I'm done shopping at Harbor Freight

[2000-cvpi]

There is no such store in our litigious society.

Return it as defective. If the design is defective, call corporate.

Simple.

No Wah wah wah needed.

Bill

This. And there isn't a need to seal the box back up if it is defective. Take it back, show them that it didn't work properly and there isn't a HF store that wouldn't exchange the tool.

What reseal ing the box implies to me is that you needed it for one task and tried to seal the box up and return it for a full refund. Then you came here to ***** about HF.

 

[MarkG]

It's best to just not start! :S

 

[NewShockerGuy]

I guess I am confused on why you accepted the restocking fee unless I glazed over something.

You buy the camera. Find out it's defective. Why would you not then tell them, the camera is defective I would like to exchange it for the SAME one. At that point no restocking fee would have been charged, correct? I used to work retail YEARS ago, and if something was defective we would check, once verified there was no way in hell we were charging anyone a restocking fee. Completely different if the person just said "I didn't like it" at which point it was a guaranteed restocking fee.

But the fact that you said it's defective, told them this and they didn't check it is when I would have gotten a manger involved. Seems like this is completely avoidable 100%. I'm not grasping why you paid the restocking fee. From their stand point I can see that if you wanted to return it rather than exchange but still I would have had them verify exactly what you stated in being defective....


-Nigel

 

[winlinmac]

Most power tool retail boxes I've come across at HF are not sealed. They just have flap insertions, which is quite concerning

 

[PugetDude]

I only had the thing long enough to see.

Fixed that for you.

 

[winlinmac]

I'm a bit surprised Harbor Freight was asking me for the receipt on a $2.99 Rubber Mallet, for warranty purposes. I asked them to look up that info on their system (since they always ask me for my phone number). Fortunately, they found the receipt. Now question is, was it really all that necessary? A warranty like this only needs physical / visual inspection, and simple swap.

It's quite entertaining to see long lines when there is only one cashier at the register. You do know there's a Home Depot right across the street, right?

With power tools being the biggest gripe at Harbor Freight, the associates never document as to what was the cause of failure. Will they ever be improvement to their basic power tools if they go on like this? Haha

 

[Tatsuya]

Very Sleazy and underhanded. Never say never, but I won't be buying from Harbor Freight for a long time.

You're looking at this the wrong way.

Whether or not we all care to admit it, Harbor Freight is an incredibly useful and valuable resource.

 

[Tatsuya]

With power tools being the biggest gripe at Harbor Freight, the associates never document as to what was the cause of failure. Will they ever be improvement to their basic power tools if they go on like this? Haha

Why would HF bother with letting their cashiers diagnose power tool failures? And most customers won't care to find out, that's the point of the HF warranty.

I'm assuming they send their damaged items elsewhere for that.

 

[justme-]

HF doesn't care about diagnosing power tool failures...they import the stuff and get what they get just as they have for 20 years. Of course they want your receipt because that is the policy and that's how they skip warranty claims on almost everything they sell.
If you buy anything there expecting warranty coverage you need to reevaluate your tool purchases.

 

[checkthisout]

Dude, I just bought the most *****'n weed burner (yes, garden weeds) from them for $31.99. Automatic sparking, no need to constantly hold the stupid handle down like the one Home Depot was selling for $51.00.

Sounds like a freak'n hot air balloon when I spark it up to torch weeds.

And people, grow the F up. They have their return policy set that way for a reason. Next time, have an employee open it up and make it operational in the store so you can view the pic or see how any given tool runs/operates etc before you buy it.

 

[winlinmac]

I'm signing out of Harbor Freight as well. I just warrantied two torque wrenches at Harbor Freight today. Worst warranty replacement process. Pathetic customer service; unprofessional and extremely rude. Not sure where they get their training from. Either their warranty procedures have been abused by others in the past or they're simply getting paid bare minimum with very little health benefit(s), or the surrounding town says it all.

Warranty was simple in the past; they would look up the receipt on their system and do an even exchange irrespective of COO and Item #. I tried replacing a couple of torque wrenches today with a different batch, different item number (same tool at the end of today) and they requested to get the exact item number from the shelf; couldn't be found. I wouldn't be surprised if they had restocked the defective torque wrenches I returned today.

I'm looking into Proto micro-click torque wrenches as future purchases now.

I only own their metric socket sets (exceptional quality by the way) and ratchets / breaker bars and Impact Wrench and Oscillating Multi-Tool. That's all, and a box nitrile gloves and other mixed accessories for the messy work.

I purchased their torque wrenches just for the heck of it, but not expecting anything great about them. I'll stick to my beam-type torque wrenches for now.

So long Harbor Freight, so long Craftsman

 

[Bandit]

When I drove to Portsmouth ,Va. from Boston last weekend to inspect and buy a house , I stopped at Hazard Fraught to grab a Mechanic's Stethoscope for $ 4.49 ( on sale from $ 9.99 ) to check out a noise in my daughters Durango , as it was quicker and cheaper ( time & gas ) then stopping by my 10 X 10 X 30 storage locker to grab mine. .
It did work OK ,and I was told by the cashier that there would be a 20 % Re-Stocking Fee if I returned it .
Bob

 

[NJ20]

No surprise here. HF are not the only store clamping down on returns. Home Depot will actually just flat out deny your return if you are an "excessive" returner. Some of the larger items at Home Depot are not even returnable with a big sticker on the box. Go look at their electric drain snakes in Home Depot. So many people would buy it, unclog their drain, and return it because they are too cheap to hire someone to unclog their drain. Huge sticker on them that says "NOT RETURNABLE". The manufacturer will help you with any defects but once you buy it, it's yours.

 

[dna9656]

Yesterday I purchased a Digital Inspection Camera at Harbor Freight in Seattle. Took it home and loaded 4 AA batteries. It "worked" but the screen image was not clear enough to be useful. No big deal...right? Take the batteries out, put it back in in the box and returned it today.
......

20% RESTOCKING FEE?

I only had the thing long enough to see it it would work for me. Is there a restocking fee on everything from Harbor Freight? If I wanted to pay fees for nothing I would book a plane trip.

Very Sleazy and underhanded. Never say never, but I won't be buying from Harbor Freight for a long time.

I bought their 1.5 ton "racing" (read aluminum) floor jack. I used it (well after I bought it) to lift my sons '83 Olds Omega. The side plates bent! Now I didn't lift the WHOLE car; just one end of it. Certainly within the weight limit. Now this is well after I bought it, and no I didn't buy the replacement policy. Their response was "Did you buy the emplacement policy?" WTF! The JACK BENT! a jack should NEVER bend; it should have an overload valve in it to prevent from lifting more than (again I don't think I exceeded the jack's capacity) it's rated capacity! I asked them "OK; so it's out of warranty, shouldn't you initiate a RECALL? "No we don't care about that"!!!! If they recalled it there would be a refund to anyone that walked in to the store with one right? So I said "well you can keep your jack." and leaving the jack on the counter I walked out. I posted the story on the Harbor Freight web site in the customer reviews section and guess what? BIG surprise; I have never seen my post dissing their jack and product safety policy. So as far as I know that 1.5 ton aluminum racing floor jack should be avoided unless of course you want to race to the morgue.

 

[Deadscout]

You're looking at this the wrong way.

Whether or not we all care to admit it, Harbor Freight is an incredibly useful and valuable resource.

I agree

 

[checkthisout]

Definitely wouldn't buy anything important from them I.E. ratches, torque wrenches, jacks, pliers etc.

It's a good store to buy a second set of tools to keep in the RV, or cabin or second house or whatever just to have for general principles but I wouldn't buy anything from them that actually had to work safely and reliably.

 

[gearheads78]

Harbor Freight sell junk at a irresistible price, to people who don't car about quality. If you wanted a decent inspection camera get one of the Milwaukee branded ones, or some other comparable brand. Consider anything you get from Harbor Freight to be a consumable.

This!!

 

[four.cycle]

consider anything you get from harbor freight to be disposable.

fify

 

[Freakish Mind]

I have no barely any issues at all with Harbor Freight. I think I've only returned two items to them every. The first was a floor jack was was broken when I opened it. returned it 4 hours after purchase and was able to get the exact same one, no questions ask.

The second item I returned with an air compressor. I returned this about a week after I had it because I decided I needed a bigger one. They told me that since I was upgrading the air compressor, that they would waive the 20% restocking fee.

my only complaint about HF would be the lines at the register. There should be a separate area for people who are returning items. I was there today and all 4 registers had atleast 6 customers in them. Just as I got up to the register the lady answers the phone and proceeds to look up an item for someone on the phone. This whole thing took about 3 minutes while everyone just waited. That was a bit irritating.

 

[BadDriver_GoodCar]

Yesterday I purchased a Digital Inspection Camera at Harbor Freight in Seattle. Took it home and loaded 4 AA batteries. It "worked" but the screen image was not clear enough to be useful. No big deal...right? Take the batteries out, put it back in in the box and returned it today.
......

20% RESTOCKING FEE?

I only had the thing long enough to see it it would work for me. Is there a restocking fee on everything from Harbor Freight? If I wanted to pay fees for nothing I would book a plane trip.

Very Sleazy and underhanded. Never say never, but I won't be buying from Harbor Freight for a long time.

I think most online stores have a restocking fee to prevent people from buying and returning all the time. Who doesn't have one that you prefer to order from? It's annoying but not unethical IMO.

 

[BadDriver_GoodCar]

No surprise here. HF are not the only store clamping down on returns. Home Depot will actually just flat out deny your return if you are an "excessive" returner. Some of the larger items at Home Depot are not even returnable with a big sticker on the box. Go look at their electric drain snakes in Home Depot. So many people would buy it, unclog their drain, and return it because they are too cheap to hire someone to unclog their drain. Huge sticker on them that says "NOT RETURNABLE". The manufacturer will help you with any defects but once you buy it, it's yours.

Better be sure of what you buy. Most stuff HF "works," I'll say. I have one of these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/20-in-stainless-steel-toolbox-61572.html

And I don't have to love it to say it holds my tools. But quality isn't why I bought it. I bought it so I could watch it dent up over little bumps...

 

[Crazyjake8493]

The only thing I've ever paid a restocking fee on was a demo/breaker hammer I bought that I ended up not needing. Fair enough. I know the "free rental" thing is a big loss for stores after working at both HD and Lowes. Too many cheap people out there ruining it for the honest ones.

They should never charge a restocking fee on an exchange though, I can't figure that out. Should only be charged on a return without wanting another in exchange.

 

[Syberia]

They should never charge a restocking fee on an exchange though, I can't figure that out. Should only be charged on a return without wanting another in exchange.

I bought an air compressor a couple years ago that would just run and run and never build more than ~50 PSI out of the box. Obviously went back to the store. Since I was exchanging an obviously defective item for a new one (not "free renting" as I fully intended to leave the store with another compressor), everyone agreed that I shouldn't be charged the restocking fee, but the lady at the counter had to go get the manager who had to manually go into the system and do a price adjustment to counteract it. Said the system charged it automatically, even on an exchange, and he couldn't get it off any other way.

That said, I got to test their lifetime tool warranty a few months ago. Brought in the pieces of my broken torque wrench, walked out with a new one, no questions asked, didn't even ring it up at the register.

 

[pepi]

Don't blame Harbor Freight... Blame all of the ***** who "rent" specialty tools like these by purchasing with no intent to keep, and taking advantage of the lenient return policies to return tools after they've used them... ruining things for the rest of us.

Spot on that is the reason.....

Same thing that happen to Sears tools, to many crooks, cheats and morally bankrupt carbon atoms sucking up our oxygen around.

 

[Corndoggeh]

I've had more difficulty with Home Depot than Harbor Freight when it came to returns, the worst I had at HF was trying to return a bench grinder 1.5 years after I bought it with the extended warranty. Had no receipt and the assistant manager who is notorious at the store to be a stickler tried to pass me off to a manufacturer without asking me if I had an extended warranty. MOD comes in, I ask him about it and he looks it up and asked whether I wanted to warranty it or do full store credit. Home Depot on the other hand here makes you work for your return.

In the end, when your looking at a tool, if you have the ability, INSPECT IT FIRST, I didn't when I bought a 3/8" torque wrench from HF and realized the dial on the bottom didn't match up with the markings. Walk in, grabbed another to inspect it to make sure its right, made the warranty exchange and walked out without needing to provide any receipt. Any other time I always check to make sure the tool is

#1: actually in there and not stolen.
#2: contains all the parts inside it
#3 moves and works correctly

Power tools you can't really test in store but you can at least check the other 2 first. I bought the 4 1/2" angle grinder for $12 that I fully expected to kick the bucket or be begging for a merciful death after the beating I put on it on the first job under load grinding thick acrylic counter top for over 2 hours while unknowingly covering the exhaust/cooling vents with my gloves and not noticing that the plastic was hot enough to scald a bare hand. Heck, I'm still using it today and I'm sure when it dies ill either decide to get either a Makita or 5+ HF grinders with all different attachments instead

 

[jd_1138]

In the end, when your looking at a tool, if you have the ability, INSPECT IT FIRST, I didn't when I bought a 3/8" torque wrench from HF and realized the dial on the bottom didn't match up with the markings. Walk in, grabbed another to inspect it to make sure its right, made the warranty exchange and walked out without needing to provide any receipt. Any other time I always check to make sure the tool is

#1: actually in there and not stolen.
#2: contains all the parts inside it
#3 moves and works correctly

How could you tell if the dial didn't match up with the settings? I don't think I'd trust a HF torque wrench -- not even to torque lug nuts.

I bought a nice Tekton for $30. Torque #'s are too critical of a measurement to trust to a $10 tool.

 

[Corndoggeh]

How could you tell if the dial didn't match up with the settings? I don't think I'd trust a HF torque wrench -- not even to torque lug nuts.

I bought a nice Tekton for $30. Torque #'s are too critical of a measurement to trust to a $10 tool.

But you would trust a $30 one? If you buy me one ill definately use it but on this university student budget I can't afford more than that for a torque wrench. Plus it has one head gasket job under its belt when I let my brother borrow it when he dropped his and didn't trust it.

 

[tym]

My Dad calls the place "Harbor Fright." I rarely buy there, and when I do, it's cheap stuff like tarps and stuff that I'd just toss if it broke. The only thing I spent some money on was a set of floor dollies for a '69 Camaro restoration. That car's back to driving condition now, so the dollies are on the shelf...

 

[Zooming993]

Well HF @&$" me today, returned a Predator engine which was never run, still had all the warning documents attached and purchased less then 30 days ago and they still charged me the 20% restocking fee! Lesson learned, read that fine print!!!

 

[jd_1138]

But you would trust a $30 one? If you buy me one ill definately use it but on this university student budget I can't afford more than that for a torque wrench. Plus it has one head gasket job under its belt when I let my brother borrow it when he dropped his and didn't trust it.

lol, fair enough, but a $30 Tekton is still 300% the cost of the HF el cheapo one. To me, a little more $$$ money spent usually results in a better tool -- especially when you're talking torque wrenches.

If you lived around here, I'd give you a free Tekton. I bought a couple on sale a year ago at Family, Farm, and Home. Plus I have a Mac Tools one I inherited (it's my main one).

 

[jd_1138]

Well HF @&$" me today, returned a Predator engine which was never run, still had all the warning documents attached and purchased less then 30 days ago and they still charged me the 20% restocking fee! Lesson learned, read that fine print!!!

That *****. But sheesh those things are cheap. What $99?

A few months ago, I had a mint and perfectly running Honda vertical shaft engine (fresh oil change, new plug/filter) for sale that had come off a Craftsman power washer. These Honda engines go for $250 brand new. I listed it for $90. One guy fed me the: "HF has these things BRAND NEW for $99! So I will give you $40 for yours."

Um, they don't sell Hondas at HF, buddy, nice try. Finally a sane person came along and bought it for the full $90.

 

[6PTsocket]

I just returned a lawn tractor lift. I told then it was because the hydraulic jack was DOA. I declined an exchange and they refunded my money. Nobody tried to verify that the pump was truly bad. I was already inconvenienced returning it and that would have been it if they hassled me. I have never bought to rent or returned anything that was less than broken. That is a slippery slope for them. While people do buy to rent, one of the reasons they can sell so cheap is total lack of quality control from their Chinese supplier and poor product support from them. The saving grace was their willingness to take it back with no hassles. If you check the mostly Chinese marketing site, Alibaba that sells wholesale, you will see the huge mark ups on that stuff. HF buys direct and their cheap stuff still has a big mark up. They can afford to eat quite a bit at those prices. They are opening a new store every three days and they are not hurting.

 

[6PTsocket]

They can always do what LL Bean does. They take anything back but if they identify you as an abuser they inform you that they will no longer sell to you.

 

[Derek420]

I like to impulse buy sometimes and then decide I don't need or want item and return to HF all the time and they have never charged me a restock fee and didn't even know they did, must just be stores are different.

 

[vettex2]

I use my blonde 114 lbs. woman with her DD's to return stuff.
She goes to guys to return stuff. Never pays any restock
Gee, I wonder why ?

 

[Infinia]

^ As they say here at GJ, it didn't happen w/o pictures. wink wink

 

[Infinia]

I like to impulse buy sometimes and then decide I don't need or want item and return to HF all the time and they have never charged me a restock fee and didn't even know they did, must just be stores are different.

There are only certain items that trigger a restocking fee.
the HF clerks call it DUI ( done using it ) generators is good one.

 

[Chief919]

Unfortunately the "free rent" scammers are ruining things all over.

I own a military surplus store, and I am very easygoing on returns. But I have had to put a no return policy on all sleeping bags and tents because people would routinely buy them and use them for their once a year camping trip and then return them, smelling of campfire, with whatever excuse.

I drew the line when I guy walked in to return 4 sleeping bags because his family "didn't like the mummy style bags" after they went camping over the 4th of July weekend. But he forgot that he used the exact same excuse to return the exact same style bags a year earlier too.

 

[jywilli69]

I purchased a Pulley Puller last month. I got it to work on small motor for table Saws. I looked and it and the motor and found out it wasn't going to work. I returned it and got a bearing separator and they didn't try to charge me a restocking fee. I had zero issues. This was my 1st return ever with Harbor Freight. Yes for the most part, there stuff is cheap, but that what you get when you buy things rather cheap. Not all Harbor Freight stuff is garbage, they do have some good stuff in their stores.