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The Tool Warranty Race

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kb1982

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Kentucky
In the last couple of weeks, I've had a couple of tools die on me. One was a
Stanley Proto J4990-4MXL 3/8-Inch Drive Extra Long Hex Bit Socket 4mm, and the other was a 80003 SK 10mm X frame racheting wrench. Since both items were purchased online, I decided I would ship both back to the manufacturers. I decided that I would do a little "experiment" to compare how the manufacturers handled the warranty process.
Both items were shipped out Saturday morning 4/21/18 via USPS for a little over 6 bucks. Granted, I could have shipped them a little cheaper, but whats a buck or two after finishing up a 12hr shift. Anyways back to the purpose of this post.
When I receive notification that the items have made it to their destinations, I will update this post, along with status of the warranty process. I have no doubt that both items will be warrantied, but I thought I would make a little competition out of it and review each companies service.

SK wrench shipped. 4/21/18 ETA 4/23
Proto 4mm Hex Socket. 4/21/18 ETA 4/23

Both delivered 4/23/18

SK Xframe 10mm Arrived 5/1/18

Proto 3mm Long hex pending
Arrived. 5/12/18

Seems to be a fair competition this for.

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Updated

Appears SK has won the warranty race by 11 days.
 
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finn

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The UP, God's country
I suspect that you red lighted on your race.

Every tool that I have sent in for warranty has gone with a return goods authorization number, per the manufacturer’s warranty policy.

They may not have a process in place to handle your cold shipped returns.

Your race is effectively black flagged if you ignored the established process, and the results are irrelevant.
 
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Buckgnarly

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I have sent SK and proto stuff with nothing but a return adress in with them..... both came back with new tools.
 
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ssdave

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Eastern Oregon
When I've sent to Proto, they just asked me to clearly put my return address and a listing of the tools I sent in, so that they could check them off when they sent back to me. NO RMA needed.
 
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Professional Tool User

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Sending it in, especially without an RMA number to me is a waste of money and potentially time. Some brands such as Snap on or Tekton will just send you a new tool without taking back the broken one in some cases or give you a shipping label so you don't have to pay for shipping at all. I bet it will take weeks to get your tools replaced by sending them in. The fastest way to do this is to know before hand if you have a friendly local dealer to help you out and if you do they will tell you if your tool needs to be back ordered. As an example, at my local tool store (a Proto dealer) I saw someone who was in line front of me get his Proto breaker bar warrantied with no receipt right away. That tells me if I don't bug them too often with old broken Proto tools they will probably help me out. Regardless, their response to your warranty request will show what their customer service is like at the corporate level.
 
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kb1982

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Update on the warranty race. As I expected, SK Tools seems to be leading so far. I received a FexEx tracking number today with a shipment from SK. The mystery package should be here Wednesday to confirm it is a replacement 10mm X frame. Still no word or activity from Stanley Proto.

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kb1982

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Kentucky
ChevyEFI said:
How did each fail?

The X-frame is robust, but ratcheting is what it is.
Click to expand...
The ratcheting mechanism on the 10mm X frame failed. It free swings in both directions. As for the Proto 3mm long Allen sockect, it started spinning inside the bit holder.

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Specs

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The other side
Much braver than I, because the only purpose an RMA serves me is for a tracking code once mailing is successful. Usually shortens delivery time too. If I know im up to no good with a job, i’ll kill a tool i can warranty in person.

Im in for the proto claim though- SUBSCRIBED
 
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MattVette89

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Nov 27, 2014
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SW Chicago
kb1982 said:
Update on the warranty race. As I expected, SK Tools seems to be leading so far. I received a FexEx tracking number today with a shipment from SK.
Click to expand...

One wrench....from SK you should expect a box size of about 12" x 12" x 16" so you certainly won't miss it...
 
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seanb02

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Apr 11, 2017
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The Farm
MattVette89 said:
One wrench....from SK you should expect a box size of about 12" x 12" x 16" so you certainly won't miss it...
Click to expand...

Bingo on the box thing. :headscrat Not sure how that works to their advantage in shipping stuff...

Really I have had great service with SK for warranty claims. Maybe not as fast as a tool truck that frequents your place of work, or a local store that keeps a stock of stuff, but overall very reasonable in my opinion. Would guess that Proto is probably pretty much the same, but curious to see how this turns out.
 
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kb1982

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Kentucky
I thought today I was retrieving my socket of the month, but instead received a 10mm x frame wrench. I guess tomorrows delivery will be the socket. IMG_20180501_115821.jpeg

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kb1982

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Kentucky
All the singles X frame wrenches come like this. At first I bought a single 10mm to try them out. Liked it enough that I bought both SAE and metric, so I actually had two 10 millimeters when one failed.

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mikebaker1129

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Oct 16, 2014
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Huffman,TX
Good to know about the singles!
I have the SAE set,but could use a 10mm.
Where is the best online source for singles?
 
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kb1982

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Location
Kentucky
Circle C usually has the best prices on SK but check out Zoro also for discount codes.

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kb1982

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Kentucky
Well today I received my replacement 3mm long Allen socket from Proto. I've updated the first post to reflect. Not nearly as quick as SK Tools on warranty replacements.


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