Ativa review: Broke after little use! 40

I followed the recommended procedure for oiling the blades but the machine quit working after just 6 months of home use. I bought the machine at Office Depot.

Don't buy Ativa products!

I bought an Ativa 20 sheet shredder almost a year ago at Office Depot. It has stopped working and I finally reached a customer service person today. I was told that because I used lubricant sheets that were not purchased at Office Depot, I had voided the warranty! There was a lawsuit several years ago, the result of which was that printer warranties are not voided by using non-proprietary ink cartridges, so why should I have to buy Office Depot oil or shredder sheets? As to the comment I saw about being smart and buying the extended warranty, why on earth should I do that just to make more money for the store? A product should work to begin with and the store should back up that product, especially if it's within the warranty period. I will never buy from Office Depot again.

I had mine for two years and only used it 6 times. A part broke inside but they don't give replacement part. This is the first company that don't give or sale replacement parts.

I agree with Matt. The red plastic switch in my DQ121 has deformed so that the automatic forward no longer stays on. This is a 5 cent part that can't be replaced so I'll end up replacing the shredder because of it. I've jimmied it using pieces of a toothpick but I doubt that will hold very long. I have been able to keep the unit working by occasionally taking it apart and cleaning out all the shredding paper that gets caught in the housing. if you elect to do that, be careful as there are sharp parts inside.

I've got the ativa 270 HS, High Security Level-6, commercial paper shredder, I had to replace the original caster wheels with heavier duty ones, then remove & clean the optical sensors in the paper feed top housing, clean off tha greasy film in the blade assembly, Now it works Fine
It eats 7 to 8 sheets at 27fpm (fast), spits the micro cut granual sized grains into a bag below.
It's fun shredding paper in this thing, my only problem is I can't find enough stuff to shred hahaha

Bought a Ativa Pro 1400 at Office Depot. To say Hate It would be an understatement. Lasted less than 6 months. Jammed constantly for the time we had it; now nothing. Zero. Dead. Nada. No help from Office Depot or Ativa. Do not buy this piece of junk. It is ridiculous.

I bought the Ativa LD 100. It worked good for a few months then began to act up. When the switch was in the auto mode it would start up when just sitting there with out paper. Or when I shredded some paper it would not shut off. Paper was constantly getting clogged up. The results of the clogging caused the first plastic drive gear to be stripped of it's gears by the steel gear on the drive motor shaft. Vary poor design. My guess is that the cheap first plastic gear goes bad often. It is about a 15 min job to change out that gear. However that gear is not availabel in the United States. So you have this $90.00 shredder that you have to throw away because you can't get a $3.00 plastic gear. That is USA manufacturing cost, since it is from china my guess is $3.00 per 100 count. The other thing I thought was non productive was the small label they put over one of the screws to prevent you from taking the cover off. If you took the label off your warranty was nullified. If you didn't take the label off you couldn't unclog the cutters. It didn't say that clogging was covered under the warranty. So you are stuck between a clog and a warranty. I'm in agreement with everyone that says I won't buy another Ativa shredder unless made in the United States of America.

I'm very disappointed with my Ativa Shredder. It work well for the first few years, but now only spins in reverse. It occurs to me that my blender, my mixer, and even my "salad shooter, " were less expensive to purchase, work just as hard as the shredder, and are still working after 20 years. Why didn't the shredder last that long? Probably because I was oiling t regularly...haven't done any maintenance on those other appliances and they still work after years of heavy-duty use!

Absolutly correct. Bad product, bad service and bad attitudes. Nothing after 1 year. You are stuck. Buy something else.

I'm seeing a lot of posts saying that Ativa IS Office Depot, which it is not. Ativa is a brand that is sold exclusively through Office Depot, like Foray office supplies, but is not manufactured by them.

Also in regards to the "extended warranty" that can be purchased through Office Depot is not an extension, it starts the day you purchase it. The difference being that through the manufacturer warranty, they will only cover the blades, and the "Protection Plan", covers the whole machine (motor, body, circuit board, ect.).

kb
I have had MD 460 shreader less than a year it has had very little use. It is rated for 12 sheets at a time I have never put more than 3 sheets in it at a time and I genuanly do not think it could take any more than that. I have oiled the blades most every time it was used and still managed to stripp the drive gear and can not find replacement parts anywhere. Not likely I will purchase another Ativa.

I owned the DX 180D and the HD Pro 1400 purchased from Office Depot. Buyer beware! They both quit working after 6-8 months. The 180D motor runs but does not feed and the HD Prov 1400 has the On line along with the REV and FWD lights lit but the motor is not on and it will not feed. No help from Ativa to resolve the problems.
aew

Spent three figures on an Ativa 1250, it cant shred diddly, twelve sheet maximum, give me a break, it can barely do three cant do a letter with an envelope at the same time. It is a sorry piece of work. It did not work properly from the first day I got it, tried to go to office depot for help on the warranty got nowhere. trying to run a business ain't got time to keep going back and forth over this sorry piece of horse crap. NEVER BUY ANOTHER ONE!

Ativa shredder LD100 is a garbage. Dont buy this product and is practicly not supported. The excuse they will provide you that is your fault because you didn't lubricate the equipment. I was supprice about the office depot garbage businness. I used this equipment for personal use betwwen 15 to 20 invoices per week and only worked 6 month.

I have had an ativa dx120p for probably 5 years. I use it all the time, I shred a huge pile of stuff every week. It just now stopped working and that is how I found this site, it only works in reverse and I was wondering if it was just a switch I could replace. I guess I am one of the few people on this site that has had a good experience, I think 5 years is a great return on my original investment.

Mine lasted about six months, but only with kid-glove care (I worked for it more than it worked for me), jammed up like a wine cork, and got tossed. As far as the person who implores us to buy the warranty, it still doesn't change the fact that the product is horrible.

I'm so tired of buying products that don't last longer than a year. And people wonder why our landfills are being filled beyond capacity. I too purchased an Ativa paper shredder from Office Depot, did everything the manufacture suggests (oiling machine, turning off when overheated, ect.., ect..) We nursed ours into lasting for a year, mind you we shred only every couple of months or so. It is now completely dead and will be tossed into the garbage! I will definitely be doing some research before purchasing another paper shredder. Most things made nowadays are pieces of junk, that's how companies make their money. I do know that I will never buy another Ativa product after my one and only experience with them.

I bought at Office Depot! even with the extended warranty after 11 months the bearing support was worn thru by a failed bearing! It took over EIGHT freakin months for them dot heads to honor the warranty! What a scam and a Piece Of CRAP! Office Depot just lost my company as a repeat customer!

Got a used broken Ativa DQ120D shredder. Machine out of warranty. Shredder would work in reverse, but not forward. Investigation inside machine revealed that circuit board seemed broken, maybe around the on and off switch, but Ativa (Office Depot) doesn't sell parts. Even the one small electrical appliance repair shop in town said they probably couldn't get parts. (They had thrown out and replaced a shredder with a similar problem.) Had a thought that maybe I could reverse the polarity and make it work, since it would go into reverse. -Whereas reverse would become forward. Opened machine again and switched black and white wires on electrical motor and it worked! Even CD shredder works! I've read reviews that the bearings aren't built well, so it may not remained fixed for long, but at least we can get some more use out of it for a couple more months! If the switch stops working on your Ativa shredder and it will only go in reverse, this solution might work for you. It's worth a try and fairly easy. Just remove the 8 screws from the bottom (two are covered by stickers), open it up, and switch the wires on the electrical motor. (Picture included here. But you can only see the white wire that was switched. Black wire is on other side of motor.) -Then you just got to worry about the cheap gears going out! When I buy a new shredder, it won't be an Ativa.

I had a Ativa DX 120P. I will not buy or recommend any Ativa products again.
The customer supports was useless. Our unit was less than two years old seldom used but was alway used and maintained in accordance with the users manual.
We called to find an authorized service center - Not available-
We asked for a schematic diagram of the controls for our electronics technitian to repair. We were not allowed to have that infor for patent protection reasons.

I bought an Ativa shredder from office depot...after about a year...the switch that turns the machine on when you insert a piece of paper has failed. this part probably cost about 5 cents, and if i could find this part...i would re-solder and repair the unit myself. the problem is...you can't buy the small affordable electronic parts used when the machine was assembled. So...at this point..i can turn the shredder on and make it go in reverse...but the idiots didnt make a manual forward position on the manusal switch. I WILL NEVER BUY ANYTHING EVER AGAIN FROM OFFICE DEPOT OR ANY PRODUCT THAT BEARAS THE NAME ATIVE. THESE PEOPLE ARE RIP OFFS AND THE SHREDDER IS MADE OF CHEAP FOREIGN PARTS THAT CANNOT BE REPLACED.

I HAVE AN ATIVA SHREDDER AND IT IS MADE OF INFERIOR PARTS SPECIFICALLY IN THE PRESSED IN BEARINGS. THEY DO START TO ELONGATE CAUSING THE GEARS TO DISLODGE IF ITS MAKING A GRINDING SOUND THAN THIS IS THE PROBLEM! THIS HAS BEEN FOUND BY OTHERS WHO ARE HANDY WITH TAKING THINGS APART THIS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED AND IMPROVED!

Who did you contact? I bought one which stopped working entirely after just a couple months. I took it to Office Depot and they told me to contact the manufacturer. I looked it up online and it says the manufacturer is in fact Office Depot.

Any help would be great.
Thank you.

To Anonymous, an extended warranty is not the answer to a defective product. It only gives you protection and recourse for a longer period of time than the original warranty. However, if multitudes of people are having the same issue with a product during the first 6-12 months of its life cycle then there is an obvious problem with the design and implementation of that product.

If the product does not function as it is described and intended to function then that is called a "defective product, " whether it is during the regular warranty period, during an extended warranty period, or later. The fact is that most of these Ativa shredders, with any amount of basic usage, do not continue to function without blades locking up and paper getting caught. In fact, my shredder doesn't even accept the number of sheets stated without becoming seriously jammed.

Almost all Ativa shredders have a 3 year warranty on the blades. However, the warranty department takes an absolutist and absurdist position on the warranty coverage so as to refute a claim. They stated to me that if I did not lubricate the unit monthly, even when not in use, then the warranty is void. This means that if I owned it for 8 months but never used it and it remained in the box, I should have still lubricated it every month. This is a ludicrous position.

I will never again purchase electronic equipment from Ativa, or Office Depot (since Ativa IS Office Depot).
Thank god that American Express refunded my money regardless of OD's policy since they agreed that Ativa's shredder was defective.

Ativa DQ120D is a piece of junk. It has slowly destroyed itself in less than one year.

The Ativa shredder is a piece of junk. I have been diligent in oiling it and it quit working within six months of home use. I have been able to drag it out for another six months, but need to break down and get a new one. I am glad I did a little more research because I was unaware this is an Office Depot Brand. It goes right along with I won't buy their remanufactured print cartridges either because they leak in the printer...

I think that it is really unfair to dis the company because of a defective paper shredder! This is what the extended warranties are for! I buy them on everything!
I had an Activa Shredder that was $125 for 7 months with the warranty. When it broke, I called the number and they sent me a gift card in the mail. They never even asked for the old one back! That is what the warranties are good for.

If you guys think the system is such a scam by the way, why don't you take advantage?!
Purchase a new same shredder adn return the old one in the new box with the new receipt. If it is the same shredder, there will be no problem and the same associates won't notice you soming in every 6 months probably.

BUY THE WARRANTIES PEOPLE! Stop saying it's the store's fault. We all have the same problem. It is the fault oF the person who designed the shredder. Take advantage and get the free gift card after using it for 7 months! I do :)

I received a question from Ken yesterday & my reply bounced, so am posting it here for him.

No, I never received a replacement or any kind of credit from either Ativa or Home Depot.

As for the comment directly above, I never put the max number of papers through the shredder as it struggled with just 3 sheets of normal computer paper. I think the Ativa may be made by a reputable company, but that corners are probably cut to cut cost, and that is why these things are crap.

After my Ativa bit the dust, I bought a Fellowes & it runs perfectly.

have an ativa 6 sheet that my wife bought. have had no problem and she shreds until i can't stand it anymore.

I disagree with what many people have said on this thread. Unfortunately, with the majority of shredders (Ativa, or even Fellowes, or Royal, or whoever), the end-user is the fault in the untimely death of the machine. The machines DO NOT accept what it says, unless EVERYTHING you shred is 20 lb paper. Almost ALL of what the average person shreds is considerably heavier paper that, when you attempt to force the maximum sheet count through WILL jam the machine everytime. THIS IS TRUE OF ALL, not just some, SHREDDERS NO MATTER THE MANUFACTURER.

Ativa shredders are manufactured in whole by Royal, a very well respected company in the manufacturing business. Other Ativa products are supplied and manufactured by: Canon, Fellowes, Lexar, Belkin, etc. Ativa is not a company, but a company label. Much like going to your local Kroger and buying store products.

Our business bought two high end Ativa shredders in teh past year. Both quit working in under six months.
The warranty is no good. They state that they will send you a gift card if the unit breaks within x amount of months. We have been trying to get a gift card for a replacement shredder for 4 months - they have either lost our request, or are out of gift cards.
This company should not be in business - lousy products, lousy customer service. Don't buy their products for your home or business.

I have used my Ativa paper shredder for over a year and it still works great. I find that if I shred a LOT of paper it can overheat and stop, but that is my overuse of it. When it cools down I am off and running again. Sometimes it jams, but in that case it is because I allowed the papers to bunch up and they were exceeding the "up to 6" sheets limitation. If I had the choice, I would again buy an Ativa. The price is right.

I am on my second Ativa DQ121MDn shredder. The first one did shut off after a few months so I went to Office Depot and was told to go through the warranty dept which is in the Southern Hemisphere. After waiting for over two months, I never got my "card" in the mail which would allow me to get another. Finally I got sick and tired of waiting so I called Office Depot main office. They were amazed by the lack of response from the manufacture, so a very nice women sent me a "money card" in the mail. She also told me if I EVER got the manufactures "money card" in the mail, use it on the "house." So I took my shredder back to Home Depot and got another exact shredder ($125.00), purchased the extra warranty. I have had the new one for six months and I am having the same problems with shredder turning off. I oil this shredder every month. I Will NEVER purchase another shredder at Home Depot. When this one finally dies (on its last legs now) I will not go to home depot but will purchase a much better (and costlier) cross cut shredder. Beware of Home Depot's stuff.

My wife bought an Ativa DX180D. It ran fine for a couple of months. Then we noticed a rattle in the motor compartment. Being fairly handy, I opened the compartment and found that a bearing cap on one of the gear wheels had ground through and came off. In addition, the gear axle was now wearing the hole through which it protruded in the mounting bracket into an oblong shape. In an attempt at repairing it, I cleaned all the metal parts and scraped the paint off the mounting bracket and JB Welded the bearing cap back into place. We tried using the machine again a week or so later and it operated for a while and then jammed. I took the motor assembly apart a second time and found my repair didn't hold, the hole in the mounting bracket through which the gear axel protuded was even more eliptical than before which caused the gears to fail to mesh properly (the cause of the jam). However, what was worse, apparently when the motor over loaded in the jam, the circuit card was damaged. I found a capacitor or someother electrical component had lost its metal cap and the material in side was definitely burned.

It appears the mechanical design, especially at the gear bearings, is insufficient to take the loads and they fail causing cascading failures in other parts of the machine.

ATIVA shredder are the worst shredder there is! Don't waste you money on any of their products, ..they are unreliable machines not to mention their RUDE so called support staff... they are just horrible as their products... DON"T BUY ATIVA !

My shredder is also on its last legs. Paper shreds get caught in the housing around the shredding blades, mostly because the plastic "guide" for the paper around the blades is defective in its shape - it's wider at the top than at the bottom, and that creates a barrier to the shreds leaving the blade area and falling into the basket. Eventually, the shreds compact in there so tightly that the blades have trouble turning. There are also plastic spacers (between the metal shredding blades) that wear out - they snap onto a rod that's next to the shredding blades, and the snap part wears with time. They can also catch on the blades.

Mine claims to have a 5 year guarantee. Will be taking it back to the store to see if they'll honor it. Right now it makes a horrible grinding noise and the shredding blades barely move. Have had it for about 9 months.

My Ativa shredder, also bought at Home Depot, stopped working after about six months. I used it very carefully. Very poorly made product!

I agree also with out Ativa paper shredder. We have had ours for about 4 months with little use and it quit working! We also bought it at Office Depot.

Agree with the above comment. We had ours about 8-10 months. It jammed so tight impossible to free it up. This is a piece of junk. DON"T BUY ONE.

Ativa products from office depot are great products that have never failed me I disagree with you buy Ativa products!