Snapon tool quality control declining?

[777mech]

I just recently purchased a set of metric snapon wrenches off ebay that are in like new condition. A few of the wrenches have pits in them that have been chromed over and they are pretty noticeable. Not that this will compromise the integrity of the tool but I own many other snapon tools and would not expect this type of workmanship flaw from them. Any one else notice this?

 

[DHCrocks]

you bought them used off of ebay and state that they have been chromed over which I'm assuming you mean that they have been rechromed by the previous owner. what do you expect? they are used tools.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Another 1st post wonder.

 

[dadsEH]

Tiwa-on Snap-on...

 

[B_Bimmer]

Honestly I wouldn't even notice. Now if they were new off the truck, and they were chips in the chrome, I might say something. But pits, covered with chrome, who cares.

 

[P51Boilermaker]

I've had a few problems here and there. Got an 11/32" combination wrench from them and it was bent. Brand new. I called them, sent pictures, they replaced it and didn't want the old one back.

Also got some crows feet that were pitted and corroded. Again, they were brand new. Not off the truck but direct from SO since I got them through the student discount program. I'll see if I can find the pics

 

[P51Boilermaker]

Here's the crowfoot and wrench. Again these were brand new, right out of the package

 

[777mech]

Not chromed over by the owner, this is original chrome by snapon

 

[ssdave]

So, if they were new, and you had purchased through a retailer, you could legitimately return them for a replacement or refund. If they are not as described, you can file an ebay not as described case and return them for a refund.

Where's the complaint? Sometimes things like this happen when you buy things secondhand, over the internet, and can't inspect them before you get them.

Most any manufacturer can have a bad day or a bad batch of something go out. If the original, new purchaser brings it to their attention, they usually replace with an unblemished item. Second hand and who knows the history, it's between the seller and buyer.

 

[rsanter]

What I heard is him asking if SO quality was declining.
I did not hear him say anything about returning or warranting.
He stated that he has a quality level assumption from the brand and is questioning that assumption of cosmetic quality.....wether he got it new or used
You guys are going off course....

In general it seems to me that SO quality has remained good but like any mass manufacturer they have off days or thingsnthat slip through.
You should also look at it like this....an occasional cosmetic pit in the metal of the tool that gets cromed over may meet their quality standard. And that most of the time they are exceeding their standard. You may have just got one that was at the standard or slightly below.
I know I have gotten some of their smaller wrenches that the Crome was not as smooth as it could be. It didn't effect the wrench so I kept it

Bob

 

[ssdave]

You're right, Bob, I know I didn't address the quality question.

I don't think the quality is declinging, from the few new examples I've bought in the past year. They've been flawless.

However, I've bought several used items of snap-on in the past year. One had a lot of rust and pitting. One was slightly bent. One wrench the box end was egged out slightly and worn oversize. Several had unknown pits in them, I assumed that the previous owners had somehow crushed them between hard items, denting the steel under the chrome. Based on those used purchases, I'd think that maybe Snap-on's quality wasn't all that good. But, based on the new purchases, the quality is excellent.

My point is that we have no idea what the history of the used items was. We can speculate they were made with pits that were chromed over, but that could have been from some unknown damage process in their previous use also. We also don't know when they were made. We may be seeing an artifact of poor quality control at some indefinite time in the past. Or tools that were "reconditioned" by the seller to make them look better than their use history. Too many unknowns to draw a conclusion of todays quality control at Snap-on from used tools bought without a history.

 

[Adam.C]

I guess it depends on how you look at it. I've never encountered a quality escape, but I don't doubt they exist.

The stuff I buy looks better than stuff from 10 or 20 years ago. That stuff looks better than the stuff from 20 years prior to that.

The new XDH wrenches are the finest wrenches I've ever seen, much nicer than std SOEX combos. The SOEX combos are head and shoulders above just about all others. They are jewel-like. No wonder Snap On has fans and collectors. Their tools are beautiful.

 

[jdlong]

I wouldn't even think of questioning a company's QC based on a product I bought on the secondary market. For all I know it could be a factory reject that ended up in an employee's lunch box.

 

[777mech]

So here's a few pics just to show you exactly what I'm talking about. The logo and size stamping is even off center on some of them. They appear to never have been used much at all. Could be some factory rejects like you said..... still solid tools though.

 

[Al Borland]

Ya bought it off E-Bay...
They MIGHT even be COUNTERFEIT
Had a co-worker with "Snap-Off" wrenches.
They are out there, people.

 

[Loscaldazar]

Ya bought it off E-Bay...
They MIGHT even be COUNTERFEIT
Had a co-worker with "Snap-Off" wrenches.
They are out there, people.

Highly doubt that there are counterfeit Snap On Wrenches coming from China or something like that.

I've had plenty of problems with Snap On tools brand new. Replaced 11 or 12 flare nut wrenches for off center broaching (several other members on here noticed the same problem with their flare nut wrenches), had numerous problems with my SL80 and SLX80 (both replaced with a SL80A and SLX80A). Bought a 14MM wrench from Snap On for a comparison to SK, Proto, Wright, and Williams. The box end of the Snap On is also broached off center. I'm not sure of any other tool company that had to redesign a ratchet because the original design failed the long term test in user hands.

I think Snap On makes some damn great tools (and the redesigned 1/2 drive ratchet is the best no questions asked), but if I'm paying 2-3x the price of SK, Proto, or Wright (and 5x the price of gearwrench or tekton), why the hell have I had so many defects? For the price you're paying, no matter how good the customer service is, there shouldn't be as many defects as there are. They should be perfect tools out of the packaging 99% of the time. I get that every tool company will have defects and bad products that slip out, but again, for the price you are paying, there should be next to zero complaints about defects on their tools.

So if it's not ensuring that every tool is near perfect out of the packaging, where does all that money you spend on Snap On go to? (Advertising)

 

[Al Borland]

"Highly doubt that there are counterfeit Snap On Wrenches coming from China or something like that."

With the cost of $nap-On being what it is, and the brand's popularity, I'm gonna bet somewhere in this country, some enterprising scumwaffle is selling counterfeit Snap-On tools.

(Note to self: Potential untapped market)

 

[theundermount]

I've had a few problems here and there. Got an 11/32" combination wrench from them and it was bent. Brand new. I called them, sent pictures, they replaced it and didn't want the old one back.

could be the case here, ebay seller may have gotten replacement set but snapon didn't want the defected tools back....so he sold them on ebay?

 

[thegroundpounder99]

I would say factory rejects also. Plus with buying on eBay could be individual pieces used to put a set together, who knows anything is possible. I've never really seen to many quality issues with stuff from Snap On. I got a socket with the stamping half missing but that's about it. There's bound to be some stuff that slips through and when it does they are easy to deal with.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Art From De Leon]

Highly doubt that there are counterfeit Snap On Wrenches coming from China or something like that.

I've had plenty of problems with Snap On tools brand new. Replaced 11 or 12 flare nut wrenches for off center broaching (several other members on here noticed the same problem with their flare nut wrenches), had numerous problems with my SL80 and SLX80 (both replaced with a SL80A and SLX80A). Bought a 14MM wrench from Snap On for a comparison to SK, Proto, Wright, and Williams. The box end of the Snap On is also broached off center. I'm not sure of any other tool company that had to redesign a ratchet because the original design failed the long term test in user hands.

I think Snap On makes some damn great tools (and the redesigned 1/2 drive ratchet is the best no questions asked), but if I'm paying 2-3x the price of SK, Proto, or Wright (and 5x the price of gearwrench or tekton), why the hell have I had so many defects? For the price you're paying, no matter how good the customer service is, there shouldn't be as many defects as there are. They should be perfect tools out of the packaging 99% of the time. I get that every tool company will have defects and bad products that slip out, but again, for the price you are paying, there should be next to zero complaints about defects on their tools.

So if it's not ensuring that every tool is near perfect out of the packaging, where does all that money you spend on Snap On go to? (Advertising)

What is this "redesigned 1/2" drive ratchet of which you speak?

 

[Sugarfryz]

What is this "redesigned 1/2" drive ratchet of which you speak?

Qurious as well

 

[T45]

Qurious as well

I think he's just talking about the 'a' rev of the S-80 series, it was redesigned mid-way thru the life of the 80 series as a running-production change. Its the standard ratchet you get today from them.

 

[Wamsutta]

All the rejects and seconds wind up on ebay.

 

[777mech]

Your probably right about the factory rejects, the seller was in the mid west come to think of it. All the wrenches have a marking indicating they were produced in 2015 so they must have just rejected the whole set then. So far I am very impressed with the flank drive plus feature.

 

[Know Wosad]

You make 200,000 of anything and a few will be screwed up.It's called mass production.The bigger the company, the more volume, the more flawed by percentage. Customer service is a phone call away.Snap-On always makes things........ Wright ;-)

 

[zendriver]

I was always under the impression, that if something as American made and the price sky-high, the quality was always perfect.

Maybe Snap-On (just like everybody else) has always produced a few "duds", but maybe customers simply used them and moved on with life, verses examining them under a microscope and then coming unglued.

 

[DaveIRL]

They should be perfect tools out of the packaging 99% of the time. okay lets think. snap on is a large company. if they make 100 spanners one will have defects. 1000 spanners. 10 will have defects, 10,000 spanners, a 1000 spanners will have defects. etc etc

we dont know what sigma level the company is supposed to be, or their DPMO level.

 

[Know Wosad]

I was always under the impression, that if something as American made and the price sky-high, the quality was always perfect.

Maybe Snap-On (just like everybody else) has always produced a few "duds", but maybe customers simply used them and moved on with life, verses examining them under a microscope and then coming unglued.

My ole Unc used to tell me...If'n ya don't **** nothin' up y'aint done nothin'.
Pretty simple.

 

[redwrench60]

You guys make mountains out of molehills. My dealer would glance at the pits on that wrench for exactly a half a second before chucking it in the warranty bin and handing me another one. The true measure of a company isn't weather they have problems or not but how they make it right.

 

[jacked_72]

Note to self: If you ever want to complain about a snap on too, don't admit that you bought it on ebay. Apparently, the right to question quality only comes with paying full price.

 

[davewo]

You probably got seconds off the eBay train that were lifted out of the reject bin. I'd be surprised if Snap-On sent out products like that. I would say even Craftsman kept it under 1 percent.

 

[MikeF2316]

I have very few Snap-on tools, and I had problems with 2, right out of the box. In my set of 1/4 drive universal sockets, the 8 mm was seized up with rust. Another one wasn't smooth. Fortunately for me, I needed to use that one right away. The driver apologized and replaced both right away, no questions.

My ratcheting screwdriver didn't work properly when I got it either. It was fine in one direction, notchy in the other. It wasn't quite assembled correctly, something I was able to fix.

And I think that any factory rejects need to be destroyed, not snuck out the back door and sold on eBay. That's a problem too, and it hurts their name.

 

[brooksdr]

I have mostly all Snap-on tools all bought off ebay. Most were new sealed but not all. I have no complaints.

 

[NJ Marty]

You probably got seconds off the eBay train that were lifted out of the reject bin. I'd be surprised if Snap-On sent out products like that. I would say even Craftsman kept it under 1 percent.

I was thinking the same thing. Snap On defects that were missed going out would be well under 1%
Ill bet 1/2% or less is acceptable

 

[jdlong]

If you got the tools cheap and they function properly, I don't see what the problem is.

 

[mjoekingz28]

And I think that any factory rejects need to be destroyed, not snuck out the back door and sold on eBay. That's a problem too, and it hurts their name.

Good point! Had not thought of that.

 

[dadsEH]

defects, 10,000 spanners, a 1000 spanners will have defects. etc etc

They should be perfect tools out of the packaging 99% of the time. okay lets think. snap on is a large company. if they make 100 spanners one will have defects. 1000 spanners. 10 will have defects, 10,000 spanners, a 1000 spanners will have defects. etc etc

we dont know what sigma level the company is supposed to be, or their DPMO level.

its ppm that counts. Thats defective Parts per million produced. It sure as hell aint 1% !

 

[lazer50]

Imo snap on quality is still top tier across the board. But what i have noticed on some threads it seems like more than usual return/replacement warramty issues.and if you read thru the posts the various tools are either abused/not used as intended.and the tool truck guy replaces them.now that kinda thing may lead to higher costs,off shore production,lower quality? The unnecessary warranty claims will add up and they will cut back somewhere.

 

[94EG8]

I bought an FL80 ratchet direct from Snap-On when we didn't have a Snap-On guy here with peeling chrome. I'm not sure why they even sent it since it looked exactly like it does in the pictures when I pulled it out of the shipping envelope. They were really good about it though, I emailed them pictures of it and then sent me out another one and told me to render the first unit inoperable. Other than that I really haven't had anything show up that looked defective.

 

[Loscaldazar]

Imo snap on quality is still top tier across the board. But what i have noticed on some threads it seems like more than usual return/replacement warramty issues.and if you read thru the posts the various tools are either abused/not used as intended.and the tool truck guy replaces them.now that kinda thing may lead to higher costs,off shore production,lower quality? The unnecessary warranty claims will add up and they will cut back somewhere.

Snap On is smarter than that. The warranty cost is built into the original price. They can sell tools at 50% to tech students and still make a profit, so for those of us paying full price, we're practically paying for them to make a second tool already.