FAKE Tekton gear pullers. WTF?!

[Itsjustdirt]

I was searching for gear pullers on Amazon.

I first ordered the Tekton 5702 Gear Puller, 4 piece set from "UCOSTORE" on Amazon. It was an Amazon Prime item. What I received was garbage. Casting ridges all the way around each tool, including on the puller face surface. The boxes generic white cardboard boxes with no labels and the tools had no brand markings. They were laughable compared to anything that comes out of harbor freight.

Then, I ordered the Tekton 5696 3 piece set FROM AMAZON directly. What arrived were generic (no branding marks) 3 piece set that was still rough, but way better than the first set. It was in a "STARK" brand box. WTF is going on here?

I guess my real question is.... Are crappy gear pullers "ok" or is there something between the garbage I received and a professional snap on set?

 

[Fbmoose48]

OTC pullers.

 

[LXCam]

I've never even seen tekton pullers, only typical hand tools

 

[KWtech90]

If you plan on using a puller with any regularity posi pullers are amazing, but they're not cheap.

 

[Wamsutta]

OTC or Proto for pullers if you don't want to go Snap-on.

 

[skunkape1]

If you plan on using a puller with any regularity posi pullers are amazing, but they're not cheap.

Posi lock pullers are where its at. Made in North Dakota.

 

[Farmall450]

They might just be that bad. It's not worth faking a name like Tekton, it ain't snappy.

OTC on Feebay, old US Proto/cman/etc

 

[Gmonkee]

If Tekton has a branded model it was sold out. You got a 'close enough' equivilent twice. Never buy that stuff without holding it first.

 

[JasonW]

If Tekton has a branded model it was sold out. You got a 'close enough' equivilent twice. Never buy that stuff without holding it first.

I don't buy much from Amazon and twice I have ordered an item which Amazon or their system apparently considered a 'commodity' even as I had a specific reason for choosing the version I chose. The first time it happened I took the seller to task. It just happened that I had screen captured the order and I sent it to the seller. They were just as confused as I. Long and short of it was Amazon based the substitution on specs. The photos it seems were for illustration only.

 

[HobbyistWolf]

I fully believe that Amazon's selling system is broken, that they know this, and that they don't care. I ordered a new motherboard on amazon and I specifically chose a listing that included a back-plate (the metal piece with holes that match the ports), and when it arrived, no back-plate. Unfortunately had other more important things that required my attention at the time, so I didn't make a stink about it in time to get it resolved. But I looked through feedback on many different sellers and found an odd thing, 90% of negative feedback was marked as 'Resolved by Amazon' indicating it was no longer valid, and most of them were about items not being as described or missing pieces. I did a bit more digging and it appears that Amazon's system groups sellers selling similar items under a generic description page that will match most details, but then when you buy if the seller with an item that fully matches the description is sold out, you get second best that may be incomplete to what you thought you were getting. I think they don't bother fixing it because the system is so big now that it's a big pain to change things, much easier to pay people to do damage control! That's my theory and why I'm avoided buying physical items from Amazon, it's not worth the hassle.
Sorry for the wall of text, I'm still a bit miffed over it!

 

[anndel]

Posi lock pullers are where its at. Made in North Dakota.

Posi Lock +1

 

[Snakebyt]

seems lots of sellers are doing this. selling a product, and having it drop shipped from another cheaper seller. Same thing happened to me with some triple squares.

here is my thread about it. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390691

Seller offered for me to return them and offered a refund, but i needed them for a job, didnt have time to wait on ordering more.

 

[DFB]

Why don't you call Tekton and see what they have to say.

And it is a just a gear puller, the screw is most important part. Tekton ain't perfection IMO. They may have ramped up their selling game from the old MIT branded tools, (which I own also some of) but lets face it it's still a cheaper priced import. I move a lot of their branded tools on my tool table and are decent tools for the most part.

My pullers are Craftsman and OTC

 

[The Tool Tyrant]

Hard to beat OTC and Posi-Lock.

 

[tdkkart]

First thing to look at on a puller is the screw. A quality puller will have super fine threads on the screw, if it's go coarse acme threads is gah-bage, run away fast.

 

[jumbojak]

Why don't you call Tekton and see what they have to say.

And it is a just a gear puller, the screw is most important part. Tekton ain't perfection IMO. They may have ramped up their selling game from the old MIT branded tools, (which I own also some of) but lets face it it's still a cheaper priced import. I move a lot of their branded tools on my tool table and are decent tools for the most part.

My pullers are Craftsman and OTC

Having broken a cheap puller I'd say that the screw isn't themost important part. High quality "nubs" are what I want in a puller. When they pop unter pressure it's not fun.

 

[6PTsocket]

If you want Tekton there is no reason to get involved with Amazon or any third party sellers on Amazon. Either order from Tekton directly, who is always having sales or free shipping deals or get it from Home Depot who will bring it into the store for free if you do not meet rhe minimum for free home delivery. Sometimes they are a little cheaper rhan Tekton. With HD, you can open it right there and if it is not what you want, return it for an instant refund. In either case you have no worries about fake tools. Amazon has gotten to the point where their prices are often terrible. Lately I find a lot of stuff elsewhere that even with shipping is a lot cheaper than Amazon with "free shipping". They have gotten so big they have lost control of what they are selling. Product info comes from the seller and they can't supply the most basic information. If there us a screw up you are sort of in the middle. If they were still a bargain it might be worth the inconvenience, but they seldom are these days. Shop around before automatically going to Amazon. You might be surprised. They can afford one day free delivery for Prime members after collecting your hundred bucks and way overcharging for many items.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[WWheeler]

I was searching for gear pullers on Amazon.

I first ordered the Tekton 5702 Gear Puller, 4 piece set from "UCOSTORE" on Amazon. It was an Amazon Prime item. What I received was garbage. Casting ridges all the way around each tool, including on the puller face surface. The boxes generic white cardboard boxes with no labels and the tools had no brand markings. They were laughable compared to anything that comes out of harbor freight.

Then, I ordered the Tekton 5696 3 piece set FROM AMAZON directly. What arrived were generic (no branding marks) 3 piece set that was still rough, but way better than the first set. It was in a "STARK" brand box. WTF is going on here?

I guess my real question is.... Are crappy gear pullers "ok" or is there something between the garbage I received and a professional snap on set?

Any chance you could post pics of these?

I looked on Amazon and the listings I saw for both showed images of pullers with Tekton branding on them, though there were ones sold by a third party and fulfilled by Amazon I didn't see any that were currently shipped and sold by Amazon.

If they weren't Tekton branded and that's what I bought I'd be hitting up Amazon customer service if it's still within the 30 days to get my money back. Often if I let them know how unhappy I am with the seller (esp if one is from Amazon) they'll sometimes throw in a small $ credit on top of the refund.