Craftsman Warranty Going Away?

[Stuart in MN]

thats like comparing apples to oranges. the us site is for returns not replacement of broken tools. i didnt even see tools mentioned. the canadian site was strictly about the hand tool warrenty.

That's the thing - I couldn't find anything at all that said it was specifically for tools. I got to that page by calling up a wrench set, then clicking on the link to 'customer returns'. You'd think if you were looking at a wrench on the website, it would say something about the lifetime warrantee.

 

[MarkH]

The Craftsman hand tool warranty is the best in the industry and is absolutely unambiguous- Satisfaction Guaranteed Forever (for most hand tools).

If the quality of the Sears employees matched their warranty there would no need for this particular discussion.

Says it all. As long as the sign is on the box and they do not post a sign on the door, I'll bring em back.

 

[stock z/28]

Hello,

You guys don't have to believe me, but that's the honest truth.

I talked with a lady at Sears executive office in Chicago. She called me in regard to to a letter of complain about this that I wrote.


Please call Sears customer service line its in their tool catalog and ask them.


I specifically brought up the "Lifetime Satisfaction) with her and her reply was "she didn't think it was fair but that's the way it is". I really complained about it still being on the current packaging, and she replied that's not her department, that's the responsibility of the Sears retail division. Shes in the executive division and their was no one higher to talk to, at Sears.


If you like I will get her ID NO for you. Her name is Heather. WE "talked for about 45 mins.


I think Craftsman tools are a tremendous value. I have been in the automotive and machine- fabrication business for about 30 years owning my on shop. According to her (and since I made the original post I called a the 800 number in tool catalog and got the same answers-please try it yourself) and since I am "commercial" all of my craftsman tools regardless are only warranted for 90 days, the lifetime doesnt apply. Please call them yourselves. I would be very interested in their responses.


I am very dissatisfied about this and I am considering all avenues of resolution.


Believe me this is no BS. Again please call them, especially about the "commercial" issue, and moving parts issue. I would appreciate it.


And I don't know how this can be "legal" myself, but I am going to attempt to find out.


Jeff

 

[bmwpower]

If this is indeed true, it is something worthy for the news stations to run down.

If this is indeed true, someone needs to start a petition...

 

[KeukaDan]

She may have told you that but that doesn't make it true. Being from the "executive division" means nothing, and saying that there is no one higher to talk to is complete BS. There is always someone higher unless you have talked with the CEO and the Board. These sound like good lines that someone would give when they don't want you to talk to someone else about this topic.

As to the warranty specifically, Sears knows that they cant stop the warranty, it would destroy their tool business. Most people don't need to warranty many tools but they like the fact that they could if they wanted to.

In any case, it amazes me that every few months someone comes with the same story that the sears warranty is going to stop and everyone gets in a frenzy over something that likely wont happen. I think I am going to start a thread about how I was told the SnapOn warranty is ending and that you cant get anything from them replaced. Just to see if it gets the same response.

 

[Roospike]

My reply to BS was pointed at the person on the phone stock z/28.

Now if your told 90 warranty for a business and full warranty ( or whatever) for the home owner ................now lets see , what am i going to tell them when i have a broken tool .......ummmm..................

HOMEOWNER ! _____________ HELLO !

 

[MAD]

This thread was recently posted on the Craftsman Club BBS:

http://www.craftsmantooltalk.com/BBS/Start_your_own_discussions/7429/7429/flat-page1.html

 

[Roospike]

Well here is another tool from Sears on the adjustable wrenches.

NOTE in the product spec tab is says :

Ind., Kit Or Set ~ Set

Item Weight ~ 5.6 lbs.

General Warranty ~ Guaranteed forever

Kit or Set Type ~ Wrench set

Quantity in Set ~ 14 pc.

*******************************************

Craftsman 14 pc. Locking Flex Wrench Set with BONUS Deluxe Roll Pouch
Sears item #00942432000 Mfr. model #42432

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...tical=TOOL&subcat=Wrenches&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

 

[bmwpower]

Well here is another tool from Sears on the adjustable wrenches.

NOTE in the product spec tab is says :

Ind., Kit Or Set ~ Set

Item Weight ~ 5.6 lbs.

General Warranty ~ Guaranteed forever

Kit or Set Type ~ Wrench set

Quantity in Set ~ 14 pc.

*******************************************

Craftsman 14 pc. Locking Flex Wrench Set with BONUS Deluxe Roll Pouch
Sears item #00942432000 Mfr. model #42432

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/prod...tical=TOOL&subcat=Wrenches&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

Look at the fine print...

"We're not responsible for typographical errors..."

haha...kidding.

 

[john56h]

What about all of the tools that have been purchased over the past 75 or so years that had a "lifetime guarantee" ?

How can they not honor the guarantee that was sold with the tool? Or is this new guarantee just for newly sold tools, which maybe have different numbers on them so they can tell they're not covered?

Sears (and many other brands) tool quality has been slipping recently anyway. A cheap price is more important than excellent quality....and Sears probably sells a lot more tools for the "home craftsman" than for commercial or professional use.

Unfortunately, I'm one of those stuck in the middle. I'm not making money by using my tools professionally, yet I use them a lot and use them rough sometimes. I expect them not to break...but I can't afford to stock my toolboxes with Snap-on or Mac, so the majority of my stuff is Sears Craftsman.

 

[bmwpower]

This thread was recently posted on the Craftsman Club BBS:

http://www.craftsmantooltalk.com/BBS/Start_your_own_discussions/7429/7429/flat-page1.html

Good find, MAD.

 

[stock z/28]

Hello,



Mr. KeukaDan, respectully if you can please provide me with the "someone" higher to talk with, I will.

They only provide one phone number and leads to the corporate office. I wrote a detailed letter to Sears managment abou 2 weeks ago. Her call today was a reply for my letter.

I regret at I caused you apparently undue amasment about this craftsman post.

I was amased myself at the lack of customer concern on Sears part, but what I am relaying here is very accurate information, as told to me now from 4 Sears custmer relations employes, over a period of about weeks.

Please feel free to type any thread you like about Snap-On, or anything you like. Atleast as far as Im concerned.


Thanks

Jeff

 

[stock z/28]

Hello again.

I agree that is excellent info, and its exactly the same way I preceive the warranty to be, and the legality of changing it. The problem is, I did ask for the legal dept and was denied. I couldnt even get their address or phone number. Whats my option? Law suit?


Jeff

http://community.webshots.com/album/401542464MPzGgK

 

[BQuicksilver]

I will say that returning broken Craftsman tools has become increasingly painful in recent years. I used to just walk in and walk out with a new tool.

Now, I get the 20 questions on what I was doing with it (does it matter if I abused it?), run my ID, fill out all my personal info on a sheet, wait for a manager to come over from some other dept...more questions, etc. The tack puller I brought in last week wsn't in stock, so they had to call the 800 number to get one sent to me. After the store worker was put and hold and (no joke) sent to 4 different numbers, he just threw his hands in the air....and wouldn't just refund me my $$. I was even buying something of the same value and had to pay for it and take my broken tool home.

...now before you say "just point to the satisfaction guarenteed" sign, should we even need to fight like this?

I've noticed Kobalt tools now have a lifetime HASSLE-FREE warranty on them. Hmmm...Lowes is 5min away, Sears 20min. I honestly think Lowes will be around longer than Sears. AND the people at Lowes pretty much accept anything as a return. I dulled up a new set of side-cuts just to test what would be a return that would be complete hell at Sears. They took it. I didn't even use the new set and later returned them b/c they had some grease oozing from the joint (normal). They took it.

Obviously I was abusing their warranty, but this was enough to make me give serious thought to moving the direction of Kobalt tools.


My Point:
IMHO lifetime warranties are cheap these days. As a home user it really just comes down to whose lifetime warranty truly is the easiest to use.

Truck Tools: Warranty only as good as the truck being okay coming by your home and if so how often?
Craftsman: Technically intact lifetime warranty with an increasing number of hoops to jump through.
Lowes/HD: More stores, no questions, and we all know returns are easy at these stores.

 

[ImportTuner]

I will say that returning broken Craftsman tools has become increasingly painful in recent years. I used to just walk in and walk out with a new tool.

Now, I get the 20 questions on what I was doing with it (does it matter if I abused it?), run my ID, fill out all my personal info on a sheet, wait for a manager to come over from some other dept...more questions, etc. The tack puller I brought in last week wsn't in stock, so they had to call the 800 number to get one sent to me. After the store worker was put and hold and (no joke) sent to 4 different numbers, he just threw his hands in the air....and wouldn't just refund me my $$. I was even buying something of the same value and had to pay for it and take my broken tool home.

...now before you say "just point to the satisfaction guarenteed" sign, should we even need to fight like this?

I've noticed Kobalt tools now have a lifetime HASSLE-FREE warranty on them. Hmmm...Lowes is 5min away, Sears 20min. I honestly think Lowes will be around longer than Sears. AND the people at Lowes pretty much accept anything as a return. I dulled up a new set of side-cuts just to test what would be a return that would be complete hell at Sears. They took it. I didn't even use the new set and later returned them b/c they had some grease oozing from the joint (normal). They took it.

Obviously I was abusing their warranty, but this was enough to make me give serious thought to moving the direction of Kobalt tools.


My Point:
IMHO lifetime warranties are cheap these days. As a home user it really just comes down to whose lifetime warranty truly is the easiest to use.

Truck Tools: Warranty only as good as the truck being okay coming by your home and if so how often?
Craftsman: Technically intact lifetime warranty with an increasing number of hoops to jump through.
Lowes/HD: More stores, no questions, and we all know returns are easy at these stores.

You forgot to mention Husky at Home Depot; returning a broken tool is as easy as buying one ... no question asked ..

 

[BQuicksilver]

Absolutely, Husky=Kobalt in terms of what I was discussing. Lowes is just physically closer in my case.

Sears really needs to watch their back. I've been very happy with what Kobalt tools I've purchased thus far.

I have a broken Sears clicker torque wrench (who doesn't?), and am a little disappointed it's not warrantied like other Craftsman tools. What do you bet I could walk in with a 4 year old Kobalt clicker torque wrench that spent it's life as a breaker bar and get a new one?

 

[MAD]

You forgot to mention Husky at Home Depot; returning a broken tool is as easy as buying one ... no question asked ..

I do not know about the stores in other areas of the country but around here Home depot has a very limited supply of open stock mechanic's tools to replace broken tools with and they have been slowly eliminating them to the point where there are just a few individual wrenches and sockets. I don’t think the stores around here would break open a set of impact sockets, for example, to satisfy their warranty. I am also not crazy about the fact that all of that Husky stuff is made in Taiwan now, although I must admit it is decent quality stuff for the most part.

 

[PAToyota]

Now, I get the 20 questions on what I was doing with it (does it matter if I abused it?)

Yes, sorry to say, but actually it does matter if you abused it.

 

[Howdy]

I do not know about the stores in other areas of the country but around here Home depot has a very limited supply of open stock mechanic's tools to replace broken tools with and they have been slowly eliminating them to the point where there are just a few individual wrenches and sockets. I don’t think the stores around here would break open a set of impact sockets, for example, to satisfy their warranty. I am also not crazy about the fact that all of that Husky stuff is made in Taiwan now, although I must admit it is decent quality stuff for the most part.

I have also noticed in the last year or so that my local Home Depot has few individual sockets, wrenches, etc to pick from. Everything is in a set nowdays. It almost appears their tool department is shinking. I go to Lowes or OSH before I go to Home Depot anyways. I can't stand the crowds and lack of knowledge and help at HD.

 

[daveinwestland]

After looking at thos ekobalt, that is the way I am going to go from now on

 

[PAToyota]

I have also noticed in the last year or so that my local Home Depot has few individual sockets, wrenches, etc to pick from.

I find the same thing at my local Sears - even though they have the "positions" in the display for all the sockets, most of the time they are out of at least half of them...

This is what happens when you let the accountants run things - the bottom line today is all that matters and they never look up long enough to realize they are in an increasing downward spiral...

 

[MarkH]

Still I go to Sears and find them, some times have to take a 6pt when I want 12 or a 10 inch extension vs a 6 in but I can get by. Currently our Lowes and Home Depot does not even have a slot for for what I am looking for! My belief in more automotive type tools we will be looking as sets or almost nothing in the future.

The big problem I have noted with Sears is the inventory system. Many times it shows 2-5 in stock and there is none. Since the inventory system has not hit the trigger to reorder, the out of stock is not fixed until you look for something, ask and a manual reorder is triggered, but the incorrect inventory is never fixed. That is the cause of most stock outages I see. The warehouse stock seems to be as inaccurate and the order has to be filled from another warehouse and takes an additional week to arrive.

Our local Sears states they do not trust the inventory system when I ask about something and it is less than 6 they always go and look before writting up a ticket, frequently it is not there. Still it is something that could inflate Sears vaule of inventory so the probably continue to do it to look better, even though it is probably on the illegal side.

 

[bmwpower]

I CANNOT stand when inventory it not there. I find it's more likely to happen at the local Sears Hardware store than a Sears Mall store.

Pep Boys is just as bad, if not worse. All their mechanics raid the chemicals aisle and no one bothers to refill it. I can't tell you how many times I've gone there and there is no Brakleen on the shelf.

 

[eschoendorff]

Read this here:

http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=156485#post156485

 

[Coach James]

I emailed Sears about Jeff's post and this was their response(also posted at SFT).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for contacting Sears.

Unfortunately, not all Craftsman tools are covered under the lifetime
warranty. A general list of Craftsman tools that are covered by the
lifetime warranty would include ratchets, sockets, wrenches and
screwdrivers. Some tools that are not covered by the lifetime warranty
(even though they are Craftsman branded) are: taps, dies, saw blades,
drill bits and torque wrenches.

The Sears store can be contacted for more warranty information on your
product. Since they can actually inspect and exchange broken/defective
tools, the store must be contacted for warranty issues. The lifetime
warranty is meant to protect the customer in the event that a tool is
defective or breaks under normal use. It is not meant to cover tools that
are damaged/destroyed/lost due to fire, water, theft or other natural
causes.

Sincerely,

Dylan C.
National Customer Relations
Sears Holdings Corporation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't doubt Jeff's honesty at all. I just can't imagine Sears dropping the lifetime Warrenty while still advertising certain tools as having a "Lifetime Warrenty". Even K-Mart wouldn't be that stupid.

Coach

 

[bmwpower]

I emailed Sears about Jeff's post and this was their response(also posted at SFT).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for contacting Sears.

Unfortunately, not all Craftsman tools are covered under the lifetime
warranty. A general list of Craftsman tools that are covered by the
lifetime warranty would include ratchets, sockets, wrenches and
screwdrivers. Some tools that are not covered by the lifetime warranty
(even though they are Craftsman branded) are: taps, dies, saw blades,
drill bits and torque wrenches.

The Sears store can be contacted for more warranty information on your
product. Since they can actually inspect and exchange broken/defective
tools, the store must be contacted for warranty issues. The lifetime
warranty is meant to protect the customer in the event that a tool is
defective or breaks under normal use. It is not meant to cover tools that
are damaged/destroyed/lost due to fire, water, theft or other natural
causes.

Sincerely,

Dylan C.
National Customer Relations
Sears Holdings Corporation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't doubt Jeff's honesty at all. I just can't imagine Sears dropping the lifetime Warrenty while still advertising certain tools as having a "Lifetime Warrenty". Even K-Mart wouldn't be that stupid.

Coach

OK, why sooooo many different answers from Sears?? Has someone asked someone at Sears why you get a different answer depending who you talk to?

Who do we believe?

 

[BQuicksilver]

It's a crapshoot, which is what makes it so painful. In the end the store manager will probably make the final call...and the guys at my local Sears aren't that friendly with returns.

I will agree the Lowes/HD tool selection could be better, but if they smell blood with Sears weakening they'll take it. The fact that we're seeing Kobalt tool commercials tells me they're serious about taking a greater market share.

 

[eschoendorff]

I will agree the Lowes/HD tool selection could be better, but if they smell blood with Sears weakening they'll take it. The fact that we're seeing Kobalt tool commercials tells me they're serious about taking a greater market share.

Too bad taht everything branded Kobalt - with the exception of wrenches and sockets - is Chinese ****. HF is starting to look better and better...

 

[stock z/28]

Hello,

My perception (probably wrong ) of the problem is that the "upper" level of Sears management doesnt really know or possibly understand what they are doing to customer relations.

I think the reason for some of the different answers to policy are that the "moving part" issue is being enforced at "Sears" and the "Craftsman" people I have talked to, do not have a very favorable opinion of "Sears" management.

I am going to try and contact Sears Legal Dept. for some type of clarification, but Sears customer service will not even provide me with who to contact. So I will give it a guess.

I hope I have explained this OK. Im not very good at writing, typing, or computers so please bear with me.



I just hate to see Sears and/or Craftsman to loose total sight to a typical "gear heads" view of quality tools, but it may be to late.

The most important thing to me is principal I guess. In my opinion a Lifetime Unconditional Warranty is just that.



Jeff

 

[jrii]

Keep this in the back of your mind because it will soon be reality folks... If they just plain quit making the products to replace the tools you have, the warranty will fade into the past. As tools get swapped out for replacements the "Lifetime" tools will slowly be circulated out of existance. I think also ther is possibility that a loophole somehwere may exist hat may allow them to Kill the "Sears" Name and convert everything over to K-Mart. Any odds on that??

The bean counters know this and are counting on it...

OK first post..
Howdy and thanks for havin me this site is absolutely THE BEST! Thanks much Ryan for doin what many have either failed to do or not have the kahonies to pull off as well as you have! (JJ & HAMB ain't too bad either)

Now I don't claim to be an English major so bare with me.

I returned a torque wrench that has been in my toolbox for years. Not used very often and always taken care of. (This is a tool that states "Lifetime Guaranty" on it. The old all steel version) The ratcheting mechanism is what was bad on it. Under the lifetime guaranty that should be covered. Well that's fine and dandy if they had the same torque wrench but THEY DON'T MKE IT ANYMORE! All they have are 90-day and 1-year warranty torque wrenches. They don't have a kit (they don't make it) for my unit either so what do I do? What can I really do? Too many people have abused the policies and then those of us that are honest get burned by them eventually.
So..?
I take the 1-year warranty unit they have and chalk it up to experience. I also have to give them my tool that states it is a "Lifetime Warrany/Guaranty" item. Therefore leaving me without any record or recourse of the the item I purchased originally. All I have now is a 1 year warranty on a POS mostly plastic torque wrench that I have but no choice to take.

We don't live in the days of old reliable items any more. You don' get what you pay for any more especially if you paid for it in the past. Cuz they will figure out a way to render it archaic, obsolete or outdated and do away with it. Only to replace it with a POS you don't even want to own.

(Theoretically) I think there will be no such thing as "CRAFTSMAN" in the very near future. They are slowly phasing out the name and using other tool manufacturers on their shelves (as somone else stated earlier.) If you'll notice there's a heckuva lot more "SEARS" and "COMPANION" branded tools than ever before. The name Craftsman will fade into the past. That's how they legally avoid your warranties and guaranties. If they don't make it they can't replace it now can they? They'll jsut replace it with the next best/worst thing they have.

Reality ***** and I am one of the biggest haters of it. It's all about the all mighty $$$$ anymore. People and companies are out to gain on people that do not care about quality and customer service. Some people create the problem by just tossing the charges on their credit card no matter the cost and justify it by saying "I have to have it so the $$$'s don't matter".

This is not the only area I have noticed where our world is changing drastically for the worse. Look around. Other things are getting just as bad. And one of the biggest ones>>>>Petroleum Products? Record profits? Huh? How does that pencil out?

Whatever you buy from here on out you need to read the warranty/guaranty "VERY CAREFULLY". Read the fine print. In general they only cover about 5% of the actual item you are buying. And generally that consists of the actual material it’s made of not the quality of craftsmanship that went into it. Also note the verbage "ON THE TOOL". The "Sears" and "Companion" branded items are not lifetime items!

This verbage will change one day and you won't have even noticed it:
"If a Craftsman hand tool ever fails to give complete satisfaction, return it to the nearest sears store in the United States, and Sears will replace it free of charge."


Now, I've said it. Got it off my chest. Beat me to a pulp. Call me negative. Call me a pessamist. I just see it as actual reality.

 

[KingPerformance]

OK, why sooooo many different answers from Sears?? Has someone asked someone at Sears why you get a different answer depending who you talk to?

Who do we believe?

You should believe this latest one. This is why warranties are in place, to protect the customer from defective parts. Implied warranty has been abused for years to the point that we as consumers "EXPECT" a warranty to be a replacement for old tools that we used through its life, OR abused.

You should ONLY purchase a tool if you would purchase that same tool without the warranty. If you don't have faith in the tool, a company can dry up and disapear at any time.

 

[KingPerformance]

Hello,

My perception (probably wrong ) of the problem is that the "upper" level of Sears management doesnt really know or possibly understand what they are doing to customer relations.

I think the reason for some of the different answers to policy are that the "moving part" issue is being enforced at "Sears" and the "Craftsman" people I have talked to, do not have a very favorable opinion of "Sears" management.

I am going to try and contact Sears Legal Dept. for some type of clarification, but Sears customer service will not even provide me with who to contact. So I will give it a guess.

I hope I have explained this OK. Im not very good at writing, typing, or computers so please bear with me.



I just hate to see Sears and/or Craftsman to loose total sight to a typical "gear heads" view of quality tools, but it may be to late.

The most important thing to me is principal I guess. In my opinion a Lifetime Unconditional Warranty is just that.



Jeff

There is No such thing as an unconditional warranty, never was.

 

[stock z/28]

Hello,

Would you please clarify the "no unconditional" part and maybe the "implied" expectation remark.


Thanks

Jeff

 

[Roospike]

Hell , I have no problem with all new Craftsman tools not having a full life time warranty , easy ..........I'd just quit buying them. All the big box stores and all the auto part stores would just love it if Sears droped the life time warranty.

If Sears / Craftsman drops the Warranty it would be tool sales suicide.

They have there choice and so do i , lets see what card they would like to play.

 

[MAD]

Too bad taht everything branded Kobalt - with the exception of wrenches and sockets - is Chinese ****. HF is starting to look better and better...

I was very impressed with the Kobalt line of tools a few years back when JH Williams was their main supplier. I bought some very well made polished six point combination wenches. There was nothing available elsewhere at the same quality level for anywhere close to the price I paid for them. Fast forward a few years - I go to replace my lost 14 mm wrench and everything has changed. Just medium quality Taiwan tools plus a few Craftsmanesque raised panel wrenches (without the raised panel). The sockets and ratchets resembled Craftsman but were limited to the basic common sizes and mostly sets. I guess that by today’s standards I should be impressed that some of their wrenches, sockets and ratchets are made in the USA. But as far as Selection and quality of hand tools, they make Sears look pretty damn good. As for me, I have not had problems with having tools replaced under warranty at Sears.

As for the reasons behind the problems that obviously exist at Sears I think it comes down to a combination of two things:

1- Sears is a many headed beast- often with very few brains divided among those heads.

2- Sears (USA) has not clearly articulated its hand tool warranty policy in a written, easy to access and reference format. I suspect this may be because it is to their advantage to allow Individual managers to come up with their own interpretation and limit warranty returns. This way they can say that any unlawful denial of a claim was just a mistake by an individual manager. To actually amend their warranty in a clear policy statement may put them in legal jeopardy.

 

[kbuhagiar]

Keep this in the back of your mind because it will soon be reality folks... If they just plain quit making the products to replace the tools you have, the warranty will fade into the past. As tools get swapped out for replacements the "Lifetime" tools will slowly be circulated out of existance. I think also ther is possibility that a loophole somehwere may exist hat may allow them to Kill the "Sears" Name and convert everything over to K-Mart. Any odds on that??

The bean counters know this and are counting on it...

I hate to admit it but I agree...

Around 30 years ago, the JC Penney automotive centers started to sell something called the 'Lifetime' car battery. They promised to relplace it free if it failed for as long as you owned your vehicle. They made a big deal of it and advertised it as "The only replacement battery you'll need to buy...ever!"

Hmmmm...you can guess where this story is heading...

Well, my brother had one of these in both of his vehicles, and he actually got three or four batteries out of 'em, up until the early 1990s, when JCP closed down all of their auto repair facilities. JCP transferred the warranty service to Firestone. (By the way, that warranty transfer was a big secret; he had to make a bunch of phone calls to JCP before he finally figured that out. Think of how many folks probably just got fed up and gave up!)

A year after they had started to honor the warranty, they placed signs in all of the Firestone auto centers notifying their customers that thay would no longer honor the battery warranty after a certain date.

So much for "the only replacement battery you'll need to buy...ever!"

I hope the Craftsman warranty doesn't go away, but if it does, I won't be suprised...and I won't buy anymore Craftsman tools.

 

[eschoendorff]

****... for the quality of Craftsman tools, you might as well just buy Stanley tools if it's not for the warranty. I mean, come on... the only reasons many of us still buy tools at Sears is:
A) warranty B) selection and C) made in USA. I tell you what, if it wasn't for the fact that Stanley ratchets were made overseas, I'd buy them over Craftsman any day of the week. Craftsman tools aren't THAT good, they just fulfill the three requirements above. Take one of those away and all bets are off. Even Snap On is going overseas. Try finding Snap On insert bits that are made here anymore...

 

[ImportTuner]

****... for the quality of Craftsman tools, you might as well just buy Stanley tools if it's not for the warranty. I mean, come on... the only reasons many of us still buy tools at Sears is:
A) warranty B) selection and C) made in USA. I tell you what, if it wasn't for the fact that Stanley ratchets were made overseas, I'd buy them over Craftsman any day of the week. Craftsman tools aren't THAT good, they just fulfill the three requirements above. Take one of those away and all bets are off. Even Snap On is going overseas. Try finding Snap On insert bits that are made here anymore...

Yep, reasons A,B, and C are why I still buy Craftsman tools ....

 

[Coach James]

Kobalt wrenches, sockets and ratchets are made by Danaher, same as Craftsman. Their wrenches are almost identical to Allen, also made by Danaher. I like their ratchets, but they are on the same price level as Wright and SK, at least at our Lowes store.

I have a metric set of the Kobalt wrenches from when they were made by JH Williams and like them much better than the current Kobalt line.

Coach

 

[KingPerformance]

Hello,

Would you please clarify the "no unconditional" part and maybe the "implied" expectation remark.


Thanks

Jeff

No unconditional warranty means that Sears shouldn't have to replace a tool that you broke on purpose, or through missuse. Does it happen? YES, do most of us EXPECT it, yes. Why do they replace them? Pure customer service. Read tool company's warranty and you will see in writing that we abuse the warranty, not the other way around. And when the company pulls the cards out stating that we are missusing the warranty everyone gets all upset. As I stated before, if you wouldn't purchase the tool WITHOUT the warranty, don't purchase it WITH the warranty.

As Tommy Boy said, I can **** in a box and put a gaurantee on it, but all you end up with is a gauranteed *************.