Apex sounded upset on the phone when I brought up the China sourced combination wrenches. Said something like it was too bad that was direction Sears wanted to go or something like that. And it was not in their control. It didn't sound like it had any involvement with the China line. Of course this was just one person on the phone, they may not even know for sure.
Actually after dealing with Apex on the phone I got a bad taste in my mouth and look at my Gearwrench set differently now. It is like a pretty girl with a very ugly personality. My Gearwrench set works and looks good but I sure hate dealing with them when you have a issue. They couldn't even cross reference my Sears Gearwrench set part numbers when I had a defective wrench. I had to hold her hand and help search their own website to get the part number for them.
You have to remember that some of this may be contractual. The companies probably do not want you cross-referencing what is essentially the exact same product from a competitor.
Even the warranty issue, it would not surprise me if Craftsman negotiated a lower price and warranties all the tools themselves, instead of paying Apex to cover it. If a part on your car breaks under warranty you typically go to the dealer, not the supplier who made the part.
