Anyone Succeed at the Craftsman 1-800 Tool Warranty Run Around??

I know Lowes and Ace and everyone sells Craftsman now, but they don't have the selection of individual pieces like the old Sears stores did. They are all closed now.

Tried the 1-800 number. Big run around of menus till you finally get a person.

Then it gets really funky. They need a tool part number, ok, mine is on the tool and I give it to them, ok its still available. Then they start talking about credits on my account and "shop your way" and some other 3rd party they need to conference on the call. Asking for name, phone number, email for my Craftsman Club Account and then this third party asks the same info, that is where I lost it and hung up, Almost 45 minutes of time wasted.

WTF is all this? As the Sears store, bring in the tool, find the match on the shelf, check out and back on the road in 5-10 minutes. No Craftsman Club, no credits, just a straight exchange with no questions asked.

Why I went with Tekton for all my new purchases as I build my box. No guarantee they won't do the same.

They know most people will get frustrated by the run around and just buy another tool.

The days of Sears /Craftsman are gone. Most still live on in the memory of what it was and what it might be.

The days of customers as more than a number are gone from most businesses.

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Hence the reason I have switched too Husky or another brand mostly husky and there no hassle warranty.

I just bought a [china] Craftsman 1/4" socket set with SAE & METRIC for $21 at our SEARS HOME STORE on Morton Ave. here in Jacksonville, IL. They are very in business with a large selection of Craftsman products.
http://www.searshometownstores.com/home/il/jacksonville/3591

Ya my pal busted an old USA 1/2 breaker bar. It was easier to just buy new from Amazon and a 3 pc set of breaker bars was actually cheaper than the one original was

I'm not sure what Stanley is doing in the US in terms of Craftsman warranty. However, in my case in Canada, I was told to go to my local Dewalt factory repair centre. I turned in my broken 1/2 Craftsman impact universal joint and they told me they didn't have a Craftsman equivalent. I thought they weren't able to help me, but surprisingly, they ordered me a Proto equivalent and told me to return to pick it up in two weeks. The way I see it based on my experience, Stanley seems to be serious about dealing with the mountain of broken Craftsman tools that Sears has failed to warranty.

Professional Tool User said:

I'm not sure what Stanley is doing in the US in terms of Craftsman warranty. However, in my case in Canada, I was told to go to my local Dewalt factory repair centre. I turned in my broken 1/2 Craftsman impact universal joint and they told me they didn't have a Craftsman equivalent. I thought they weren't able to help me, but surprisingly, they ordered me a Proto equivalent and told me to return to pick it up in two weeks. The way I see it based on my experience, Stanley seems to be serious about dealing with the mountain of broken Craftsman tools that Sears has failed to warranty.

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You got a Proto replacement? That's AWESOME! I just got a new made in China equivalent. LOL
I did that a year or so ago with an old triwing ratchet that wasn't working right. First time calling the number I got connected to a Sears store, explained everything to them and they were going to issue me a CC refund for the price of purchasing a new ratchet but I got disconnected when I went upstairs to get my wallet. When I called back it connected me to the corporate warranty department and after explaining the situation to them they put a new ratchet in the mail and a week later I had a new ratchet and they told me there wasn't any reason to bother with sending the old one back so I could do with it what I liked. It's a bit of a chore working through all the menus but I got a new replacement for a 20+yo tool without too much hassle.

Legion Prime said:

You got a Proto replacement? That's AWESOME! I just got a new made in China equivalent. LOL
I did that a year or so ago with an old triwing ratchet that wasn't working right. First time calling the number I got connected to a Sears store, explained everything to them and they were going to issue me a CC refund for the price of purchasing a new ratchet but I got disconnected when I went upstairs to get my wallet. When I called back it connected me to the corporate warranty department and after explaining the situation to them they put a new ratchet in the mail and a week later I had a new ratchet and they told me there wasn't any reason to bother with sending the old one back so I could do with it what I liked. It's a bit of a chore working through all the menus but I got a new replacement for a 20+yo tool without too much hassle.

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I didn't think they would make the process such a PITA in the US. It depends on whether or not there's a Stanley Craftsman version of the tool. I may try to game the system if any of my discontinued good quality rebranded Sears Craftsman tools ever break. For basic hand tools, there's no doubt about getting a made in China replacement. For niche hand and specialty tools, that may be another story.

I had the opposite experience with two separate cases. Both times I spoke to someone rather quickly and the first thing offered was to send a replacement, asking for my address. My last case was around July of 2019, so maybe things have changed since then.

For one case, they simply sent out an exact replacement, not even just the components that were bad. This was handled by Sears. The second case was a broken ratchet that SB&D did not have an exact equiv to. They sent out a reasonable replacement for it, but I will say he never asked what I would like or that the replacement would not be identical. He just sent out what, I guess in his opinion, was a suitable replacement.