of time unblocking it. I tried cutting the twigs smaller which negates the whole point of a shredder, but the smaller twigs just bounce around and prevent anything else reaching the blades.It took ALL DAY to fill two garden waste bags!I persevered but the same thing happened on following 3 times used,material to be shredded was hedge clippings and rose bush clippings. Finally put hedge cuttings in a pile and chopped them up with a hedge trimmer,much quicker and cheaper.

I feel this machine is not fit for purpose. It is sold as a 'SHREDDER' but does NOT shred. How do I stand with regard a refund if I am not satisfied with the product? Am I now stuck with a shredder that fails to shred?