Great Neck (China) Quality? What a joke

[Empty Pockets]

Last night I was at a Petro Truck Stop in York, NE.

While killing time, I wandered through the store, along with all of the other imported tools, I saw a 10" adjustable wrench (Great Neck). Just for grins, I picked it up (I'd never pay $20.99 for that kind of junk.). When I picked it up, I noticed that the edges of the handle were literally sharp.

Obviously, there is no quality control at the Chinese plant that makes these for Great Neck. It also seems pretty apparent that the people in the store that put these tools on the hook, don't care, and that the people in the head office determining the prices to charge are also clueless.

Unless I was absolutely desperate, I would never buy that type of junk. I can't understand why anyone would.

 

[four.cycle]

^ Because they've got a rig out in the parking lot that they need to get fixed right now, so the cost of the cheap-*** made-in-China tool isn't an issue.

Great Neck was actually a good product line when it was domestically manufactured. I still have some of the older stuff my BIL gave to me after he left the company - salesman samples - most of it's Taiwan made stuff which actually isn't that bad in a pinch. Amazingly I've yet to have one of the Taiwan-made Torx bits fail - and we used one of the big ones to pull the seat belt bolts out in my truck - had to hook it up with a rattle gun to get them loose. Go figure.

 

[Empty Pockets]

^ Because they've got a rig out in the parking lot that they need to get fixed right now, so the cost of the cheap-*** made-in-China tool isn't an issue.
.

That comes under the category of absolutely desperate.

 

[firworks]

It's not just because it's made in China that it is low quality. I've found the exact same problem with Stanley USA made dead blow hammers. Razer sharp casting lines that'll slice your hand open.

 

[jd_1138]

It's not just because it's made in China that it is low quality. I've found the exact same problem with Stanley USA made dead blow hammers. Razer sharp casting lines that'll slice your hand open.

That's a feature. Wet your face, lather up with some shave soap, and shave with these razor sharp tools.

 

[KnurledNut]

Great Neck seems to be on par with HF.
Bland package marketing. Their OEM brand has a little more flair.
The tools seems to cover a broad spectrum on the Pass/Fail chart.
They are an economy brand and the price generally reflects that.
The truth is, cheap tools sell.

 

[md21722]

^ Because they've got a rig out in the parking lot that they need to get fixed right now, so the cost of the cheap-*** made-in-China tool isn't an issue.

Great Neck was actually a good product line when it was domestically manufactured. I still have some of the older stuff my BIL gave to me after he left the company - salesman samples - most of it's Taiwan made stuff which actually isn't that bad in a pinch. Amazingly I've yet to have one of the Taiwan-made Torx bits fail - and we used one of the big ones to pull the seat belt bolts out in my truck - had to hook it up with a rattle gun to get them loose. Go figure.

Exactly! Way overpriced junk but if it snugged up the part enough to keep you rolling down the interstate compared to downtime, it was worth it...

 

[southalabama]

When in college in the mid to late 1980's some of the first pliers I bought were Great Neck. They were of decent quality. As my tools increased they spent a few years in the tackle boxes. The Great Neck of today is no comparison to that of then.

 

[woody 73]

Just having some fun tonight...

Stanley white death:

 

[woody 73]

Great Neck from back in the day & made in the USA.

 

[zendriver]

It's always a sad laugh, to see the Chinese get blamed.

They seem to get the quality job done for Apple, but then they demand it and assure it's done.

No doubt "Great Neck" had a stringent QC Department, when they had American factories. Do they have one now, working with the Chinese, or do they now just say "whatever", provided the price is cheap?

FWIW Truck stops have a "captive audience", so everything they sell is a rip-off.

 

[avmaine]

I agree on the Great Neck older stuff. I used mine on a Saab 9000 seatbelt bolt and twisted that sucker like a twizler though. My fault, I don't think I had it seated all the way. Other than that, no complaints o the older stuff.

 

[jeeper46]

It's always a sad laugh, to see the Chinese get blamed.

They seem to get the quality job done for Apple, but then they demand it and assure it's done.

No doubt "Great Neck" had a stringent QC Department, when they had American factories. Do they have one now, working with the Chinese, or do they now just say "whatever", provided the price is cheap?

FWIW Truck stops have a "captive audience", so everything they sell is a rip-off.

I suspect that the original Great Neck company was hijacked by some corporate raider or hedge fund robber baron, and the handful of people in the US who do the tool specifications and ordering don't personally use tools, or fix anything themselves. Their "toolkit" is probably a screwdriver and a hammer in the junk drawer in the kitchen.

 

[four.cycle]

"I suspect that the original Great Neck company was hijacked by some corporate raider or hedge fund robber baron..."

No, that wasn't the case at all.
Great Neck was pretty much a mom-and-pop family-run organization, and then at some point they decided to "level the playing field" with their competitors, whereupon they fired their entire sales staff and began outsourcing virtually all of their product line from Asia.
BIL made damn good money working for them - he had Canada, Mexico, and the Western US. Was a pretty good product even then, even with the stuff they were outsourcing from Taiwan. The Chinese-made stuff came later.

The bottom line is that had they continued to try to compete in the present-day market by manufacturing all their product line domestically, they would no longer exist. Unfortunate, but true.
If there's any "blame" to be assigned, it is to the average American consumer, who puts a greater priority on price than product quality; everybody wanted cheaper cheaper cheaper, so that's what you get.

 

[ex-x-fire]

I had this balancer puller that I had bought from az, I don't know if it was a great kneck product or what, after 10 years of average useage the threads wore out. I go to get it swapped out & they handed me another, the puller had hardly any finish work done. The forcing screw hole was threaded but I had to die grind the slotted holes to get rid of the casting flash to even use 5/16 bolts, let alone 3/8s.

 

[four.cycle]

"I had this balancer puller that I had bought from az, I don't know if it was a great kneck product or what, after 10 years of average useage the threads wore out."

Seriously?

 

[zendriver]

Judging from the hammer sample above, they obviously had their day, but seems like I don't ever remember, using a GN product, that I did not consider chintzy.

As far as competing, Estwing seems to manage to stay in business selling good quality, reasonably priced, American made hammers.

 

[M6erfan]

moral of the story? Never buy tools at a truck stop...

FWIW, I'm not surprised at all. I've never been impressed with any Great Neck tool I've looked at. I've always considered them "cheap" tools...

 

[Stevenn1]

Everything is over priced at a truck stop- food, tools, supplies....
Plus the parking lot smells like pee.

 

[Coach James]

Judging from the hammer sample above, they obviously had their day, but seems like I don't ever remember, using a GN product, that I did not consider chintzy.

As far as competing, Estwing seems to manage to stay in business selling good quality, reasonably priced, American made hammers.

Estwing has a niche among carpenters though, much like Snap On does with mechanics. I don't think GN ever had that.

I bought a GN 13/16 spark plug socket in 1991 from Auto Zone. Made in Taiwan and still using it today.

Coach

 

[Infinia]

I've always considered them "cheap" tools...

before Harbor Freight we had not-so-Great Neck